Bisola David
The new administration in Finland has disclosed intentions to possibly increase tuition costs for foreign students attending Finnish universities.
According to Nairametrics, this development was described in a document that was just recently disclosed following a month of negotiations involving four political parties.
The coalition has declared its desire to progressively end government support for non-EU students’ education, putting the cost of tuition onto the students themselves, however, no precise implementation date has been given.
Currently, Finland charges tuition fees beginning at €4,000 for foreign students. To offset the whole cost of their education, non-EU students may soon have to pay higher tuition costs under the proposed policies.
The decision, which was initially proposed earlier this year by the Finnish Ministry of Education, could lead to a 43% decrease in the number of students from non-EU nations enrolling in Finnish schools.
Expectedly, student organizations and certain universities have opposed the plan. The country’s student unions have harshly criticized the initial proposals and called them a “disaster” for Finland’s ambitious aim of tripling the number of overseas students by 2030, established by the previous administration.
According to the European policy advisor at the other student union in the country, Roosa Veijola, she was worried that this proposal could pave the way for the implementation of domestic/EU student tuition fees.
Universities Finland stated that the decision will have a “negative impact” on opportunities to recruit and educate international students. They added that the increase will only have a minor effect on student recruitment, but that it is anticipated that the changes will make it more difficult for the nation’s rural universities to do so.
According to the head specialist at Study in Finland, Hanna Isoranta, “If tuition costs are raised, universities will have to work even harder to draw in foreign students.”
International affairs and EU advocacy advisor, Yuri Birjulin defended this new strategy by saying,
“Our main core value is free education for all. Also, the students will integrate better in society if they don’t have a very separate financial situation from the domestic students.”
