Up to half of Finnish university masters’ programmes in English
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About half of the masters’ degree programmes at Finnish universities are in English. In economics and technology, the proportion is even higher, says Talvikki Kosonen, a planner at the Ministry of Education.
For the upcoming autumn term the Ministry of Education has given its approval to 75 new masters’ programmes, 37 of which can be completed in English. Some of the programmes will be joint efforts of more than one university.
While the original intention of offering masters’ programmes in foreign languages was to attract foreign students to Finland, studies in English have recently been attracting an increasing number of Finnish students.
The increasing popularity of English as a language of Finnish academia has raised a number of questions, concerning both the standard of English used in the instruction,and the fate of the Finnish language as an academic medium.
Many of the teachers taking part in the English-language masters’ programmes are native speakers of Finnish.
"Finding teachers is not always easy, but for some Finnish teachers, it is actually more natural to lecture in English", says Riitta Peltonen, planner of education at the Helsinki School of Economics.
The University of Turku has set as its official goal to set up at least one English-language masters’ programme in each faculty. According to planner Markku Suitse, arrangements for instruction are no problem, even though most of the teachers are native speakers of Finnish.
"At the professorial level people are often so international, that it is easy to arrange instruction in English", he says.
Last week the increasing use of English raised some discussion at a seminar on the teaching of Finnish language and literature. Kari Raivio, Chancellor of the University of Helsinki, noted that academic Finnish needs to be nurtured.
Anita Lehikoinen of the Ministry of Education notes that there has been a conscious effort to establish an English-speaking scientific community in Finland.
Nevertheless, the ministry has instructed universities to make sure that foreign language education must, "under no account", be allowed to threaten the amount of education in the two national languages - Finnish and Swedish.
There have been cases in which the Ministry of Education has turned down a university’s request to hold an educational programme in English, if the programme is the only one of its kind in Finland.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 9.8.2005 - TODAY |
 Up to half of Finnish university masters’ programmes in English
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