Faktaa.
FACTS AND FIGURES
1B
2011
IRMA GARAM AND SIRU KORKALA:
International mobility in Finnish vocational
2 FAKTAA.
Background
This publication examines and expands on the statistical data compiled by CIMO on the international mobility of students, teachers and other staff in vocational education and training (VET) and in higher education in Finland.
International co-operation and mobility are central tools in educational development. Internationalisa-tion has also been promoted as a key area in the Government’s Development Plan for EducaInternationalisa-tion and Research 2007–20121. The aim is to increase annual mobility in vocational education and training by
30% during the plan period, to take active part in European educational co-operation and to engage more with countries outside the European Union.
The goals for the internationalisation of higher education are specified in the Strategy for the Interna-tionalisation of Higher Education Institutions in Finland2, which extends to the year 2015. This
strate-gy regards mobility as contributing to a genuinely international higher education community. By 2015, the strategy would like to see 16,000 incoming and outgoing students each in Finnish HEIs, as well as 4,000 incoming and outgoing teachers and researchers in the universities and 3,000 incoming and 4,000 outgoing teachers or experts in the universities of applied sciences. The aim is also to raise the number of non-Finnish degree students to 20,000.
IRMA GARAM AND SIRU KORKALA:
International mobility
in Finnish vocational
and higher education
in 2010
The opening chapter of this publication surveys the overall trends in recent years of inter-national VET and higher education mobility in Finland, also paying attention to the gender distribution and the geographical spread. The second chapter focuses on VET mobility in more detail, and chapter three looks at mobility in higher education in 2010.
As the statistics in this publication show, some national goals have already been reached, while there is still plenty to do in some other areas. Overall VET mobility has progressed according to plan, and long-term stu-dent mobility has grown especially well every year. Teaching and other staff mobility has also grown steadily, but the personnel tend to head abroad for reasons other than teaching, even if the Development Plan for Education and Research would have liked to increase the number of teaching visits in particular.
Higher education student mobility has also grown as envisaged. The goal of 8,000 mobile students has al-ready been topped in the universities of applied sciences, and the universities are not far from the goal, either. The universities do not record short-term mobility systematically, which has an impact on the accuracy of the figures. The number of non-Finnish degree students has grown robustly in higher education, but there is still some way to go before the 20,000 mark is reached. According to Statistics Finland, Finnish universities and universities of applied sciences had more than 14,000 non-Finnish degree students in 2009.
The universities could do better in the mobility of teachers, researchers and experts, whereas the situation is better in the universities of applied sciences. In 2010, the universities of applied sciences sent more than 4,500 teachers and experts abroad and hosted 2,100 international teachers or experts for a period of at least one week. In the universities, almost 1,300 Finnish teachers or researchers headed abroad in 2009 for a period of at least two weeks, and more than 1,700 teachers or researchers made their way to Finland for at least a two-week period.3
This publication presents the findings of two statistical reports on international mobility, one in vocational education and training, and the other in higher education. The reports, issued by CIMO, are entitled
Kansain-välinen liikkuvuus ammatillisessa koulutuksessa 2010 (1/2011) and KansainKansain-välinen liikkuvuus yliopistoissa ja ammatti-korkeakouluissa 2010 (2/2010). The pdf reports, including English summaries, are available at www.cimo.fi |
Palvelut | Julkaisut | Selvitykset.
Data on international mobility, compiled from different sources, is also available at www.cimo.fi | Services | Statistics on international mobility.
1 Education and Research 2007–2012. Development Plan. Ministry of Education.
2 Strategy for the Internationalisation of Higher Education Institutions in Finland. Publications of the Ministry of Education, Finland 2009:23.
1
Perspectives and trends
1.1 BRISK GROWTH IN HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENT MOBILITY, BUT SLIGHT DECLINE IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING
International student mobility has increased in the long term both in vocational and higher education in Finland. The growth has been uneven and has even declined at times, as was the case in vocational edu-cation and training in 2010.
Higher education Vocational education and training (VET)
Figure 1. Outgoing students from Finland in 2000–2010* 12000 10000 8000 6000 4000 2000 0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 4,492 5,491 4,284 5,348 6,094 6,880 7,475 7,555 7,434 8,241 8,487 8,610 8,232 8,667 9,388 10,123 4,492 4,076 4,569
Higher education mobility has grown robustly in the 2000s: there are now almost 50% more outgoing students and almost twice as many incoming stu-dents than 10 years ago. The increase has been espe-cially swift during the last couple of years. As many as 10,000 Finnish higher education students headed abroad in 2010. The scene has varied from one year to another in the 2000s, with downswings during some years and steady figures during others.
6 FAKTAA.
Higher education Vocational education and training (VET)
Figure 2. Incoming students to Finland 2000–2010 12000 10000 8000 6000 4000 2000 0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2,059 2,038 2,510 2,425 2,749 4,805 5,496 6,616 6,032 7,237 8,191 7,697 8,415 8,843 8,755 8,990 2,200 1,847 1,838
Mobility figures keep
growing, but at uneven
rates. Especially liable to
fluctuation are VET
ex-changes lasting less than
two weeks.
Of the students in vocational education and train-ing, 5,491 headed abroad, which is 10% less than in 2009. The decline in numbers only applies to short-term mobility, that is, exchange periods of under two weeks. This mobility mode appears to be susceptible to fluctuation, for short-term mobility showed an in-crease in 2009.
The number of incoming higher education students grew briskly in the early years of the 2000s, but the rate seems to have evened out in the past couple of years. While the number of incoming students has increased steadily in VET institutions, the rates are still moderate in comparison to those in higher edu-cation.
What is international mobility and how is it recorded?
International mobility refers to study or work abroad by students or staff of educational institutions. The mobility
presented in the statistics of this publication has been physical: the persons have concretely left or arrived in Finland to study or work for a certain period.
The students have taken part in, for example, student exchanges or have familiarised themselves with working life
through on-the-job learning or traineeships. The time spent abroad varies from a couple of weeks to a whole academic year. Those in vocational education and training typically have short mobility periods, whereas higher education students spend longer stretches abroad. Students doing their entire degrees abroad are not included in the CIMO statistics.
Staff members head abroad in conjunction with various projects, make preparatory visits or teaching trips and take
part in other work placements for the staff.
VET and higher education statistics are compiled on rather different criteria. In vocational education and training, the
statistics apply to all students doing a vocational qualification and to VET teachers and other staff. In contrast to
the previous practice, the statistics also include apprenticeship training as well vocational adult education and training. Staff trips of at least 5 days’ duration come under VET staff mobility. Long-term student mobility pertains to exchanges of at least 2 weeks in duration, while exchanges shorter than this count as short-term mobility. The duration has not been specified for incoming students.
