Reform of university requirements to cause surge in Master’s degrees

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The Finnish reform of university degrees, which took effect from the autumn of 2005, will cause a surge in the number of graduates when the transitional period of two parallel degree requirements ends in most fields in 2008.
      Students who had already started to study at a university before the autumn of 2005 could continue studying according to the old syllabus over the transition period up to 2008. However, the fields of technology, medicine, dentistry, and veterinary medicine have a transition period up to 2010.
     
The reform also introduced a compulsory lower degree in almost all fields. Hence, in addition to the ”old” Master’s degree, a large number of graduates of the so called Candidate’s first degree will also finish their studies in 2008. However, most of these graduates will go for the higher degree at a later point.
      The average annual number of those taking a Master's degree certificate is around 13,000, and this figure could now be exceeded by many thousands, as the faculties of universities have sent hurry-up reminders to tens of thousands of students who have not finished their studies as yet. Even briefings relating to the new syllabus have been held.
      Helsingin Sanomat asked Statistics Finland to determine the total number of those students who are studying according to the old syllabus, out of the total of the more than 150,000 students of the basic degree fthat can be found from the registers of Finnish universities.
      It turned out that in the autumn of 2006 more than 100,000 students were still studying according to the old syllabus.
      Moreover, the number of those who had started studying already before 1997 - ten years ago - was almost 20,000.
      For example, the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry at the University of Helsinki sent 4,000 reminders to all possible students at the faculty, informing them of the reforms and the alternatives. Only 20 of these students turned up at a briefing.
      The Finnish reform of university degrees forms part of the Bologna process for creating a European Higher Education Area by 2010.
     
The old Finnish course-credit units (weeks) have been replaced by a new credit system, according to which one year of full-time studies amounts to 60 credits.
      The lower university degree is 180 credits and the normative study time three years. The higher university degree is generally 120 credits, which corresponds to two years of study after the lower degree.
      In medicine and dentistry, the intermediate degree will not be introduced as yet.
      In most fields the transition period will end on July 31st, 2008, while for example the fields of technology, medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine will have a transition period up to July 31st, 2010.


Links:
  Reform of university degrees. Ministry of Education 2005

Helsingin Sanomat