Universities support intention to charge tuition fees

Major Finnish universities expressed their support recently for the incoming government's move to charge tuition fees for university students from outside the European Union or European Economic Area, reports Xinhua.

Earlier this month the new ruling coalition issued its first outline of immigration policies, saying that the incoming cabinet intended to collect tuition fees. In an interview with the Finnish daily Turun Sanomat, rectors of some of the major Finnish universities expressed their solid support for the tuition fee scheme, claiming that the fees would help universities to develop their teaching and improve their competitiveness.

The principals from the University of Helsinki, Aalto University, the University of Turku and Abo Akademi University said that Finnish higher education institutions must have decision-making powers to collect payment and to allocate incomes they receive. They admitted that collecting tuition fees could reduce the number of foreign students at the beginning, but believed that the situation would change over time.
Full report on the Shanghai Daily site