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Encyclopedia > Education in Finland

Education in Finland
Image:Finedulogo.gif
Educational oversight
Minister of Education
Minister of Culture
Ministry of Education
Antti Kalliomäki
Tanja Karpela
National education budget € 5.9 billion (1100 € per capita) (2003)
Primary language(s) of education Finnish and Swedish
National system
Current system

since 1970s
Literacy (2000)
 • Men
 • Women
100 %
100 %
100 %
Enrollment
 • Primary
 • Secondary
 • Post-secondary
n/a
99.7% (graduating)
n/a
n/a
Attainment
 • Secondary diploma
 • Post-secondary diploma

60% ac., 45% voc. %
25% (of pop.) %
Secondary and tertiary education divided in academic and vocational systems

The Finnish education system is a comparatively egalitarian Nordic system, with no tuition fees for full-time students. Attendance is compulsory between the ages of 7 and 16, and free meals are served to pupils at primary and secondary levels. The first nine years of education (primary and secondary school) are compulsory, and the pupils go to their local school. In the OECD's international assessment of student performance, PISA, Finland has consistently been among the highest scorers worldwide; in 2003 Finnish 15-year-olds came first in reading literacy and science, and second in mathematics, worldwide. Image File history File links Finedulogo. ... Antti Kalliomäki (born 8 January 1947) is Finnish Minister of Finance since 17 April 2003 and MP since 1983. ... Tanja Karpela Tanja Tellervo Karpela (née Vienonen. ... Funding or financing is to provide capital (funds), which means money for a project, a person, a business or any other private or public institution. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A Specimen of typeset fonts and languages, by William Caslon, letter founder; from the 1728 Cyclopaedia. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... World illiteracy rates by country The traditional definition of Literacy is the ability to read and write. ... Primary or elementary education consist of the first years of formal, structured education that occurs during childhood. ... Secondary education - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... ... Secondary education - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... ... Tuition means instruction, teaching or a fee charged for educational instruction especially at a formal institution of learning. ... The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organization of those developed countries that accept the principles of representative democracy and a free market economy. ... The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a three-yearly world-wide test of 15-year-old schoolchildrens scholastic performance, developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1997. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...


The education after secondary school is divided to the vocational and academic systems, though there is a degree of interoperation. A national speciality in contrast to some foreign systems is the academic matriculation diploma received after successful completion of upper secondary school, which holds a high prestige. The tertiary level is divided to the university and university of applied sciences (finnish: ammattikorkeakoulu) -systems, whose diplomas are not fully mutually interchangeable. Traditionally only university graduates may obtain higher degrees, but the ongoing Bologna Process has made some changes in the educational structures. Co-operation between the different systems is rising and some integration will occur (not without substantial amount of pressure). This accounts to not only the Bologna Process but a noble goal of finnish politicians - to educate the vast majority of finns to a higher degree (ca. 60-70% of finnish age group enter higher education). During recent few years a cut in the number of new student places has been often called for by economic life, trade- and student unions and there are signs that a slight decrease will occur in a few years. A university is an institution of higher education and of research, which grants academic degrees at all levels (bachelor, master, and doctor) in a variety of subjects. ... Ammattikorkeakoulu, short AMK, is a Finnish polytechnical institution. ... The purpose of the Bologna process is to create the European higher education area by harmonising academic degree standards and quality assurance standards throughout Europe for each faculty and its development. ...

Contents


Primary and secondary education

The educational system in Finland is based on a nine year comprehensive school (Finnish peruskoulu, Swedish grundskola, 'basic school'), with mandatory attendance. It begins at the age of 6-7 and ends at the age of 15-16. After graduation from comprehensive school there is a choice between upper secondary school (lukio, gymnasium) and vocational school (ammattiopisto, yrkesinstitut). The second level education is not compulsory, but an overwhelming majority attends. Both primary and secondary education is funded by the municipality, and a free lunch is served. A comprehensive school is a secondary school that accepts pupils of all abilities. ... High school, or secondary school, is the last segment of compulsory education in Hong Kong, United States, Australia, Canada, China, Korea and Japan. ... A vocational school, providing vocational education and also sometimes referred to as a trade school or career college, is one operated for the express purpose of giving its students the skills needed to perform a certain job or jobs. ... A municipality or general-purpose district (compare with: special-purpose district) is an administrative local area generally composed of a clearly defined territory and commonly referring to a city, town, or village government. ...


