Statement: A degree through open higher education is an unfair fast track

The Student Union of the University of Oulu (OYY) is disappointed with the government proposal that would allow higher education institutions to offer degree education as fee-based open higher education studies. In the future, applicants could enter higher education without a student selection process or consideration of matriculation examination results.

The entrance exam and school certificate based admission reforms introduced in 2024 and 2026 aimed to create more equal and fair opportunities for applicants seeking access to higher education. In contrast, degree studies offered through the open university system would create an unfair fast track that only the most privileged could realistically benefit from. This shifts the basis for access to higher education away from competence and academic ability toward opportunities determined by wealth. Does the Ministry of Education and Culture truly consider this increase in societal inequality acceptable?  

This proposal also undermines the original purpose of the first-time applicant quota, which was intended to guarantee everyone without a higher education degree an opportunity to pursue one.  Reserving study spots for first-time applicants is no longer meaningful if first-time applicant status does not apply equally to everyone who has already completed higher education studies. This in turn is in conflict with the government’s stated objective of increasing the number of highly educated young adults to 50% by 2030.

OYY deems it problematic that the proposal contains no impact assessment regarding the additional resources higher education institutions would need in order to organise degree education through an open university system. Universities would have no reliable way of estimating how many students would begin their studies through fee-based open university education or how many of them would later transfer into tuition-fee degree programmes during their studies.

The consequences of these changes for the value base of the Finnish higher education system are significant, particularly from the perspectives of equality and fairness. As stated in the proposal itself: “It may be considered fairer and more acceptable that access to education and highly respected and well-paid professions it enables is based on competence demonstrated in student admissions (including open university pathway studies), rather than on the ability to pay for studies.” 

For these reasons, OYY demands that the government’s proposal on completing degrees through open higher education not be advanced any further.