English-language teaching has largely replaced Finnish at Aalto University, especially for Masters programmes in the fields of business and technology, according to a ruling issued on Monday by Mikko Puumalainen, Finland's Deputy Chancellor of Justice.
In a statement outlining its decision, the office noted that English has also become the main language of instruction in Bachelor's Degree programmes.
Students at the university filed a complaint with the Chancellor of Justice in October 2021 over the dominance of English-language instruction at the institution.
The complaint concerned finance studies in particular, which are not offered in Finnish or Swedish at Masters level. In addition, the complainants noted, the Bachelor of Finance degree is also no longer offered mainly in Finnish or Swedish.
Based on the complaint, the Deputy Chancellor of Justice asked the Espoo-based school last year for a report on how much of Aalto University's teaching is available in Finnish and Swedish in bachelors and masters degree programmes — particularly in the fields of business, engineering and architecture.
The university delivered its report in April.
"In my view, the report provided by Aalto University reflects an outward appearance of linguistic rights at Aalto University and is in contravention of the University Act," the Deputy Chancellor of Justice's decision read.
Chancellor: University must address issues
The Deputy Chancellor of Justice's decision stated that robust and long-term measures must be implemented to safeguard the status of the Finnish language at universities.
The statement also drew Aalto University's attention to Section 11 of the Universities Act, and asked the institute to report by the end of this year on the measures it takes in response to the complaints.
The Deputy Chancellor will also send his decision to the Ministry of Education and Culture to assess whether any further action needs to be taken — requesting that the ministry reports back by the end of October.
Only 5% in Finnish
The report submitted by Aalto University to the Deputy Chancellor of Justice revealed that only slightly more than five percent of courses offered at the masters level in economics are taught in Finnish.
For the masters programmes in technology, the corresponding figure was around 10 percent.
According to Aalto University, the policy it continues to follow is that bachelor's degree programmes are mainly offered in the national languages, Finnish and Swedish, and masters level education courses are mainly conducted in English.
However, the university's study found that only about 40 percent of the courses offered in the Finnish-language Bachelor of Business Administration programmes are actually taught in Finnish.
Students filed previous complaint in 2013
The Chancellor of Justice has previously dealt with a similar complaint by Aalto University students.
In a 2013, Puumalainen characterised Aalto University's share of English-language teaching as "considerable" and that the school was not compliant with the Constitution, nor the Universities Act, as Finnish is required to be one of the main languages of instruction and examination.
Although Puumalainen noted at the time that the Universities Act largely leaves it up to insitituions to decide how much Finnish and Swedish are used and how many other languages can be added, the use of other languages should not supersede Finnish.
He therefore called on Aalto University to report back on the measures it was taking to rectify the situation.
In 2015, the university issued a policy on the language of instruction and examination, which sought to take into account the criticisms made by the Deputy Chancellor of Justice in 2013.
However, in Monday's statement, the Deputy Chancellor of Justice noted that the 2015 guidelines have still not been implemented.
Report finds English instruction increasing
The Deputy Chancellor of Justice also asked the Ministry of Education and Culture for its opinion on the most recent complaint and Aalto University's response.
The ministry stated that, in its opinion, students must have the opportunity to complete both bachelors and masters degrees in courses where the majority of studies are offered in Finnish.
However, the Universities Act does not explicitly state that all degree programmes and their accompanying courses should be available entirely or mainly in Finnish.
At the end of last year, the ministry commissioned a study by linguistics researcher Janne Saarikivi on language practices within the Finnish higher education system.
Saarikivi's report found that the previous decisions made by the Chancellor of Justice and the Ombudsman on the right to study in Finnish or Swedish have not led to changes within universities.
On the contrary, the report noted, English-language teaching has increased.
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