Upper secondary school prepares for the university, so that all the material taught is "general studies". Vocational school develops vocational competence and as such does not prepare for higher education. Unlike in Sweden, these two are separate kinds of schools. There was an experiment about integrating these two into a so-called "youth school" as in Sweden, but the conclusion was to keep them separate.


Upper secondary school, unlike vocational school, concludes with a nationally graded matriculation examination (ylioppilastutkinto, studentexamen). Passing the test is a de facto prerequisite for further education. The system is designed so that the lowest scoring 5% fails and also 5% get the best grade. The exam allows for a limited degree of specialization in either natural sciences or social sciences. Universities may use the test score in the matriculation examination to accept students. The examination was originally the entrance examination to the University of Helsinki, and its high prestige survives to this day. Each May Day, or Vappu, people wear the white cap that is the academic regalia associated with the graduation. The University of Helsinki is a university located in Helsinki, Finland. ... May Day is a name for various holidays celebrated on May 1 (or in the beginning of May). ... Walpurgis Night (Valborgsmässoafton in Swedish, Vappu in Finnish, Volbriöö in Estonian, Valpurģu nakts or Valpurģi in Latvian, Walpurgisnacht in German) is a holiday celebrated on April 30, in Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Germany. ... Academic dress or academical dress (also known in the United States as academic regalia) is traditional clothing worn specifically in academic settings. ...


Special programmes exist in vocational institutes which either require a matriculation examination, or allow the student to study for the matriculation exam in conjunction to the vocational education. These are rather unpopular, because they boil down to going to two schools at the same time.

Education in Finland
Academic degrees Vocational degrees Age
doctor employment
licentiate
master UoAS(new) employment
bachelor UoAS employment
upper secondary school vocational school 18-19
17
16
comprehensive school 15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
pre-school 6

Licentiate is the title of a person who holds an academic degree called a license. ... A masters degree is an academic degree usually awarded for completion of a postgraduate or graduate course of one to three years in duration. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... High school, or secondary school, is the last segment of compulsory education in Hong Kong, United States, Australia, Canada, China, Korea and Japan. ... A vocational school, providing vocational education and also sometimes referred to as a trade school or career college, is one operated for the express purpose of giving its students the skills needed to perform a certain job or jobs. ... A comprehensive school is a secondary school that accepts pupils of all abilities. ... A nursery school is a school for the education of very young children (generally five years of age and younger). ...

Tertiary education

There are two sectors in the tertiary education: universities (yliopisto, universitet) and universities of applied sciences (ammattikorkeakoulu, yrkeshögskola, or AMK for short). When recruiting new students, the national matriculation examination and entrance examinations are used as criteria for student selection. The focus for universities is research, and they give a more theoretical education. The universities of applied sciences [later: UoAS] are not academia; they focus on more practice-oriented teaching. For example, physicians are academically, nurses vocationally educated. The vocational schools are governed by the municipality, cf. the universities operate under the state. A bachelor's degree takes about 3–4 years at a university. Depending on the programme, this may be the point of graduation, or only an intermediate step towards the higher degree. Compare this to the lower-level UoAS degree, which takes about 3.5–4.5 years. A degree from a UoAS is not, however, considered legally equivalent to a lower university degree in the Finnish system. Physician examining a child A physician is a person who practices medicine. ... A nurse is a health care professional who is engaged in the practice of nursing. ... The municipalities (kunta in Finnish, kommun in Swedish) represent the local level of administration in Finland and act as the fundamental administrative units of the country. ...


Attendance is compulsory in the primary and in lower and higher vocational schools, but voluntary in universities. No tuition fees are collected from Finnish citizens in Finnish universities or UoASs. However, at universities, membership in the students' union is compulsory, and some establishments charge tuition fees from overseas (non-EU) students. Students' unions of UoAS are also recognized in the legislation, but the membership is voluntary (and it does not include special university student healthcare). Finnish students are entitled to a student benefit, but it may be revoked if there is a persistent lack of progress in the studies. The benefit is often not sufficient for living, so students usually do also some work to fund their studies. Student loans are also available.


