Ministers will lay tangible on the way for higher than before sell to other countries of Education

Education and Culture Minister Sunni Grahn-Laasonen and Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Lenity Toivakka last week presented a proposal to parliament to remove legal obstacles to the export of Finnish education products and expertise.

"There is huge potential for education exports from Finland, but today the legal issues blocking them. We are now taking steps to remove these barriers," says Grahn-Laasonen. "The goal is to create more space for the sale of education abroad, and thus improve the resource base for research."

Several projects have been undertaken in Finland since 2009 for the export strategy for the Finnish education, including elaboration of the definition. It was agreed that the term "export education expertise" is not adequately cover the Finnish plans, including consulting services and technology solutions to facilitate the learning process.

Several business areas in the Finnish educational exports were developed, such as continuing education for public services use methods of multi-mode learning including virtual learning; learning games (i.e. Rovno’s product "Angry Birds") and Fungi learning platform "skills to build their dreams - delivered to your cell phone," and other learning products, such as products Snake language learning.

Grahn-Laasonen presented a survey from the higher education institutions and private companies ejection factors that currently hinder the expansion of educational exports - such as the legal blocking charging tuition fees and the opportunity to have flexible contracts in cooperative agreements with institutions and organizations, including private companies abroad.

She said that information will be used for research "to produce a plan for the removal of barriers and strengthening of export education, not only in higher education, but also to professional and vocational training."

The plan is to be completed by January 2016 and Team Finland network - whose core members are the ministries of education and culture, employment and the economy, and foreign affairs, as well as public bodies acting under their direction - to coordinate activities between public actors that will offer educational export and support services.

"Companies will be encouraged to set up plans for the sale of education abroad, and it is estimated that 560 people will be admitted to this sector in the near future," added Minister Toivakka.

Program growth for educational export "Future Learning Finland" was established this fall, funded by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, Finer manages.

The plan was put forward at the same time as the proposal to introduce tuition fees for students not taught in Finnish or Swedish outside Europe, as reported by University World News last week.

Area greatest potential interest for education exports is around the Persian Gulf, ministers Grahn-Laasonen and Toivakka said in Helsinki.

Persian Gulf interest

Minister Toivakka led a delegation of nearly 40 business and representatives of universities and colleges in Finland team of the United Arab Emirates from October 31 to November 2nd to Saudi Arabia 2 to 4 November The delegation consists of representatives from the health, education and 'clean' tech enterprises.

Representatives of the University of Helsinki, Lappeenranta University of Technology and several polytechnics (Kabana University of Applied Sciences, Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki Metropolitan University of Applied Sciences and JAMK University of Applied Sciences) are participating.

The visit provided "an excellent opportunity for us to present leading edge Finnish expertise in several sectors in the Persian Gulf region, which is investing in development," said Toivakka.

Sector education and training is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. The market size is estimated globally to be around € 3.3 trillion (US $ 3.6 trillion) with an estimated annual growth rate of 7% expected by 2017. In addition, the fastest growth is expected in Finland areas of excellence, that is, learning games (30% growth), and learning solutions on the Internet (23%).

Finnish education expertise has raised great interest abroad, but the total value of exports of education is difficult to assess because of inconsistent statistics. However, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, Takes, i.e., the estimated value in 2014 was around € 268 million in a study conducted for the job.

The meeting boosted Takes this summer attracted a large number of representatives of the stakeholders and the company. "Exports worth hundreds of millions waiting to be discovered at the micro level," Suva Sundquist, Takes' program manager, said at the meeting.

"Micro-enterprises are most want to grow. They are also very numerous."

A recent survey commissioned by Takes reveals that education export start-ups need € 26 million in capital investments over the next two years, and what export experts, Sundquist said. "But the Finnish education system up to the challenge to become the driver of renewal?", She asked.

Lose ground

Groan Melina, chief author of the report Techno polis Group, commissioned by the Ministry of Education and Culture, on the performance of the Finnish higher education, said the government's plans to remove legal barriers to charging tuition fees for students who are not European Union is a move in the right direction, given economic constraints.

"In addition, the Finnish higher education is at a high level, and if the market is good and supported by good scheme for the care of international students, it can be a business opportunity. Finland potentially has something to sell here," said University News.

He is a Finnish higher education and research systems are in need of increased internationalization at all levels. But raising tuition might not make it easier to attract foreign students.

"Charging tuition fee should be optional for higher education institutions and not regulated by the condition," he said.

President of the University of Helsinki, Professor Juke Kola, said University World News that his university sees a lot of potential for the export of education.

"We are actively seeking new ways to sell their educational and research expertise abroad. We are also looking for new partnerships with international industry.

"We see a lot of potential in, for example, education, law, health care sector, as well as forestry and agriculture and climate change. At the same time, these activities offer opportunities to graduates and post-docs career," he said.

Petri Koikkalainen, President of the Finnish Union of University Researchers and Teachers, said sales courses abroad or in the country was not a solution to the massive budget cuts that the government has introduced to the university, nor is charging tuition fees for students who are not European Union,

"These proposals look like a small correction to a major problem, and they can be a path towards commercialization of our public higher education system," he said.