Growing number of foreign students to universities of applied sciences

Finland's attractiveness as a destination country for higher education continues to increase.

In 2019, more new foreign students than before attended universities of applied sciences.

According to Statistics Finland, the number of students starting education leading to a university of applied sciences degree increased by around 200 to close on 2,600 in 2019 from the year before.

On the other hand, the number of new foreign students starting education leading to a higher university of applied sciences degree fell slightly to 315 students from 2018.

The most common nationalities among new foreign students in education leading to a university of applied sciences degree were Vietnamese and Russian, over 300 of both started education.

By contrast, the most common nationality among new foreign students in education leading to a higher university of applied sciences degree was Indian, good 30 of them started education.

Slightly under 30 new students came from South Africa.

Altogether, the share of new foreign students of all new students was 7.5% in education leading to a university of applied sciences degree and around 6% in education leading to a higher university of applied sciences degree.

More women than men

If all students, both foreign and national, are taken into account, women attended education leading to a university of applied sciences degree more often than men in 2019.

Altogether 52% of those in education leading to a university of applied sciences degree were women, and almost two-thirds of those studying for a higher university of applied sciences degree were women.

On the other hand, as many as 55% of new university of applied sciences students were women, 67% of those studying for a higher university of applied sciences degree.

Among those having completed a university of applied sciences degree in 2019, six out of ten were women. The corresponding share for higher university of applied sciences degrees was seven out of ten.

The most wanted universities

The number of students in education leading to a degree was highest at Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, around 16,200 students. There were also over 10,000 students in Turku University of Applied Sciences and Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences.

The smallest universities of applied sciences by the number of students were Åland University of Applied Sciences (around 500 students) and the Police University College (good 1,100 students).

The highest number of university of applied sciences degrees was attained in 2019 at Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, almost 2,800. Almost 1,800 degrees were also attained at Tampere University of Applied Sciences and Turku University of Applied Sciences.

The clearly highest number, over 400, of higher university of applied sciences degrees were attained at Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences.