Service-Learning Agreement And Educational Plan Form: Fill & Download for Free

When Finland declared its independence from Russia in 1917, it was a poor, agrarian country. In 100 years, Finland has become the third most prosperous country in the world. What is the secret behind this success?We Finns are very happy when people have positive, even if slightly erroneous information on Finland.The other answers have listed the general features of Finland´s development during the independence. As in many other contexts, modern research has enriched the conventional narratives told from generation to generation. Just to clarify some key features of the economic success factors, or at least phenomena, of Finland, the Government have released a thorough study on the topic in 2017, to honor the 100 years of independence, called “100 years of a small open economy”. This study seems to be in Finnish only, so I will summarize the key points here.The study contains some surprising conclusions. Original source: 100 vuotta pientä avotaloutta - Suomen ulkomaankaupan kehitys, merkitys ja näkymätThe first thing to note is that Finland was not (compared to peers) a retarded, desperately poor country before the independence. People were generally literate after 50 years of mandatory basic education, we had had our own governance and institutions more or less for 100 years, and during the 1910´s many parts of Finland were properly industrialized. (At the same time, though, some areas were left behind, and suffered inefficient agrarian methods and quick population increase. This created a pressure to immigrate, at that phase especially to the USA and Canada. )Finland in 1910´s was an open economy and its export/ GDP ratio was pretty high in international comparison. The export industries enjoyed open border towards huge Russian markets, but still 70 % of exports were to other countries.Finnish Foreign Trade (%of GDP) 1870-2010Translated from: https://tietokayttoon.fi/julkaisu?pubid=22702There is more inside these figures. In 1910 the value added of the international exports made about 23 % of Finnish GDP. After that, this number actually went continuously down, until in late 1950´s it started growing again, and reached the 1910 level only in 1980.Finnish Foreign Trade Added Value 1910-2010Translated from https://tietokayttoon.fi/julkaisu?pubid=22702This value-add concept needs some explanation. Modern research appreciates the fact that the nature of international trade has been changing. Originally, Finland exported goods that were made almost totally in Finland, with Finnish work, energy and materials. Overwhelming majority of the value-add between export revenue and production costs remained in Finland. This is different now. Goods and services exported are a result a complex mesh of international supply chain, and a relatively high proportion of the cost is brought in by the intermediary products, imported to Finland. In modern times, gross export revenue has to be much higher than in 1910 in order to bring in the same amount of value-add. Obviously also the absolute values of export as well as GDP have increased considerably.Finnish GDP and ExportsTranslated from: https://tietokayttoon.fi/julkaisu?pubid=22702As said, in 1980 the value added of exports again reached 23 % of GDP, but with much higher contribution of intermediate products, which left to foreign manufacturers of imported goods added value of almost 10 % of our GDP. Of course, there is no return to olden times, and due to integration with international value chains, Finnish economy has been able to remain decently competitive while increasing the sophistication and service content of exports.Openness has been a crucial factor in Finnish economic story. This situation continued after turbulent times – Russian revolts, 1st world war, Russian revolutions, and civil war after independence. During 1920-30 Finland was developing at par with international markets, and actually was able to fight the increasing protectionism during 1930´s. Exports were dominantly towards West because we lost the Eastern market. After the WW II the tide turned, however.In the picture below we can see how Finland behaved differently from so called developed economies. During the period ending 1938, foreign trade/GDP of developed countries decreased clearly more than that of Finland. On the other hand Finland was not opening the foreign trade in a similar manner than K15 after the WW II.Foreign Trade of Goods (% of GDP)Note: Figures of some countries may include also export of services** Australia, Belgium, Spain, GB, Italy, Japan, Canada, Norway, Portugal, France, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and USASource: https://tietokayttoon.fi/julkaisu?pubid=22702Extra boost of foreign trade has been clearly beneficial to Finland, and decrease in international trade does a lot of harm.This was to be seen during another key period in the story: the relationship with Soviet Union after the Second World War. The key ingredient in that story is the compensation trade of industrial products Soviet Union required Finland to send them during 1950´s. This relationship later continued as a peculiar bilateral trade with Soviet Union - basically, we got oil and sent them goods with ”corresponding value”.After the initial shock of harsh compensation decisions by USSR, the impact of forced compensation trade was positive in that sense that it required us to develop our production capabilities and new technologies in areas we initially were not strong. But already in 1960´s, and increasingly towards late 1970´s it became obvious that bilateral trade also had made us lazy in innovation and efficiency. Finland also supported protectionist policies in 1950´s in order to protect our domestic industries, which was about to make the situation worse in a longer term. Prioritization of use of limited foreign currency reserves were also a factor.Gradually during 