Higher education statistics include student exchanges and traineeships as part of a degree. The international
mo-bility of higher education students is similarly divided into long- and short-term momo-bility. The statistics in this publication only examine long-term mobility, which last at least 3 months. The figures include both outgoing and incoming student mobility in Finnish higher education.
The records apply to institutions of education under the Ministry of Education and Culture. In vocational education and training, statistics are compiled on those institutions in Mainland Finland (excluding Åland Islands) which have been granted authorisation by the Finnish National Board of Education to provide education and training leading to a voca-tional qualification.
Statistics on degree study abroad are produced by Kela (the Social Insurance Institution of Finland), which keeps a record of the Finnish recipients of financial aid for students and by Statistics Finland, which compiles statistics of foreign degree students in Finland.
The mobility of teachers and other higher education staff is not discussed in this publication. More information about the CIMO statistics on the mobility of teachers in the universities of applied sciences is available in Finnish in a facts and figures report (Tietoa ja tilastoja 2/2011).
How to assess the level of
activeness in international
mobility?
There are many ways to assess how active the edu-cational institutions are in international mobility.
For example, the numbers of outgoing and
in-coming students can be proportioned against the numbers of new students during the same
year. In the universities, the proportion of outgoing
students relative to the annual intake has slightly grown in the recent years, amounting to 25.5% in 2010. There are more incoming students – 26% of the number of new students – than there are students heading abroad. The relative proportion of incoming students has been declining. The figures are markedly smaller in the universities of applied sciences. The proportion of outgoing students relative to the number of new students is 13.1%, and the corresponding figure is less than 10% for incoming students. The trends are similar to those in the universities: the share of outgoing students has grown in the recent years, while the share of incoming students has been on the wane. There are more outgoing than incoming students in the universities of applied sciences.
However, a different picture arises of the mobility
levels when the numbers of outgoing and
incoming students are proportioned against graduate numbers during the same year. In the universities, the numbers of outgoing and in-coming students correspond to 18.3% and 16.4%, 2010 2009 2008 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 25.5 26.0 25.6 26.9 23.9 27.2 from Finland to Finland
Figure 3: Student mobility in universities relative to the number of new students in 2008–2010, %
Figure 4: Student mobility in universities of applied sciences relative to the number of new students in 2008–2010, %
Figure 5. Student mobility in vocational education and train-ing relative to the number of new students in 2008–2010, % 2010 2009 2008 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 13.1 9.7 12.1 9.5 12.2 10.7 2010 2009 2008 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 10.9 5.4 12.0 4.8 11.1 5.2 from Finland to Finland from Finland to Finland 8 FAKTAA.
respectively, of the degrees completed in 2010. The corresponding figures in the universities of applied sciences are 22% and 16.4%. This perspective nar-rows the difference between the universities and the universities of applied sciences. In fact, it is the universities of applied sciences that now emerge as sending their students abroad more actively. What explains the variation is that there are many more new students in the universities of applied sciences every year than there are completed degrees. Some of the students discontinue their studies or move on elsewhere.
The universities are faced with a different setting, because the number of completed degrees is bigger than the number of new students. This is because a student can first complete a bachelor’s degree and then take a degree at master’s level.
The share of outgoing students in relation to the number of newly-enrolled VET students has varied between 11 and 12%. The share of incoming students has stayed at around 5%. In 2010, the proportion of outgoing and incoming students amounted to 16% and 8%, respectively, of the completed degrees. This corresponds to the situa-tion in the universities of applied sciences: the ratio rises considerably, because there are fewer students who complete their degrees than there are new students.
10 FAKTAA.
Culture 68.2 76.2
Social Sciences, Business and Administration 61.6 61.8
Technology, Communication and Transport 15.7 24.8
Natural Resources and the Environment 48.7 66.2
Social Services and Health 87.6 87.0
Tourism, Catering and Domestic Services 79.8 82.3
Table 2. Share of women students and women exchange students in certain large fields in universities of applied sciences
Share of women students in the field, % Share of women exchange students heading abroad, % Table 1. Share of women university students and women exchange students in certain large fields
Humanities 74.9 83.1
Social Sciences 66.6 72.6
Law 58.1 68.0
Economics and Business 44.9 51.3
Technology and Engineering 21.4 28.8
Natural Sciences 43.9 63.6 Share of women students in the field, % Share of women exchange students heading abroad, %
4 The figure (47%) comes from 2009. The data for 2010 was not available at the time.
Share of women students in the field, % Share of women students heading abroad, %
Table 3. Share of women in VET fields and exchanges
Humanities and Education 77.3 79.2
Culture 65.8 77.2
Social Sciences, Business and Administration 61.5 73.9
Natural Sciences 13.9 24.4
Technology, Communication and Transport 18.0 38.2
Natural Resources and the Environment 53.2 75.8
Social Services, Health and Sport 89.7 90.9
Tourism, Catering and Domestic Services 73.2 73.5
Other education and training 21.7 61.1
1.2 WOMEN MORE MOBILE THAN MEN
Student mobility from Finland is strongly gen-dered, for the the share of women is almost always bigger than their share of the total number of stu-dents. Whereas almost half (47%) of the university students are men, their share of the outgoing stu-dents remains at 38.5%. The situation is similar in the universities of applied sciences: men account for 45% of all students and 36.5% of the outgoing students. Men’s share of outgoing students has, however, risen by a couple of percentage points in relation to 2009.
Many fields dominated by women tend to be active in international mobility anyway, which partially ex-plains the women’s greater numbers. Such fields in-clude Law, Humanities and the Social Sciences in the universities, and Tourism, Catering and Domes-tic Services, Business and Administration as well as Culture in the universities of applied sciences. Women are also more mobile within individual fields – also including those dominated by men. Tables 1 and 2 look at the share of women in cer-tain large fields of higher education. In almost all of these fields, women head abroad more frequently than their share of the total student numbers would lead us to assume. It is only in Social Sciences, Business and Administration and in Social Services and Health that the proportion of women heading abroad corresponds to their share of the total stu-dent numbers.
Women are even more mobile in vocational educa-tion and training, accounting for 68% of the out-going students, even if their share of the initial VET students is 47%4. The predominance of women is
evident in all fields, even in Technology, Commu-nication and Transport, where 82% of the students are men and where almost 40% of outgoing stu-dents are women.
Fields dominated by women in
higher education engage actively in
international mobility, but women
are more mobile than men also
within individual fields. The
differ-ence between men and women is
even more distinct in vocational
education and training.
Are women on the whole
more positive about
inter-nationalisation than men?
The CIMO statistics show that Finnish women are more willing than men to take up international opportunities during their studies. This may be part of a bigger picture, because several studies would indicate that women are on the whole more positive about internationalisation and related phenomena than are men.
