Finnish education officials warn government plans insufficient to meet doctoral candidate targets

Current government actions will not meet the educational targets set by the administration, according to Ida Mielityinen, Executive Director of the Rectors’ Conference of Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences (Arene). The government aims to increase the number of doctoral candidates and, in February, the Ministry of Education and Culture allocated €255 million to universities to train 1,000 new doctors. However, Mielityinen believes these measures are insufficiently effective.

“There needs to be drastic changes to the current approach. It seems that despite the situation, there is no readiness for adequate changes in higher education policy,” Mielityinen stated during an interview on Yle’s Morning show on Thursday.

The Union of Finnish Student Unions (SYL) also regards the government’s plans as unrealistic. According to education policy expert Heidi Rättyä, it is clear that achieving educational goals is not feasible with the current resources. “Resources are lacking. Educational capacity must be increased, and this requires political decisions,” she emphasized.

Finland’s education level has stagnated, while many comparable countries have surpassed Finland in terms of educational attainment. Aleksi Kalenius, a negotiator at the Ministry of Education and Culture, acknowledged concerns but noted some positive trends, mentioning that access to higher education has improved over the past decade, leading to record enrollments in universities at the start of the 2020s.

Currently, the proportion of 25–34-year-olds with higher education in OECD countries stands at 47%, while Finland lags behind at about 40%. Kalenius indicated that the target of 50% is unattainable in the near term, but the long-term goal remains to push toward the OECD leadership in educational attainment.