Compulsory schooling takes place in Finland between the ages of 7 and 16. Further education is voluntary either in the three-year upper secondary schools or 2-5 year courses in the vocational schools. The universities are directly under the Ministry of Education and are state owned but self-governing.
Finland is a country of nearly 5.000.000 people. It has a long history of distance education going back 78 years and extensive provision today. Finland has 21 universities, all of which are technology-rich and all have distance education programmes.
1997 European Union documentation gave the population of Finland as 5,054,982.
The gross national product per capita is 20,750 and the workforce is broken up thus: agriculture 1%, industry 4% and services 96%.
| Population | 5,054,982 |
| GDP per head | 20,750 Ecu |
The Finnish educational system was reformed between the 1960s and the late 1980s. The parallel education system was replaced with a nine-year comprehensive school. Secondary education was provided by general upper secondary schools offering a general education curriculum and by vocational schools. Vocational education was reformed in the 1980s, after which it comprised 26 basic programmes offering 250 school-or college-level diplomas or special options. The first year of a school or college programme offers a common general syllabus. Completing a school-level diploma takes 2-3 years while a college-level diploma requires 3-5 years. In technical syllabuses college-level education offers two options: technician and engineer training
Public provision of distance training courses is organised from vocational colleges and is estimated at 20.000 enrolments per year. The government has given these colleges responsibility for the unemployed in collaboration with the continuing education departments of conventional universities.
The training system in Finland must be one of the most de-centralized in Europe. It is totally regional in nature and the level of autonomy enjoyed by these agencies is almost total. There is a great mixture of distance and face-to-face provision. It is officially recognized that a system for collating data specifically for these institutions is lacking. There is no central agency then which will give an accurate picture of the exact didactic media employed and the relative proportions in which they are used. Neither is there a central agency for the collection of enrolment statistics. It is known that many of the courses do include a distance education component, however for the purposes of the Voctade project they are not regarded as distance education courses. It is lamentable that it is so difficult to monitor this section in Finland as it undoubtedly presents an interesting blend of didactic strategies which would add to debate and to the diversity of systems already in use.
Private provision is in decline despite an impressive tradition going back nearly 80 years. Today the focus in Finnish education is on information technology form technology-rich universities and the concept of 'correspondence' is not in fashion.
There was an extensive debate in Finland in the early 1980s about whether a country with a dispersed population, with advanced communication technologies and with a long history of teaching at a distance should found an open university. The final decision favoured individual programmes from the conventional universities.
Today all 21 of these universities are centres of information technology and all run distance education or open learning projects. All these universities have extensive programmes in further education, in continuing education and have been given the task of providing courses for the unemployed.
| Markkinointi-instituutti |
| Kansainvalistusseura |
| Tietomies |
| Ammatti-institutti |
| University of Oulu |
| University of Tampere |
| University of Jyväskylä |
| University of Turku |
| Lappeenranta University of Technology |
| Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration |
| Sibelius Academy |
| University of Helsinki |
| University of Kuopio |
| University of Joensuu |
| Åbo Akademi University |
| University of Vaasa |
| University of Lapland |
| Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administaration |
| University of Art and Design |
| Tampere University of Technology |
| Helsinki University of Technology |
| Theatre Academy |
| Turku School of Economics and Business Administartion |
The Institute of Marketing specializes in further training and re-training. The training offered by the Institute includes courses in the following areas:
The Institute of Marketing uses and integrated teaching system, which combines innovatively various distance-teaching and face-to-face teaching forms supported by modern educational technology and media. This way it is possible for the student to study flexibly even if s/he is employed full-time and no matter where s/he lives.
The Institute of Marketing designs and produces almost all of its teaching materials itself - from written materials to audio and video programmes and CAL programs. The Institute has an up-to-date graphic production and printing unit, an audiovisual studio, tele-training facilities and computers. By producing its own materials the Institute ensures that they correspond to teaching objectives and are suited to the very students for whom they are intended.
In 1985 the Institute of Marketing started exporting training to the Soviet Union. At present the target areas are the St Petersburg and Moscow regions, Karelia and the Baltic states. For the purpose of Organizing training in Eastern Europe, the Institute of Marketing has set up an office in Tallinn, Estonia. In Moscow, St Petersburg and Riga the Institute works in close collaboration with our training partners in Russia and with the other companies of MDC Helsinki Group.
The minimum age for admission to the Institute is 16 years with the exception of the children's school programme. Specific entrance qualifications are required for individual programmes. The main teaching medium is specially produced written study texts (often based on textbooks/readers) containing self-check and submitted assignments, supplemented by audio and video cassettes or other technological media. Students may enrol at any time except in the case of multimedia programmes which have fixed starting dates.
The East-West Distance Education Project of the International Association for Continuing Engineering Education has progressed rapidly. During the first six months of the pilot phase, 13 regional distance education centres were established at ten different locations in Russia, Byelorussia, the Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. The objectives of the project are to transmit available European and American video-based material to be used for the continuing education of engineers and other technical staff in the CIS, the new Commonwealth of Independent States.
