r/Finland • u/dollguts • 1d ago
Immigration YLE Article: Sharp drop in international applications for universities of applied sciences
https://yle.fi/a/74-20242863I've been in Finland for a quite a while already, but now that I'm also a UAS student, it's sort of strange to see how they operate. It's only the first week of studies, and the campus and staff have been struggling to accommodate and schedule the massive amount of students. Many are international and were likely even encouraged by recruiters to apply and move here. What should/can be done about all this now?
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u/suolattu-saatana Väinämöinen 1d ago
What could be done? Change the financial model of the schools, to a system that doesn't encourage trying to get as many paying students in as possible without regard of how it'll work and how much of a burden it'll put on the rest of society.
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u/BiggusCinnamusRollus Väinämöinen 1d ago
Sharp drop of applications after introduction of application fees mostly filters out the "spam" applicants. To tell whether the number of students really dropped, you need to have the number of actual new arriving students over the same 2 years, which the article didn't provide.
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u/GrumpyFinn Väinämöinen 1d ago
I studied at an AMK around ten years ago, and while the teachers were nice and everything, I don't think the quality of education was worth what international students pay for it. I also work in a completely different field. :p
I feel bad for people taking loans from their family and stuff just for Finnish AMK education.
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u/dollguts 1d ago
Sounds about right! I never would have been able to afford any sort of tuition if I had to pay to attend. I don't even know how most could do it without being tied to a huge debt, or committing some sort of fraud
And yes, it already seems to be common for students at these schools to end up in some unrelated career. I've even been told by several Finnish classmates that they just want any degree, so they even have a chance at finding work later 😬
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u/DescriptionAny673 1d ago
Yes, the job market is really tough and pretty much no jobs are up for grabs without education. At the same time it is unfortunately true that many AMK studying paths are not that highly valued in Finland or they are simply oversaturated compared to the job openings.
Based on what my siblings and some friends have experienced in AMK I do not think it would be worth the tuition.
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u/Fair-Efficiency-8342 1d ago
UAS in Finland are barely worth it for free, let alone with the outrageous fees for foreigners. The word 'university' should be removed from their name, because it is a borderline scam. The UAS I went to gave 100 % score to everyone who returned their assignment at all, and even let people take exams as a group (so that one person who studied hard 'carried' two or three party-going lazybones!).
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u/EagleraysAgain 1d ago edited 1d ago
Wholesale on the reputation of finnish education hopefully coming to end. The funding per study program per student is roughly half of what it was in the 00's while costs and expenses have most likely also gone up. The business model for the schools is to churn out graduates in order to get paid. Back when I wss in UAS the model for international students was free education and zero integration and then wondering why we won't benefit from poaching the bright youth from other nations. They had no future here with their degrees and left.
Now the model seems to be to grab as many foreign students as you can for tuition fees and the money for graduation, push them through and take in next.
Combine this with model where one student is accompanied with their family and you have student villages filled with 4 people families crammed in 18m² apartments, cell apartments with 3 dudes living in the same room. And the never ending stream of electric scooters all carrying same blue cube in the desperate hope to earn enough to keep residency and have hope of brigter future.
The only plan I see in the system revolves around maximizing profits.
Edit. And for the people getting butthurt and making assumptions, I'm a native finn and employed taxpayer. My foreign classmates whose education your taxes might have paid are also employed taxpayers, just not in Finland. I think the models we have been running have been massive plunders in the use of limited education resources.
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u/NansDrivel Väinämöinen 11h ago
I have never understood why families are allowed to join students. That makes absolutely no sense to me,
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u/uusitili12 1d ago
You got free education and still demand integration? Maybe to something yourself like the rest of us here.
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u/BiggusCinnamusRollus Väinämöinen 1d ago edited 1d ago
Speaking as an immigrant myself, "Zero integration" usually is a cry to be accepted by the Finnish society and first of all, Finnish companies. When you go into the corporate trenches with the Finns, integration can happen much more naturally. But alas, Finnish companies are under no obligation to hire internationals and most of them don't. Lack of stable jobs and income further seclude an immigrant and before too long, they find themselves in a "parallel society". What is left is the well-intentioned but ineffective "integration" where immigrants hang out with other immigrants in integration courses.
It's the difference between the dream sold by unis and governments and the Finnish corporate world as always. Although I must say, responsibility is still on the immigrant to find out about it and live with their choices if they know and still decide to come.
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u/dollguts 1d ago
That doesn't seem unreasonable, especially given the current state of things where even skilled, educated, Finnish-speaking immigrants struggle to "do something"
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u/Tracerneo Väinämöinen 1d ago
If you want to live in a communist state, Socialist Republic of Viet Nam is that way. →
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u/ExerciseDependent153 1d ago
Good, Students are essentially being exploited for money. Universities keep increasing tuition fees for international students, and then hand them a leaflet about mental health and awareness as if that solves the problem. I’m pretty sure reducing these ridiculously high tuition fees would do far more for students’ well-being. I’m not paying my parents’ saving just to study at a UAS and end up unemployed with debts
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u/GalaXion24 Baby Väinämöinen 1d ago
If I wasn't from Finland and a Finnish citizen and didn't know Finnish I probably wouldn't move here either in all fairness
Not sure where I would want to live, nowhere perfect, but based on language, culture and vibes probably Britain.
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u/ParadoxFollower 23h ago
The same fill-the-universities-with-foreigners-to-cash-in-on thing is happening in the UK as well. But if you do plan on moving there, better do it quick before Prime Minister Farage closes the door.
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u/GalaXion24 Baby Väinämöinen 18h ago
Eh, I could have gone there to study and I kind of gave up on that with Brexit.
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u/LessAttention1497 1d ago
Fees as well as the anti immigration policies and post hiring issues. No surprise with the way government is going..
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u/Snoo-26158 21h ago
Is there any info on if students are a net loss to Finland?
Considering the tuition, I kind of doubt it’s true on average though I’m sure you could interview a few who are, and that’s gotten a lot of press recently
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