Student exchanges abroad by university students have recovered to the pre-pandemic level. On the other hand, the desire of those studying at a university of applied sciences to go on an exchange is still far from peak years.
During the fall semester, university students have traveled abroad for exchange as diligently as before the pandemic, but universities of applied sciences plan to go abroad sparingly, says Opetushallitus.
Maikki Sanikkainen thinks that the world situation maintains uncertainty. The decision to go abroad is therefore not so easy.
– Maybe after the corona, it’s still hot whether the plans will go awry. Perhaps there is still such uncertainty left over from the world situation.
Almost twice as many people came to Finland
This fall, a total of approximately 3,200 students from Finnish higher education institutions have gone abroad for a student exchange or internship period lasting more than two months.
Correspondingly, almost 5,800 students from foreign universities have come to Finland in the fall semester of 2022. The number of students who came here is so high that the war does not seem to have greatly affected the students’ willingness to come to Finland.
More than 60 percent of those who leave Finland study at universities. According to preliminary data from the Board of Education, the gap between universities and universities of applied sciences in the willingness to leave will continue to grow.
Information about the place will come late
Maikki Sanikkainen was informed of his departure to Belgium on Friday, but all his classmates still haven’t received a decision about going on an exchange.
Sanikkainen suspects that last-minute information is also about the caution of organizations. During the pandemic, we had time to get used to the fact that things are postponed and changed at short notice.
Late information about the exchange study place complicates preparations.
– You have to get a room from the exchange country and cancel your current apartment in Finland. In addition, there is applying for subsidies, packing and organizing life in general.
Those who go as an exchange student must take into account their own finances. You have to calculate the travel costs and of course life costs abroad too.
Sanikkainen receives support from Kela and also from Erasmus, which is the exchange and cooperation program of the European Union.
Difficult application process
Going to Belgium will not delay the graduation of Maikki Sanikkainen, who is studying media planning. In his opinion, the possibility of going on an exchange is well taken into account in the curriculum of LAB University of Applied Sciences.
– I already applied in the spring, but now you could also apply in the fall.
In his opinion, the application process was difficult and confusing.
– It wasn’t quite clear where to apply.
For him, the best part of the application process was dreaming about going abroad, seeing different things and meeting new people.
– I have been in Belgium for five months. The purpose is to live and gain new experiences.
The peak years are far away
The enthusiasm of university students to go abroad for an exchange collapsed even before the corona virus.
Before 2017, more than 10,000 students left Finland for periods abroad every year. There were approximately the same number of graduates from universities and universities of applied sciences.
According to the Board of Education, we are still far from peak years.
The downward trend has been clearly steeper in universities of applied sciences than in universities. Between 2016 and 2019, 33 percent fewer university of applied sciences students went on exchange than before. In universities, the corresponding figure was 16 percent.
In universities, it has been noticed that the uncertain world situation curbs the enthusiasm to leave Finland for an exchange, but otherwise the war does not seem to have an effect on the situation of students leaving Finland.
Maikki Sanikkainen also recognizes this.
– Of course, the state of war is generally heating up now. It can probably be seen in Belgium, for example, as a rise in prices or similar.