Work by Magdalena Jaakkola points out that
immi-gration is viewed more positively by women than by men, both in terms of raising the number of foreign students or labour and receiving refugees. Men aged 15–17 are especially guarded against immigrants, but the gender differences even out in older age groups. According to Jaakkola’s study from 2005, attitudes towards the various immigrant groups have on balance become more positive since the late 1990s, after the recession of the early years of the decade. This may now have changed, as ‘im-migration criticism’ emerged as an election themes in the 2011 parliamentary elections. As much may already be evident in the findings of a survey con-ducted by T-media consultancy in 2010: slightly more than half of 16–21-old women felt that immigration should be curbed, while the sentiment was shared by two thirds (66%) of the men.
Jaakkola, Magdalena (2005): Suomalaisten suhtautuminen maa-hanmuuttajiin vuosina 1987–2003 [The Attitudes of Finns towards Immigrants in 1987–2003]. Labour Policy Studies 286. Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Education.
Thuneberg, Vesanen, Ruokolahti (2010): “Mitä välii? – Tutkimus nuorten suhtautumisesta politiikkaan” [Who cares? – A study on how the young feel about politics]. In Alakoski, Laurén, Olkinuora (eds): Nuori, kuka käyttää ääntäsi? Valokeilassa huomisen vaikut-tajat [Who speaks with the voice of the youth? Tomorrow’s leaders in the spotlight]. Economic Information Office 2010.
•
12 FAKTAA.
1.3 EUROPE MAINTAINS STRONG POSITION AS DESTINATION AND SOURCE OF MOBILITY
The student mobility of Finnish educational insti-tutions continues to centre on Europe, especially in VET collaboration. Of the outgoing VET students, 95% head for Europe, while 98% of the incoming students come from Europe. Asia’s share of incom-ing students has somewhat declined from the pre-vious year. The number of students from North America also seems to fluctuate from one year to another.
Most of the incoming students (83.7%) in Finnish higher education come from Europe, but Europe is no longer as significant a destination for students heading abroad: 63.5% of the outgoing students chose Europe as their destination in 2010. During the past six years, the share of Europe has declined by more than 10 percentage points and the popularity of Asia has correspondingly grown. Popular Asian destinations include China, Thai-land, Japan and the Republic of Korea. The trends
2010 2009 2008 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 98.6 Europe Asia North America Africa
Central and South America Oceania 0.6 86.7 5.8 97.6 1.3 0.5 0.7
Figure 7. VET students’ mobility to Finland by continent in 2008–2010 6.3 2010 2009 2008 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 94.8
Figure 6. VET students’ mobility from Finland by continent in 2008–2010
Europe Asia North America Africa
Central and South America Oceania 3.0 97.5 94.6 2.9 2.1
VET students’ mobility
concen-trates on Europe, but Finnish
higher education students
in-creasingly head further afield.
are similar among students coming to Finland, al-though the pace of change is slower: the European slice is getting smaller, while the Asian portion grows bigger. China and the Republic of Korea are the biggest source countries in Asia for students coming to Finland.
More detailed information about the various desti-nations and source countries is available on page 18 (vocational education and training) and on page 27 (higher education). 2010 2008 2006 2004 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Figure 9. Higher education students’ mobility to Finland by continent in 2004–2010
Europe Asia North America Africa
Central and South America Oceania Not known 83.7 10.1 84.4 9.3 87.0 7.4 89.8 4.9 2010 2008 2006 2004 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Figure 8. Higher education students’ mobility from Finland by continent in 2004–2010
Europe Asia North America Africa
Central and South America Oceania Not known 63.5 17.7 7.7 4.7 67.8 14.5 8.0 3.6 72.0 11.8 7.2 2.6 76.8 9.0 6.8 2.4
14 FAKTAA.
2
International mobility
in vocational education and
training in 2010
VET snapshot
There were 131,175 students in initial vocational education and training in Finland in 20095. The annual
intake was 50,575 students. The biggest field of education was Technology, Communication and Transport, with 41% of the total number of students. Social Services, Health and Sport had 16% of the total student body, and 13% of all VET students were doing Tourism, Catering and Domestic Services.
Source: Statistics in Finland.
5 Figures for 2010 were not available at the time. The figures apply to the
educational institutions in Mainland Finland. Institutions of education in the Åland Islands are not covered by these statistics.
From Finland
2,794 students headed abroad for at least two weeks (long-term mobility); increase of 12.6% from previous year
2,697 students headed abroad for less than two weeks (short-term mobility); decrease of 25.3% from previous year
decline of 9.9% (or 603 students) in overall mobility from previous year.
To Finland 2,749 students
increase of 13.3% (324 students) from previous year.
From Finland
1,935 teachers and other staff
increase of 9.5% (168 persons) from previous year. To Finland
2,113 teachers or other staff
increase of 2.6% (53 persons) from previous year.
2.1 MOST MOBILITY AMONG STUDENTS DOING INITIAL VOCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS AT UPPER SECONDARY LEVEL
VET students are doing either initial vocational qualifications or further and specialist qualifications in a VET institution or by apprenticeship training. The majority of outgoing students (81.6%) and incoming students (80.5%) were doing initial voca-tional qualifications in a VET institution at upper secondary level.
Of the outgoing students, 17% were completing further vocational qualifications. The corresponding figure for incoming students was 14%. Other forms of study tend to be rare among students heading abroad, but 4% of the students coming to Finland were doing an initial vocational qualification as apprentices.
Table 4 looks at how the long-term periods spent abroad by Finnish students are broken down be-tween the various forms of study. In this context, initial vocational education and training covers all students doing basic qualifications at upper second-ary level, while competence-based qualifications include students doing futher and specialist voca-tional qualifications. Those training as apprentices are a category of their own.
The most mobile students come from initial voca-tional education and training. The mobility ratio is at its highest in all forms of study when it is propor-tioned against the number of graduates. The figures include only long-term mobility, because no records are kept of the type of study in short-term mobility.
2.2 RANDOM FLUCTUATION
IN MOBILITY LEVELS BY PROVINCE
In the 2010 mobility statistics, Uusimaa and North Ostrobothnia stand out as particularly active prov-inces: their educational institutions send the most students and staff abroad, and they also excel at hosting a great many international students. The educational institutions in the province of Uusimaa were the most mobile.
