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Get a Life – future-oriented career guidance for university students

The project goal is to promote future-oriented thinking and proactivity among university students. The students as well as the career counselors in universities need tools for career planning in order to anticipate and assess the future directions of work life and society. This project provides a future-oriented simulation tool for the students as well as guidance tools for the counseling personnel.

Outcomes

• long-term futures scenarios on the development and changes in working life
• an online simulation tool for students in the career-planning process
• pedagogical model and a virtual handbook for career counselors
• the simulation is designed to complement the existing guidance material and tools

With the simulation tool the students can safely map and test future scenarios and create various futures paths for themselves. The career counselors will be able to utilize the simulation in their counseling sessions with the pedagogical model developed in this project. The simulation tool is going to have built-in guiding elements and references so that the students can use it also independently.

Financing and Resources

Get a Life project is mainly funded by the European Social Fund (ESF). In addition each of the business partners finances the project. The project is carried out during 1.9.2008–31.12.2013.

2012-2013 the project is coordinated and carried out by Finland Futures Centre, University of Turku.

The project was carried out 2008-2011 by five Finnish universities: University of Turku/Finland Futures Research Centre (co-ordinator), Career Services of the University of Turku, HAMK University of Applied Sciences, Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences and Laurea University of Applied Sciences.

Contact Information:

Finland Futures Research Centre
Education Manager Leena Jokinen
e-mail: leena.jokinen(a)utu.fi
tel. +358 40 7077 982