Education in Finland - Tertiary Education

Tertiary Education

There are two sectors in the tertiary education: universities (yliopisto, universitet) and polytechnics (ammattikorkeakoulu, yrkeshögskola, or AMK/YH for short). Admissions are based on gymnasium final GPA, the national matriculation examination and entrance examinations. The selection process is fully transparent, merit-based and objective; there are no application essays, no human factor in selection, no underrepresented minority support, and no weight on extracurricular activities. Moreover, the entrance examinations are rarely long lists of multiple-answer questions, but smaller amount of longer and more complicated questions that are supposed to test more than memorization and quick mechanical problem solving. Therefore, the selection process is much different than for example in the US or India.

The focus for universities is research, and they give a more theoretical education. The polytechnics focus on practical skills and seldom pursue research, but they do engage in industry development projects. For example, physicians are university graduates, whereas registered nurses are polytechnic graduates. (However, universities do award advanced degrees in Nursing Science.) 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 three–four years. Depending on the programme, this may be the point of graduation, but it is 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 — even though translated into English as "bachelor". Outside of Finland, polytechnic degrees are generally accepted as lower university degrees.

Graduates from polytechnics 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 perhaps a year's worth of additional studies to bring them up to the level of 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 higher polytechnic education programmes which are work-oriented — not academic. They are translated into English as "master's degree programmes" - the degree awarded is not identical to but in principle considered to be on the same level as a master's degree. Lower university degree graduates are also qualified to apply, but with additional studies. The higher polytechnic degree programme takes two years and can be undertaken in conjunction with regular work. After the higher polytechnic degree, the remaining degrees (Licentiate and Doctor) are available only in universities. The higher polytechnic degree does not qualify its recipient for graduate studies at doctoral level.

The equivalence discussed above is only relevant when applying for public sector jobs.

No tuition fees are collected. However, since the 1990s there have been plans at government level to introduce tuition fees to students from outside the European Union/EEA. The students' organisations have opposed those plans. In universities, membership in the students' union is compulsory. Students' unions of polytechnics are similarly recognized in the legislation, but membership is voluntary and does not include special university student health care (which is organised and partly financed by the students' unions). 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 such fields as 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 a Master of Science with the Bachelor in the same field in Anglo-phone countries. However, included in this is a 30 ECTS "diploma project", which is a real-life engineering or science project taking about six months to a year full-time work. 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 the master's degree, there are two further post-graduate degrees — an intermediate postgraduate degree, called Licentiate, and the Doctoral (Doctorate) degree. A Licenciate programme has the same amount of theoretical education as a Doctor, but its dissertation work has fewer 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.