Higher education in Finland is tuition-free and considered a basic right. It is offered through both universities and polytechnics. Universities focus on academic research and offer bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees, while polytechnics provide vocational education and applied research. Both universities and polytechnics are publicly funded through tax revenue, with the government setting targets and allocating resources to universities and providing core funding to polytechnics based on student enrollment. However, funding cuts in recent years have reduced resources, forcing staff reductions of around 500 employees at the University of Helsinki alone.

1. Higher Education in Finland
Mikko Mäkelä / CCO @Metropolia UAS

2. Finnish higher education
 The basic right to education in Finland is entrenched in
the Constitution.
 Degree education is tuition-free in Finland.
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3. Finnish higher education
 Higher education has a significant role in Finnish society
and the national innovation system: higher education is
crucial when working towards a world-class knowledge
society.
 Higher education is offered by universities and
polytechnics.
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4. Finnish higher education
 Universities provide academic education based on
research. All 14 universities offer Bachelor’s, Master's,
licentiate and doctoral degrees.
Total faculty&staff FTE count is 30752.
 Universities of Applied Sciences (24 polytechnics) provide
vocational education on a higher level and promote applied
research.
Total faculty&staff FTE count is 9867.
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5. Financing of the education
 In Finland, education is publicly funded. The public
education system and education primarily provided
through public tax revenue at all levels have been
perceived in Finland as being a means to guarantee equal
opportunities for education for the entire population
irrespective of social or ethnic background, gender and
domicile.
 In Finland, the law forbids tuition in degree programs
designed for Finnish or EU citizens.
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6. Funding of the higher education
 Each university and the Ministry of Education and Culture
set operational and qualitative targets for the university
and determine the resources required every three years.
Universities receive funding from the state but they are
also expected to raise external funding.
 In the funding of polytechnics the Government allocates
resources in the form of core funding, which is based on
unit costs per student, project funding and performance-
based funding. Polytechnics also have external sources
of funding.
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7. Universities have lost 200 million euros
 Jukka Kola, rector of the University of Helsinki, reminds
the Finnish Government that university funding has been
significantly reduced in recent years due to the university
index being cut and frozen.
“The index cuts may appear to be one-time measures, but
they are anything but, as they also impact funding for the
coming years. During the past four years, the University
of Helsinki alone has lost €46 million and universities
overall €200 million. Meanwhile, we’ve had to reduce our
staff by approximately 500 employees, although we have
been lucky enough to avoid layoffs.”
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8. Financing the polytechnics
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• Concessions and finance model redesigned during
2013 - 2014.
• Financial changes for 2014 - 2018
• Saving decisions from last few years have caused
about -20% cuts to budgets, about -170 M€ totally
• Yearly amount of new students reduced
• Financial index was locked for 2012-2014 years
• Unit cost of the students was also reduced

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Financing the polytechnics

10. Change in volumes (BenchHEIT survey)
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Total
102440
Total
102941
Total
104425
Total
103323
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
2010 2011 2012 2013
Number of workstations
Desktops Laptops Tablets
35000
35500
36000
36500
37000
37500
38000
38500
39000
39500
40000
179000
180000
181000
182000
183000
184000
185000
186000
187000
188000
2010 2011 2012 2013
Number of Students and
Staff
Student FTE Staff FTE

11. Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
 16,500 students
 2,370 Bachelor’s and 290 Master’s graduates in 2014
 Staff 1,080
 67 degree programmes - 15 of them in English
 Most popular UAS in Finland in terms of applicants,
second-most
 popular in terms of attractiveness: 6.3 first-choice
applicants per
 study place in 2014
 900 foreign degree students, nearly 90 nationalities
 Budget in 2015 EUR 103 million
 Operating premises in 20 locations
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12. Metropolia IT 2009-2015
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13. Challenges in new ETLA-model
 All or nothing, only fraction of the students are
really needing full CC. BUT it would be really
nice to show to all students what can be
achieved with your products
 Need for flexibility (static per seat model)
 Virtualization for BYOD
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14. Potential bright future for Adobe and us
 HEIs role as ”farmers for new crop”. HEIs will be the last
stop before students move to their own professions and
hobbies.
 Students should be seen as Adobe’s long-term customers
as they are used to use Adobe products during their
studies in higher education.
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15. THANK YOU!
 www.metropolia.fi/en/
 www.facebook.com/MetropoliaAMK
 name.surname@metropolia.fi