02 - Finland - Ongoing debates and future developments
The autonomy of universities is being strengthened by making changes in the legal status of
universities. Universities will form a new type of a legal entity, legal person under public law or
foundation under private law. Furthermore, the administration and the decision making of universities
will be reformed. The new legislation is expected to come into force in August 2009.
The most visible debates and reforms concern the funding and the restructuring of the higher
education network. The network of universities and polytechnics will be developed so that overlaps in
programmes are reduced and by bringing together administrative and support services.
This will be
done through merging universities and polytechnics, intensifying cooperation in teaching, research and
shared equipment. In the polytechnic sector already three remarkable mergers have been carried out
and the regional network has been made more compact and a service centre for universities has been
established. The Ministry of Education will prepare a detailed action plan for the structural development
of higher education by 2010.
The profiles of each university and polytechnic will reflect the local and regional development in terms
of teaching, research and cooperation with the world of work.
One of the most remarkable developments will be the new Innovation University that will be operational
1 August 2009.
The new university will comprise the present Helsinki University of Technology,
Helsinki School of Economics and University of Art and Design Helsinki. Other major mergers are the
joint consortium of the University of Turku and the Turku School of Economics which will be
operational in 2011. The University of Eastern Finland formed from the Universities of Kuopio and
Joensuu will start operations in 2010 at the latest.
The funding of the polytechnics will be developed into a more performance-based direction so that the
level of funding will be, more than presently, defined according to the number of graduates and the
quality of the education.
In addition to the structures and funding, the focus of the development of education and research until
2012 will be the internationalisation and increased attention to the quality of higher education and
research.
The development of the joint application system developed for the student selection of
universities will be operational in its first stage in the academic year 2008-2009. The full joint
application system will be operational starting from the selections of 2010-2011. The utilisation of
matriculation examination grades will be increased in student selections. Universities will also increase
their reporting of student selections to secondary level institutions.
Eurydice - the information network on education in Europe
Date: 2009
EN 
CS
DE
ES
FR
HU
IT
PL
PT
РУ
SK
TR
УК
AR
中文
