Neste Corporation Press Release 2 November 2016 at 3:00 pm (EET) Neste donates EUR 1.5 million to universities in Finland To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Finland's independence, Neste will donate a total of EUR 1.5 million to Finnish universities. The donation will be split between Aalto University, Åbo Akademi, Lappeenranta University of Technology, and the University of Helsinki. According to a recent survey, Finns wish that universities would increasingly cooperate with businesses.
In selecting the donation recipients, particular attention was paid to the extent of cooperation with Neste, share of graduates from these universities of all Neste recruits, and the university's academic success in international reviews.
With the donations, Neste wants to underline its commitment to the future of Finnish young people and its appreciation of the contribution of the Finnish educational system to our 100-year-old country.
"The absolute strengths of Finland in international comparison are education accessible to everyone and highly educated people. This expertise also underlies Neste's success. With the donation, Neste wants to contribute to ensuring that there will be competent and diverse expertise in Finland for competitiveness and new innovations in the future as well," says Matti Lievonen, CEO of Neste.
Companies are hoped to provide internships and degree thesis subjects
Neste carried out a survey of the attitudes of a thousand Finns aged 18 to 80 towards the funding and business cooperation of universities and higher education institutions. According to this survey, the majority of respondents (83%) thought that in order to safeguard the employment of the students, businesses and universities and higher education institutions should increase their cooperation to some extent or considerably.
The respondents considered securing internships as clearly the most important form (69%) of cooperation. The younger the respondent, the more important they considered internships. Assignments for degree theses (50%) and support for research (42%) were also considered to be good forms of cooperation.
Neste annually offers summer internships for approximately 350 young people in Finland. In addition, the company is engaged in close cooperation with universities and higher education institutions in a variety of research projects, and offers degree thesis opportunities for students.
Knowhow benefits everyone
Besides the donation, Neste has had a high profile in supporting Finnish education in other ways as well. The company took part in the Tempaus2016 event organized by the Student Union of Aalto University as the main partner. Over a thousand Aalto students visited Finnish primary schools and inspired schoolchildren to learn by using an everyday life problem toolbox, among other things. In addition, the students took photographs of their school visits, and a mosaic compiled from the photos was handed over to Olli-Pekka Heinonen, Director General of the Board of Education.
"Neste definitely wanted to be involved with such a great event that connected primary schools and institutes of higher education. Businesses must take part in developing and supporting the Finnish school system and higher education so that we will also have internationally renowned experts in the future. The survey shows that this is something that is significant to Finns in general, too," Lievonen remarks.
Neste Corporation
Osmo Kammonen SVP, Communications and Brand Marketing
More information: Osmo Kammonen, SVP, Communications and Brand Marketing, tel. +358 10 458 4885 Neste in brief
Neste (NESTE, Nasdaq Helsinki) creates sustainable choices for the needs of transport, businesses and consumers. Our global range of products and services allows customers to lower their carbon footprint by combining high-quality renewable products and oil products to tailor-made service solutions. We are the world's largest producer of renewable diesel refined from waste and residues, and we are also bringing renewable solutions to the aviation and plastics industries. We want to be a reliable partner, whose expertise, R&D and sustainable practices are widely respected. In 2015, Neste's net sales stood at EUR 11 billion, and we were on the Global 100 list of the 100 most sustainable companies in the world. Read more: neste.com
