Legitimations of Finnish education export – exploring the plurality of guiding principles

Abstract

This paper explores the legitimation of Finnish education export (EE) activities linked to higher education institutions. As a small non-English speaking country with only recent involvement in the EE market, Finland provides an underexplored context to consider the legitimation of overseas, fee-based educational services from the perspective of EE providers. In this qualitative case study comprising two Finnish EE endeavours, we draw on convention theory to argue that the legitimation of education export is based on multiple roles of such export, not just on generating revenue for the provider institution. We show that legitimations are linked to multiple guiding principles, illustrated in our data through five themes: education for the future generations, competing institutions, localisation of education activity, project-oriented activity, and Finnishness of education export. Due to the plurality of principles, the legitimation process of EE among internal and external stakeholders includes more variation than the seemingly important market-driven logic would suggest, even if this logic has been in focus of the national higher education policy over the past decade.

Adult Education at Auction : On Tendering-Based Procurement and Valuation in Swedish Municipal Adult Education

“…The emergence of 'best practice on export' as a phenomenon in education (cf. Barabasch et al, 2021;Juusola & Nokkala, 2021;Rönnberg, 2015), indicates that this trend of increased complexity and merging of values is here to stay. Transnational actors, such as the EU, also encourage countries to learn from each other by formulating targets or benchmarks, such as reducing school-leaving rates to under 10% or raising the rate of employment to over 75% (European Commission, 2010).…”

“…This is true both for countries with universalist welfare models, such as Sweden and Finland (cf. Juusola & Nokkala, 2021;Lundahl, 2016), and for liberal welfare states such as the UK (Verdier, 2019). At the same time, there is a clear trend of regionalisation and increasing local differences within national contexts, as evidenced by both comparative research and the screening of adult education in different countries (Alke, 2019;Boffo et al, 2016;Gonon & Freidorfer-Kabashi, 2022;Ricardo et al, 2016;Rubenson, 2018;Verdier, 2018).…”

Recognition Strategy and Performance of Non-Teaching Staff at University of Eldoret in Kenya

“…The non-teaching staff in Finnish universities played a crucial role in supporting the academic mission of these institutions. They were responsible for various administrative, technical, and support functions that were essential for the smooth operation of universities (Juusola, 2020). In the early days, these staff members were primarily involved in tasks such as maintenance, cleaning, and clerical work.…”

The Participation Experiences of Chinese Teacher Trainees and Their Finnish Teacher Trainer on an In-Service Teacher Training Program Exported From Finland to China

“…Because of this inexperience and the difficulty of learning from other experienced education exporters, the implementation process of Finnish education export is inefficient and estimated to remain that way until 2030 (ibid.). Although the Finnish government publishes national guidelines for education export every four years (e.g., Opetushallitus, 2020), the implementation process has become more complicated due to the lack of a clear definition of education export, the inaccessibility of national statistics (Juusola, 2020, p. 23), insufficient research results (Juusola & Nokkala, 2019), low motivation and poor marketing knowledge (Cai et al, 2013, as cited in Cai et al, 2013), and the difficulty of recruiting and retaining competent education specialists, among other factors. Because of discrepant sociocultural conditions and education systems, China is attractive but difficult for practitioners of Finnish education export.…”