International IB education to begin at Vantaa Vocational College Varia
The first IB CP study program in Southern Finland provides the young with facilities for internationality, higher education studies, as well as the practical competence to work as a welfare technology installer.
Vantaa's international IB education is getting a new kind of addition this fall. International Baccalaureate (IB) Career-related Programme (CP) is a study program targeted at 16–19-olds. The study program combines the practicality of vocational studies with the IB values of international and exploratory learning.
Vantaa Vocational College Varia's very first IB CP begins in October, in information and communications technology (ICT) basic degree instruction that prepares students for the welfare technology installer profession. Studying will take place in two languages: in Finnish and in English.
Flexible study program opens myriad doors to the young
Varia is the second educational institution to which the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) has granted permission to arrange vocational IB CP training. Until now, only Educational Consortium OSAO (VET) has been the only Finnish educational institution that has offered the worldwide-known CP program. The opening of Varia IB World School was celebrated in Myyrmäki campus on August 15, 2024.
– The CP degree is a flexible study program that keeps the doors open as regards the student’s future, says Olli-Pekka Heinonen, director general of IBO.
According to Heinonen, the program provides an extensive further study qualification for studies at international higher education institutions, as well as the option of directly joining the labor market.
In his speech, Marko Aaltonen, Head of Unit for Vocational Education and Training at the Finnish National Agency for Education, said that information and communications technology is an important field worldwide. According to Aaltonen, IB CP studies in welfare technologies provides the young with paths to studies at higher education institutions and increases their capabilities of working in the English language.
Software, cybersecurity and robotics
When you study to become a welfare technology installer, you will become familiar with, among other things, robots, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity. The study program teaches the students how to install, repair and maintain devices, software, and systems that are used to promote people’s wellbeing both now and in the future.
IB studies deepen the student’s vocational competence because they, among other things, develop critical thinking and reflection skills, as well as provide facilities for working in an international environment. A welfare technology installer can work, for instance, in health care, sports, or smart-home technologies.
Vantaa’s IB education to expand to basic education and early childhood education in the future
The IB education beginning at Varia adds to the city’s provision of international education. Tikkurila’s IB high school has already prepared the young for the international matriculation examination (IB Diploma Programme) for over twenty years.
In the future, the City of Vantaa plans to expand the IB education into all the IB study programs, which include, in addition to the current ones, Primary Years Programme, targeted at 3–12-year-olds as well as Middle Years Programme, targeted at 11–16-olds.
– We are the first Finnish municipal education arranger to offer IB CP training, which is a great accomplishment. Preparations for getting the IB continuum to Vantaa really begins this fall, and I am excited about the future,” enthused Ari Ranki, director of upper secondary education, at the opening ceremony of Varia IB World School.
For more information, go to Varia IB World School’s website.
