Finland Education Profile 2012

The Finnish education system is an egalitarian Nordic system, with no tuition fees for full-time students. Attendance is compulsory for 9 years starting at age 7, and free meals are served to pupils at primary and secondary levels. The first nine years of education (primary and secondary school) are compulsory, and the pupils go to their local school. In the OECD's international assessment of student performance, PISA, Finland has consistently been among the highest scorers worldwide; in 2003 Finnish 15-year-olds came first in reading literacy, mathematics, and science, while placing second in problem solving, worldwide. In tertiary education, the World Economic Forum ranks Finland #1 in the world in the enrollment and quality and #2 in math and science education.

The education after primary school is divided to the vocational and academic systems, according to the old German model. The systems do not traditionally interoperate, although some of the de jure restrictions have been recently lifted. In particular, an important difference to other systems is that there is no common "youth school" — ages 15-19 are spent either in a trade school, or in an academic-oriented upper secondary school. Trade school graduates may enter the workforce directly after graduation. Upper secondary school graduates are taught no vocational skills and are expected to continue to tertiary education. A national speciality in contrast to some foreign systems is the academic matriculation diploma (Abitur) received after successful completion of upper secondary school, which holds a high prestige.

As the trade school is considered a secondary school, the term "tertiary education" refers to institutes of higher learning, or what is generally considered university level elsewhere. Therefore, plain figures for tertiary level enrollment are not internationally comparable. The tertiary level is divided to the university and higher vocational school (ammattikorkeakoulu) systems, whose diplomas are not mutually interchangeable. Only universities award licentiates and doctorates. Traditionally only university graduates may obtain higher (postgraduate) degrees. The Bologna process has resulted in some restructuring, where vocational degree holders can qualify for further studies by doing additional courses. There are 20 universities and 30 polytechnics in the country.

Primary and secondary education

The educational system in Finland is based on a nine year comprehensive school (Finnish peruskoulu, Swedish grundskola, 'basic school'), with mandatory attendance. It begins at the age of 6-7 and ends at the age of 15-16. After graduation from comprehensive school there is a choice between upper secondary school (lukio, gymnasium) and vocational school (ammatillinen oppilaitos, yrkesinstitut). The second level education is not compulsory, but an overwhelming majority attends. Both primary and secondary education is funded by the municipalities, which are supported by the state on the basis of the student numbers in their schools.

There are private schools but they are made unattractive by legislation. The founding of a new private comprehensive school requires a political decision by the Council of State. When founded, the private schools are given a state grant comparable to the state grant given to the municipal school of same size. However, even in private schools, the use of tuition fees is strictly prohibited, and any private school must admit all its pupils on the same basis as the corresponding municipal school. In addition, private schools are required to give their students all the social entitlements that are offered to the students of municipal schools. Because of this, existing private comprehensive schools are mostly faith-based or Waldorf schools. However, in major cities, there are a few private upper secondary and vocational schools as residue of the pre-1970's educational system.

The students of comprehensive and secondary education enjoy a number of social entitlements, the most important of which are school health care and a daily free lunch, which should cover about a third of the daily nutritional need. In addition, the comprehensive school pupils are entitled to receive free books and materials and free school trips in the case that they have a long or arduous trip to school. Secondary school students must, however, buy their own books and materials.

Upper secondary school prepares for the university, so that all the material taught is "general studies". Vocational school develops vocational competence and as such does not primarily prepare for higher education, although the vocational school graduates are formally qualified for entering tertiary education. Thus, unlike Sweden, Finland separates the vocational and general secondary education programs. Their integration has been experimented (so-called "youth school" experiments), but the conclusion was to keep them separate. There is a shortage and the corresponding high demand for secondary vocational degree-holders in many trades.

Upper secondary school, unlike vocational school, concludes with a nationally graded matriculation examination (ylioppilastutkinto, studentexamen). Passing the test is a de facto prerequisite for further education. The system is designed so that approximately the lowest scoring 5% fails and also 5% get the best grade. The exam allows for a limited degree of specialization in either natural sciences or social sciences. Universities may use the test score in the matriculation examination to accept students. The examination was originally the entrance examination to the University of Helsinki, and its high prestige survives to this day. Each May Day, or Vappu, people wear the white cap that is the academic regalia associated with the graduation. Furthermore, the graduation is an important and formal family event, like christening, wedding, and funeral.