Rather than looking at the mere numbers as such, it is more revealing to examine the change between the years 2009 and 2010. The most significant drop in the number of outgoing students is in Kainuu, but students from Lapland, too, clearly headed abroad less frequently than the year before, espe-cially when it came to short-term mobility. On the other hand, Ostrobothnia and South Karelia have increased their mobility levels considerably. And while fewer Kainuu students chose to do an ex-change, the province nevertheless attracted more than three times the number of international stu-dents in 2010 than in 2009. Central Finland and North Ostrobothnia similarly hosted more
interna-Initial vocational education
and training 4.5 6.8 1.7
Competence-based qualifications 1.1 2.6 0.6
Apprenticeship training 0.15 0.2 0.05
relative to the total numbers
of students relative to newly-enrolled students, % relative to graduates, %
Table 5: Students from and to Finland by province in 2010 and change from 2009 from Finland 2010 Change % to Finland 2010 Change % Kainuu 50 -46.8 Varsinais-Suomi
Lapland 244 -45.2 South Karelia
South Ostrobothnia 243 -41.6 Pohjois-Savo
Varsinais-Suomi 157 -30.2 Lapland Itä-Uusimaa 158 -29.5 Etelä-Savo 18 -84.5 16 -46.7 113 -44.6 145 -41.8 105 -27.6
Provinces with the biggest drop in numbers of outgoing and incoming students from Finland 2010 Change % to Finland 2010 Change % Ostrobothnia 239 59.3 Kainuu
South Karelia 116 46.8 Central Finland
Kymenlaakso 188 33.3 North Ostrobothnia
Etelä-Savo 132 20.0 Pirkanmaa Pirkanmaa 401 17.9 Itä-Uusimaa 96 220.0 138 130.0 397 116.9 237 91.1 10 66.7
Table 4: Long-term student mobility from Finland by type of study
Provinces with the biggest rise in numbers of outgoing and incoming students
16 FAKTAA.
students came to the provinces of Varsinais-Suomi and South Karelia.
As the minimum duration of short-term mobility has not been specified, this category comprises a wide range of mobility, also including such visits as student groups familiarising themselves with educa-tional institutions abroad over a few days and brief project-related trips. This makes short-term student mobility rather incidental, and long-term trends are hard to detect.
There is most outgoing mobility among teachers and other staff in the province of Uusimaa. The educational institutions in Päijät-Häme and North Ostrobothnia sent more personnel abroad in 2010 than the year before. The situation in Itä-Uusimaa looks intriguing: there were fewer outgoing teachers
and other personnel than in 2009, but at the same time there was a tenfold expansion in the incoming numbers.
2.3 SMALL FIELDS OF EDUCATION
STAND OUT AS ESPECIALLY INTERNATIONAL
In terms of absolute numbers, the large fields of education had the most students heading abroad. These fields were Technology, Communication and Transport (25%), Tourism, Catering and Domes-tic Services (20%) and Social Services, Health and Sport (20%). In terms of incoming students, the biggest hosts were Technology, Communication and Transport (27%), Business and Administration (18%) and Tourism, Catering and Domestic Serv-ices (17%). According to CIMO’s study Networks help to make vocational education and training more international, networking which supports interna-tionalisation is more common in the large fields of education (Faktaa 1b/2010).
However, when the mobility numbers are propor-tioned against the number of newly-enrolled stu-dents, it is the much smaller field of Culture that emerges as having the most outgoing students in 2010. Also, a great many students are both sent
Students of Culture
head abroad most
actively.
Provinces with the biggest increase in the numbers of outgoing and incoming teachers and other staff
from Finland 2010 Change % to Finland 2010 Change % Päijät-Häme 82 54.7 Itä-Uusimaa
North Ostrobothnia 245 26.3 Central Finland
Uusimaa 468 25.5 Kanta-Häme
Kymenlaakso 50 22.0 Pirkanmaa
Pohjois-Savo 75 21.0 South Karelia
Table 6: The mobility of teachers and other staff by province in 2010 and the change from 2009
Provinces with the biggest drop in the numbers of outgoing and incoming teachers and other staff
from Finland 2010 Change % to Finland 2010 Change % Itä-Uusimaa 8 -52.9 Pohjois-Savo
South Karelia 22 -33.3 Satakunta
Varsinais-Suomi 44 -20.0 Ostrobothnia
Ostrobothnia 53 -17.2 Etelä-Savo
South Ostrobothnia 71 -15.5 Varsinais-Suomi
53 960.0 132 193.3 88 104.7 146 87.2 18 80.0 25 -79.7 42 -50.0 44 -49.4 74 -46.4 29 -21.6
Table 8: Teaching and staff mobility by field of education in 2010 and 2009 teachers
from Finland
2010 2010 % 2009 %
Humanities and Education 19 1.0 0.5
Culture 165 8.5 7.5
Business and Administration 131 6.8 10.4
Natural Sciences 33 1.7 1.2
Technology, Communication and Transport 405 20.9 18.9
Natural Resources and the Environment 156 8.1 8.6
Social Services, Health and Sport 193 10.0 9.8
Tourism, Catering and Domestic Services 191 9.9 9.8
Other education and training 642 33.2 33.4
Total 1935 100.0 100.0
Table 7: Change in long-term student mobility relative to the annual intake, and the share of incoming students by field of education
students from Finland % of newly-enrolled students 2010 students to Finland % of newly-enrolled students 2010 % of newly-enrolled students 2009
Humanities and Education 72 7.6 5.0 69 7.3
Culture 324 8.8 7.4 173 4.7
Business and Administration 283 5.0 6.0 490 8.6
Natural Sciences 45 2.6 1.6 25 1.4
Technology, Communication and Transport 693 3.3 2.9 728 3.5
Natural Resources and the Environment 231 8.2 8.2 322 11.5
Social Services, Health and Sport 563 7.0 6.6 376 4.7
Tourism, Catering and Domestic Services 565 8.5 8.5 479 7.2
Other education and training 18 4.4 5.2 87 21.5
and hosted by Natural Resources and the Environ-ment. The educational fields of the incoming stu-dents were now recorded for the first time. The category of “Other education” appears as particu-larly active, which may be because this category includes those international students whose qualifi-cations the host institutions were not able to classify.
In the mobility of teachers and other personnel, the most mobile group is found in the category of “Other education”, which includes language teach-ers, administrative staff and persons working within vocational special education and specialist voca-tional qualifications. The relative proportions of educational fields have remained virtually stable. The only changes from the previous year are the decline of around 4% in Business and Administra-tion and the rise of 2% in Technology, Communica-tion and Transport.
18 FAKTAA.
Foreign nationals in vocational education and training
According to Statistics Finland, 7,997 foreign nationals were completing their qualifications in
a VET institution in 2009. Most of them are immigrants resident in Finland.