The providing project partners include IBM, the American and European 'satellite universities' the National Technological University (NTU), EuroPACE, and EUROSTEP, as well as individual institutions, such as Helsinki University of Technology, the University of Wisconsin, Stanford Instructional Television Network, and Oklahoma State University.
As part of the East-West Distance Education Project, IACEE will develop an environmental training and education network in the St Petersburg area, Karelis, Kola Peninsula and other neighbouring areas of Finland, raising environmental issues to a key role in the project.
IACEE will, through its international network of continuing education providers, procure, adapt and develop international training material to serve environmental projects in the CIS in the neighbouring areas of Finland. This material will also be used as the basis for a UNESCO Learning Package for Energy and Environment.
Distance education activities in Finnish universities are usually organised by the centres for continuing education which work as an integral part of the conventional universities. All Finnish universities are state owned.
FADE has a special sector for co-operation of higher level distance education institutions with 10 member-institutions. Six of these have established the co-operation in joining the EADTU activities. The active partners in this co-operation are:
FADE's objectives are to promote the development of distance education, to encourage the research and development of methods and techniques used in distance education. The association functions as its members representative in relation to public authorities, councils and other institutions and organisations.
FADE arranges meetings and conferences and supports contact between institutions at the national and international level to spread knowledge about Open Distance Learning.
FADE is operating as an association under Finnish law.
Institutional Structure and Distance Education in Finland: Distance education became a central part of the Finnish adult education strategy, after the mid-1980s. After that, at a rapid rate, numerous projects were started to experiment with and develop distance education, particularly in vocational adult education and open university teaching.
A typical feature of Finnish open university distance education is co-operative organisation. Parties co-operating with the universities in implementing distance teaching include more than 270 civic and workers educational institutes (Adult education institutes) and ninety folk high schools. The basic task of the institutions is to organise general adult education in their own areas. There is thus a ready made network with lecture halls, some teleconferencing facilities and administrative staff covering the country. Universities have not had to develop their own separate study centre network outside their own campuses.
Each university decides annually which establishment will function as a location for distance education programmes. The institutions may co-operate with several universities. In addition to this co-operative organisation some universities have developed the courses, which can be studied independently . In these cases the study package normally includes all study material and informative material needed and the students are not taking part of tuition in the study centres.
For developing Open and Flexible Distance Learning in Finland the Ministry of Education established a working group consisting of learning technology experts from public organisations and private companies. The representatives were teachers, tele operators, researchers, consultants, technology providers, multimedia producers and policy makers. According to the development plan there was a budget of 50 million FIM for 1994-1995 focusing on the following areas:
The most popular subjects are: general education, psychology, law, social sciences and communication science.
Study Load - After completing 60 study units (out of 160 required for a masters degree) a student will get permission to finish studies at a traditional university.
Research activities - In connection with the current open university distance education projects, research has been focused on the following issues:
Course delivery is based on combination of independent studies and group activities supported by the study material and telematic based interaction between other students and the teacher. In open university studies the curriculum is constructed especially for distance education.
The traditional mode of teaching takes place through different study centres by a small group instruction with different groups linked by audio conferencing or audio-graphics - videoconferencing has been used to a limited extent.
Course study material is mainly text. Complementary material - Audiocassettes, videocassettes and also computer aided learning material.
Support Services - Students receive study guidance and support from several persons the tutor, other students, the distance learning co ordinator, the representative of the adult education centre and the university. teacher. Activities are undertaken by universities and local study centres.
Study Centres - Continuing education centres are established in universities. All 21 Finnish higher education institutions have supplementary training centres as well as 38 regional teaching locations. This network of training centres covers the whole country. Much of the teaching organised by the centres is face-to-face and extra-mural. Nearly one-fifth of the students participate in distance education courses. The student support system is one of the most important areas of development work. There are over 270 study centres. The study centres do not usually have permanent teachers for university level distance education but for each course part-time teachers are hired. The role of the universities is to plan and coordinate distance education programmes, to produce study material, train teachers, and to evaluate study performance as well as deliver certification.
Media Methods and Technology - Opportunities for direct contact between students and teacher are enhanced by the availability of modern telecommunications network. Audio-conferencing has been widely used in distance teaching programmes during the last five years. As an extension of audio-conferencing, audio-graphics has also been used by most of the universities. Computer Mediated Communication (e-mail, computer conferencing) is spreading quickly to higher distance education and virtual learning environments are under design and realisation (for example AGORA in the University of Oulu). The use of videoconferencing has also increased a lot in distance teaching programmes as the communication and purchase costs are coming down. The Finnish Broadcasting Company has a more and more important role in distance education and there have also been experiments in using cable-TV and the channels of private local radio companies in distance programmes.
Financial sources differ from university to university . The state provides partial subsidy - through the Ministry of Education for Open University activities. Students also pay fees.
In 1972 the first open university distance teaching was arranged. The Finnish Broadcasting Company was used to implement a basic course in social policy as a joint effort by the universities and the institutions of adult education. The teaching comprised various modes of study, television and radio, duplicated material from the Finnish Braodcasting Company and prescribed reading for examinations. The course was an experimental project of the open university and was a programme for general education for those who might not be intending to take any qualifications. This experimental teaching proved very popular and the number of students was greater than anticipated.
