The Ministry of Education and Culture is updating the vision for higher education and research next year. The purpose of the work is to set objectives for the year 2040. A reform of the vision for higher education is welcome: the previous vision set up a number of objectives worth supporting, but over the years, they have mainly remained as ideas on paper.

In fact, setting concrete measures to ensure that the objectives of the new vision are achieved should play a key role in the upcoming work. The starting point for reworking the vision must be to recognise that the dual model enriches our higher education system, and it must be utilised and strengthened.

In the previous vision for higher education, one of the objectives was to raise the level of education so that 50% of the age group of young people would hold a higher education degree. The importance of this objective has been widely recognised, but in almost a decade, there has not been enough political will to find funding that would allow the realisation of this objective.

The most important objective of the new vision is to come to an agreement about funding for raising the level of education that will carry over different parliamentary terms. We must also look at the fields young people want to study and invest in them. It is important to offer opportunities for continuous learning for different career stages, but increasing the level of education must be examined specifically from the perspective of the young age group.

Raising the level of education also requires improving the graduation rate of higher education institutions. If we examine those who started studies at the university in 2015, after seven years of studying, 49.4% have completed a Master’s degree, 28.5% a Bachelor’s degree, and nearly 20% have not completed a degree at all.

An increasing number of admissions will also mean a wider range of students who study in higher education, and this diverse group of students will also have new kinds of needs. Higher education institutions must have the capacity to respond to the needs of a diversifying group of students through pedagogy, guidance and support.

Heterogeneity guarantees the diversity of voices of higher education graduates, which is why the access of underrepresented groups to higher education must be at the core of preparing the vision. The segregation in education has concerningly been a growing phenomenon for years, and we cannot afford to let even one young person be left behind. For example, separate admission pathways to universities for those with Finnish as a second language are good and necessary.

The previous vision set ambitious internationalisation targets, which must be kept. These days, Western values are under fire from all sides, and higher education institutions must be pioneers of civilisation and supporters of an open world.

The vision work offers an opportunity to find a common view on how to respond to the challenges of our era through education and research. We at SYL are looking forward to the discussions about the new vision!

Further information:

Heidi Rättyä
Education Policy Adviser
+358 41 515 2231
heidi.rattya@syl.fi

Nikolas Bursiewicz
Education Policy Adviser
+358 41 515 2230
nikolas.bursiewicz@syl.fi