Paper presented at the European Conference on Educational Research, Edinburgh, 20–23 September 2000
OPEN UNIVERSITY EDUCATION IN FINLAND:
TO WHAT KIND OF EDUCATIONAL EQUALITY
DOES IT CONTRIBUTE?
Nina Halttunen
University of Turku
Department of Education
Lemminkäisenkatu 1
20520 Turku
Finland
E-mail:
Tel. +358-2-333 6564
Fax. +358-2-333 8830
Introduction
One of the most important reasons for the founding of the open or distance teaching universities has been to democratise access to university level education (Guri-Rosenblit 1997, 167). In Finland as well, equality has been one of the primary goals in developing open university education (see, for example Avoin korkeakoulu 1976; Kom. 1981). In this paper, the statistics of open university students and studying within the system are presented. To whom has the open university education been a mode of raising ones knowledge, status, income and possibilities for further education? Has the system answered its planned purpose in terms of educational equality?
The data used here is provided by national Adult education –surveys that were carried out jointly by Statistics Finland and the Finnish Ministry of Education. With these data it is possible to examine participation of adult population in different types of education, including higher education. Within higher education it is possible to compare participation in different forms of higher education to each other. In this paper I concentrate on comparing open university education to basic degree studies.
Open and distance learning as promoters of educational equality?
Distance teaching universities are able to provide a less expensive alternative for higher education and thus absorb large numbers of students. Open universities can be seen as radical departures from traditional forms of higher education and as genuine attempts to move towards universal access to higher education. Rarely, open access policies are pure with equal opportunities for all citizens. More commonly open access stands as an alternative to the meritocratic system. Thus, in the same country, there are higher education institutions with different kinds of access policies. (Trow 1972a, 76; Kerr 1991, 13-14.)
Communications revolution can be seen as changing the character of higher education as a whole. Technology enables the universal access and changes the relations between higher education and the rest of society. However, it should also be kept in mind that the universities’ historically shaped characteristics are relevant to the ways technology is used in each institution. Motives to use more educational technology can be diverse. In any case, the quality of higher education is still seen to be strongly associated with the intensity of face-to-face interaction. Thus, distance teaching universities seem to be second-option institutions. They may play a significant role in the future, but it is not self-evident that they are able to replace current higher education institutions. (Castells 1996, 397; Trow 1996, 323; 1997, 294.)
Distance teaching universities are flexible and they are able to serve diverse clienteles. Students are offered opportunities for study regardless of their work and family responsibilities, social background, prior qualifications and place of residence. In many countries the DTUs have been able to contribute significantly to the move from elite to mass higher education if we look at the numbers of students within the domain of higher education. However, students in open university often fulfil the same prior qualifications as the regular university students. These students are attracted to study at open university for other reasons. (Guri-Rosenblit 1996, 111-112; 1999, 72.)
Distance teaching universities are customer-oriented institutions. They try to serve their potential clients’ needs and tailor the study programmes suitable to the interests of their students. Thus, open universities bring higher education towards the market. Students are able to make choices in the market and decide upon the institutions that best fit their academic and professional aspirations. (Clark 1983, 162; Guri-Rosenblit 1999, 66.)
One of the most important characteristics of open universities is their role as institutions of continuing adult education. Thus, open universities do not so much reduce social inequalities, so much as they expand the opportunities for further social mobility through education. Despite the hype in openness and modern technologies, they not necessarily serve the disadvantaged second-chance students at which distance and open learning opportunities are usually aimed. Thus, applications of technology may not be effective in overcoming barriers of access to higher education. (Trow 1972b, 230; Curran 1997, 343.)
Open university education seems to be flexible and open, but actually it may work as “a safety valve” which brings a limited amount of flexibility into a relatively elite university system. The selective system is able to defend itself by accepting this different kind of university education. Open universities are nominally open, but in fact, their students meet the same qualifications as the students in conventional universities. Open university education may function as a an “institutional gesture” which accommodates pressures for broader access without endangering the institutions themselves and without radically changing the system as a whole. (Trow 1987, 283-284.)
Open university education in Finland
The Finnish open university is not a separate distance teaching university, like the Open University of UK, for example. Courses are arranged by centres of continuing education which are independent study divisions of conventional universities. Tuition is provided by the university faculty and education is equivalent to basic university teaching. Like in most distance teaching institutions of this type, there are limitations on the studies and students are not permitted to complete a full degree by independent study (Keegan 1993, 69-70).
The history of the open university goes as far back as the turn of the nineteenth century. Then universities held some extramural courses that were primarily aimed at women. Open university in its present form, however, was born in the 1970’s. During the 1970’s and 1980’s most of the universities founded centres for extension studies and at the same time, open university education was established. (Karjalainen & Toiviainen 1984, 98; Heikkilä, Salmela & Kurki 1990, 39-40.) In the 1990’s, open university education has gained importance and expanded rapidly. In figure 1 the number of students in open university is presented. For comparison, the number of students in basic degree studies is also showed.
Figure 1. Number of students in open university and basic degree studies 1989-1999
Source: KOTA.
The number of both basic degree students and open university students has increased during the past decade. Increase in the number of open university students has been faster than the number of basic degree students. Many open university students study two or more several subjects at the same time and they are registered as students more than once. Thus, gross and nett numbers of students are presented separately.
