The English-language nature guide training course, which starts in August in Muonio, is aimed at improving safety in northern Finland’s tourism industry.
Lappia Vocational College is launching the first-ever English-language training course for wilderness and nature guides in Finnish Lapland.
The professional degree course starts in late August at the Tornio-based college’s branch campus in the northwestern municipality of Muonio.
Ilkka Mäki, director of Lappia’s Muonio Unit, predicts that the institution’s first English-language teaching programme will have a major impact on Lapland’s vital tourism sector.
“We can have an impact on the safety of the entire tourism industry by ensuring that people know how to operate in our Arctic operating environment,” he tells Yle.
According to Mäki, the training is primarily aimed at people who are already working as nature guides in Lapland.
Foreign guides “don’t necessarily have an understanding of our culture”
Mikael Heikkilä, a full-time nature instructor at the college, explains that the English-language wilderness and nature guide training is a multi-modal study course. The qualification can be completed on a work-study basis. The qualifications are the same as those in the Finnish-language wilderness guide training, which teaches a wide range of nature and safety skills.
“We’re really excited that this is happening now and that we have the opportunity to support companies and their guide teams,” Heikkilä says.
Applications for the course closed on Friday, with 25 people applying.
“Guides who come from abroad to work during the winter season don’t necessarily have an understanding of our culture or a common language,” says Joel Kantola, who moved from Helsinki to Muonio to study in the tourism sector at Lappia.
“It’s good that they can gain skills here at the school and improve safety for customers in the future,” he adds.
