Current issues

Joint press release from the Finnish National Agency for Education and Institute for the Languages of Finland. The beginning of next year will see two new pieces of legislation enter into effect: the...

33,900 applicants participated in the autumn joint application, of which 11,500 were offered admission. More than half were offered admission to their first programme of choice.

Steadily increasing numbers of foreign graduates from Finnish higher education institutions have found jobs in Finland in recent years. In 2023, more than a half of foreign citizens who had completed a degree in Finland had found a job three years after graduation. However, foreigners are less likely to work in expert tasks than Finnish graduates.

The work of the RAY Network shows that the Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps programmes respond well to current needs. For young people, participation can have life-changing effects.

Finnish higher education institutions, together with higher education stakeholders, have prepared a set of recommendations to increase international mobility. The recommendations apply in particular to mobility periods abroad that are part of higher education degrees and qualifications. Clear targets for increasing student mobility will be set both at the national and institution level.

The Finnish National Agency for Education's EDUFI Fellowship for foreign doctoral researchers will cease at the end of 2025. The decision stems from the cost-cutting measures of the productivity programme for the administrative branch of the Ministry of Education and Culture, which are targeted at the operations of the Finnish National Agency for Education.

The international partnerships of Finnish higher education institutions strongly support the labour market alignment of the competence produced by partner institutions' qualifications. This is the conclusion of a recent review by the Finnish National Agency for Education of Finnish higher education cooperation in Africa.

The Finnish National Agency for Education's event calendar for autumn offers a wide range of programmes related to international cooperation and internationalisation. Explore the highlights and sign up!

The autumn joint application to higher education ended on Thursday 11 September. Most of the study programmes that participated in the joint application were in universities of applied sciences (UAS)...

The tasks of the Finnish National Agency for Education and their importance have been much debated since Minister of Finance Riikka Purra proposed abolishing the Agency and transferring any tasks to be retained to the Ministry of Education and Culture. It is clear from the public discussion that people are largely unaware of the broad remit of the Finnish National Agency for Education.

On 16 July, the European Commission published its proposal for a new financial framework for the EU for the period of 2028–2034, which includes proposals for future EU financial programmes. The budget of the Erasmus+ programme is proposed to increase by almost 50% compared to the current programme period. In addition to this, the European Solidarity Corps programme would be integrated into Erasmus+.

A survey addressed at member companies and organisations of Education Finland, a programme that operates in conjunction with the Finnish National Agency for Education, found that education exports continued to grow in 2024. The results of this survey indicate that, despite geopolitical instability, interest in Finnish expertise and education solutions is still on the rise.

The Finnish National Agency for Education, the Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland and Metropolia University of Applied Sciences are among the participants of the recently launched Erasmus+-funded Future4Alliances project. The project aims to promote cooperation between higher education institutions by creating a favourable environment for European universities alliances in terms of legislation and its application and enhancing the coherence of national/regional funding for European universities alliances.

The European education and youth sector networks and bodies EPALE - Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe, European School Education Platform/eTwinning, Europass, Euroguidance and Eurodesk support the objectives and implementation of the Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps programmes. This year, all of these bodies are celebrating major anniversaries.

The higher education development cooperation programme HEI ICI achieved extensive results during its 2020–2024 programme period. Nearly 40 study programmes and over 300 individual courses in different fields of study were revised in collaboration with Finnish and partner countries' higher education institutions.

Over 26,100 applicants applied to English-taught study programmes and art study programmes offered in the joint application this spring, with 33 % receiving an offer of admission. The number of applicants was halved from last year. This was mainly due to the newly introduced application fee, which decreased the number of international applicants.

The phrase “We will not compromise on internationalisation” emerged as a recurring message throughout the forum. It captured the prevailing sentiment among many participants: international cooperation...

The Finnish National Agency for Education is committed to continuing its support of the reform of vocational education and training (VET) in Ukraine through the Bridge2Skills project. The project was prepared in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and is being implemented in 2024–2026 with funding from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ development cooperation appropriations. The project has a total budget of EUR 2.2 million. The aim of the project is to improve the capacity of VET institutions to offer VET that corresponds to the current and future needs of the Ukrainian labour market.

Tuoreet vuoden 2024 tilastot korkeakoulujen opiskelijaliikkuvuudesta kertovat liikkuvuuden vakiintumisesta koronapandemian jälkeisenä aikana. Yliopistojen ja ammattikorkeakoulujen väliset erot ovat edellisvuosien trendin tapaan vahvistuneet. Erityisesti ammattikorkeakouluissa lyhyitä, alle kolmen kuukauden jaksoja tehdään entistä enemmän.

The Finnish National Agency for Education has issued a regulation on the National Core Curriculum for English-language General Upper Secondary Education. English-language general upper secondary education can be started in August 2026.