Finnish Higher Education Expansion and Regional Policy

Abstract

This paper concentrates on the expansion of Finnish higher education between the 1960s and 1970s, exposes its background in the light of the policy decisions that were made, compares the unique features of this expansion with those of certain other countries, discusses the impact of the controlled 'top down' governance of higher education policy, and describes the Finnish higher education system today. The paper argues that the driving forces behind universal mass higher education were, on the one hand, changes in the structure of society, and on the other hand, individual demand for education but also increased need for skills in production processes. This was the case in Finland as well but the Finnish higher education expansion was also characterised by regionalism. The actual location of universities in the era of expansion was a function of local political actors who were able to have an influence on ruling political parties.

Children’s educational attainment, occupation, and income and their parents’ mortality

“…These changes resulted in substantial occupational and educational mobility for the children of the cohorts included in these analyses. Thus, the children were better educated compared with their parents, and better educated children were more likely to have access to white-collar employment and greater financial resources than their less well-educated counterparts (Saarivirta 2010). Although Finland is similar to other Scandinavian countries, in that ageing parents do not co-reside with their children typically (De Vos and Sandefur 2002), intergenerational family support is common and children are important caregivers for their parents in old age (Harvey et al 1995; Tomassini et al 2004; Blomgren et al 2008).…”

The historical roots and development of the civic university

“…In countries that entered the second half of the twentieth century with relatively undeveloped higher education systems, however, this period of expansion was also one in which new research and teaching universities with strong municipal or regional foundations were established. For instance, in Finland during the 1960s and 1970s the university sector expanded out of the south of country for the first time, including new institutions (sometimes absorbing existing colleges) in cities such as Tampere (see Chapter 6 in this volume), Oulu and Jyväskylä (Saarivirta, 2010). In addition, many of the technical institutions established with the expansion of the twentieth century have subsequently themselves become universities (for example, the former polytechnics in England and Wales following the abolition of the binary system in 1992) or assumed a broader range of teaching and research functions that bring them closer to universities (as represented in this volume by Chapter 9 on Dublin Institute of Technology).…”

Universities as anchor institutions in cities in a turbulent funding environment: vulnerable institutions and vulnerable places in England

“…The English higher education sector has developed over the previous 150 years through several phases of new university foundation. In contrast to countries such as Finland and Sweden, where regional policy has in the past prompted the creation of universities in peripheral areas (Andersson et al, 2004;Saarivirta, 2010), the expansion of the UK system has not in general been guided by explicit territorial development concerns. Nevertheless, different phases of new university formation have had relatively distinct geographical manifestations in terms of the size of city in which the institutions were located and, to a lesser extent, their regional distribution.…”