Council of Finnish Rectors hits out at goverment's higher education cuts

The Council of Rectors of Finnish Universities (Unifi) has criticised cuts in higher education by the Finnish Government. Unifi said on 21/11/2025 that the government proposed to cut €2.9 million of basic funding for higher education institutions, in addition to €56.2 million cut earlier this autumn.

Unifi has said, however, that it supports proposals for an €11 million one-off increase for higher education intake and €18.6 million for a study voucher programme for students who have not yet been admitted to a university.

Heikki Holopainen, Executive Director of Unifi, said: "Cutting permanent basic funding is poison for the organisation of education. The amount is not large this time, but the signal and direction are completely wrong. Fixed-term earmarked funding cannot compensate for cuts in permanent basic funding."

On 25/11/2025, Unifi announced a vision for the future of Finnish higher education. It sets goals for Finnish universities to reach by 2040, emphasising research, quality of education and partnerships.

Unifi said that it envisioned Finland as a leading country in…