This - the suggestion of a tuition fee - has gotten every higher education student up in arms and there is already a Facebook group planning a protest on 18th of March. It strikes against the Finnish higher education insitution traditions in a way that many foreigners won't probably understand, since they have had to pay tuitions for generations: the Finnish model is like this because it is considered a right for everyone, not just for those who come from wealthy families or gamble their future with ridiculously large student loans, to have access to a higher education based on merits, not on money. Some of Finland's taxes, which are generally high (although not that high as some right-wingers have complained), have been explained as a necessary sacrifice for free education at all levels. I don't know how well that explanation would work with students (who are all eligible for vote, after all) if a tuition fee is introduced.Helsingin Sanomat wrote:EUR 1,000 tuition fee proposed for higher education students
Accrued EUR 250 million could be used to hire more teaching staff
A Ministry of Education working group is discussing ways to shorten the graduation times of the students of higher education in Finland.
One of the suggested alternatives is the introduction of a uniform tuition fee of, for example, EUR 1,000 per year.
The maximum amount of the state-backed student loan would then be raised by the same sum.
With the present student volumes, such a fee would bring in extra cash for the funding of universities and polytechnics to the tune of around EUR 250 million per year.
The money could be used, for example, to improve the student/teacher ratio.
The fee would also facilitate better management of the international student exchange.
The last time the fee issue was brought up took place when a committee discussing the export of Finnish education suggested that the question of chargeable university studies should be raised in connection with the preparation of the next government policy programme.
This was interpreted to refer to the introduction of tuition fees for Finnish higher education students as well.
After that nearly all the political parties have kept issuing assurances that there are no plans to introduce fees for Finnish students.
Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) reiterated in ast week’s Parliamentary question-time that not a single step has been taken in that direction.
Nevertheless, different types of models have been discussed in the attempt to extend the number of years people spend in working life.
One solution would be to make the students graduate quicker.
In addition to the introduction of a general tuition fee, another alternative that has been discussed is to limit the right to free education to one higher academic degree.
In practice this would mean that students are granted 12 semesters (6 years) of free education to receive their Master’s degree.
Models for a kind of education voucher and for result-linked state loans have also been considered.
With the education voucher paid by the government, a student could study for a certain amount of time, after which cashing the note would become the student’s own responsibility.
In the result-linked state loan model the academic institutions would introduce semester fees paid by the government.
A student would pay his or her semester fees after graduation in a form of a supplementary levy.
For this an Australian system has been used as a model.
There is a desire to urge the universities, too, to structure their courses in such a way that it encourages the students to complete their studies.
For example course credits earned during the summer months would increase funding for the university.
A scholarship incentive system for students who advance in their studies quickly and with high grades would also be introduced by universities.
The same working group also wants to lay more emphasis on the matriculation examination results by increasing direct admittance to institutes of higher education based on the upper secondary and matriculation examination certificates.
The universities, however, do not wish to give up entrance examinations altogether.
The suggestions are scheduled to be handed to the Minister of Education on March 18th.
Personally I reject this suggestion entirely: I'm already doing a part-time job to make the ends meet. Introducing a tuition fee is not going to get me finish my education quicker (or anyone's, for that matter), it will merely delay it because I would have to work even more (and give up some other student benefits, which also happen to limit how much income I can have without penalties). My viscal reaction is that the work group is entirely detached from reality and the life of an average student, but then again, this was just one suggestion among the many - but a stupid, neverethless.
It's like a big "fuck you" sign to all Finnish students and youths from middle-aged adults who have benefited from free education, gotten cushy jobs and now fear about their own retirement safety with a government pension, whether the people involved meant it or not. And the Parliament was even thinking about how to encourage the students to work MORE so that they would have more money. This is one way to achieve it, certainly...
