A panel set up to look into accelerating Finnish educational exports proposed on Monday that students from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) be charged fees for tertiary-level education in Finland. This would be waived for education in the national languages, Finnish and Swedish.
The working group argues that such fees should at least cover the costs of such teaching. At present, nearly all education in Finland is free for citizens and non-citizens alike.
The conservative and Swedish People's parties back the plan, while the Greens strongly oppose it. The other three parties in the cabinet are sceptical.
Aalto University Jari Jokinen, Director, Policy and Foresight at Aalto University, supports the plan.
“For Aalto University this would mean that we could begin systematically recruiting people in third countries for our master’s degree programmes, and thereby bring in more resources for the university as sales become part of our normal operations,” he told Yle. Jokinen notes that the university has taken part in an experimental tuition-fee pilot programme for two years.
Development funds for teaching?
The panel also suggests that stipends for students from developing countries could be taken out of the state’s development-cooperation budget. Institutions of higher learning could also earn money by offering paid teaching for foreigners.
In neighbouring Sweden, the imposition of such fees initially drove away students, but this does not worry Minister of Education Krista Kiuru, who represents the Social Democratic Party (SDP). She backs the panel’s proposals.
“I believe that completely free studies by [foreign] students will become extremely rare,” she says. “The current free education has not attracted significant numbers of students.”
The committee estimates that there about 20,000 foreigners pursuing tertiary-level degrees in Finland. It sets a target of at least 60,000 by the year 2025.
Divided cabinet
An Yle straw poll of MPs reveals that Kiuru’s stance is supported by the Swedish People's Party and the prime minister’s conservative National Coalition Party (NCP). The Christian Democrats and the Left Alliance take a critical view of the proposal, while the Green League reject it.
“We see this as advancing inequality. In particular, we cannot in any way accept the suggestion that cooperation development funds be used to cover tuition fees,” says Outi Alanko-Kahiluoto, chair of the Greens parliamentary group.
Eero Vainio, deputy chair of Kiuru’s SDP, is wary of the plan.
“I don’t believe that we can attract more international students to Finland by imposing fees,” he says.
