FINLAND: To fee or not to fee - that is the question

Only in recent times have the powers-that-be in Finnish higher education been able to bring themselves to utter the word 'fees'. In the Finnish context, the thought of charging students to study had risen only occasionally before discussions led to Finland's new Universities Act of 2009. But radical change is afoot and, from the start of 2010, it became possible for universities to charge tuition fees to students from outside the European Union, although under certain highly restrictive circumstances.

The new Act aims to free up the system and enable the development of an entrepreneurial culture. Charging tuition fees to students from outside the EU and the EEA has been put forward as one of the ways to improve the flexibility of the Finnish system and increase the proportion of university funding from non-government sources.

The new fee regime has been introduced as a five-year experimental programme to promote international contacts. The tuition fees would be applicable only to special masters' programmes, different from those available to domestic students. Universities will also have to establish a scholarship scheme.

The universities will decide whether to offer fee-paying courses and will decide on fee levels. The last time the topic of fees came up, a working group proposed fees ranging from EUR3,500 to EUR12,000.

The fees to be charged now in many cases will not cover the full cost of tuition. The government has promised that funds earned from fees will be available for direct use by the universities that earn them, and that government funding will not be reduced as a consequence.

At this early stage, one can only conjecture about what might happen. The academic year runs from September to May, so we are unlikely to see the new fee-paying arrangements taking effect before September. University websites do not yet provide information on fees so it is not possible to work out which universities will opt to be part of this pilot scheme.

Most fee-paying programmes are likely to be in English and the universities and polytechnics currently teach around 500 programmes in this language. Even if there is scope for the university sector to broaden its funding base via international student fees, these are unlikely to add much to the bottom line.

Foreign students made up about 3.8% of all university enrolments in 2008 but half of these came from Europe, and most would not be required to pay fees. In other words, based on 2008 figures, about 96% of the student body would be tuition fee-exempt. The fees received would represent only about 1% of the total income received by universities.

Some might see fees for foreign students as the thin edge of the wedge. If the fees-for-foreign-students pilot scheme is a success, policy-makers and universities might decide that charging domestic students would be a logical next step.

Although students have always been influential members of universities' governing bodies, the smaller boards required by Finland's new University Act might lead to a quieter student voice than in the past.

Imposition of domestic fees, however, is not inevitable. Much more likely would be the introduction of some form of 'student learning entitlement'. Under such a scheme, students would no longer remain in the system as 'perpetual students' without some personal financial penalty. Finnish students are older on average than their counterparts elsewhere in Europe, largely because of their propensity to drag their feet.

The growth in the number of fee-paying students is likely to be slow at first although there is nothing to say that it won't pick up within a few years. Of course, if universities charge less than full cost-recovery fees, foreign students will continue to be subsidised by the Finnish taxpayer. Perhaps this is a small price to pay for the valuable international linkages made possible by having foreign students studying in Finland.

* Dr Ian Dobson is Helsinki correspondent for University World News. An Australian scholar often based in Finland, he is editor of the Australian Universities' Review.