To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Finland’s independence, Neste donates a total of EUR 1.5 million to Finnish universities. The donation will be split between Aalto University, Espoo; Åbo Akademi, Turku; Lappeenranta University of Technology; and the University of Helsinki. Donation recipients were selected with particular attention to the extent of cooperation with Neste, the share of graduates from these universities of all Neste recruits, and the university’s academic success in international reviews.

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%) thinks that 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.

• Neste, Helsinki, Finland