Finland govt proposes application and tuition fees for non-European students

The proposed changes are scheduled to enter into force on 1 October 2024. However, provisions regarding application fees, commissioned education and the amount to be charged from non-EU students are likely to be in force on 1 August 2025.

As per the report of University World News, the proposed amendments to acts are scheduled to enter into force on 1 October 2024. However, the provisions related to commissioned education and application fees and the amount of tuition fees to be charged by non-EU students, will enter into force on 1 August 2025.

The government proposed amendments to the Universities Act and the Universities of Applied Sciences Act concerning tuition fees for non-EU and non-European Economic Area (EEA) students, said the ministry release on 16 May. The statement also added a proposal to introduce an application fee for such students.

Minister of Science and Culture Sari Multala said, "Charging fees for tuition at full cost aims to improve the finances of higher education institutions and to encourage foreigners studying in Finland to stay in the country," as reported by Study Travel.

She added, “These changes will ease the administrative burden of higher education institutions. At the moment, higher education institutions receive a large number of applications from applicants who do have the educational qualifications required in Finland to apply to study in such institutions, for example. Every single application must be processed, and this uses up resources in higher education institutions.”

Those who are not European need to pay a fee, says University of Helsinki Professor

While talking about the opportunities for international students at the University of Helsinki, Professor Lasse Lipponen has told Shiksha that in the last 3-4 years, the university has launched several international programs to create more international students in Finland and also international staff members. Not every subject has an international program. In Finnish universities, the teaching has to be done in Finnish. Right now, in the university, there are a total of around 30,000 students, of which 3,000 are international students but I don't know how many Indian students we have at the university. My guess is that at this moment not many."

Commenting on any possible collaboration between Finland and India education sector in future, he said, "I hope like the HEI schools opening, other collaboration will come. I hope someday the students of HEI school will come to the University of Helsinki. If you come from outside Europe, then you have to pay a fee. There is an Indian community in Finland which has 20,000 Indians but they mostly work in the technology sector."

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