Current issues

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.

The joint application to degree programmes in English at Finnish higher education institutions attracted around 32 400 applicants. This is around half the number of applicants when compared to 2024. In this application you could apply to higher education in English starting in autumn 2025 as well as programmes offered by the University of the Arts. There was a significant drop in the number of international applicants.

The first joint application to universities and universities of applied sciences is between 8th and 22nd January 2025. You can apply via Studyinfo, which is maintained by the Finnish National Agency for Education. In this application you can apply to programmes in English as well as programmes offered by the University of the Arts.

We develop education, early childhood education and lifelong learning and promote internationalisation through our various services. Each year, we conduct a customer survey to collect information on how successful our services have been. Based on the feedback received via this year’s survey, we will continue to improve the findability of our information, among other things.

44,900 applicants participated in the autumn joint application, of which 10,900, or 24%, were offered admission. More than half were offered admission to their first programme of choice. The results of the autumn joint application have been published. The joint application included programmes starting in January 2025.

Finland has received an international award for its efforts to support researchers who have fled crisis areas. The award was presented by the Finnish National Agency for Education’s American cooperation partner, the Institute for International Education (IIE). The award was accepted on Thursday 10 October on behalf of the Finnish Government by Ambassador of Finland to Belgium Jouko Leinonen.

The Finnish National Agency for Education recommends that schools and educational institutions prohibit disruptive mobile phone use during lessons and limit its use during breaks, within the framework of current legislation.

45 100 applicants participated in the autumn joint application to programmes starting in January 2025. This is approx. 10 800 less than in the corresponding joint application last autumn. There were over 10 000 study places available in the autumn joint application, offered mostly by universities of applied sciences.

In this autumn joint application beginning on Wednesday, 28th August at 8:00 (UTC+3), there are 10 300 study places in 325 application options to apply to. The studies in these programmes begin in...