Helsinki University officials said Friday that it would begin levying annual tuition fees on new students attending the institution from the start of the academic year in 2017.
The annual tuition fee would apply only to new students coming from outside of the EU and European Economic Area. The fee will vary from 10,000 to 25,000 euros and will be billed to students in the institution’s foreign-language Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programmes.
"Current students have no need to worry as the new charges apply only to students who are starting their programmes in the autumn semester 2017," international affairs manager Markus Laitinen said in a statement.
The size of the tuition fee for incoming students in different degree programmes will be reviewed every year, but will not change for individual students.
Most foreign students now non-European
Last year, the Finnish Parliament voted to introduce the tuition fees for non-European students. At the time the government outlined a minimum fee of 1,500 euros, giving institutions discretion to set the upper limit for the payment.
Helsinki University said that the money raised from the fees might be used to promote the institute’s internationalization programme.
Finnish legislation however requires institutions to provide financial aid programmes for students completing paid programmes. This can be implemented by way of pay tuition fee reductions or stipends to help with living expenses.
There are currently more than 20,000 foreign students attending Finnish universities, the majority of them come from outside of the EU and EEA.