Special programmes exist in vocational institutes which either require a matriculation examination, or allow the student to study for the matriculation exam in conjunction to the vocational education (kaksoistutkinto, dubbelexamen). The latter are unpopular, because they equate to going to two schools at the same time and usually take four years.

Tertiary education

There are two sectors in the tertiary education: universities (yliopisto, universitet) and polytechnics (ammattikorkeakoulu, yrkeshögskola, or AMK/YH for short). When recruiting new students, the national matriculation examination and entrance examinations are used as criteria for student selection. The focus for universities is research, and they give a more theoretical education. The polytechnics focus on practical skills and they seldom pursue research, but they do engage in industry development projects. For example, physicians are university graduates, where as nurses are polytechnic graduates. The vocational schools and polytechnics are governed by municipalities, or in special cases, by private entities. (As an exception to the rule, Police College is governed by the Ministry of the Interior) All Finnish universities, on the other hand, are owned by the state. A bachelor's degree takes about 3–4 years at a university. Depending on the programme, this may be the point of graduation, but usually only an intermediate step towards the master's degree. A polytechnic degree, on the other hand, takes about 3.5–4.5 years. A degree from a polytechnic is not, however, considered legally equivalent to a lower university degree in the Finnish system. Outside of Finland, polytechnic degrees are generally accepted as lower university degrees.

Polytechnic-graduated Bachelors are able to continue their studies by applying to Master's degree programmes in universities. These take two years in general, but the polytechnic graduates are often required to undertake circa a year's worth of additional studies to bring them on the level with the university graduates. The Bologna process has progressively lowered the amount of required additional studies and in some cases no additional studies are required. After polytechnic graduates have completed three year's work experience in their field, they are also qualified to apply for polytechnic master's degree-programmes (lower university degree graduates are qualified also, but with additional studies) which are work-oriented — not academic. The polytechnic Master's degree program takes two years and can be undertaken in conjunction with regular work. Contrary to Bachelors, a master's degree graduate from a polytechnic is considered equivalent to academic master's graduate of related field. After master's, the remaining degrees (Licentiate and Doctor) are available only in universities. The polytechnic master's degree does not qualify for graduate studies at doctoral level.

Attendance is compulsory in primary and vocational schools, but voluntary in universities and polytechnics. No tuition fees are collected. However, there are plans (in the current government platform) to introduce tuition fees to students from outside the European Union. In universities, membership in the students' union is compulsory. Students' unions of polytechnics are similarly recognized in the legislation, but the membership is voluntary and does not include special university student health care. Finnish students are entitled to a student benefit, which may be revoked if there is a persistent lack of progress in the studies. The benefit is often insufficient and thus students usually work to help fund their studies. State-guaranteed student loans are also available.

Some universities provide professional degrees in fields like engineering and medicine. They have additional requirements in addition to merely completing the studies, such as demonstrations of competence in practice.

Examples:

• * Lääketieteen lisensiaatti, medicine licentiat, Licentiate of Medicine. A Bachelor of Medicine (lääketieteen kandidaatti, medicine kandidat) is allowed to conduct clinical work under the supervision of senior medical staff. There is no Master's degree, and the licentiate degree does not require a full doctoral dissertation. The equivalent of a Medical Doctor in the U.S. sense is therefore not called "doctor", but licentiate. The research or "professor's degree", including a full dissertation, is called "Doctor of Medicine" (lääketieteen tohtori, medicine doktorsexamen).
• * Diplomi-insinööri, diplomingenjör, is a six-year programme of 300 ECTS, which is comparable to an Anglo-Saxon Master of Science with the Bachelor in the same field. However, included in this is a 30 ECTS "diploma project", which is a real-life engineering project taking about ½-1 years. Its completion demonstrates professional competence in addition to the necessary amount of education. Notice: this programme, in practice, does not interoperate with the polytechnic insinööri (amk) (ingenjör (YH)) programme.