Some universities give professional degrees in fields like engineering, law and medicine. They have additional requirements than merely completing the studies, such as demonstrations of competence in practice.


Examples:

  • Varatuomari, literally 'vice judge', is a degree for Bachelors of Laws and is considered a higher degree. It qualifies for the position of a judge and requires working in a court of law, so that the total work required is comparable to a higher degree.
  • Lääketieteen lisensiaatti, Licentiate of Medicine. A Bachelor of Medicine (lääketieteen kandidaatti) specialises in their field by doing medical work. There is no Master's degree.
  • Diplomi-insinööri is a six-year programme of 300 ECTS, which is comparable to the foreign Master of Science with the Bachelor in the same field. However, included in this is a 30 ECTS "diploma project", which is an real-life engineering project taking about ½-1 years. Its completion demonstrates the professional competence in addition to the necessary amount of education. Notice: this program, in practice, does not interoperate with the non-academic insinööri (amk) program.

After a master's degree, there are two further post-graduate degrees - an intermediate postgraduate degree, called Licentiate, and the Doctor (Doctorate) degree. A Licenciate programme has the same amount of theoretical education as a Doctor, but its dissertation work has less requirements. On the other hand, the requirements for a doctoral disseration are a little bit higher than in other countries. Diplomi-insinööri, in Swedish diplomingenjör, is a Finnish 6-year engineering degree comparable to a Master of Science in Engineering, taught at e. ... Insinööri (amk), amk short for ammattikorkeakoulu, is a short but complete 3-year engineering degree, given by an institution roughly corresponding to a community college (called University of Applied Sciences). In the Finnish system, it is not considered a lower university degree, so it does not qualify for further...


Most universities give the title 'Doctor of Philosophy' (filosofian tohtori). However, universities of technology give the title Doctor of Science in Technology, tekniikan tohtori, and there are several similar titles, e.g. in medicine lääketieteen tohtori, in art taiteen tohtori, in political science valtiotieteen tohtori, etc.


Adult education

Completing secondary school on a vocational program with full classes on a three year curriculum provides a basic qualification for further studies. However, it may prove necessary to obtain post-secondary education before being admitted at a university. Post-secondary education is provided by municipal schools or independent 'adult education centres', which can give either vocational education or grammar school teaching. It is possible to obtain the matriculation diploma, or even better the primary school grades in these programs. ... The municipalities (kunta in Finnish, kommun in Swedish) represent the local level of administration in Finland and act as the fundamental administrative units of the country. ...


See also

University of Helsinki University of Joensuu University of Jyväskylä University of Kuopio University of Lapland in Rovaniemi University of Oulu University of Tampere University of Turku University of Vaasa in Vaasa Åbo Akademi University in Turku Helsinki University of Technology Lappeenranta University of Technology Tampere University of Technology Helsinki... Politics of Finland Categories: Politics stubs | Finnish politics ... European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is a method that is used to compare the marks (US: grade) given in higher education across the European Union. ...

External links


  Results from FactBites:
 
BBC NEWS | Education | Education key to economic survival (881 words)
And in particular, she says the country's educational success can be attributed to the "unified" school system, which sees children staying at the same school between the ages of seven and 16, rather than having primary and secondary schools.
Finland's education system, when compared to the UK, is also different in the later age at which pupils enter schools.
In the last international education league tables, produced by the OECD, Finland's 15 year olds were judged to have the highest standards of literacy in the world.
Education in Finland - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (1841 words)
The educational system in Finland is based on a nine year comprehensive school (Finnish peruskoulu, Swedish grundskola, 'basic school'), with mandatory attendance.
Both primary and secondary education is funded by the municipality, and a free lunch is served.
Post-secondary education is provided by municipal schools or independent 'adult education centres', which can give either vocational education or teaching at comprehensive or upper secondary school levels.
  More results at FactBites »

 

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