The actions taken since the current government took office are insufficient to meet its own educational goals, says Ida Mielityinen, executive director of the Rectors' Conference of Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences (Arene).
Among other aims, the cabinet led by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) says it wants to increase the number of doctoral students. In February, the Ministry of Education and Culture allocated 255 million euros to universities, with the aim of training 1,000 new PhDs.
According to Mielityinen, the government's means are ineffective.
"Really drastic changes should be made to the current policies. It seems that there is no readiness [for sufficient changes in higher education policy] despite the situation being what it is," Mielityinen said on Yle TV1's morning chat show on Thursday.
The Finnish student union association SYL also considers the government's intentions to be unrealistic. According to SYL education policy expert Heidi Rättyä, it is clear that realising the cabinet’s educational goals is impossible with the current resources.
"The resources are insufficient. Educational capacity must be increased, and political decisions are needed for that," she asserted.
Finland’s education level slips behind peer countries
The long, steady rise in education levels in Finland has come to a halt. At the same time, many peer nations have raised the education level of their citizens past that of Finland.
According to Aleksi Kalenius, a senior official at the Ministry of Education and Culture, there are good signs in the air, even though the government has enough work to do.
"Access to higher education has improved in the last decade, and new records have been set in the number of people starting university in the early 2020s," he said.
The percentage of people aged 25–34 with higher education degrees has risen to 47 percent in OECD countries. In Finland, the share has fallen behind and is now around 40 percent.
The government says that the proportion of young adults with higher education should rise to as close as possible to 50 percent by 2030.
According to Kalenius, though, it is already clear that the 50-percent goal will not be reached. In the longer term, the government's goal is to strive to be among the top countries in the OECD in educational terms, he said.
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