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The Finnish education system is a comparatively egalitarian Nordic system, with no tuition fees for full-time students. Attendance is compulsory between the ages of 7 and 16, 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 and science, and second in mathematics, worldwide.
The education after secondary school is divided to the vocational and academic systems, though there is a degree of interoperation, according to the old German model. In particular, an important difference to other systems is that there is no common "youth school" — ages 16-19 are spent either in a trade school, or in an academic-oriented upper secondary school. Trade school graduates 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 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. Traditionally only university graduates may obtain higher degrees, but the ongoing Bologna Process has made some changes in the educational structures. 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 age group 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, and trade- and student unions, and there are signs that a slight decrease will occur in a few years.
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 (ammattiopisto, yrkesinstitut). The second level education is not compulsory, but an overwhelming majority attends. Both primary and secondary education is funded by the municipality, and a free lunch is served.
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 prepare for higher education. Unlike in Sweden, these two are separate kinds of schools. There was an experiment about integrating these two into a so-called "youth school" as in Sweden, but the conclusion was to keep them separate.
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. The latter are rather unpopular, because they boil down to going to two schools at the same time.
| Academic degrees | Vocational degrees | Age | |
|---|---|---|---|
| doctor | employment | ||
| licentiate | |||
| master | Polytechnic(new) | 2-3 y | |
| bachelor | Polytechnic | 3-4 y | |
| upper secondary school | vocational school | 18-19 | |
| 17 | |||
| 16 | |||
| comprehensive school | 15 | ||
| 14 | |||
| 13 | |||
| 12 | |||
| 11 | |||
| 10 | |||
| 9 | |||
| 8 | |||
| 7 | |||
| pre-school | 6 | ||
Tertiary education
There are two sectors in the tertiary education: universities (yliopisto, universitet) and polytechnics (ammattikorkeakoulu, yrkeshögskola, or AMK 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 polytechics are not academia; they focus on more practice-oriented teaching, and development instead of research. For example, physicians are academically, nurses vocationally educated. The vocational schools and polytechnics are governed by the municipality, cf. the universities operate under 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, which takes about 3.5–4.5 years. A degree from a UoAS is not, however, considered legally equivalent to a lower university degree in the Finnish system. Polytechnic-graduated Bachelors have been able for the last few years to continue by applying to polytechnic Master's degree-programmes (takes 2 years, while working), which are work-oriented - not academic or by appling to a university to continue towards a university master's degree. The scope of polytechnic master's programs is still limited in total numbers and fields of education. Contrary to Bachelors, Master's degree -graduate from a polytechnic is considered equivalent to academic Master graduate of related field, but besides business and engineering there's not many shared branches. After master's, the remaining degrees are available only in universities.
Attendance is compulsory in the primary and in vocational schools and polytechnics, but voluntary in universities. No tuition fees are collected from Finnish citizens in Finnish universities or polytecnics. However, at universities, membership in the students' union is compulsory. Students' unions of polytechnic are also recognized in the legislation, but the membership is voluntary and does not include special university student healthcare. Finnish students are entitled to a student benefit, but it may be revoked if there is a persistent lack of progress in the studies. The benefit is often not sufficient for living, so students usually do also some work to fund their studies. State-guaranteed student loans are also available.
Some universities give professional degrees in fields like engineering, law and medicine. They have additional requirements than merely completing the studies, such as demonstrations of competence in practice.
Examples:
- Varatuomari, literally 'vice judge', is a degree for Bachelors of Laws and is considered a higher degree. It qualifies for the position of a judge and requires working in a court of law, so that the total work required is comparable to a higher degree.
- Lääketieteen lisensiaatti, Licentiate of Medicine. A Bachelor of Medicine (lääketieteen kandidaatti) specialises in their field by doing medical work. There is no Master's degree.
- Diplomi-insinööri 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 an real-life engineering project taking about ½-1 years. Its completion demonstrates the professional competence in addition to the necessary amount of education. Notice: this program, in practice, does not interoperate with the non-academic insinööri (amk) program.
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 disseration are a little bit higher than in other countries.
Most universities give the title 'Doctor of Philosophy' (filosofian tohtori). However, universities of technology give the title Doctor of Science in Technology, tekniikan tohtori, and there are several similar titles, e.g. in medicine lääketieteen tohtori, in art taiteen tohtori, in political science valtiotieteen tohtori, etc.
Adult education
Completing secondary school on a vocational program with full classes on a three year curriculum provides a basic qualification for further studies. However, it may prove necessary to obtain post-secondary education before being admitted at a university. Post-secondary education is provided by municipal schools or independent 'adult education centres', which can give either vocational education or grammar school teaching. It is possible to obtain the matriculation diploma, or even better the primary school grades in these programs. A new trade can also be learnt by an adult at an adult education centre (aikuiskoulutuskeskus), for example, if the structural change of the economy has made the old trade redundant.
See also
- List of universities in Finland
- Finnish National Agency for Education
- Government Agencies in Finland
- European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System
External links
- Finnish school system. http://www.edu.fi/english/SubPage.asp?path=500,4699
- Nuorisokoulua ei tule. http://194.251.244.92/opettaja/aplus0102/apaa.htm
Education in Finland | Education by country
Finnisches Bildungssystem | Koulutus Suomessa | Utbildning i Finland
"Education in Finland"