Degree students represent rather different nationalities than those covered by CIMO’s mobility statistics: only Russia, Estonia and Sweden appear on both lists of the top 10 destinations and source countries. Russia 2,304 Estonia 1,305 Not known 488 Sweden 304 Afghanistan 259
Top 10 countries of students completing qualifications in VET institution Source: Statistics Finland 2.4 VET MOBILITY IS HIGHLY EUROCENTRIC The top 10 destinations and source countries of both outgoing and incoming students were all European. The same applies to teachers and other personnel heading abroad from Finland, but this time there was more incoming mobility from Asia than before. Students heading abroad prefer to stay in the near-by countries of Estonia and Sweden. These stays usually last less than two weeks, while the periods tend to be longer if the students opt for Central and Southern Europe. A newcomer on the list of top 10 destinations is Hungary. Central Europe is the biggest source of incoming students. Destination Table 9: Top 10 destinations and source countries of outgoing and incoming students Destination Long-term outgoing mobility Source country Incoming students Spain 566 Estonia 785 Germany 672
Germany 359 Sweden 686 France 380
Britain 252 Germany 225 Italy 154
Sweden 200 Russia 161 Estonia 153
France 180 Britain 105 Hungary 148
Netherlands 151 Italy 98 Sweden 140
Hungary 109 Spain 71 Spain 133
Estonia 108 France 69 Netherlands 107
Italy 88 Portugal 52 Russia 102
Russia 75 Latvia 51 Norway 94
Short-term outgoing mobility Iran 251 Thailand 228 Somalia 214 Sudan 140 Irak 136
The single most popular destination for teachers and other staff is Germany, which is also a big source of mobility into Finland. Germany was the most popular source country and destination also in the previous year. A new source country in the top 10 is the Republic of Korea.
Germany is still one of the
most popular destinations
and sources of mobility. New
countries include Hungary
and the Republic of Korea.
Table 10: Top 10 destinations and source countries of teaching and other staff mobility
Source country
Destination from Finland to Finland
Germany 231 Germany 228
Spain 172 Russia 218
Britain 169 Estonia 161
France 118 Rep. of Korea 149
Portugal 116 France 143 Italy 115 Netherlands 138 Russia 115 Spain 103 Estonia 93 Norway 103 Netherlands 76 Hungary 78 Sweden 75 Sweden 77
The Republic of Korea makes
a surprise statistical leap
The mobility of VET personnel is very Eurocentric, but the Repub-lic of Korea has now made an entry into the league of favourite countries of co-operation. Closer inspection shows that all 149 South Korean visitors to Finland have made their way to one single educational institution, that is, to Omnia, an institution which offers vocational education and training in and around the city of Espoo. The Omnia guests lift the Republic of Korea onto fourth place on the list of incoming mobility. There is more incoming mobility only from Germany, Russia and Estonia.
Anne Kemppainen, Assistant for International Affairs, says that Omnia’s Korean collaboration started already in the middle of the 2000s. There was a great expansion in the number of visits from South Korea after the airing of a documentary in 2009 by
the national KBS network, with interviews of Juha-Pekka
Saari-nen, Principal of Omnia Education, and of teachers and students.
TV and radio journalists have visited Omnia ever since, and there are no signs of the Koreans’ interest fading.
The visitors come from a range of organisations – including city officials, university professors, comprehensive and secondary school teachers, adult education teachers and teacher training students. What they get to see is not only what Omnia does but also how vocational education and training works in Finland: the educational system, structures of VET qualifications, teacher train-ing and supervision and guidance of students. The visits typically take place over one day in big groups of about 20 people. Kemppainen is convinced that there will be intensive collabora-tion also in future. “Visiting groups are scheduled for this year too, and there are also return visits. A group of our Beauty Care students and their teacher will attend the 60th World Congress and Exhibition of Beauty in Seoul in the summer. Our Principal Juha-Pekka Saarinen has similarly visited South Korea as a speaker in several seminars.”
20 FAKTAA.
Teachers and other staff typically headed abroad for reasons other than teaching or other work place-ments, taking part in trips related to collaborative or development projects or making preparatory visits. The share of workplacements and teaching exchanges has declined from the previous year. Table 11: Purpose of student exchange 2010
Students from Finland* % Students to Finland % Purpose of exchange On-the-job learning 2560 91.6 1367 49.7 Other study 234 8.4 1382 50.3 Total 2794 100.0 2749 100.0
Table 12. Purpose of teaching and other staff exchange in 2010 and 2009 Teachers and other staff 2010 % 2009 % Purpose of exchange Work placement 148 8 14 Teaching exchange 308 16 19 Other 1479 76 68 Total 1935 100 100
* Long-term outgoing mobility.
2.5 FINNISH STUDENTS HEAD ABROAD FOR ON-THE-JOB LEARNING, WHILE THOSE COMING TO FINLAND HAVE A RANGE OF MOTIVES
Most of the mobility from Finland and half of the student mobility to Finland applies to on-the-job learning. Students coming to Finland work in dif-ferent projects or come to visit educational institu-tions.
2.6 MOBILITY IS MOST OFTEN FUNDED FROM THE LEONARDO DA VINCI
PROGRAMME OR BY THE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS THEMSELVES
Finnish students heading abroad did so most often with funding from their own institutions (40.5%). Of the mobility programmes, the most significant was the EU’s Leonardo da Vinci for vocational edu-cation and training, which funded 40% of outgoing student mobility and almost half of the incoming mobility. Those coming to Finland also typically had other funding sources.
More than a third of the mobility of teachers and other personnel took place through funding by the educational institions themselves. Leonardo da Vinci was the funding source for 25% of the out-going teachers. The share of funding from other sources doubled from 2009.
EU programmes do not
cover all mobility. An equal
share of mobility is funded
by the educational
institu-tions themselves.
Students from Finland* % Students to Finland Leonardo da Vinci 1114 39.9 1334 48.5 Comenius/Grundtvig 68 2.4 354 12.9 Nordplus 67 2.4 232 8.4Funding from Finnish National
Board of Education 159 5.7 29 1.1
Funding from educational institution 1131 40.5 421 15.3
Student’s own funding 128 4.6 56 2.0
Other funding 127 4.5 323 11.7
Total 2794 100.0 2749 100.0
Table 13. How student mobility was arranged in 2010
Mobility Programme %
Table 14. How teaching and other staff mobility was arranged in 2010 and 2009 Teachers and other staff 2010 % Mobility Programme 2009 % Leonardo da Vinci 478 25 28 Comenius/Grundtvig 212 11 11 Nordplus 41 2 5
Funding from Finnish National
Board of Education 276 14 13
Funding from educational institution 664 34 36
Other funding 264 14 7
3
International mobility in
Finnish higher education
in 2010
Higher education snapshot
Higher education in Finland comprises universities and universities of applied sciences (also known as poly-technics). In 2010, Finland had 16 universities and 25 universities of applied sciences which come under the Ministry of Education and Culture. The universities had 168,724 students, with an annual intake of 20,793 stu-dents. The corresponding figures in the universities of applied sciences were 138,175 and 36,700, respectively. In terms of student numbers, the largest university fields were Technology and Engineering, and the Humani-ties. The biggest fields in the universities of applied sciences were Technology, Communication and Transport, and Social Services, Health and Sport.
Source: AMKOTA database on universities of applied sciences and KOTA database on university education.
