Education in Finland

**Education in Finland**
Academic degrees	Vocational degrees		Age
Doctor	Employment
Licenciate
Master
Bachelor	Polytechnic or Vocational College	Employment
Matriculation	Vocational School		18-19
Grammar School			17
Grammar School			16
Upper Primary School			15
			14
			13
Lower Primary School			12
			11
			10
			9
			8
			7-8
Kindergarten			6-7

Contents

1 Overview

2 Primary and Secondary School

3 Tertiary education

4 Post Graduate

5 Post-secondary Education

6 Comparisons with other Educational Systems

7 See also

8 External links

Overview

The Finnish education system is a comparatively egalitarian Nordic system, where the concept of tuition is unknown, attendance is compulsory until the age of 16, and free meals are served to pupils at primary and secondary levels. The primary school is 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.

The education after the primary school is rather strictly divided to the vocational and academic systems, which do not interoperate. A national speciality in contrast to e.g. Sweden and USA is the academic high school diploma (ylioppilastutkinto), which holds a high prestige. The tertiary level is divided to the vocational college and university systems, which award diplomas not mutually interchangeable. Only university graduates may obtain higher degrees.

Primary and Secondary School

The educational system in Finland is based on a nine year primary school, or peruskoulu "basic school", with mandatory attendance. It begins at the age of 6-8 and ends at the age of 15-16. After graduating from the primary school, for the next three years, there is a choice between a grammar school (lukio) and a vocational school (ammattiopisto). The second-level education is not compulsory, but an overwhelming majority attends. Both primary schools and secondary schools are funded by the municipality, and a free lunch is served.

The grammar school prepares for the university, so that all the material taught is "general studies". The vocational school (ammattiopisto) 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.

The grammar school, but not the vocational school, concludes with a nationally graded matriculation examination (ylioppilastutkinto). Passing the test is a de facto prerequisite for tertiary education. The system is designed so that the lowest scoring 5% fails. 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.

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.

Tertiary education

There are two sectors in the tertiary education: universities (yliopisto, korkeakoulu) and polytechnics (ammattikorkeakoulu, AMK for short). When recruiting new students, the national matriculation examination and entrance examinations are used as a criteria for student selection. The focus for universities is research, and they give a more theoretical education. The polytechnics are not academia; they focus on teaching, which is more practice-oriented. For example, physicians are academically, nurses vocationally educated. Polytechnics are governed by the municipality and the universities operate under the state. The lower degree, comparable to the Bachelor degree, takes about 3−4 years at a university and 3,5−4,5 years at a polytechnic.

A degree from a polytechnic is not considered a lower university degree (alempi korkeakoulututkinto) in the Finnish system. This is because the lower university degree includes a lot of theoretical material, which is not included in the practice-oriented vocational degree. Also, there are no more levels of vocational degrees than one. The implication is that if a vocational college graduate wishes to enroll in an university to become a Master or a Doctor, he is in equal terms with the university freshmen. Some, but not all of the vocational studies may be compensated. Some vocational colleges title their degrees in English, such as Bachelor of Science in Engineering, but these are vocational, not university degrees in the Finnish system, even if they could be compared to foreign Bachelor degrees. Examples of vocational degrees are nurse and engineer (amk).

In a university, Licenciate and Doctor's degrees can be obtained. Universities distinguish between "higher" and "lower" university degrees. Lower degrees take about three years to complete and are called kandidaatti (Candidate). Higher degrees take about 5-7 years to complete, and with exceptions as below, are called maisteri (Master).

The state funds the universities, the municipalities fund the vocational colleges. No tuitions are collected from citizens of Finland. The state gives a student benefit, which is currently at 259 € per month, plus 1,47 € of food benefit, which is subtracted from the prices in student cafes. The benefits may be revoked if there is a persistent lack of progress in the studies. The benefit is too small for most people, so students usually do also some work to fund their studies (or, pappa betalar). Student loans are also available, but most students prefer earned money to borrowed money, even if it delays their graduation. However, at universities, membership in the student union is compulsory, and the membership fee is e.g. 88 € per annum at Helsinki University of Technology. Tuitions may be collected from foreign students.