After a master's degree, there are two further post-graduate degrees - an intermediate postgraduate degree, called Licentiate, and the Doctor (Doctorate) degree. A Licenciate programme has the same amount of theoretical education as a Doctor, but its dissertation work has less requirements. On the other hand, the requirements for a doctoral dissertation are a little bit higher than in other countries.

The most typical Finnish doctoral degree is Doctor of Philosophy (filosofian tohtori, filosofie doktorsexamen). However, universities of technology award the title Doctor of Science, tekniikan tohtori, teknologie doktorsexamen and there are several branch-specific titles, e.g. in medicine lääketieteen tohtori, medicine doktorsexamen in art taiteen tohtori, and in social sciences valtiotieteen tohtori, politices doktorsexamen.

Adult education

Completing secondary school on a vocational program with full classes on a three year curriculum provides a formal qualification for further studies. However, it may prove necessary to obtain post-secondary education before being admitted at a university, as the entrance examinations require a relatively high level of knowledge. Post-secondary education is provided by municipal schools or independent 'adult education centres', which can give either vocational education or teaching at comprehensive or upper secondary school levels. It is possible to obtain the matriculation diploma, or to better the comprehensive school grades in these programs. A new trade can also be learned by an adult at an adult education centre (aikuiskoulutuskeskus, vuxenutbildningscenter), for example, if the structural change of the economy has made the old trade redundant.

In universities, the "Open University" (Avoin yliopisto, öppet universitet) program enables people without student status to enroll in individual university courses. There are no requirements, but there is a modest tuition fee (e.g. 60 euros per course). Polytechnics have their own similar program (Avoin ammattikorkeakoulu, öppen högskola).

Future prospects

The ongoing Bologna Process blurs the distinction between vocational and academic qualifications. In some fields, new postgraduate degrees have been introduced. Co-operation between the different systems is rising and some integration will occur (not without substantial amount of pressure). This accounts to not only the Bologna Process but a noble goal of Finnish politicians — to educate the vast majority of Finns to a higher degree (ca. 60–70% of each annual cohort enter higher education).

During recent few years a cut in the number of new student places has been often called for by the economic life, trade and student unions, because of an ongoing trend of rising academic unemployment rate, which is interpreted as an aftermath to the steep increase in 1990s in the student places of higher education. In particular, some polytechnic (AMK/YH) degrees have suffered inflation. As a step to the right direction, the Ministry of Education has recently issued a nationwide cut of 10% to new student places in polytechnics to be applied starting from 2007 and 2008. It is still largely undecided whether (and when) some of those cuts could be redistributed to areas in need of more highly educated working force. In 2001 and 2002, university graduates had a 3.7% unemployment rate, and polytechnic graduates had 8%, which is on par with the general unemployment rate (see the OECD report).

An increase to vocational school student places might be preferred as shortage of basic workforce such as plumbers and construction workers is widely acknowledged in Finland. It should be also noted that retiring age groups are bigger than the ones entering higher education in Finland for now and for quite some time into the foreseeable future. If the current amount of student places were kept unchanged to year 2020 for example, Eastern Finland would have student places for 103% of the estimated size of the age group 19-21.

Higher Education system restructuring

Due to globalization and increasing competition for diminishing younger age groups, system wide restructuring has been called for by the Ministry of Education. Since 2006 all institutions of higher education have been sharpening their institutional profiles and developing new methods of cooperation. The total number of institutions is expected to drop significantly within 10-15 years.

Several polytechnics have announced mergers (such as Haaga and Helia, which merged into Haaga-Helia in 2007). There is also a project to merge old universities Helsinki University of Technology, Helsinki School of Economics and University of Art and Design Helsinki. The process within universities is led by University of Kuopio and University of Joensuu, which will form new University of Eastern Finland in 2010

New methods of cooperation such as consortia and federations have been introduced within universities (eg. University of Turku and Turku School of Economics Consortium[3]). Partnerships between universities and polytechnics are also developing (eg. University of Kuopio and Savonia University of Applied Sciences formed Northern Savonia Higher Education Consortium. In general the system-wide change follows closely the established development in Central Europe and the United States.