3.1 HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENTS MOST MOBILE IN SOUTHERN AND WESTERN FINLAND
Tables 15 and 16 (p. 24) survey international stu-dent mobility by region6 by proportioning the
mo-bility figures against the number of new students in higher education in the region. The mobility levels are higher in the institutions in Southern and West-ern Finland than in the eastWest-ern and northWest-ern parts of the country. This has been the case also in previ-ous years.
The mobility levels have grown more in the higher education institutions in Southern Finland than elsewhere in the country. At the same time, the regional differences have grown wider, especially From Finland
10,123 students headed abroad, 5,311 from the universities and 4,812 from the universities of applied sciences
increase of 7.8% (735 students) from previous year.
To Finland
8,990 students made their way to Finland, 5,412 to the universities and 3,578 to the universities of applied sciences
increase of 2.7% (256 students) from previous year.
24 FAKTAA.
The most active host
institu-tions for international
stu-dents are the University of
Lapland and the universities
of applied sciences in
South-ern and WestSouth-ern Finland.
Table 15. Higher education student mobility from Finland by region
Mobility from Finland Universities of applied sciences Universities Relative to new students, % Mobility from Finland Relative to new students, % Southern Finland 2310 30.9 2267 14.6 Western Finland 2200 25.3 1656 13.2 Eastern Finland 306 14.4 478 11.3 Oulu region 342 18.2 251 9.6 Lapland 153 24.0 160 9.3 Total 5311 25.5 4812 13.1
outgoing students from the most actively mobile region, that is, the universities in the south of Fin-land, corresponded to 39.9% of the annual intake, while the percentage was 26.8% only two years be-fore. The most passive region in 2010 was Eastern Finland, where the number of outgoing university students corresponded to 14.4% of the newly-en-rolled student numbers. Two years before, in 2008, the most passive mobility area was the Oulu region, where the corresponding ratio was 16.5%.
Lapland has maintained and even strengthened its position as the most active host region for interna-tional university students. The number of incoming students now corresponds to 34.7% of first-year students, having risen from 29.9% in 2008. The gap to other regions is distinct. In the universities of applied sciences, the most active host institutions of international students are in the south and west of Finland. Two years ago, the most active hosts were in the Oulu region (13.6%).
Table 16. Higher education student mobility to Finland by region Mobility to Finland Relative to new students, % Mobility to Finland Relative to new students, % Southern Finland 2218 29.7 1581 10.1 Western Finland 2101 24.2 1267 10.1 Eastern Finland 460 21.7 317 7.5 Oulu region 412 21.9 257 9.9 Lapland 221 34.7 156 9.1 Total 5412 26.0 3578 9.7 Universities of applied sciences Universities
3.2 ALMOST EQUAL NUMBERS OF OUTGOING AND INCOMING STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITIES, BUT MORE MOBILITY FROM THAN TO FINLAND AT UNIVERSITIES OF APPLIED SCIENCES
The biggest fields of outgoing mobility in Finnish universities are Economics and Business; Humani-ties; and Technology and Engineering. The big-gest hosts of incoming mobility are Economics and Business; Technology and Engineering; and Social Sciences. More students head abroad from Finland than arrive in Finland in the Humanities and The-ology, while there are more incoming than outgoing students in Technology and Engineering, Veterinary Medicine and Dentistry, Health Sciences, and Agri-culture and Forestry.
Once the mobility figures are proportioned against the number of new students in the field, it turns out that the most active fields of outward mobility are Law, Economics and Business, and the Humanities. The most active hosts of incoming students are Fine Arts, Agriculture and Forestry, and Law.
University students in Law,
Economics and Business, and
Humanities head abroad most
actively. In the universities of
applied sciences, the most
ac-tive field is Tourism, Catering
and Domestic Services.
Table 17: International student mobility at universities by field of education Mobility from Finland Relative to new students, % Mobility to Finland Relative to new students, % Universities overall 5311 25.5 5412 26.0 Theology 36 12.3 14 4.8 Humanities 1008 36.8 656 24.0
Art and Design 140 32.3 161 37.1
Music 55 32.7 60 35.7
Theatre and Dance 10 16.7 11 18.3
Education 236 12.0 263 13.3 Sport Sciences 24 20.2 31 26.1 Social Sciences 701 33.8 707 34.1 Psychology 38 20.4 56 30.1 Health Sciences 23 5.3 87 20.2 Law 259 51.6 229 45.6
Economics and Business 1205 41.6 1162 40.1
Natural Sciences 368 10.4 397 11.3
Agriculture and Forestry 112 25.1 216 48.3
Technology and Engineering 947 25.0 1146 30.3
Medicine 95 14.8 87 13.5 Dentistry 6 5.7 25 23.6 Veterinary Medicine 4 6.3 28 44.4 Pharmacy 28 9.2 50 16.4 Fine Arts 16 34.8 23 50.0 Not known 0 - 3
-26 FAKTAA.
The biggest fields of student mobility in the univer-sities of applied sciences – in terms of both incoming and outgoing mobility – are Social Sciences, Busi-ness and Administration; Technology, Communica-tion and Transport; and Social Services and Health. There are more outgoing students in all fields than there are incoming students, but the numbers are almost equal in Social Sciences, Business and Ad-ministration. In Tourism, Catering and Domestic Services, for example, there are many more stu-dents heading abroad than coming to study in Finland.
If the mobility figures are proportioned against the number of new students, it transpires that Tourism, Catering and Domestic Services is clearly the most active field of outward mobility, followed by Social Sciences, Business and Administration, and Cul-ture. Social Sciences, Business and Administration is also the most active host of exchange students from abroad.
Table 18: International student mobility at universities of applied sciences by field of education Mobility from Finland Relative to new students, % Mobility to Finland Relative to new students, %
A year of clinical practice attracts
veterinary students to Helsinki –
both from abroad and from Finland
Veterinary Medicine is among the fields which have more incoming than outgoing mobility: last year, four students headed abroad, while 28 international students came to Finland. The number of outgoing students corresponds to 6.3% of the annual intake in 2010. With incoming students, the ratio is a staggering 44.4%.
Janna Koivisto from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Helsinki reveals that around half of the incoming students are Finnish veterinary students from the University of Tartu who come to do their clinical practice in the Helsinki Veterinary Teaching Hospital. While there is a strong Finnish presence in the exchan-ges, certain attractions keep bringing international students to this particular Faculty: “We offer education in English, which is not very common in other parts of Europe. The teaching groups during the clinical year in the teaching hospital are smaller than usual, and the students gain more practical experience than they would in their own university”, Koivisto reports.
It is this practically-oriented clinical year which also makes the Finnish students stay in their home university. The most significant hinder to mobility is, however, the lack of partner universities operating in English. The intensive curriculum keeps the students busy, and there is no time to learn less common languages. The school-like nature of study also puts a damper on the students’ motivation to head abroad. “The students have to proceed in a certain order. If, for example, Pharmacology is offered in the spring at home, but the same course is only arranged in the autumn in the exchange university, a gap year is unavoidable.” The recognition of credits gained abroad has not been without problems, either. However, the student mobility appears to be raising growing interest.
