Plan to rationalise university entrance exams is unveiled

The first draft of a reform proposal that would dramatically reduce the number of university entrance exams was unveiled in Finland on Thursday 21 March, reports The Helsinki Times.

YLE on Thursday revealed that the draft proposal would slash the number of entrance exams to universities in the second joint application period that is organised each spring from 120 to nine. The reform would put an end to cramming for entrance exams and enable applicants to simultaneously apply to several fields in different universities.

The exams would consist primarily of multiple-choice questions. The format would shorten the duration of entrance exams to a maximum of two to three hours and expedite the grading of entrance exams as the lack of essays would enable machine grading. Tanja Juurus, the head of the task force that drew up the reform, told the public broadcasting company that research data support the shift to multiple-choice questions.
Full report on The Helsinki Times site