Turku Apprenticeship Office

Turku Apprenticeship Office provides apprenticeship services for the Turku commuting area, with over 1,000 business clients.

Turku Apprenticeship Office is a leading provider of apprenticeship services in Southwest Finland. We are widely respected in the Finnish apprenticeship sector, and the Finnish National Board of Education has granted us an honourable mention in the Excellence Competition in 2006 and 2011.

Annually, Turku Apprenticeship Office runs approximately 2,500 apprenticeships. The Apprenticeship Office enables the completion of a wide variety of different vocational qualifications. With an extensive network of educational institutions, we are able to meet the varying needs of businesses in the region. There are valid apprenticeships covering more than 150 qualifications annually.

The core idea behind our operations is to spread the knowledge of apprenticeship training to businesses and potential students. We arrange and coordinate apprenticeship agreements flexibly and from a customer-oriented focus. Turku Apprenticeship Office employs 12 members of staff. The staff includes training coordinators and apprenticeship secretaries from different fields. In 2011, some 1,700 participants took part in our regular briefings providing basic apprenticeship information.

Our staff actively participates in the development of apprenticeship training. Turku Apprenticeship Office organises regular meetings (TEPA, First-aid Kit for Workplace Instructors) for workplace instructors. Since 2008, some 1,000 workplace instructors have attended these meetings.

Our international affairs activities are emerging and active. We aim to provide all students the possibility to apply for an international on-the-job learning period in Europe. The exchange periods abroad are made possible by funding from the Leonardo da Vinci project.

Turku Apprenticeship Office has partners in the following countries:

• Germany
• France
• Austria
• Norway
• Spain
• Holland

International exchange was started in 2009. Students of Turku Apprenticeship Office have participated in an international on-the-job learning period mostly in Germany, France and Spain. The on-the-job learning periods varied between 2 and 4 weeks in duration.

In 2011–2012, Turku Apprenticeship Office also received several apprenticeship students from abroad. The arriving students were from France and Germany and they spent 2–3-week periods in businesses in the Turku region. The experiences have been positive in terms of the businesses and students alike.