News in English

Students work to make living

70 - 80 percent of students of the University of Tampere work during the academic year. Four out of five work to guarantee their basic subsidence. The figures were given out in the recently published research.

‘The amount of working students is massive, but similar to other large Finnish student cities’, reveals the researcher, Leena Ahrio.

However, the study reveals that a large group of students would continue working even if their basic subsidence would be guaranteed by other means.

"It is beneficial to gain work experience. However, it ought to be possible for students to study full time even without working. What is seen as basic subsidence is a matter of perspective. Some might think it means living in a flat share in Lukonmäki, others require a studio flat in the centre", says the president of the Student Union, Simo Autio.

By working as well as studying, students seek to gain work experience and useful contacts. For the majority, working is part-time and irregular, and it is limited to weekdays and evenings.

Only 40 percent believe that they will be employed easily after graduation.

"Perhaps it is better that the students think this way - it might even be a certain protection mechanism. Maybe people think that they will not have a myriad of jobs to choose from", says Ahrio.

Exam Aquarium about to replace summer examinations

Electronic exams, offered by the Exam Aquarium, are planned to replace traditional summer examinations as soon as next summer.

The transitional period of the Degree Reform will end on the 31st of July 2008. This means that many students will be striving to graduate by that point. The Summer Examination Office will try to ease the exam rush by arranging examinations perhaps as early as May.

"Students from any faculty will be able to come to extra exams", says Janne Kettunen, the Training Officer of last yearÂ’s Summer Examination Office.

Fishing for foreign students may gobble up the development aid

Educated foreign workers have been seen as the answer to FinlandÂ’s future threat - labour shortage. In their development plan of education and research, the Ministry of Education states that internationalisation creates a basis for labour-based immigration. The GovernmentÂ’s eyes are now focused on universities - their role is namely to attract the best international student element to them.

The vice-rector of UTA, Juhani Lehto, criticises marketing terminology interfering with the educational discourse.

"In todayÂ’s political discourse, higher education is a product: We should be able to chase the best brains of the market and raise the quality level with the help of students", Lehto explains.

The Tamy Secretary of International Affairs, Laura Lalu, also thinks that economic thinking distorts the image of education.

"Globally, quality and price are tightly connected: Top universities are truly expensive. I have stumbled across the attitude that Finnish education cannot be too good since it is free. The supply of a university with no price tags does not attract people", Lalu says.

The Government are presenting an increase in the studying possibilities for the students of developing countries. In addition, a five-year-long program for increasing the amount of highly educated workers in the developing countries has been submitted.

The memorandum suggests the program to be financed using the money for development cooperation. The goal is to allocate five million euros per year to gifted students coming from the countries with which Finland has had long development cooperation relations. Lehto sees the idea as dubious.

"If anything, the program will gobble up the development aid, causing ‘a brain drain’: Development aid will be spent to attract talented students to the West, which is wealthy at any rate, and their know-how will not benefit their home country in any way. That is no less than neo-colonialism", states vice-rector Lehto sternly.

A right for universities to sell education abroad presented

Universities might be able to sell degree-aimed education abroad from the beginning of next year. For the reform to be realisable, it requires a modification of the Universities and Polytechnics Acts: The Government left the modification bill in the beginning of autumn.

SYL, the National Union of University Students in Finland, sees the proposed customised education as a chance to gain additional funding for universities. However, SYL requires that the new practice may not lead to a situation, in which a degree would be obtainable through customised education with less strict requirements.

Mainly non-European countries would order education, but communities and corporations would also have an opportunity for this. Until now, it has not been possible to arrange customised education due to the current regulations. According to these, education leading to a degree must be free of charge.

OECD: Too many Finns study

The working population of Finland is only among the 15 most educated in OECD, when it comes to higher degrees. According to the comparison report of OECD, a cooperation organisation of industrial countries, 18 percent of Finns aged 25 - 64 have a university or polytechnic degree. The amount is higher than those in the other Nordic countries.

However, as the baby-boom generations retire, the level of education will rise due to the 89 percent of 25 - 34-year-olds who have a qualification higher than basic education. The proportion will lift Finland up to sixth on OECDÂ’s list.

According to the OECD report, FinlandÂ’s problem in the future might be that 43 percent of 20 - 29-year-olds are either full or part-time students - even when the amount of workers will reduce due to high retirement. The proportion of young adults that are students in Finland is the largest of all the OECD countries.

Evangelist busted in the act

An Aviisi journalist caught a man sticking religious leaflets in between Aviisi issues two weeks ago in the station tunnel. The journalist tried to explain that advertising in a paper actually costs money.

‘These are not advertisements. This is gospel!Â’ the man, wanting to remain anonymous, defended himself. After a brief dispute, the man gave up on spreading the gospel. The publisher, Herätysseuran kirjapaino, promised to inform the deliverers not to put their flyers in between papers.

Aviisi is only against unauthorized spreading of the gospel. If this does not come to an end, Aviisi will have to defend itself with skull images and crosses turned upside down.

Translations: Varpu Jutila