Finns start studies at age 21 on average
Study compares careers of university and polytech graduates
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Finnish students at universities and other institutions of higher education start their studies at the average age of 21 - a fairly high age by European comparison.
A fresh study indicates that Finnish university graduates are quite successful in their studies compared with their colleagues in the rest of Europe: they find work easily, their professional positions are high, and they earn more money than those with a degree from a polytechnic.
A fresh study by Professor Osmo Kivinen and special researcher Jouni Nurmi involved more than 2,500 university and polytech students who graduated in 2000.
The benefits of the degrees were assessed five years after graduation.
The Finnish results were compared with those in Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland, and Norway, all of which have a comparable dual system of higher education - a division into universities and polytechnics.
Of these countries, only students in The Netherlands were younger on average than those in Finland.
The average age to begin studies in Finland is higher than in Britain, Spain, and France. Beginning students in Finland are younger on average than those in Germany and Norway.
Finnish and German students earn a masters’ degree at a relatively late age - about 27 - after studying for more than six years.
Finnish students typically get work experience in their own fields. Only French university students and German polytech students get as much experience in their intended professions, says the study.
Part-time study is more common at Finnish universities than in the countries of comparison. Some students even take a break from their studies in order to work full time, which postpones graduation.
About 40 per cent of Finnish university students study only part-time when they are finishing their university degrees.
Nearly 90 per cent of Finnish university graduates have worked at least during their holidays. The percentage was almost as high in France and in The Netherlands.
A Finnish masters’ degree takes just over five years in net studying time.
Only in France and Britain do students complete their masters’ degrees more quickly than in Finland. Experts say that British and French degrees do not require as much work as those in other countries.
An exceptional number of Finnish university graduates already work when they graduate. Getting work was easiest in Finland of all of the countries that were compared. However, the differences were fairly small.
Meanwhile, the professional status of Finnish polytech graduates is more modest than those in Germany and Switzerland.
University degrees in Finland have taken on a more “professional” character than those in many other countries, and employers also recognise university degrees better than those offered by polytechnics.
In all of the other countries with the dual system, unemployment was more common among university graduates than those with a polytech background.
The study found that only tree per cent of Finns with masters’ degrees were without work, whereas five per cent of those with a polytech education were actively seeking work.
Finns with masters’ degrees from universities earn an average 25 per cent more money than those with a polytech education.
A masters’ degree itself boosts pay by about ten per cent, regardless of position, task, demands of the job, and even gender.
The impact of a degree on earnings varies considerably from one field to another.
In Finland, the pay boost of an academic degree is considerable in business and administration, and the risk of unemployment is much smaller.
In terms of lifetime income, those with a university degree in economics tend to overtake business graduates of polytechs in three years. In the arts, the payback time for those with more extensive degrees appears to be about eight times as long.
Unlike most other countries, Finnish university graduates are more likely to become entrepreneurs than those with a professional degree.
One counterintuitive result was that in all of Europe, those who have studied economics are the least likely to go into business for themselves, while quite of few of those in the humanities are self-employed.
A large proportion of Finns with a higher education had jobs that corresponded to their education had five years after graduation.
Similar results have been noted in Switzerland and Germany, whereas in Britain nearly one third felt that they were working in an “alien” field.
Shortcomings in Finnish degrees include a lack of training of social skills, language skills, and presentation.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 25.8.2008 - TODAY |
 Finns start studies at age 21 on average |
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