The University of Helsinki has announced its decision to impose tuition fees of 13,000–18,000 euros on its postgraduate degree students from outside the European Union and the European Economic Area (EEA).
The tuition fees will be adopted for a total of 34 master's degree programmes taught in a foreign language starting in autumn 2017.
The University of Helsinki explains in a press release that the tuition fees have been determined based not only on the costs of the programmes but also on its profile and on the tuition fees charged by other universities, especially elsewhere in the Nordics.
The fees will be introduced in conjunction with an education reform that will rationalise the degree programmes offered by the University of Helsinki and emphasise their quality and multi-disciplinary dimension. More than a half of the new master's programmes will be taught in a foreign language.
The University of Helsinki is thereby seeking to promote the international aspect of its degree programmes and double the number of foreign master's degree students, Keijo Hämäläinen, the vice rector in charge of academic, research and innovation affairs, says in the press release.
“We want to ensure our high-quality degree programmes attract talented students from all over the world,” he states.
The Universities Act, which obliges higher education institutions to charge tuition fees from students from outside the EU and EEA starting in 2017, also stipulates that the institutions must set up scholarship programmes to financially support students liable for the fees. The University of Helsinki is to iron out the details of its scholarship programme during the course of next academic year.
Most of the revenues derived from the tuition fees will be used to organise the degree programmes as well as to fund the scholarship programmes and international student recruitment activities of the University of Helsinki, according to the press release.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Photo: Anni Reenpää – Lehtikuva
