Finland: The Student Capitalists

University students are sober, dedicated, enterprising, business-minded. Wrong? No, quite right—in Finland.

"When news from the outside world seemed to be of mayhem in the universities, we decided to do something other than riot," says Lauri Noreila, president of the student union at Helsinki's School of Economics. What he and his fellows did was organize a floating exhibition of Finnish products on a 10,000-ton ferry, then anchor it last fall beneath London's Tower Bridge. More than 100 firms participated in the "Finn-focus" exhibit, which produced $5,000,000 in export orders.

Such projects are not unusual for Finnish students, who are more concerned about...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!