High tuition fees being planned for foreign university students in Finland
Rates would vary between EUR 3,500-9,500
|
In the future, foreign university students in Finland from outside the EU and EEA countries may be required to start paying tuition fees of up to nearly EUR 10,000 per term. That is, if the plans of the working group looking into the matter materialise.
Such fees could be introduced in 2007. The Ministry of Education committee that was set up in March will hand its proposals to the Minister of Education Tuula Haatainen (SDP) on Tuesday of next week.
The proposals are not quite finished yet, and the amounts of the suggested fees are not set in stone. The guiding principle is that the charges for various degree programmes would reflect the costs and the appeal of these programmes.
So far, the suggested figures have varied from about EUR 3,500 to EUR 9,500 per academic semester, the average price settling at around EUR 7,000 per term.
A degree programme education ordered by a foreign government could be more expensive than one funded privately or by the individual.
While the law would define a price bracket for the fees, the universities themselves could decide on the precise amounts within these limits.
According to most members of the fees committee, the key condition for introducing the rather substantial fees would be the simultaneous setting up of a scholarship fund for the poorest arrivals.
Financing of such scholarships could come, for example, from government development co-operation funds or from business life.
The universities themselves could also introduce scholarship programmes. The universities have emphasised the fact that tuition fees would help them finance the teaching of foreigners, for example, in form of courses taught in languages other than Finnish.
The fees relate to aims to increase the internationalisation of Finnish universities. For example, there are plans to double the number of foreign students taking part in various degree programmes at Finnish universities.
Similar undertakings by several other European nations have also increased pressure to introduce the tuition fee system here.
The matter is to be discussed in next week's government budget meeting. In practice, the universities would start collecting tuition fees from foreigners in 2007.
Such fees could be introduced in 2007. The Ministry of Education committee that was set up in March will hand its proposals to the Minister of Education Tuula Haatainen (SDP) on Tuesday of next week.
The proposals are not quite finished yet, and the amounts of the suggested fees are not set in stone. The guiding principle is that the charges for various degree programmes would reflect the costs and the appeal of these programmes.
So far, the suggested figures have varied from about EUR 3,500 to EUR 9,500 per academic semester, the average price settling at around EUR 7,000 per term.
A degree programme education ordered by a foreign government could be more expensive than one funded privately or by the individual.
While the law would define a price bracket for the fees, the universities themselves could decide on the precise amounts within these limits.
According to most members of the fees committee, the key condition for introducing the rather substantial fees would be the simultaneous setting up of a scholarship fund for the poorest arrivals.
Financing of such scholarships could come, for example, from government development co-operation funds or from business life.
The universities themselves could also introduce scholarship programmes. The universities have emphasised the fact that tuition fees would help them finance the teaching of foreigners, for example, in form of courses taught in languages other than Finnish.
The fees relate to aims to increase the internationalisation of Finnish universities. For example, there are plans to double the number of foreign students taking part in various degree programmes at Finnish universities.
Similar undertakings by several other European nations have also increased pressure to introduce the tuition fee system here.
The matter is to be discussed in next week's government budget meeting. In practice, the universities would start collecting tuition fees from foreigners in 2007.
Helsingin Sanomat