1960´s, however, Finland integrated with international markets through several free trade agreements, and widened the export portfolio. Still the protected bilateral trade with Soviet Union was a considerable part of our consumer goods and industrial products export.Electronics and automation had become the obvious key productivity factors as well as potential new export products when 1970´s ended. Now almost forgotten (including the report cited here) is the response of Finnish state then. A very wide consensus on the challenge facilitated a creation a new master plan. In 1982 so called Technology Committee published its conclusions and recommendations. Surprisingly enough, practically all suggested measures were implemented, creating new governance structures and financial sources for innovation in specific key areas, including electronics, signal processing, automation etc. This, among some other beneficial factors, laid the platform for later successes in electronics, software, and communication equipment. The politicians of to-day have something to learn here.During the 1980´s it was the turn of our financial market - it was experiencing increasing pressure to open up. The wave of speculation, manipulation and ultimately collapse was the result of this exercise at the end of decade. Nobody was mature enough to handle the situation, and at the same time we lost the Soviet market due to collapse there, and suffered from the international recession in early 1990´s. This was a terrible blow with high unemployment and sometimes catastrophic social consequences. However, the recovery started a fast productivity improvement and economic expansion which laid the basis for a moderately competitive welfare state Finland is today. Benefits of EU membership were also a key ingredient.It is important to notice that behind the figures, our export product portfolio has experienced several waves of transformation. All the shocks experienced have contained the ingredients of the next steps forward. It is called creative destruction. It is painful but probably necessary.Finnish Gross Export by Industry 1892-2015Note: 1950´s statistics do not include exports of Chemical and Textile Industries. Figures on Services export can be considered reliable from 1948 onwards. Included in this picture is an estimate on military equipment exports to Russia during WW I, not included in the official foreign trade statistics.Translated from: https://tietokayttoon.fi/julkaisu?pubid=22702In the picture above we also can see the pace of transformation. After the full-stop recession of 1991–93, during the period towards the year 2000, contribution of basic industries like agriculture, forestry, paper and basic metals went down from 60 % to 40 %. During that period we lost almost all textile exports (actually manufacturing itself), we learned that great promise of Chemical industries was not to be realized, and services started to grow. Nokia ruled the world. After 2000, the transformation continued. Loss of Nokia Mobile Phone business was compensated by rapid increase of service exports, along with “other” export of goods. This creates huge pressures for flexibility of economy and education.The report cited here highlights the difference between gross export revenue and domestic value add of export. As a conclusion, based on value-add criteria one of the key factors in the relative success of Finland is flexibility in changing the contents of our export products and services towards value adding ones, which is facilitated by highly experienced and specialized core of employees / companies.This spearhead drives the other parts of the economy. It is also a very short list of companies, according to some estimates only around 40 biggest are responsible for almost all value add of export. Relatively egalitarian society in Finland (the Nordic model) allows sharing the economic results to different citizen groups and geographies in the country.This in a short-short form is the story of Finnish economy after independence.Thanks for asking, Ross Taylor!

It’s plausible and varies by case but there are a few issues to consider before your employer should request a petition. As I am sure you already know, you cannot file the petition yourself (even in F1 status) as it has to be done by your employer. Startups often have concerns over whether or not they can successfully petition for H-1B visas.Just to preface, I've had some success with starting 2 internet based businesses along with spending a lot time/money navigating all the legal stuff.Currently, I'm helping 100's startup employees find and hire immigration lawyers at prices that work for them with: LawTrades.Okay, now that we have some credibility out of the way, let's get it on.Since the company is new, they have the burden of proof in regards to proving that they are a legitimate company. The USCIS absolutely has to be convinced of this and it is usually done with a business plan, contracts, leases, payroll records, clients, photos of the premises, etc. If there are any investors or any form of venture capital funding involved with the $200k in funding then they could certainly add credibility to the business as well as vouch for the nature of the funding. The company will also have to be of sufficient size (a 4 member team may suffice) and have the appropriate legal structure as these will be scrutinized along with everything else.I. The PrerequisitesJust to clarify a few things, the company seeking your services as an international student must be able to legally fit the description of a U.S. employer which is defined as a “person, firm, corporation, contractor or other association or organization in the United States with an IRS tax identification number known as a Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN).” There must also be an employer – employee relationship which is demonstrated by the fact that you can be hired, fired, paid, or supervised.The