The most popular subject in the open university is education, and social sciences and the humanities are also popular. Most of the students are female. Their proportion is about 70-80 %. Previous research has consistently shown that students in open university courses are quite well educated and that they work as lower or upper white-collar employees. Professional development seems to be strongest motive for studies, but they also serve some as a way of personal development or leisure activity. (KOTA; Luotonen & Roisko 1992; Varila 1990; Kärkkäinen 1992; Melin & Weckroth 1995; Haapakorpi 1994; Sunila 1996.)
Traditionally, open university education in Finland has been aimed at adults. In order to provide open university education for adults in particular, and to exclude young matriculated students, there was a minimum age limit of 25 years in open university studies. In the first half of the 1990’s the age restrictions were abolished because of the rapid increase in youth unemployment. The eradication of age restrictions was part a wider program which also expanded open university education to new universities, to more advanced studies, and to new fields and subjects. (Parjanen 1997.)
Since the age limit was abolished, the character of open university studies has changed. Now, a noticeable number of open university students are young matriculated students who have not been accepted to a regular university. Their ultimate aim is to be accepted to a regular university and graduate with a degree. It is useful to take courses at the open university because the courses are equivalent to the basic courses at university. Later, they are able to include these courses in their degrees, if they are accepted to the university. Also, they have better chances at the next years admission examinations after studying the subject more widely. (Piesanen 1995; Melin & Weckroth 1995; Haapakorpi 1994; Sunila 1996.)
The entry of young students into the open universities is not only a Finnish phenomenon. During the 1990’s the proportion of students under 25 years of age has increased in many open or distance teaching universities. Open universities provide education not just for part-time adult students, but also to first chance young students who have not been accepted to a conventional university or were not accepted in the field of their choice. (Guri-Rosenblit 1996; 1997.)
At the heart of the activity of open university education in Finland is the aim to provide valuable study opportunities for population in a way that best suit them according to the principle of lifelong learning (Makkonen 1994, 14). The entry of young students to open university and the results of previous research raises an interesting question of how open university relates to basic degree studies. Has the open university actually contributed to equality by broadening the access to higher education studies? This question is sought to be clarified with statistical data.
Participation in open university education in Finland
The Adult Education surveys were conducted in 1990 (N=3990) and 1995 (N=4107)[1]. The surveys cover the whole population aged 18 – 64 years. In table 1 the proportions of population attended to open university and basic degree studies is presented.
Table 1. Participation in open university and basic degree studies in 1990 and 1995
Open university studies / Basic degree studies1990 / Attended during the past 12 months / 1,13 % / 2,41 %
Attended earlier / 2,78 % / 7,87 %
In total / 3,91 % / 10,28 %
1995 / Attended during the past 12 months / 1,63 % / 3,72 %
Attended earlier / 4,51 % / 10,44 %
In total / 6,14 % / 14,16 %
In both types of higher education, proportions of those attended have increased significantly. In 1995 over 14 % of the population has taken part in basic degree studies during their lives and over 6 % have attended open university courses. Percentage of those who have attended basic degree studies has increased by nearly 40 % and percentage of those who have attended open university courses has increased even more, by almost 60 %.
It is probable, that there are some persons who have attended both to open university and basic degree studies. Figure 2 describes the proportions of those who have studied on the one and also attended to the other form of higher education.
1
Basic degree studies
1990
Open university studies
Basic degree studies
1995
Open university studies
1
Figure 2. Proportions of those who have studied on the one and also attended to the other form of higher education
About a quarter of those who have studied for a basic degree have also studied in open university. The other way around, well over half of those who have studied in open university have also carried out basic degree studies. These figures are surprisingly high. With these data it is not possible to determine in which order the individual persons have attended the different types of education. On the one hand, those who have academic degrees often use open university as a form of professional continuing education. On the other hand, many start their academic studies in open university and then transfer to degree studies. In Piesanen’s (1999, 63) follow-up study, over fifth of the focus group of under 25-year-old open university students transferred to university degree studies during the follow-up period.
Ministry of Education is willing to broaden out the so called open university gateway from open university studies to university degree programs. After collecting one third of the amount of credits of the degree, students may apply to university to be accepted as regular university students. At this point, the transfer should happen without any entrance examinations. If students are accepted, they are fully credited for their open university courses at the regular university This gateway has not been very effective, though. The pathway is slow and calls for persistent study in open university. Individual students prefer normal student selection mechanisms. The most popular ‘open university route’ seems to run through entrance examinations. (Lehtiö 1995; Avoin yliopisto-opetus väylänä…; Education & research 2000; Halttunen & Vuorio-Lehti 2000.)
It seems that basic degree studies and open university education are intertwined. In part, the mixing of these two types of higher education reflects the recent changes in open university students’ age structure, which was referred to earlier in this paper. Also, at the same time as the open university students have become younger, the basic degree students have grown older. During the 1990’s the proportion of students who are 30 years or older has exceeded 30 % (Moore 2000, 38-39). In the figure 3, participation to open and basic degree studies by age is presented.
Figure 3. Participation in open university and basic degree studies by age
In general, older age groups have attended higher education less than younger age groups. Under 30-year-olds are often still studying for academic degree. They are also quite frequently studying in open university courses. If the two points of time are compared, in 1995 under 30-year-olds studied significantly more often than in 1990. Thus, the change in open university’s age restrictions is reflected in these figures.
Those in their thirties have also frequently utilised the possibilities for open learning. As a whole, it can be stated that both basic degree studies and open university education serve somewhat young people. Over 60-year-olds rarely utilise the opportunities for lifelong learning in open university. In figure 4 the participation by gender is presented.