The Ministry of Education and Culture has requested a statement on the draft Government proposal to Parliament for laws amending the Universities Act and the University of Applied Sciences Act. Tampere University has asked TREY for comments on the topic for its statement, as well.
The Government proposal deals with implementing full costing of tuition fees for higher education students from non-EU and EEA countries. If this is achieved, tuition fees should cover the costs of organizing the education, which is likely to lead to an increase in tuition fees. As part of the full costing tuition fees, changes have also been proposed to the scholarship system: the proposal is that in the future, higher education institutions would not be obliged to maintain the scholarship system.
The Government proposal also proposes measures to prevent the evasion of tuition fees. The proposal has seen as problematic the exemption of international students from the obligation to pay tuition fees on the basis of changes to their residence permit, which is why the Ministry of Education and Culture has proposed that those who have come to the country with a student residence permit remain liable for tuition fees.
In addition, the Government proposal suggests the restoration of the application processing fee, which would mean that applicants from outside EU and EEA countries would pay a fee of around 100 euros when applying for studies.
Regarding commissioned education, the Ministry of Education and Culture has proposed that the regulations better take into account the legal protection of students and the obligation of higher education institutions to inform students of their rights and obligations.
Picture on the banner: TT-kamerat/ Sami Lamminen