From School to University :the Student Admission System in Finland
Jean-Michel KALMBACH, Akira NAKAYAMA

cultural background. There is no selection and theIntroduction

entire age-group goes through the same structure. OneIn recent years Finland has become world-famous forother key of success is that the prevailing conception ofits brilliant achievements in the field of school education

learning in Finnish schools is student-orientated and it

and for the rankings in the PISA assessment. These

focuses on pupilsʼ activities and interactions withhave even triggered what could be called Pisa tourism ,teachers and fellow pupils. The acknowledgement thatwith bus loads of teachers from other European

different pupils have different abilities applies also to thecountries or elsewhere in the world coming to see whatfact that different pupils have different points of interest.

the recipe of success is. Higher education in Finland, onThis is taken into account in the Finnish system : though

the other hand, remains quite unknown and if Finland

there are a lot of compulsory classes, pupils are also freedoes attract quite a lot of foreign university students,to choose what they want to learn the most. A great

higher education is not the same object of pride, at least

part of the classes in basic education are optional. Onoutside the country. In this article we shall discuss thecompletion of the syllabus, at age １６, pupils get a school-transition from the school system to higher education inleaving certificate.

Finland and how the admission to universities isorganised. We shall also address some problems related
to the transition from school to university.

The Finnish School System
At first a short presentation of the organisation ofnational general education in Finland is needed in order
to identify the main characteristics that will be relevant
for the review of the university student admission
system. Until the １９７０ʼs there was in Finland a parallelschool system with a so-called folk school, free of charge,
and a secondary school applying selection of pupils andfees. The new system merged these two schools andFig.１．The Finnish Education system（source : FNBE
２０１１a）

the so-called basic education system was created（see. TheFig.１）

fundamental

ideaofbasic

education,

enshrined in the Finnish Constitution, is that it isavailable free of charge for all children. Textbooks andFinnish General Upper Secondary
Educationother related materials are provided by the schools,

Students have upper secondary general education

pupils get a free meal and transportation is subsidized

from the age of １６ years until １９. The admission

for those living far from the school. This could be

requirement is the completion of basic education.

described as a very egalitarian school system, which isSelection occurs mainly on the basis of previous study

one of the factors explaining the high Finnish ranking inrecords. Whereas almost all pupils complete basic

PISA : school gives equal opportunities to all, irrespective

education, only a little more than half of each age groupof domicile, gender, financial situation or linguistic andchooses to continue towards upper secondary general

大学教育実践ジャーナル 第１０号 ２０１２３３

Jean-Michel KALMBACH, Akira NAKAYAMA

education, the rest choosing mainly vocational schools.

individual, because teaching is organised in modules,The

education

called courses , each one representing ３８h, with a total

decreased steadily in favour of vocational educationof ７５ modules, comprising both compulsory and optional.
between ２００５ and ２００９（see Fig.２）. There is still a greater deal ofsubjects（FNBE ２０１１b）

proportionofsecondarygeneraloptionality than in basic education, as each student
Year of graduation
２００９

２００８％

２００７％

composes his/her own syllabus and may freely mix the２００６％

２００５％

％

Completers of 9th６４，
１３７ １００ ６４，
７４０ １００ ６５，２３５ １００ ６５，
８３８ １００ ６３，
２９７ １００
grade of basic
educationsubjects as long as the compulsory subjects are taken.
All these characteristics affect the level of students at
the entry of the university.

Continued studies in
２００ ５０．
２ ３２，
７４３ ５０．
６ ３３，
１５２ ５０．
８ ３３，
６６６ ５１．
１ ３３，
７０６ ５３．
３
upper secondary ３２，
general education
Continued studies in
４２７ ４１．
２ ２７，
１００ ４１．
９ ２６，
５４８ ４０．
７ ２６，
３７４ ４０．
１ ２４，
９２５ ３９．
４
upper secondary ２６，vocational education
Did not continue instudies leading to aqualification ordegree

５，
５１０ ８．
６ ４，８９７ ７．
６ ５，
５３５ ８．
５ ５，
７９８ ８．
８ ４，
６６６ ７．
４

Admission to University
Upper secondary education is validated by theNationalMatriculation

Examination. Students

musttake at least four subjects, but they can complete theexamination in as many as three consecutive sessions,Fig.２．Entrance to education（source : OSF ２０１１a）

the total time being limited to one and a half years. An
upper secondary general education leaving certificate is

