HOW TO PROMOTE INTERNATIONAL CO- OPERATION 1. Some backround facts from Finnish higher

1. HOW TO PROMOTE INTERNATIONAL CO- OPERATION 1. Some backround facts from Finnish higher education and society: * dual system (20 universities and 29 universities of applied sciences) * it means 50 higher education institutes for 5 million people * universities have tradition and respect (University of Helsinki is 450 years old when Helsinki City University of Applied Sciences, Stadia is 10 years old) * Finland is a big country, with small population, located somewhere northern part of Europe * Finnish lanquage is very popular, it speaks about 5 million people in whole

2. 2. Internationalisation of Tertiary Education 2.1 Two generations of internationalisation strategies: * internationalisation of education became an important education policy goal in Finland in the late 1980s * participation in the European integration process called for a great increase in international activity at all levels od education and especially in tertiary edu- cation * the essence of the first internationalisation strategy was to set quantitative goals for student exchanges * one of the primary means for international cooperation was Finnish Centre for International Mobility and Exchange Programmes (CIMO), which was established in 1991. CIMO was composed responsoble for student, trainee and expert exchanges * oriented towards EU education programmes, Finland invested in European student and teacher exchanges and networks during the 1990s

3. 2.2 Second-generation internationalisation strategy of tertiary education in 2001 * Finland must strenghten its international competi- tiveness in tertiary education and research * Finland must take an active role in building up European higher education and research and develop its own capacity for operating on the international education market * ”By 2010 Finland will be a well-known and influen- tal part of the European education and research area and a successful player in the global contest for skills. Finland will have a community of 10,000-15,000 foreign degree students (4%)” * ”The annual volume of student exchanges will be around 28,000” * ”The numbers of foreign teachers, experts and researchers working at Finnish HEIs will double that they were in 2001”

4. 2.3 Instruments for realising the policy goals • * The political committment has been recorded in the • Development Plan for Education and Research 2003- • 2008 • The Ministry of Education monitors the achievement • of quantitative goals annually, and the best- • performing universities and polytechnics are • rewarded • The 2001 internationalisation strategy also calls for • national action, notably concerning the degree structure, • quality assurance, funding and higher education • legislation • The Ministry of Education has called upon the insti- • tutions to be active in building joint degree programmes • with foreign institutions

5. 2.3 Major policy issues arising from the impact of • internationalisation • The emerging international educational market and • the progressive liberalisation of cross-border education • services will have implications for the competitiveness • of all national education systems. Finland is facing • many challenges: • 1) small linguistic area of two national languages • 2) limited experience of market-driven education • 3) collegiate decision-making traditions in the institu- • tions • 4) almost exclusively public-funded tertiary education • system • Equal opportunity is high on the agenda of Finnish • policy-makers. Traditionally it has been seen that • equaty is best realised by means of tuition-free • education. The same principle is applied to interna- • tional activities. Unless there is a change in the near • future, HEI´s cannot possibly meet the Government´s • ambitiousquantitative goals for internationalisation.

6. if Finnish HEI´s aren unable to offer competitive, • globally recognised and valued degrees and • attractive research environments, brain drain • will be a real problem

7. 3. THEMATIC REVIEW OF TERTIARY EDUCATION IN FINLAND (September 2006) 3.1. Strengths of Finland and Finnish higher education in the International context: * Finland has strong industrial base, which is capable of being capitalised on work related education * Finland has become a very active partner in relevant international cooperative activities, notably Bologna and EU initiatives * Finland does not charge tuition fees at present * Science and Technology and research policies are given high priority in Finland * Finnish research, especially in Science and Technology and Health has improved its inter- national ranking considerably in recent years * research funding is relatively generous and the country has several internationally highly rated research groups

8. * the gender equality is better in Finnish workplaces than it is in many countries * graduate programmes in Finnish are strong and well funded * there is increasing evidence of instruction geared to the needs of international students * there has been significant growth in CIMO support * performance agreements between the Ministry and institutions have frequently included elements of internationalisation * inter-institutional cooperation is clearly evolving promisingly, often with a eye to international student recruitment * there has been a strong focus of internationalisa- tion in recent years at the policy level

9. 3.2 Weaknesses in relation to internationalisation: * Finland is far away from important and industrial centres; is inclined to be expensive; has a climate which may deter international students and has a difficult language * there was considerable dissatisfaction with immi- gration formalities and with the access to health care and social security (interview of foreign Ph.D. students and researchers) * there are spesific problems in connection with the recruitment in the higher education institutes (the most important of these is the shortage of attractive early career opportunities) * several of higher education institutes did not have an internationalisation strategy

10. 3.3 Recommendations: * in Finland there is a wide consensus that opening up higher education for larger numbers of inter- national students and recruiting staff and that must recommend * there is clearly scope for improvement in the field of international marketing of Finnish higher edu- cation (there are plety of recommendations what would be done in this area)

11. 4. STATISTICS FROM INTERNATIONAL MOBILITY (tertiary education): * the number of foreign diploma students has risen more than 2000 students and 40 per cent over the past five years (2000 - 2004) * the number of foreign diploma students was 7 900 in 2004 * it´s 2.6 per cent of all diploma students (the goal of Ministry of Education is 4 percent by 2010 * more than half of foreign students are male (55 % in 2004) * in bachelor- and master- level studies are 81% of foreign diploma students and in doctoral studies 19% of students (93 % and 7% of whole students) * field of study of foreign diploma students: - Engineering 30% - Social Sciences, Business and Law 25 % - Humanities and Arts 17% - Science 11% - Health care and Social Welfare 10%

12. * the largest groups are the Chinese (17%), followed by the Russians (14%), the Estonians and the Swedes (7% both); other ”big countries” in Europe are Germany, Spain, France, UK., Hungary, Poland, Romania (over 100 diploma students in Finland) * from Northern America 260, Latin America 160, Africa 900, Asia 2200 and Oceania 35