YA provides competence improvement for the business sector
SANELA KRAK, a forty-year-old former Bosnian citizen, moved to Finland in 2008 with her husband and two children. In 2014, she became the only adult and foreigner accepted to a first degree programme in business activities at YA.YA (short for Yrkesakademin i Österbotten) the Vocational College of Ostrobothnia offers a substantial range of education from technology and communication to domestic services and social science. For the past years, there has been an evident rise in the number of adult students wanting to enrol in the college, which YA has been catering for.
SANELA HAD already been working for six years in the packaging department at Närpes Grönsaker, one of Finland’s biggest cooperatives of green-house growers, when the education for a Business and Administration Clerk (BAC) qualification started at YA in 2014.
“Previously, I had worked for ten years with sales work in Bosnia, so when my boss asked me if I would like to become the Team Leader for the packaging department, I said yes. I started the team leader course, and in addition I also took the BAC exam”, she explains.
SANELA, WHO became a Finnish citizen in 2012, wanted more opportunities for personal development in her work and to get more responsibility. After three years as a Team Leader, and having received her BAC qualification in 2017, she was promoted to Production Supervisor. Her new position requires a fair amount of administrative work, forwhich the qualification has given her the needed skills and confidence.
“I honestly think that the BAC exam is good, and it has helped me to see our business from a wider perspective. I also want to thank my employer, who pushed me and supported me 100% in my studies. My exam is to our mutual advantage, and I am proud that I did it”, says Sanela.
Sanela enjoys having new challenges in her life; she has now started a course in Finnish for beginners at YA.“If I can influence people in any way by telling my story, I hope it will encourage people to study more. YA is here to help anyone who wants to learn, regardless of whether it is languages or something else”, she says.
