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A comparative perspective on Finnish higher education policy

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Abstract

The last decades have offered social scientists an abundance of material for studies of governmental reform policy in the area of higher education. Reforms of educational politics have been legion in great parts of the world, probably in a particulary high degree in Europe. My purpose is to describe Finnish higher education policy during the last two decades in the four policy areas of (1) quantitative planning and regionalization, (2) social recruitment, (3) governance, and (4) teaching and studies as compared to the development of Western Europe. In the second part of this paper the implementation of the Finnish higher education reforms is analyzed. The third part analyzes the development of the Finnish higher education system and focuses on the various alternatives not chosen by the government. In the final part I discuss the recent trends in Finnish higher education in respect to consistency and change.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Åbo Akademi, Åbo, Finland

    Harriet Silius

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  1. Harriet Silius
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Silius, H. A comparative perspective on Finnish higher education policy. High Educ 16, 417–432 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00129114

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