company will also have to adhere to the Department of Labor (DOL) requirements in order to obtain a Labor Condition Application (LCA). The DOL will certify the LCA and then form I-29 will be submitted and reviewed by the USCIS and this is when all of the documentation needs to be presented. Your employer will need to validate the fact that the business has enough funds to pay “market wage” for you as this is one of the requirements. Market wage is often difficult to determine, however, the USCIS uses factors listed below and the average salary per the Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) along with other methods to determine such a value. Furthermore, your employer would also have to disclose why they think you are the only person that can fill the needs of this position. Without knowing some more specific information involving your situation, a monthly salary of $2,000.00 or an annual salary of $24,000.00 may or may not meet such a requirement. A few additional basic guidelines for establishing market wage include:Job titleJob descriptionJob locationType of employerRulings by the National Prevailing Wage Center (NPWC)Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH)II. Specialty Position and Educational RequirementYour position would also have to be considered a specialty position and you need to be employed on a full or part-time basis. A specialty occupation normally requires a bachelor’s degree or higher or at the very least an equal amount of experience within that particular field. However, some positions that do not require a bachelor’s degree can still be considered a specialty position if they are so complex that only specialized individuals can perform them. In general, professional positions (accountant, architects, engineers, teachers, nurses, economists, lawyers, etc.) are considered specialty positions.This also ties into the educational requirements needed to engage within the specialty occupation. If you do have a bachelor’s degree and did not earn it from an accredited institution within the United States, then your degree will have to be evaluated and must be determined to be an equivalent degree to one in the U.S. If this test fails, then the requirement of sufficient work/education experience has not been fulfilled. As previously mentioned, if no bachelor’s degree has been obtained the substitute is typically three years of work experience equals one year of college education. For a four year bachelor’s degree, you would need 12 years of work experience in a specialty position. On top of everything else, if state law requires an employee to hold a certification (such as a registered nurse) then you will need to obtain that certification as well.III. H-1B Dependent EmployerFinally, if your employer is an H-1B dependent employer, a willful violator, or a TARP recipient, the will have to attest to three statements:The employer will not displace a similarly employed U.S. worker within 90 days of applying for an H-1B visaThe H-1B visa employee will not be placed at another worksiteThe employer sought out a qualified United States worker to fulfill the position at the same wage that is being offered to the H-1B visa employee. The employer will also offer the job to any United States worker that applies and is just as qualified if not better than the H-1B employee.IV. In ConclusionYou should also be aware that the number of H-1B visas issued per fiscal year is capped at 65,000. The fiscal year runs from October 1st to September 30th. 6,800 of these H-1B visas are reserved for Chile and Singapore in relation to the Free Trade Agreements between the United States and these specific countries. An additional 20,000 visas are available to those who have received a Master’s degree or higher from an accredited institution within the United States.This process may seem unattainable and daunting; however, even though it is sometimes difficult to do so, there is a high possibility for a startup to obtain approval for an H-1B assuming they meet all of the requirements. Here's a useful video where you can learn more: http://vimeo.com/13374673To summarize, as long as the process is carefully planned out and the documentation is available, the startup should have no issue obtaining an H-1B approval. However, an experienced attorney is an important part of this process and can navigate this often very complex process. We can connect you with a qualified immigration attorney today at LawTrades.

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” — Leo Tolstoy … the Anna Karenina principleThere are some pretty good answers here, some of which I will read more than once. And Jimmy has succinctly and with humor, identified an all too common pattern among English teachers in Japan, although my tale is a bit different. Rather than give advice, feel free to use (or not) my anecdotal evidence as a cautionary tale relevant to the question.I came to Japan to meet my met-in-USA Japanese girlfriend, and as one form of ‘Charisma Man’ — jump start a career as a science journalist (undergrad in marine biology) or novelist (loved philosophy courses better than dissecting sharks).I started off my career in Japan working for a ma and pa conversation school in Utsunomiya. Generally good times and good friends, but after about 2 years, I moved to Tokyo for more work and education opportunities, worked for a trade school, Sundai ELS for 2 years, a major Japanese trading company, Nissho Iwai Corporation, for another couple of years (managing an in-house English program), and then started teaching part-time at universities. I got my Master's in Education (TESOL) at Temple University Japan — and worked there teaching everything from Biology labs to public speaking to freshman writing, and matriculated (though never finished) into the doctoral program.I had a hell of a good time with both students and teachers, and made a lot Japanese friends through outside hobbies (jazz/Brazilian guitar and offshore fishing). I parlayed about 15 years of heavy commuting time between colleges for part-time work into a tenured position at a Japanese College with a fairly long history, Jissen Women's Educational Institute.Through what I assumed was accrued social capital, I gradually became involved with volunteer work at local kindergartens teaching English, helping mental health care out-patients (Hino City Government), editing a medical report checking for thyroid cancer clusters from the Fukushima meltdown, supporting the homeless in Shinjuku (Soup no Kai), and took 4 trips to rural Cambodia to work with local schools. I collaborated with Junior Chamber International, volunteered at local event driven projects for the physically handicapped, helped out as a volunteer with Hino Motors' in-house English program, and became (briefly) vice president of a city government funded local NPO (東京都国際交流委員会).I did the rounds ... publishing, giving academic presentations in Japan, Korea, and the U.S. — one of which was award winning, and getting involved with community outreach programs. Even though I was called upon to teach classes in everything from history of jazz, to Zen, to Joseph Campbell, to Jill Bolte Taylor, to Frans de Waal, to Dunbar's number, to pop music, to deconstructionism of short stories or movies, to business writing, to comparative culture ... I was well aware of my culture gap, generational gap, and gender gap working at a Women's College. So I often brought students along on community activities (in accordance with the Ministry of Education's long standing suggestion) as a way of improving their English AND integrating them with the working world beyond the school gates by introducing them to Japanese I deemed as worthy role models. I often had such Japanese members of the wider community, as well as exchange students from one of China's top Universities, Communication University of China join my classes and seminars as guest observers, participants, and sometimes give their own presentations.In my private life, I've had more than my share of lust, love and loss ... but somehow, I got too busy to get married and start my own family. But there were more than enough people who made me feel needed and my life meaningful. I was finding myself changing from an English teacher to an 'educator' in the broadest, liberal-arts sense of the word, and loving it.I began getting offers to judge English speech contests at Waseda, Tokyo University, Keio, Sophia, and other major universities. The standard procedure is to offer some financial compensation to the judges - the equivalent of between $100.00 and $300.00. As such contests were student organized by campus E.S.S. (English Speaking Society) clubs, as an educator, I saw an opportunity to help them make such events more than just a show of technical skills. I made it my policy to demand twice the judge's fee for my services — provided that they keep that doubled fee and donate it to a socially relevant charity or service of their choice.Though most clubs and schools were pleasantly surprised and glad to be so empowered, the E.S.S. society of one of Japan's higher ranked schools, Doshisha University , turned down my condition due to the school's bureaucratic constraints regarding the use of money. Knowing that the students were aware that they could contribute their own money to charities to meet my conditions (as at least one or two other school clubs happily did so), I regretfully declined to indulge them.But more troubling, I was under (in retrospect) a naive impression that my pro-active, student-empowering volunteer activities at top Japanese universities would have been acknowledged as good PR for my own far more modestly ranked school, as the speech contest brochures always included a brief introduction of the judges and their affiliated institutions. Far from it, my department colleagues reacted in a manner somewhere between indifference and defensive ... as if my behavior was somehow putting pressure on them to live up to higher standards.It took me about 10 more years to work my way up to Associate Professor, only to find out the school had, or made, on-the-cuff, 'special' and contradictory rules for the few full-time foreigners (I was the only tenured foreigner at the Jr. College campus) such as 'forbidden to do community out-reach work, do any kind of volunteer work with students without asking for permission from 'colleagues' (though not one of them ever asked for my permission), or even use my native English speaking skills on weekends without departmental permission (I wonder how they would enforce such rules if I were to stay home and watch a movie in English?), forbidden from collaborative work with other departments at my same school without permission, and foreigners expressly forbidden to conduct their research sabbatical in their home country.It is relatively easy to parse such discrimination in a way that is not 'racial' ... but a rose is a rose is a rose. Such rules are deliberately discriminatory, disenfranchizing, and dehumanizing.Without bothering to list the multitude of micro-agressions I suffered from such ‘colleagues’ and administration, I will say that if it were not for the joy of being in the classroom and community with students, I would have committed suicide by now ... which, incidentally, last year, was the greatest cause of mortality in Japan for males between the ages of 20 and 44. In fact, for the past decade or so, Japan has had about 30,000 suicides per year. It is enough of a problem that as of this year, a new labor law has required firms of 500 or more personnel to offer mental health care services on a yearly basis - though like many such labor laws may be little more than tatemai (lip service) — the law does not require mental health care to be provided by a mental health care specialist. The land of 'Hello Kitty'.About 3 years ago, I was told that I now had the