Finland's government is preparing to change the law regarding tuition fees for non-EU and non-EEA students.
The proposed reform of the Universities Act and the Universities of Applied Sciences Act means the tuition fees paid by students coming to Finland from outside the EU and EEA must cover the full cost of their education. The change would also see the introduction of an application fee for such students.
The new rules would apply to degree programmes where instruction is given in a language other than Finnish or Swedish.
This proposal was outlined in Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's (NCP) programme for government, agreed among the four-party coalition before they took office last summer.
"Charging fees for tuition at full cost aims to improve the finances of higher education institutions and to encourage foreigners studying in Finland to stay in the country," Minister of Science and Culture Sari Multala (NCP) wrote in a government press release.
A survey published last year found that nearly half of foreign students planned to leave Finland after graduating.
The introduction of the application fee aims to "reduce the number of injudicious and low-quality applications," which lead to extra administrative work for higher education institutions.
"At the moment, higher education institutions receive a large number of applications from applicants who do not have the educational qualifications required in Finland to apply to study in such institutions, for example. Every single application must be processed and this uses up resources in higher education institutions," Multala noted.
The government has yet to send the bill to Parliament for approval, but aims to bring it into force by next October, but regulation regarding the application fee would only become effective from August 2025, due to the application period.
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