Monday, November 8, 2010

Colleges, Universities, Higher Education in Finland

The structure of higher education in Finland is Binary.

1. The profession-oriented polytechnics or higher vocational schools or ammattikorkeakoulu
2. The research-oriented universities.The universities award licentiates and doctorates. University graduates are allowed to get a post graduate degree.

There are 20 universities in Finland and 30 polytechnics in this Nordic Country.

A candidate's score in both the National Matriculation examination, the equivalent of the board exam in many parts of the world, and scores in entrance exams are taken as selection criteria for admitting a student to one of these tertiary education program in Finland. As of writing this blog, Finland universities and polytechnics do not charge a fee. This could change for students outside the European Union if the present government has its way on this issue.

A student after completing a Bachelors degree can do a Masters degree. After the Masters degree there are two levels of post graduation : Intermediate Post Graduate leading to a licentiate degree and the Doctoral degree leading to either a Ph.D or the Doctor of Science.

Click on the link for a list of leading colleges, universities of higher education in Finland

In 2008, Finland tied with Denmark, Australia, and New Zealand for the highest postion on education index published by UN's Human Development Index.

The restructuring of the education system in Finland is likely to result in mergers of many of these universities and polytechnics resulting in far fewer institutions of tertiary learning in this country in the next decade.