Some universities and universities of technology 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. Even if these have a more extensive curriculum and require a longer time to complete than a Master's degree, it is generally not possible to receive any intermediate degree prior to completion. For example, there is only a Master of Science in Engineering, but no Bachelor. Similarly, a degree of "Master of Medicine" doesn't exist - only the Licenciate of Medicine does. As a part of the Bologna process, such grades are being introduced, but the only aim is compatibility with foreign systems that have these degrees.

Examples:

varatuomari, literally "Vice Judge" is a degree for Bachelors in Law and is considered a higher degree. Qualifies for the position of a judge and requires working as a lawyer, so that the total work required is comparable to a higher degree.
lääketieteen lisensiaatti, Licenciate of Medicine. A Bachelor in Medicine (lääketieteen kandidaatti) specializes in his field by doing medical work.
diplomi-insinööri, in English "Master of Science in Engineering". The Master's studies alone are worth 160 credits, just as studies in other fields. However, graduation requires the completion of the "diploma project" (diplomityö), some engineering project typically taking ½-1 years. This adds 20 credits to the degree, giving a total of 180 credits. (Polytechnics award 3-year non-academic degrees with the confusingly similar name insinööri (amk). Such a degree compensates only about 1/3 of the 6-year diplomi-insinööri program, due to the difference in focus between theory and practice. In the end, both "inssi" and "DI" as much about the work of engineering itself, but many employers are more willing to promote DIs than insinööris.)

Post Graduate

The stage of quaternary education offers two degrees, an intermediate postgraduate degree, called Licentiate, and the Doctor (Doctorate) degree. Most universities give the title "doctor of philosophy", filosofian tohtori. However, Universities of Technology give the title "doctor of 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.

Post-secondary 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 university or university college. 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.

**System Comparison**
Finland		United States
Post Doctorate	PD	Post Doctorate	PD
Tohtori	-	Post Doctorate	PD
		Doctorate	Q4
			Q4
Lisensiaatti	-		Q3
			Q3
		Master's Degree	G2
Maisteri	160 cr.		G2
Maisteri	160 cr.		G1
Kandidaatti	120 cr.		G1
		Bachelor's Degree	T4
			T4
			T3
			T3
			T2
Grammar School Ages 16-19	3		T1
	2	High School Ages 14-18	H12
	1		H11
Primary School (Upper) Ages 13-16	9		H10
	8		H9
	7	Middle School Ages 11-14	M8
Primary School (Lower) Ages 7-12	6		M7
	5		M6
	4	Elementary School Ages 6-11	E5
	3		E4
	2		E3
	1		E2
Early Primary School	-		E1
Kindergarten	-	Kindergarten	K

Comparisons with other Educational Systems

The Finnish educational system has its own distinctions and is as such not directly comparable to other educational systems. One of the first things to notice is primary schooling, which is compulsory until the age of 16 in Finland. However, almost everyone attends the elective secondary school where the student makes the important choice whether to prepare for higher studies or receive a vocational education. The two final years of the grammar school correspond almost one-to-one to the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. Comparatively, in terms of education, the latter half of the preparatory secondary school roughly corresponds to the freshman and to some extent parts of the sophomore year of college in the USA.

The higher education system in Finland is not divided to "undergraduate" and "postgraduate" education at the Bachelor's degree like in USA. Undergraduate education (perusopinnot) has two levels, the general degrees of "kandidaatti", literally Candidate and "maisteri". These degrees are for all purposes seen as equivalent but not identical to the degrees of Bachelor's and Master's.

The post-graduate level (jatko-opiskelu) at Finnish universities has an intermediate degree called Licentiate, which is closer in academic level to a Doctorate than a Master's degree. It can be thought as a intermediate step towards a full Doctor's degree, or an extended Master's degree. E.g. a manuscript of the doctoral dissertation might be approved as a Licenciate work, or a Master can obtain a degree of larger scope than the Master's degree can provide. Due to the Licenciate degree, the requirements for a disputation for a Doctorate in Finland is also seen to be slightly higher. Though at the Doctorate level the degree of specialization is reaching a point where the benefit of any kind generalized comparisons can be put in to question.