Parliament could still save free education

The Finnish government has submitted a proposal to the Finnish Parliament, aiming to make it possible to complete a higher education degree through open higher education studies that are subject to a fee. The proposal has been strongly criticised throughout its drafting process. HYY calls for the Finnish parliament to reject the proposal.

Forcing degree programmes that are subject to a fee into the Finnish higher education system is a fundamental change to our society and the principle of free education. The proposal is the Trojan horse of tuition fees. It is disguised as ‘increasing opportunities’, but in reality, the proposal hides a plan to work tuition fees into all higher education degrees.

The reasoning behind the change includes the goal of raising the level of education. However, the main target group of the reform are citizens who have already completed a degree and are in working life. It is difficult to see how a degree subject to a fee from the Open University could support raising the level of education. Why would someone interested in studying want to pay an arm and a leg for a higher education degree if one could still be completed for free as well?

Under the government proposal, the cost of the new kind of degree would be fully covered by the fee paid for it, which could result in a price of over 10,000 euros per academic year (ca. 300 euros per study credit). Currently, people can study at the Open University for a price of 15 euros per credit. How could maintaining these parallel systems be possible or realistic?

‘The proposal seems designed to meet goals no-one has dared to voice in public. This is all about trying to transfer the costs of education from society to the individual. It is another instance of undermining the principle of free education little by little’, Member of HYY’s Board Delila Belahcen explains.

We have seen this before. First, moderate voluntary fees for higher education are introduced on an experimental basis. Suddenly, the fees need to cover the entire cost of education up to 18,000 euros per year. This has already happened to fees collected from international students and for open higher education studies. Free education cannot be crushed in one day – instead, it has been systematically undermined for years.

Better solutions to supplementing the skills of people in working life and strengthening their lifelong learning have been suggested during the project. For instance, developing micro-credentials, supplementary education and current education paths in the Open University would help supplement the skills of people already in working life without creating an entirely new degree system that is subject to a fee in Finland.

The proposal leaves open serious questions about the equality of student admissions. The relationship between pursuing a degree at the Open University and the first-timer status is especially problematic. Under the proposal, someone completing a degree at the Open University would not lose their first-timer status. Under the current system, just the fear of losing one’s first-timer status can make changing fields of study and finding the right study path more difficult by itself.

‘It is unreasonable to intentionally build a parallel system that provides the rich with an opportunity to begin their degree studies in exchange for a fee while also retaining their advantage for any later student admissions. This reform would further increase the pressure young people feel over choosing a field of study and only allow mistakes for those who can pay for it’, Chair of HYY’s Board Emil Aarnio points out.

Above, we have only brought forward a fraction of the challenges related to the proposal. A proposal that is this problematic for Finland’s future and that would change the system this fundamentally should not be taken forward. When it was circulated for comments, the government proposal received nearly unanimous criticism from all parties commenting on it.

What happens next is up to the Finnish parliament and the members of the parliament. You have one last chance to save free education.

Emil Aarnio
Chair of the board
emil.aarnio@hyy.fi
050 475 1280