Current issues

Recent statistics in Vipunen – Education Statistic Finland show an increase in the number of mobility periods Finnish higher education students completed abroad in 2022. However, the figures are still far from the pre-pandemic levels. Especially the mobility of students of universities of applied sciences (UAS) seems to be recovering slowly.

The e-mail address info(a)oph.fi, which at the Finnish National Agency for Education was used for inquiries related to the exceptional times in recent years, has been deactivated. The centralized advisory address has been used for issues related to education, training and teaching during the corona pandemic and after the start of Russia's attack on Ukraine. We continue to serve at our regular advisory mail addresses, which are monitored by experts in our subject areas.

Finnish National Agency for Education (EDUFI) and the UNICEF Office of Innovation signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Monday 20 March 2023 to deepen cooperation on innovations in education. The MoU will pave the way for EDUFI’s Finnish Centre of Expertise in Education and Development (FinCEED) to work closely with UNICEF’s Global Learning Innovation Hub based in Helsinki. The two organizations aim to collaborate at strategic and technical levels to accelerate innovative solutions in learning that promote inclusive, quality education for all children and young people. Yhteisymmärryspöytäkirja tiivistää yhteistyötä Opetushallituksen alla toimivan Opetusalan kehitysyhteistyön osaamiskeskus FinCEEDin ja UNICEFin Helsingissä sijaitsevan Global Learning Innovation Hubin välillä. Organisaatioiden tavoitteena on tehdä yhteistyötä strategisella ja teknisellä tasolla kehittääkseen innovatiivisia oppimisratkaisuja, jotka edistävät inklusiivista ja laadukasta koulutusta kaikille lapsille ja nuorille.

The new Higher Education Partnership development cooperation programme emphasises equal partnerships between higher education institutions, increases mobility and promotes closer collaboration between administrative staff, teachers and students.

Korkeakoulujen kevään ensimmäisessä yhteishaussa oli yli 61 800 hakijaa, mikä on noin kaksi kertaa enemmän kuin vuonna 2022. Haettavana olivat korkeakoulujen vieraskieliset koulutukset ja Taideyliopiston opiskelupaikat. Suurin osa hakijoista oli muita kuin Suomen kansalaisia.

The Finnish National Agency for Education maintains a register of authorised translators. The register has now been renewed, enabling the authorised translator and the customer looking for a translator to meet even more seamlessly. The customer can use the search engine of the register to find a suitable translator and contact the translator directly by submitting a contact form.

Finnish National Agency for Education has published material targeted at Ukrainians on how applying for and getting a municipality of residence affects the rights and responsibilities of children and young people with regard to education. The material has been published in Ukrainian, English, Finnish and Swedish.

The first joint application of the spring to universities and universities of applied sciences (UAS) begins on Wednesday the 4th of January at 8:00. The joint application ends on Wednesday, 18 January at 15:00. The application form can be filled out at Studyinfo.fi.

Student mobility in higher education has recovered after the COVID-19 pandemic, but the differences between universities and universities of applied sciences have increased. During the autumn term, university students have been going on international mobility periods as often as pre-COVID, but the mobility figures of universities of applied sciences are still lagging far behind pre-COVID figures. Overall student mobility figures remain well below peak years, having already started to decline before COVID.

The objective of the Education Finland programme, which operates within the Finnish National Agency for Education and boosts Finnish education exports, is to increase the value of education exports to EUR 1 billion by 2030. According to a recent review commissioned by the programme, the total value of the education export sector in the Finnish economy was already approximately EUR 1 billion, or nearly half a per cent of Finland's GDP in 2019.

A series of videos produced by the Finnish National Agency for Education for guardians and professionals in the field of education helps to recognise bullying, harassment, discrimination and violence experienced by children and young people and to intervene in it in ways that promote safety and health.

The autumn joint application to higher education ended on Wednesday 14 September. 292 of the 135 available study programmes in the joint application were in universities of applied sciences (UAS). 98...

In this autumn joint application, there are 9 512 study places in 315 application options to apply to. About half of the study places are assigned to the field of health and welfare. Most of the...

The Suomi.fi Web Service provides comprehensive instructions for different life events and for dealing with public administration. It is an excellent source of information for students as it is. Now the Suomi.fi Web Service also provides ready-made material for schools with exercises. The material has been produced jointly by lower secondary school teachers and the Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV).

The European Commission decided that the new SALTO Digital Resource Centre will be established at the Finnish National Agency for Education, which is the Erasmus+ National Agency in Finland. SALTO Digital is the first resource centre to operate in all educational sectors and also in the field of youth.

During the spring, municipal education services were able to organise places in basic education for children and young people who fled Ukraine. However, a significant proportion of the respondents to the survey by the Finnish National Agency for Education estimated that they would have poor opportunities to offer places for more children or young people.

Over 32,600 applicants applied to English-taught study programmes and art study programmes offered in the first joint application this spring, with 21% receiving an offer of admission.

The amount of sexual harassment and violence that young people experience, for example in public places and online, has increased in a worrying degree. The Finnish National Agency for Education has published a poster and a brochure containing instructions for students on how to recognise, prevent and intervene in sexual harassment and violence.

The Finnish National Agency for Education has launched a website that compiles information on study and research opportunities offered by Finnish higher education institutions for people whose studies or academic work in Ukraine has been disrupted by the war. The page can be found at www.studyinfinland.fi/ukraine.

At the turn of March and April, the Finnish National Agency for Education conducted a survey among the providers of early childhood education and care (ECEC), basic education as well as general upper secondary and vocational education on the impacts of the Russian attack. More than 800 people who have fled Ukraine go to school, study in upper secondary education or are in early childhood education and care in Finland. The largest number of children and young people who have fled Ukraine are currently in instruction preparing for basic education.