My passion got me involved with various academia forums as a mentor, professor and speaker. During my interactions, I refer to aspiring minds as my future colleagues and bosses. They are smart and have huge exposure and interest in a wide range of topics. They know what they want and its no surprise that pursuing higher studies is on the top of their agenda. Most of them want to pursue their higher studies for MS or MBA outside India.

Household destination for higher studies in India is USA followed by UK and Germany. These days, I also hear that Canada, Australia and New Zealand are the new entrants. Strangely, in the last 15 years working with Nordics countries, I have never heard any student mentioning Nordic nations as their preferred choice for higher studies. Students are completely unaware about the vibrant Nordic countries.

Honestly, the only Nordic campaign people remember is India’s cricket captain on his honeymoon in Lapland, Finland. This is a big surprise as 500+ high tech and manufacturing Nordic companies are operating from India. Several of them as old as 40+ years.

Throughout my career, I have participated in senior management programmes at Nordic universities and have extensively worked with Nordic Professionals. In my personal view, the Nordic education system is amongst the best with regards to the professors, research, innovation, work environment, opportunities, and the grants made available by the government. The challenge is with Nordic culture of not making enough right noise about their achievements and positives.

Nordics resilient economy and growth in digital sector is challenged by lack of excellent talent. Lift and shift model of attracting foreign talent is not going to suffice. The only sustainable solution is when Nordic nations are identified by aspiring students as preferred choice for their education. They are going to successively become the brand ambassadors of aurora borealis (Northern Lights).