Until the 1920s Finnish university education was restricted to Helsinki, and even at the end of the 1950s it was
largely centred in the capital. There was the University of Helsinki, with a full range of
disciplines, the Helsinki
University of Technology and the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration, as well as the
Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration, the University of Social Sciences and the College of
Veterinary Medicine. Art and music academies were also developing.
In the city of Turku the Swedish-language (innovation no. 11) Turku Academy started teaching in 1919 and
the Finnish-language University of Turku in 1922. At the end of the 1950s almost all Finnish university students
were studying in Helsinki.
The intensive development of the Finnish university system began in the 1960s, when the Higher Education
Development Act, which was initiated by President Urho Kekkonen and a broad-based
coalition government
(innovation no. 7), was passed, providing universities with the guarantee of gradually increasing resources,
creating a comprehensive system for student financial aid (innovation no. 45), and decentralising higher
education throughout Finland by creating several new university units.
The University of Oulu opened its doors in autumn 1959, Jyväskylä’s traditional Teacher Training Centre was
gradually turned into a university, and in February and March of 1966 Acts were passed regarding the founding
of universities in Kuopio and Joensuu and universities of technology in Lappeenranta and Tampere. Academic
education also became available in Vaasa through a governmental decision.
The new system was
complemented by the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi, which started teaching in autumn 1979, and some
universities have created satellite units in nearby towns. One result of these developments is that, at the
beginning of the 21st century, the majority of Finnish university students are studying outside the capital.
A spe
cial feature of the Finnish university system is that it has taken care of all of the country’s
teacher
education and training since the 1970s, contrary to the situation in many other countries. This is considered an
important cause of Finland’s top results in the OECD’s international PISA studies of scholastic achievement.
Specifically the teacher education and training has required a network of universities spanning this large country.
Similar developments were carried out concerning music education in the post-war period; the creation of a
wide and comprehensive network of music education institutions (innovation no. 46) is probably an important
factor in Finland’s international success in the field.
Similar developments happened in music education in the post-war period. The creation of an extensive
nationwide network of music institutes resulted in the discovery of talent all over Finland. This is probably an
important factor in Finland’s international success in music. Finnish conductors and
soloists often appear on
stages throughout the world.
Since the beginning of the 1990s, Finnish universities have been complemented by schools of higher
vocational education that grant lower degrees than universities and that are called “universities of applied
sci
ences” in English in most countries (but that the Finnish Ministry of Education prefers to call “polytechnics”).
They are located both in university towns and other towns. There is a current discussion in Finland about the
relationship between them and full universities. They are in the process of merging in some towns but staying
separate in others.
The decentralisation of Finland’s university education system has probably been the fastest and most drastic
in
all of Europe, but it has been successful in many ways. Decentralised university education has guaranteed
Finns an equal opportunity to study at a higher level irrespective of where they live, which makes it easier for
universities to find and utilise the reserves of talent that the country has at its disposal.
The decentralised university system also enables the creation of wide and
functional international
connections in the fields of science and education. If universities only existed on the south coast of the country it
would be difficult for them to maintain lively and innovative contacts with universities in e.g. Tromsø and Umeå in
Northern Scandinavia; Petrozavodsk, Archangel and Syktyvkar in Northern Russia; or even St. Petersburg and
the northernmost parts of the American continent. Lively contacts with the wide university system in central
Europe also require several actors.
The Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland in the town of Rovaniemi serves as a base station for Finland’s
arctic policy and provides opportunities for extensive inter
national connections in the “northern dimension”.
A geographically diverse university system has delivered a highly capable academic labour force in almost all
fields all over the country. The multifaceted programs of the universities of Turku and Tampere have been able
to to compete in almost all disciplines with the universities in Helsinki and neighbouring towns. The success and
growth of the new university cities of Oulu, Jyväskylä, Vaasa, Kuopio, Joensuu and Lappeenranta is above all
down to their universities, without which these old urban centres would probably have stagnated and decayed.
Universities have helped to keep the whole large country inhabited.
The Finnish university system has indeed been criticised for being dispersed into too many units and for not
creating sufficiently large and inspiring research environments.
Efforts have been undertaken to deal with such problems by merging the administrations of universities
mainly in Helsinki, Turku, and Tampere. The universities of Joensuu and Kuopio have been combined into the
University of Eastern Finland, which however has campuses in both towns. But universities have also tried to
collect teaching and research from the same discipline in less university departments.
Universities have been
given the task to specialise.
The Finnish university system, which has modern buildings and is often well-equipped, offers
– given enough
resources and sufficient internal networks and connections with the Finnish economic sphere
– good conditions
to create new innovations, increase interdisciplinary and international connections, and welcome plenty of
students, including from other parts of the world.
Jaakko Numminen
– permanent secretary of
the Ministry of Education 1973
–1994
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