There are several reasons for this decrease. Upperalso issued. The Matriculation Diploma opens access tosecondary general education can be said to be primarily

higher education. Although it is possible to enter higher

aimed at further education at the higher education level,

education without this diploma, it is overwhelmingly theand family background may influence the options for themain channel through which school students go tofuture. Tuition is free but students must pay foruniversity. However the Matriculation Diploma is far

schoolbooks and for transportation. Upper secondaryfrom providing automatic access to universities, because

schools are also less numerous and students may have tothey apply a numerus clausus policy, that is they admit

travel long distances or even to rent a flat in a town. It

only a number of selected students. The number ofis alsobasic

students admitted every year in different subjects iseducation, which is open to everyone, upper secondary

supposed to reflect the needs of working life, butschools can choose their students. There is an unofficial

numbers also seem to be based on tradition, because

and subjective ranking of schools and the highest ranked

universities tend to take the same number from one year

are obviously more popular. The admission criteria as

to another. But there is a growing political pressure forwell as the studentsʼ level are also higher for popular

universities to revise and adjust the admission figures

schools. Students with weaker results in their basic

and the new syllabi will have to take into account mucheducation certificate have to settle for less popularmore precisely the real needs in real life, sustainable

schools. Upper secondary schools incities

employability being the key word from now on. This

attract more potential students than in the countryside.

will inevitably lead to the suppression of at least someAll

subjects in some universities.

worth

these

mentioning

factors

makethat

contrary

generaltobigger

upper

secondaryeducation less egalitarian than basic education and, ofcourse, affectdownwards

thecompositionofAdmission to universities is usually based on an

theadmission examination. This examination is typically astudents applying for higher education. In a way, thewritten exam, and may include interviews as well.

process of admission to higher education begins several

Ranking is generally based on a total of points takingyears before it actually occurs.

into account the grades in different subjects at theWhile basic education encompasses nine years, inupper

secondarygeneraleducation

theNational Matriculation exam and the grades at thesyllabus,

specific admission examination, all these being weighted

although planned to cover three years, can be completed

in different proportions depending on the university or

between two and four years. Education is mainly

the subject.

organised without division into grades and teaching is
not tied to year classes. Progress in studies is very
３４

Applicationtouniversities

ismadethroughanationwide electronic application system established in
大学教育実践ジャーナル 第１０号 ２０１２

From School to University : the Student Admission System in Finland

２００９. Every student may apply and take an admission

first or second year of studies. This is actually common

examination at several universities during the samepractice in some other European countries like France,admission

theand it has its advantages : students staying in the same

examination on a different date）. However if thesubject after this trial period are generally more

student is admitted at several universities, he/she must

interested and motivated and more sure about having

choose only one of them and one main subject. Duringchosen the right subject.

session（ eachuniversity

organizes

the short time the system has been used, it has alreadyEven when students have chosen one university andproved to cause widely-spread no-show problems. For

one subject, the logistical problems do not end here.

instance one department may have admitted ３０ new

Many students who have a strong desire and motivation

students. Most of them, in order to maximize theirto study a specific subject（such as medicine orchances to be admitted to at least one university, havearchitecture, for statistics see MEC ２０１１）but have notsimultaneously applied for other universities and may

been successful at the admission examination because ofindeed be admitted at several of them. As they may

strongchose only one university and one main subject to study,

sometimes for several years. Meanwhile they either

after having received notification from all the universities

spend a free year working or travelling or doing nothing.

where theyall

More than one-half, or ６０ per cent, of the passers of theapplications but the one for the university they want.

matriculation examination in ２００９ did not continue

This applies also to students on a waiting list who may. Or
studying in their year of graduation （OSF ２０１１c）

have been admitted to other universities. In the end,

these students study another subject they are lessinstead of ３０ students, and even after having invitedinterested in but where they happened to be admitted tostudents from the waiting list, the department may see

in another university（for instance, chemistry or physics

only ２４ new students showing up. This causes manyfor students having failed at the medicine admission

logistical problems, such as working plans and classroomexam），because, as others, they have applied for several

sizes. Although the same phenomenon does not apply

universities. Whento very popular subjects such as English（English is bythrough the admission examination in the subject they

havebeenadmitted

theycancelcompetition

will

they

retry

the

eventuallyexamination,

areadmitted

far the most studied language in schools, see OSF ２０１１

dreamed of, they drop their current studies and begin ab）, where competition is fierce and there is always anew one, even if it means they have to start from thereserve of students only too happy to be admitted frombeginning. Not only will they have wasted their own

the waiting list, in these popular subjects, too, planning

time and public money, but they will also have taken aand organising an admission examination for ５００ persons,place from another potential student who would havewhen the real number of participants turns out to be half

been happy to study the subject they resorted to as anof it, means a waste of time and human resources.

alternative. All this variety

also

causesproblems

There is also one other reason why the actual level ofrelated to the skill level of new applicants. Because of

students does not necessarily correlate with the ranking

the great number of drop-outs, the actual level of new

at the examination level or its supposed difficulty level.

students cannot be reliably assessed through theFor the aforementioned reasons in some less popular

entrance examination.

subjects university departments have to accept theleftovers instead of the best students. School pupils
with good school results e. g. in French or German,
which are more demanding than English, generally have

