FINLAND: Students protest against fees introduction

The new Universities Act that came into force at the start of 2010 paved the way for discussions about university fees in Finland. Although the Finnish Constitution continues to support universities free of tuition fees for domestic students and some other students under limited conditions, the new Act permits universities to charge them for students from outside the European Union and European Economic Area.

Students are opposed to fees and made their views known in a recent protest march and demonstration.

The organisations representing university and polytechnic students, SYL and SAMOK, organised a demonstration on 21 April when about 2,000 protesters marched from Helsinki's Senate Square to Parliament House. (See photographs of the protest march here ).

Students see the imposition of tuition fees for foreign students as the thin edge of the wedge. As reported in a recent ESU Newsletter , SYL and SAMOK say that higher education free of tuition fees is regarded as "the cornerstone of the Nordic welfare state".

Introducing fees was proposed in a recent OECD report as a way to reduce the average graduation age of Finnish students, which is among the highest in Europe. According to the OECD, Finnish higher education students are "insulated from labour market signals by not having to repay the cost of their tuition".

SYL and SAMOK do not agree: "These considerations have been presented as a solution to lower the somewhat high average graduation age in Finland - which results actually mostly from a very long average delay in getting into higher education after upper secondary or vocational school," they say. (See University World News, 22 April 2010 for a report on Finnish graduates.)

Given the worldwide trend for imposing or increasing higher education tuition fees, Finnish students are clearly exercised about discussions on introducing fees in Finland. They want a guarantee from political parties that they will not push for tuition fees during the current parliament. They are concerned that tuition fees would have an impact on low-income earners, and that cross-border student mobility will be limited. There are also concerns that imposing fees on foreign students will reduce one of Finland's sources of international links.

* Dr Ian Dobson is Helsinki correspondent for University World News. An Australian scholar often based in Finland, he is editor of the Australian Universities' Review and the Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management.