opportunity to exercise my right to take a one year research sabbatical. So I quit my one-day part-time job at Komazawa University, combined a couple of volunteer trips to Cambodia with establishing a sister-school sponsor (all at my expense), and just prior to departing for my one year research sabbatical, I was suddenly ordered to sign a document drawn up especially for me, requiring me to promise to obey the contradictory policies of both my school and my department ... for example the school's stated purpose is to 'raise citizens capable of recognizing and addressing society's problems' … with me on the same working contract with the same rights and obligations as all other tenured members of the faculty — while my department insisted I was hired only in the capacity to assist the department members and was micro-managed to the point of having to follow their orders as to when I must use English or when I must use Japanese, and even denying me permission to do community volunteer activities with students.Say whaaat? I can not be certain regarding all Japanese Universities, but as far as I know, some kind of community service or service to society is mandatory for promotion at American Universities.I pointed out that the Dean of the school and Department Chairman (actually Chairwoman) disagreed about my status, rights, and obligations ... and despite my insistence, they both refused to meet and come to an agreement. So I refused to sign the paper. The document was illegal according Japanese Labor Law (withholding information necessary to fulfill one's work responsibilities). Regardless, my year long research sabbatical was immediately cancelled and I was notified that I would receive no classes for the following academic year. I had been set up, and fell for it … hook, line, and sinker.I quickly joined a union, started seeing a psychiatrist for stress related mental health issues, got put on meds, and promptly opted to take a medical leave of absence for work related stress issues. With much time and reason to think, I attended, as a student, a handful of classes at a rival school, Sagami Women's University which opened some classes to the public. Some of the more memorable classes I attended (and were well taught) included the history of Government sanctioned Volunteerism in Japan (surprisingly, beginning only in 1995 with the government's acknowledged incapacity to deal with the aftermath of the Kobe earthquake), moral education in Japan (pretty much left up to elementary school teachers, and even with the impending right of 18 year olds to vote - politically relevant discussions such as whether to restart nuclear reactors are banned on high school campuses in the name of 'objectivity'), and Hospitality ('Yokoso Japan', literally 'welcome to Japan' is merely a tourist trap, catch-phrase and has absolutely nothing to do with accepting refugees — only 12 out of about 5,000 applicants were accepted last year and this year's Syrian crises will have no affect on the standard government line).My stint as a student was really odd because I was probably the first ethnic non-asian to attend, one of few males, and certainly the only student who was currently a tenured faculty member of a rival school. I was even approached by the Hospitality class teacher in query over possibly working full time at Sagami Joshi Dai, but the idea was dropped like a hot potaoto when she found out that I was nearing 60.Shortly after my stint as a student, I opted to use my remaining health insurance to have hip-joint replacement surgery. I am still recovering, but in the meantime, my allotted medical leave of absence had expired and the Union had failed to resolve anything with the school. I was told that my options were:1) to press for a law-suit which I would likely win, but it would be a long, drawn out Pyrrhic victory at best,2) return to the school under the same conditions as I left - with no right to teach, no right to do research, and no right to volunteer, except under orders from my native Japanese 'colleagues' or3) resign ... which I did, under protest.That was about 3 years ago, and so here I am at 61, depending on the kindness of strangers (and friends), recovering from hip surgery, unemployment insurance from the school association having run out … I now only have a month to go in finishing the national unemployment plan (Hello Work), and not even a nibble from applications for part-time teaching jobs in either the business sector or universities.I suspect there is a possibility that like other minorities have been subjected to in Japan, I am now on a secretly circulated 'black list' Is Japan really racist? ... unless I want to be among the expendable labor cleaning up the Fukushima meltdown.I have come to the conclusion that either:1) this is all a Kabuki-Show, a Japanese version of The Truman Show,2) Japanese Labor Law is toothless and contracts are not worth the paper they are written on, or3) some, if not most, Japanese Universities are simply Black Companies, and educational ideals are just a facade as the following 3 links seem to suggest.1 - Japanese universities are ditching humanities and social sciences2 - Page on japantimes.co.jp3 - Page on japantimes.co.jpPerhaps I am just a victim of 'ba-chigai' ... wrong time, wrong place. I was too green and marginalized to take advantage of the bubble economy when I first came to Japan over 30 years ago. And my career choice was based on ideals, not economic scalability.In the end, all economies are based on limited natural resources. The Malthusian Dilemma and The Tragedy of the Commons have not been resolved, only postponed. With China’s fortunes on the rise, I am simply collateral damage — on the losing end of Japan's right-wing resurgence in an international zero-sum game.Oh well, I've got nothing but time to ponder it all.And I still have my friends, my guitar, and a fishing rod or two.For now.Steely Dan's 'Deacon Blues' anyone?