University of Helsinki Rector, Jukka Kola, supports the government’s decision to shorten the time span during which financial support is extended to students. However, he is not yet sure what effect the decision will actually have.
In Kola's experience, the employment situation plays a particularly important role in affecting students’ motivation to graduate. He says that Helsinki University produces expert graduates and that if only low level jobs are available there is less incentive to graduate.
While he thinks the new rules on financial support have merit, it does not mean he subscribes to the view that students are lazy.
“If there are good jobs on offer, students will graduate,” Kola says.
"Make more effort to globalise"
According to Kola, Helsinki University’s chief focus should be on becoming more globally recognised.
"We should be world renowned and on the cutting-edge, for example in fields such as climate and cancer research” says Kola. “Such things are of interest to young people. We need to recruit both staff and students from abroad to Finland, and we must ourselves head out into the world.”
He claims that in order to gain new insights into excellence, Finnish universities need to partner with the world’s best institutions.
"The rest of the world thinks that if it’s free it can’t be good"
Kola states that for students outside the EU and the EEA, tuition fees may be charged.
"In many foreign countries there is a perception that if something is free it can’t be good. It follows that students at the top universities pay a lot, for example, in the United States and Britain,” says Kola.
According to him, the University of Helsinki also wants to attract particularly strong performing students from abroad and motivate them to come to Finland.
However, Kola also notes that gaining access to the university is difficult and more financial support could be extended to those studying in Helsinki.
"Rent assistance levels of course already reflect the cost of living in the metropolitan area , but also the student allowance could be greater for students residing in the capital city region,” Kola says.
