Education ministry, universities weigh admission rate rise

Finland’s Ministry of Education and Culture says it is prepared to improve access to the country's network of academic and applied sciences universities with more study positions, reports Yle.

"We are currently in discussions with the universities about where increases are needed and in which lines of study the amount of study places could be boosted," said Birgitta Vuorinen, the ministry's director of higher education policy. She says decisions won't be made on specific admission rates until the next performance agreement is drawn up. This is when the ministry and the educational institutions will jointly define the quantity and content of the next term's educational objectives.

Finland has already made changes to its university admissions policy, with the aim of easing the transition from secondary to tertiary education. Whereas most applicants in the past had to show both their high school diplomas and sit for a department-specific entrance exam, the reform will allow some applicants with good grades on their school-leaving certificates to be admitted directly to some fields of study, with no exam. These changes will come into effect in 2020. Vuorinen said the reform will lower the threshold for applying to higher education and allow applicants to apply to several institutions simultaneously.
Full report on the Yle site