Universities of applied sciences
overall 4812 13.1 3578 9.7
Humanities and Education 60 12.9 19 4.1
Culture 491 17.1 352 12.3
Social Sciences, Business and
Administration 1540 21.2 1494 20.6
Natural Sciences 68 4.3 55 3.5
Technology, Communication and
Transport 936 8.8 735 6.9
Natural Resources and
the Environment 139 13.0 114 10.7
Social Services, Health and Sport 887 8.5 519 5.0
Tourism, Catering and
Domestic Services 691 28.8 289 12.1
-3.3 A BIG CHUNK OF STUDENT MOBILITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION CONCENTRATES ON A FEW COUNTRIES
As many as 40% of the Finnish students heading abroad choose Germany, Spain, Britain, Sweden, the United States or France as their destination. These countries have long topped the list of favour-ite destinations, but the order may have fluctuated. Mobility keeps focusing on Europe: only 3 coun-tries out of the top 10 are outside Europe. How-ever, the United States and China have increased their popularity in relation to the previous year. Most incoming students to Finland are from Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Russia and Poland. This list has changed very little over the recent years. More than half (52%) of all incoming stu-dents come from these six countries. The number of Polish students has declined in the past few years, while the number of Italian and Russian stu-dents has grown. There are no countries outside of Europe among the most common source countries. The closest contender to the top 10 is China in 11th position.
Universities
from Finland Total to Finland Universities Total
Universities of applied sciences Germany 344 554 898 Germany 447 788 1235 Spain 448 375 823 France 452 756 1208 Britain 329 333 662 Spain 395 501 896 Sweden 180 391 571 Italy 165 357 522
United States 186 350 536 Russia 239 186 425
France 157 358 515 Poland 139 233 372
China 274 130 404 Czech Republic 175 174 349
Netherlands 237 166 403 Netherlands 206 135 341
Thailand 230 93 323 Austria 114 161 275
Austria 115 197 312 Belgium 141 114 255
The top destinations have
remained the same for years,
but the popularity of Europe
is gradually declining.
Universities of applied
28 FAKTAA.
Practical training is a
compul-sory element of a degree in the
university of applied sciences
but is usually optional in the
universities.
3.4 INTERNATIONAL TRAINEESHIPS ARE A SIGNICANT PART OF STUDENT MOBILITY IN THE UNIVERSITIES OF APPLIED SCIENCES
The statistics on the international mobility in high-er education include both student exchanges and international traineeships as part of a degree. Such traineeships are clearly more common in the uni-versities of applied sciences than the uniuni-versities: those heading to do a traineeship abroad already comprise 42.4% of the outgoing students at the universities of applied sciences, whereas trainees make up no more than 13.7% of the outgoing uni-versity students. The difference can be explained by the stronger status of practical training in the uni-versities of applied sciences, where traineeships are a compulsory ingredient of the degree. In the uni-versities, practical training is typically optional and can be replaced by other studies.
Those coming to study in Social Services and Health Care, Church and Church Work or in the programme of Sign Language and Spoken Language Interpretation are aware from the outset that they will do their traineeships further afield. Diak has invested in long-term training partnerships in Africa and Asia, which account for 60% of the Diak exchanges.
Francesca Cucinotta and Juhani Moisio from the Uni-versity of Vaasa agree that there seems to be little need for practical training, for their students find employment exceptionally well even without it. They refer to the study conducted by the Karjalainen newspaper, according to which 93% of those about to graduate from Vaasa have a job waiting for them. Their graduates of Technology and Engineering were the most successful in Finland in finding a job, accompanied by fellow students in Econo-mics and Business. The only group at the University of Vaasa that would clearly have need of practical training are the international degree students.
The University of Vaasa is able to offer its students exceptionally many exchange positions. “We send about 200 students abroad annually, but there’s room for 500. We maintain co-operation in several directions, because our own students are less interested in those countries that send us exchange students. We get incoming stu-dents from the traditional Erasmus countries, but our students would like to make their way to Asia or Russia, to the more exotic destinations of emerging economies.” Statistics have long shown that practical training is an
integral part of mobility in the universities of applied sciences and that university students prefer student exchanges. The Diaconia University of Applied Sciences (Diak) and the University of Vaasa confirm these findings from the opposite ends of the scale: almost 82% of Diak’s mobility was made up of practical training, and 95% of the students at the University of Vaasa headed abroad on a student exchange.
According to Riikka Hälikkä from Diak, the strong
tra-dition of practical training follows from the institutional focus on development co-operation and from the current fields of education. Practical training at Diak is primarily not about gaining work experience. Diak graduates tend to have few problems in finding employment and students with a long relevant working history, too, apply to do traineeships.
Practical training is an essential part of the Diak curricu-lum, which has left a certain hands-on approach in the degrees. “Rather than engaging in theoretical studies, the students prefer to use their professional skills where they can benefit the local community. The various colla-borative projects in Social Services and Health Care have been popular, and the number of surveys and small-scale studies conducted by the trainees is rising.”
The students of Diaconia University of applied sciences
become international through practical training, while the students
of the University of Vaasa choose student exhanges
30 FAKTAA.
Figure 10. How higher education students’ outgoing mobility was arranged in 2010 Erasmus Institutional agreement Free mover Nordplus Other 20.2 48.5 14.8 5.0 11.5 Erasmus Institutional agreement Free mover Nordplus Other 74.5 13.3 4.1 1.1 7.0
3.5 EU’S ERASMUS PROGRAMME IS THE SINGLE BIGGEST AVENUE ABROAD
The mobility of higher education students takes place with the help of four major schemes: the EU’s Erasmus programme, institutional agreements, arrangements made by the students themselves as free movers, and the Nordplus programme of the Nordic Council of Ministers. These account for 89% of outgoing mobility and 93% of incoming mobility.
The Erasmus programme is crucial for incoming student mobility in particular, because as many as 75% of the international exchange students in Finnish higher education make use of the pro-gramme. The share of Erasmus has however slightly declined in the recent years, while the proportion of students coming to Finland under institutional agreements has somewhat grown.
Erasmus is the single biggest channel also in out-going mobility, but to a lesser extent: slightly under half of those heading abroad do so under Erasmus. The share of Erasmus has grown by a few percent-age points in the past few years. This is partly be-cause the programme has since 2007–2008 also supported international traineeships. At the same time, the popularity of the Nordic Nordplus pro-gramme has been decreasing.
Figure 11. How higher education students’ incoming mobility was arranged in 2010
Don’t the Nordic countries
interest Finns?