With an experimental project begun in 1972, the University of Joensuu took the first step towards teaching organised together with co-operating adult education organisations. Working together with the region's folk highschools, adult education centres, the University of Joensuu sought to activate regional university policy by further developing action models of open university teaching. In addition to further development of teaching methods and content of teaching, the aim was an open university system nationwide. On the basis of the experiences gained a reconnaissance was also made of the prospects for wider and more systematic co-operation between different adult education organisations.
Under the terms of an official decision of the Ministry of Education the open university is to be maintained as a public service. In keeping with the objectives of equality in education the fees required from students must be moderate. Financing of the activities of the open university is principally through the funds of the universities, the co-operating organisations and the fees paid by students. Student fees are used to cover only administrative costs such as to administration, ie. Information, advice, study materials and similar activities.
The open university system does not form a consistent whole; every university has its own focal areas and modus operandi. This has caused a certain amount of overlap and lack of co-ordination at regional level.
Since 1990 the organisation of co-operation of the open university has been the Finnish Council of Directors of Centres for Continuing Higher Education.
The open university underwent one of the major changes in its history in 1993, when a major expansion of open university teaching occurred as a part of the governmental measures in employment policy. Named the Relander Programme, this brought about the expansion of the open university to the universities, to more advanced studies, to new fields of learning and to multidisciplinary studies. Finance was used to increase the number of places available.. In 1993 there was an increase of 3,000 full-time student places, which in practice meant that there were some 10,000 more students in the open university.
The target group of the Relander programme was those who had succeeded in obtaining neither a place to study nor a job. The open university age requirement was simultaneously dropped to 18 throughout Finland, which gave rise to a considerable increase in those applying.
The 1990s have seen increased interest in adult education in general. The expansion of the open university has also been influenced by the easy accessibility and flexibility of the open system of studying and the increased need for further education. While the amount of teaching provided by the co-operating organisations of the open university has remained almost the same, the quantity of teaching provided by the universities themselves has doubled since 1993. Expanding the teaching offered to include more and more subjects rendered possible a great increase in the number of students.
Quantitatively there is open university teaching available almost every where in Finland. Open and distance learning and the contribution of all the Finnish universities has served to improve opportunities in the most remote areas. Outside the university towns the range of teaching available continues to be somewhat restricted. The co-operating adult education organisations mainly offer the traditional subjects of the open university, of which the most popular over the years has been teaching in education. The universities organize teaching in co-operation with some 300 organisations. In addition to the university towns there is teaching in some 200 municipalities. Many open universities also operate in several localities as independent or affiliated units.
All the Finnish universities, with the exception of the very smallest, arrange open university teaching. The University of Helsinki offers the greatest amount. Next come the universities of Turku, Tampere and Jyväskylä.
As regards level, open university teaching concentrates on basic university teaching. Organizing teaching at more advanced levels is more expensive and restrictions on group size are a problem. However there is an attempt to extend teaching in this direction.
Contact teaching continues to be the most used method in the open university, but in the course of time the focus has shifted towards distance teaching. Distance teaching makes it possible to reach potential student groups who, because of the impracticably long physical distance, would not otherwise be able to take part in traditional forms of education.
Study which is accomplished through information and communications technology is called virtual study. In such an environment students, teachers and tutors benefit from its opportunities in teaching, teaching methods and selection of material. Virtual study is accomplished in a new, open and flexible learning environment in which each individual, irrespective of time or place, can access knowledge, learn and develop. In virtual study the guiding principles are openness, individuality and interaction.
The virtual open university comprise three main areas.
Through various technical resources the possibility exists to participate in the virtual open university from many places. Solutions which are optimally versatile, user-friendly and inexpensive ensure that a maximum number of people can make maximum use of the services.
The nation-wide virtual open university is the channel to a new type of co-operation between universities and to a competition situation which benefits the various parties. The study blocks and entities of the universities will be competing for students throughout the country, and they will thus be compelled to concentrate their best expertise. Perhaps in the future such study blocks and entities will become common between the various universities.
The aim in Finland is to offer all citizens opportunities to acquire the basic skills and knowledge of the information society. For adults in particular it is motivating to be able to acquire the skills demanded by the information society as a part of other goal-oriented activity. In virtual studies the opportunity emerges to acquire and develop the basic skills for data management, computers and information networks.
The virtual open university does not seek to take the place of existing teaching systems, but arises as a branch of the old system. The virtual open university is also a step towards a new learning society.
Fees for university distance education courses vary from one university to another and from course to course from 40 Ecus to 400 Ecus.
Private provision fees vary from 100 Ecus to 5,000 Ecus.
| Open University | 0 |
| Conventional Universities | 20,000 |
| Government training | 20,000 |
| Private Training | 4,000 |
| Total | 44,000 |
| Open University | 0 |
| Conventional Universities | 20,000 |
| Government training | 19,000 |
| Private Training | 4,000 |
| Total | 43,000 |
| Open University | 0 |
| Conventional Universities | 37,500 |
| Government training | 19,000 |
| Private Training | 14,000 |
| Total | 70,500 |
