Who is an international talent?

‘International talent’ is a term used frequently in Finland. According to Rilla and colleagues (2018) this is due to Finland’s aim to attract multiple international talent groups simultaneously, covering e.g. start-up entrepreneurs, students, and workers. However, the term is not clearly defined and the ‘international talents’ themselves do not always approve of this label or identify themselves as ‘talents’. In this article, we explore the term and the lack of definition of it. We also bring out multiple perspectives and issues relating to the use of this term. Although there is no conclusion or consensus as to what term should be used, we hope to raise awareness of the complexity and potential discomfort the well-intended use of the term may bring about.

What’s the problem?

The Erasmus+ project INTERLOCALITY External link – Increased Local Employability of International Degree Students is about supporting international higher education degree students’ transition into work life in the host country. The project focuses on a few specific parts of the overall student journey, namely those pertaining to career development. The project thus chose to name activities and tools e.g. “International Talent Journey” and “I AM Talent”. This led to a discussion about the term “international talent”. As it turned out, it was not a simple question, as both “international” and “talent” have many diverging definitions and applications. Project members from Finland, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy participated in the discussions, but in this article, we will zero in on the Finnish context.

The Talent Boost programme

The national Talent Boost programme External link for attracting and retaining international talent dominates much of the visibility of the use of the term “international talent” in Finland. In the programme, the term is defined as “international specialists, employees, start-up entrepreneurs, as well as students and researchers.” However, the Talent Boost programme does not only use the term ‘international talent’, but also ‘international specialist’, ‘skilled labour’, ‘skilled migrant’, and ‘skilled professional’. ‘International student’ is used, and is in itself a complex term, which we will discuss in further detail later in this article. Also, the term ‘international researcher’, and ’foreign student’ are used, as are ‘immigrant’, ‘expert’, ‘spouse’, ‘growth entrepreneur’ and ‘foreign labour’. Although ‘international talent’ seems to be used as an umbrella term for all these categories, the sheer amount of different terms in the Talent Boost communication shows how complex the concept is. Below, we will try to explore some of that complexity.

How do you define ‘international’?

One clear area of distinction is whether one is talking about international individuals already residing in Finland or not. This is depicted in the use of the term ‘international talent abroad’. However, the Talent Boost programme entails both attracting new individuals from abroad and enhancing the employment of those already in Finland (e.g. international students and graduates), to encourage them to stay. But when does one stop being ‘international’ and become ‘national’? Is it connected to nationality, citizenship, to the level of integration (again a complex concept)? This is further confused by considering those with Finnish citizenship living abroad, those with Finnish citizenship living in Finland but without feeling ‘national’ or speaking the national languages, as well as Finnish repatriates being discriminated against in working life because of their sojourns abroad.

This group includes students who intentionally only remain in the host country for a shorter period of time as exchange students, students who remain a longer while in order to complete a full degree and then return to their home country or a third country, as well as students who remain in the host country as students, job seekers, entrepreneurs, employees, or spouses etc. This is something we found also in the INTERLOCALITY project, where all partner countries and institutions had different (if any) definitions of “international student”. This definition varied in referring to e.g. citizenship, country of completed prior education, mother tongue, or length of stay in the host country.

‘Talent’ as skill or person?

On its surface, ‘talent’ is a smooth way of including all the different kinds of desired education- and work-based immigrants. It has a more positive connotation than the term ‘immigrant’, as this, for some, seems to mean a burden for the host society. The same goes for ‘refugees’ and ‘asylum seekers’ regardless of how talented (as in skilled) they are. Yet, there is an implicit division between the desired immigrants – talents – and other immigrants. In management literature, Talent Management is also a contested term which has not been clearly defined (Gallardo-Gallardo & Thunnissen, 2019). It can be used either exclusively to only encompass what is considered top talent in an organisation, or inclusively to encompass all staff in an organisation, as all employees have talent of some kind (Gallardo-Gallardo & Thunnissen, 2019).