Discrepancies between School Educationand University Requirements

good results in many other subjects too and they

Moreover the Matriculation examination does not

generally apply for several universities. After being

always reliably reflect or predict the actual competence

successful at several admission exams they eventuallylevel. School teaching in languages other than English

choose a subject other than French or German. For theoften relies on outdated methods or contents which aresame reason, in some universities subjects such as

not in accordance with what is expected at higher

mathematics admit students without any admission

education level. The Matriculation Examination mainly

examination. Taking for instance one hundred newassesses the skills according to official contents andstudents, they let natural selection operate during therequirements established by the Finnish National Board

大学教育実践ジャーナル 第１０号 ２０１２３５

Jean-Michel KALMBACH, Akira NAKAYAMAof Education. The problem is that these contents do notthis point they are far from the well organised basic

necessarily define the best possible way to present e. g.

education system, where everything is ready-made andgrammatical rules or cultural content. For all theprovided for. Selection for higher education actually

outstanding results Finland has obtained in school

begins after basic education when young people have toeducation, teaching

onchoose their upper secondary general school, setting theschoolbooks. In Finland there is neither a school

direction for the future. Of course completion of basic

teachersʼ assessment system nor any official continued

and upper secondary general education in itself does noteducation system for school teachers. Therefore aguarantee that every pupil has acquired the same skill

teacherʼsstatic, andlevel. It is also obviously impossible to provide higher

schoolbooks play a big role as they actually represent

education in one specific field for all those who would be

the basic reference source and guideline for teachers.

interested in it. In some fields selection is very severe,

As upper secondary school is based on modules,

and there will always be many drop-outs. In an ideal

publishing houses often publish schoolbooks covering aworld universities would admit students who are thespecific number of modules（sometimes only two）
. Thismost skilled for a specific subject. However, because ofis basically a way of maximizing profits, but for students

different factors such as de facto inequalities when

as well as many teachers, it provides a ready-sliced

entering upper secondary general education, problems

content which only encourages them to rely even more

partly related to the high degree of optionality in upperon the textbook（there are of course exceptions, withsecondary general education and discrepancies between

teachers showing own activity or creativity）.

schoolbook content and higher education scientific

skill

still

level

very

tends

toheavily

remainreliesThis is a great problem for some subjects. For

requirements, as well as unequally distributed admission

instance, schoolbooks in French or German show various

figures at the university admittance examinations, the. As there is no
methodological flaws（Kalmbach ２００５）

admission system is rather far from the egalitarian

official system for assessing schoolbooks, the content andconcept and noble principles of Finnish basic education.

design is mainly the responsibility of publishing houses,

How can the system ensure that the best students arewhose criteria are often more commercial than scientific.

admitted to the relevant subject ? And how would it be

In English, high demand ensures competition between

possible to obtain a better correlation between thepublishing houses, resulting in much better quality. But

examination results and the actual skills ? These areeven in English teaching, not to mention French orsome of the challenges needing to be addressed in theRussian, research results obtained in universities in theFinnish higher education admission system.

field of language teaching and learning are very slowly
transposed, if at all, into schoolbooks and school teaching

Notemethods. As there is no continuous education system
for teachers, there are very few opportunities for them
All this means that, in order to provide knowledge
andskills

inaccordancewithThis paper is based on a presentation given at aseminar on the Finnish education system at Ehime

to hear about new findings and methods.
academic. The part The FinnishUniversity（July ４th, ２０１１）

levelschool system is inspired by a presentation by Mrs. Aija

teaching

Kalmbach, M. A., teacher at the Jyväskylä University

virtually starts from scratch, because teachers consider

Teacher Training School. All the other parts are by

it to be a more effective way to fill the gap between

PhD Jean-Michel Kalmbach, adjunct professor in French

scientific requirements and traditional school teaching

language and Applied Linguistics at the Language

contents.

Department of the University of Jyväskylä. His text

requirements, insomesubjects

university

uses sources from the Finnish National Board ofConclusion

Education and Official Statistics of Finland but relies
mainly on his first hand observations and data gathered

After completion of their twelve year school careerin the process of student admission which he has been

young Finnish students wanting to enter the higher

involved in for over two decades. The author wishes to

education system face quite a challenge as they have tothank his colleague Mrs. Jaana Toomar, Ph. Lic., for her

struggle through the university admission system. At

comments.

３６

大学教育実践ジャーナル 第１０号 ２０１２

From School to University : the Student Admission System in FinlandREFERENCES
FNBE ２０１１a : Overview of the Education System.
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tie̲００１̲en.html.

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̲system
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secondary̲education.pdf
The Finnish National Matriculation Examination Board
http : //www.ylioppilastutkinto.fi/en/

大学教育実践ジャーナル 第１０号 ２０１２３７