CIMO statistics show that the share of the Nordplus programme in the mobility of Finnish students has
declined year after year. Kenneth Lundin from CIMO’s
Higher Education Co-operation Unit feels that this is above all because the average duration of a Nordplus exchange is now shorter – and periods of less than 3 months are not recorded in the statistics. Finnish higher education students were awarded a total of 568 Nordplus grants in the 2009–2010 academic year for exchanges lasting 1–12 months. Exact information about the duration is not available. Nordplus also supports short-term mobility of 1–4 weeks with new express grants, which the students can use, for example, to take part in courses offered by partner institutions. Such grants were awarded to 284 Finns during the previous academic year. Because the overall funding within the programme has not risen in an equal proportion to express mobility, there has necessarily been a decline in the number of longer mobility periods.
Lundin also believes that the higher education insti-tutions use Erasmus funding to support longer ex-changes together with their Nordplus partners. This makes it possible to concentrate the relatively smaller amounts of Nordic funding on promoting short-term mobility.
The opportunity to do
prac-tical training abroad has
in-creased the Finns’ Erasmus
mobility.
32 FAKTAA.
the programmes of adult students or within profes-sional Master’s programmes. In 2010, 75 students in adults’ education left Finland for more than 3 months. No more than 11 students in professional Master’s programmes did so. The main focus in the mobility of adult students is on short-term mobility: 227 and 87 students in adults’ education and professional Master’s programmes, respective-ly, headed abroad for shorter periods.
from Finland to Finland
from Finland to Finland
Adult students typically
spend short stretches
abroad.
Table 21: Mobility of students at universities of applied sciences by level of study and type of education
Table 20: University students’ mobility by level of study in 2010
Bachelor’s degree
(youth education) 98.2 99.0
Bachelor’s (adult education) 1.6 0.1
Professional Master’s degree 0.2 0.4
Not known 0.0 0.5
Total 100.0 100.0
Bachelor’s degree 65.2 51.5
Master’s degree 31.6 46.5
Licentiate or doctoral degree 3.2 2.1
Total 100.0 100.0
3.6 MOST OF THE MOBILE STUDENTS ARE DOING A BACHELOR LEVEL DEGREE
The great majority of the exchange students at the universities are doing a Bachelor’s degree. They comprise as many as two thirds of the university students heading abroad. Postgraduate students are much less visible in these statistics, for only 168 students doing their Licentiate or doctoral degrees headed abroad and 111 international postgraduate students came to Finland in 2010. This may be be-cause the postgraduates’ mobility periods are often shorter than 3 months.
The international mobility at the universities of applied sciences concentrates heavily on the educa-tion of young people. There was little mobility in
34 FAKTAA.
In addition to exchange students and trainees, students doing their entire degrees abroad also come under inter-national mobility. These students are not included in the CIMO statistics, but statistics on the Finnish recipients of student financial aid abroad are produced by Kela, while Statistics Finland compiles records of international degree students in Finland.
The Kela statistics show that a good 4,500 Finnish higher
education students were granted student financial aid in the academic year 2009–2010 for degree stud-ies abroad. The trends in the numbers of degree students and exchange students have taken a different path in the 2000s: the number of outgoing exchange students from Finland has increased by almost 50%, whereas the number of degree students first reduced drastically and has then remained at slightly more than 4,000 students. In the last academic year, however, there was a distinct increase in the number of Finnish degree students abroad.
Britain and Sweden were by far the most popular destinations for degree students. More than half (51%) of the Finnish degree students abroad studied in these two countries. The concentration on a few countries is even stronger than in student exchanges: the four most popular destinations account for two thirds (68%) of all degree students granted student financial aid by Kela.
Britain 1,592
Sweden 749
Estonia 450
United States 324
Germany 230
In addition to almost 9,000 exchange students, the figures
compiled by Statistics Finland show that there are 14,000
international degree students in Finnish higher edu-cation annually. The number of international degree students has grown vigorously and has more than doubled
Figure 12: Finnish degree students in universities abroad (Source: Kela statistics on financial aid for students)
5,014 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 4,702 4,588 4,383 4,113 4,205 4,053 4,102 4,165 4,596 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0
Degree students differ from exchange students
Netherlands 171
Australia 131
Denmark 112
France 87
Irma Garam is Research Manager in CIMO’s Informa-tion Services. She works on the study, evaluaInforma-tion and analysis of the internationalisation of higher educa-tion.
Siru Korkala is Research Manager in CIMO’s Informa-tion Services. She works on the study, evaluaInforma-tion and analysis of the internationalisation of basic education, vocational education and training, and adult education.
Figure 13: Foreign degree students in Finnish higher education (Source: Statistics Finland)
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 16000 14000 12000 10000 8000 6000 4000 2000 0 6,372 6,877 7,320 7,879 8,442 8,955 10,066 11,303 12,596 14,097 3,732 4,063 4,186 4,427 4,673 4,949 5,434 5,897 6,401 7,113 2,640 2,814 3,134 3,452 3,769 4,006 4,632 5,406 6,195 6,984 Total University University of applied sciences China 2,105 Russia 1,595 Nigeria 731 Estonia 700 Nepal 615 Sweden 530 Germany 478 Ethiopia 467 Pakistan 420 Ghana 395
in the 2000s. Degree students and exchange students come to Finland from different directions: the most common source countries for degree students are the neighbour-ing countries of Russia, Estonia and Sweden, but there are plenty of students also from Asian and African countries, and increasingly so in the last few years.
Kopijyvä Oy 6/2011/1500. Photo: Suomen kuvapalvelu, Johanna Kokkonen and Satu Haavisto.
The Centre for International Mobility CIMO provides specialist services
to facilitate international interaction in education, work and culture, and among the youth. Working under the Ministry of Education, CIMO administers and implements various exchange, practical training and scholarship programmes. CIMO is the national agency for European Union education, training and youth programmes, and the information centre for the EU programmes Culture and Europe for Citizens. CIMO also supports the teaching of Finnish language and culture at universities outside Finland. And finally, CIMO gathers, processes and distributes relevant information to serve its many different customers. The CIMO study, analysis and evaluation team produces information and knowledge to help in the planning and development of international coopera-tion in educacoopera-tion. CIMO monitors internacoopera-tional student mobility and conducts surveys about internationalisation in education and other current issues of inter-national educational collaboration.
FAKTAA - Facts and Figures is a series of fact sheets on the key findings of CIMO’s study, analysis and evaluation team (printed and pdf format). The full reports are available as pdf publications at www.cimo.fi | Publications. FAKTAA - Facts and Figures 1B/2011 was edited by Tiina Lehmusvaara.
ISSN 1798-3649 (printed) ISSN 1798-3657 (pdf) ISBN 978-951-805-446-0 ISBN 978-951-805-447-7 (pdf)
ISBN 978-951-805-448-8 (e-publication)
Printed on paper awarded the EU Ecolabel (FI/11/1).