The choice of specific target groups in the Talent Boost definition indicates a somewhat exclusive approach to talent, in which certain groups of international individuals are the talents Finland desires. It excludes a wide variety of individuals who, undoubtedly, also have a lot of talent. Not only is there a division between the desired talent and other talent (as in people), but intersectionality is common. Spouses of the desired talents (the groups identified in the Talent Boost definition) are a prime example. They too might be desired talents, or not. They might also later become desired talents upon developing more talent (as in skill) through e.g. education.

How skilled is a ‘talent’?

Skilled, or highly skilled, migrants are commonly defined as foreign nationals with at least a Bachelor’s degree, having migrated for work (Cerdin et al., 2014; Hajro et al., 2019; Waxin et al., 2021). This is also visible in the Talent Boost programme’s use of terms such as ‘international specialist’, ‘expert’, ‘skilled labour’, ‘skilled migrant’ and ‘skilled professional’. However, when you look around in Finland, the most visible immigrants are working in “low-skilled” jobs. Is talent defined by the skill of the individual or by the skill required to do the job? Immigrants are often underemployed in their host countries (Almeida et al., 2019; Joshi & Ziguras, 2024). By underemployed we mean working in a job requiring fewer skills than the individual possesses (Risberg & Romani, 2022; Tharenou & Kulik, 2020). This is evidenced by the amount of highly skilled immigrants in Finland who work as cleaners, bus drivers, caretakers and food delivery workers, despite their education, work experience, and abilities (Ndomo, 2024). It seems Finland is indeed attracting and retaining a significant amount of ‘international talents’ (as in people), but is far from utilising that talent (as in skill) and potential.

Exploitation or appreciation?

Some highly skilled international migrants we have talked to in our daily work have resented the term ‘international talent’. They have felt that they are not appreciated as whole individuals, but merely as resources to be utilised for the benefit of the host country in a neoliberal and capitalist way. On the other hand, as stated earlier in this article, ‘talent’ has a more positive ring to it than ‘immigrant’ and maybe the choice of term is not directed at the international talents, but rather at members of the host country population who are often reluctant to see the benefit of receiving immigrants. Homogenous, rural populations in particular often perceive immigrants as threats (Fang et al., 2023; Lähdesmäki & Suutari, 2020; Lämsä et al., 2019) and nationalist politics draw on that fear of otherness.

What about ‘expatriates’ and ‘global citizens’?

An interesting addition to the discussion is the term ‘expatriate’. This term is not used in the Talent Boost communication, and is usually defined as ‘assigned expatriates’ who have migrated for work but only remain temporarily in the host country and are supported in the relocation by their employers whom they continue working for (Crowley-Henry et al., 2021; Hajro et al., 2019). There are also ‘self-initiated expatriates’ who have migrated to another country for work on their own account, and might not have made a decision on whether to remain temporarily or permanently in the host country (Al Ariss & Crowley-Henry, 2013). These would also be considered ‘international talents’ and often relocate with spouses and families.

Others, especially those who move around a lot, might consider themselves ‘global citizens’ instead of ‘immigrants’ or even ‘expats’. This avoidance of a forced dichotomy between international and national connects to the difficulty of drawing a line between them, as we discussed in the section of international students. This situation prompted the INTERLOCALITY project to focus on ‘inter-locality’ as pertaining to individuals who might live, study, and work in many different countries during their lives. The choice of this term was inspired by the TED Talk Don't ask where I'm from, ask where I'm a local by Taiye Selasi.

Conclusion

In conclusion, although we can offer no solution, nor any comprehensive review of the issue, we hope to increase the awareness of the importance of choice of terms, and the meanings linked to them, in the field of international higher education and in society more broadly. Individuals might feel very differently about the use of them, and what is intended as an inclusive term, may in fact be interpreted as an exclusive one. We would very much like to open the discussion on this topic, so please feel free to be in touch!

Senior Policy Advisor, Internationalisation, Arcada University of Applied Sciences
PhD Student, Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation (CHEI), Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy

Marc Perkins
Project Researcher, Finnish Institute for Educational Research, Higher Education Studies team
PhD Student, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

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