News

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.

We develop education, early childhood education and care and continuous learning and promote internationalisation with our various services. A customer survey is carried out to collect information on the use of these services. Respond to the survey by 30 September 2024. Your feedback is valuable to us.

In the past few years, the intermediate level tests for the National Certificates of Language Proficiency (YKI) in Finnish have been booked up increasingly fast. The reasons behind this include a growing interest in completing the YKI test and the limited number of test locations and dates. The majority of those who take the test use the certificate to prove sufficient language proficiency when applying for Finnish citizenship.

The Regional Facility for Teachers in Africa (RFTA) supports developing teacher education and teacher professional development through offering technical assistance for teacher governance in sub...

The idea behind the Study in Finland Student Ambassador Program, launched in January, is to enhance Finland's visibility as a study destination and to attract enthusiastic international students to...

In 2023, higher education students in Finland completed a total of just over 10,000 mobility periods abroad, counting both long-term and short-term periods. Compared to the previous year, the total number of mobility periods completed increased by 21%, or 1,750 periods. The data was collected by Vipunen – Education Statistics Finland.

Finland requires increasingly more education, particularly for engineering programs and service sectors. The future need for education is also driven by the professionalisation of the workforce and a high rate of retirement in the social and health sectors.

The European Commission has opened the 2024 call for applications for the Erasmus+ programme. A total of around EUR 60 million is available for Finland in this round. The actions and application deadlines will remain the same as in previous years, but new features include an increase in green travel grants.

In 2024–2026, the higher education cooperation of Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs will prioritise teacher education, climate change and the circular economy, and food security. The Foreign Ministry grants just over EUR 6 million to the seven projects approved for the partnership programme.

An international peer review examined how the Finnish National Agency for Education uses the feedback received from customers in the development of the qualification requirements and in ensuring their high quality. The transparency and participatory nature of the processes was considered a strength of the Finnish system. There is room for improvement in the systematic utilisation of feedback data and communication about the different stages of the qualification requirements work.

The number of students with an immigrant or foreign background studying at Finnish higher education institutions has increased significantly, having more than doubled between 2010 and 2020. The customer numbers of guidance services intended to support the higher education and employment of people born outside of Finland have also increased significantly in recent years, reveals a newly published report by the Finnish National Agency for Education.

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.

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.

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.