Neste donates 1.5 million to Finnish universities

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Finland's independence, Neste will donate a total of EUR 1.5 million to Finnish universities.

The donation will be split between Aalto University, Åbo Akademi, Lappeenranta University of Technology, and the University of Helsinki. According to a recent survey, Finns wish that universities would increasingly cooperate with businesses.

In selecting the donation recipients, particular attention was paid to the extent of cooperation with Neste, share of graduates from these universities of all Neste recruits, and the university's academic success in international reviews.

"The absolute strengths of Finland in international comparison are education accessible to everyone and highly educated people. (...) With the donation, Neste wants to contribute to ensuring that there will be competent and diverse expertise in Finland for competitiveness and new innovations in the future as well," says Matti Lievonen, CEO of Neste.

With the donations, Neste wants to underline its commitment to the future of Finnish young people and its appreciation of the contribution of the Finnish educational system to our 100-year-old country.

In a survey carried out by Neste, the majority of respondents (83%) thought that in order to safeguard the employment of the students, businesses, universities and higher education institutions should increase their cooperation to some extent or considerably.