The only adequate way to raise the level of education is to increase the starting places and to finance them in full.
In December the Ministry of Education and Culture's proposal for a new funding model for universities was published. A new funding basis has been proposed for the model: the number of first-time students. The more the university chooses these students, the more money is promised.
According to Petteri Orpo's (kok) government's higher education policy, non-first-time students are a problem, because they have “piled up” education. By favoring first-timers, the government is trying to raise Finland's education level. When only one right to a degree is regulated for everyone, the entire society suffering from a skills shortage wins. Or win?
From the point of view of our higher education system, both an applicant who has completed ten higher education degrees and an applicant who has completed one course of their degree are considered non-first-time students. In both example cases, we cannot speak of “accumulation of education”, even if it would be even more difficult for both of them to get to higher education thanks to the new funding model.
Predominant some of the non-first-time applicants are industry changers, for whom completing a new degree may be mandatory due to challenges related to occupational health or employment, for example. In an increasingly complex world, multidisciplinary experts are also needed. That is why it is worth asking what kind of reasons create “unnecessary accumulation of education”.
The only adequate way to raise the level of education is to increase the starting places and to finance them in full. When, after the middle of the 20th century, society was convulsed by structural change and, as a result, a shortage of skilled labor, the answer was considerable investments not only in education but also in student benefits. Now we need a similar spirit of expansion and not a regulation policy.
Jenni Suutari
Board member of the Federation of Finnish Student Unions
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