HIGHER EDUCATION

Women complete nearly 60% of university degrees in Finland

University of Tampere. Photo: Laura Vanzo/Visit Tampere.
Women studied clearly more often than men in the fields of education, arts and humanities, health and welfare, social sciences and journalism.

Women and university studies go very well in Finland.

The number of university degrees completed in Finland continues to increase, with women achieving the most degrees.

According to the latest education statistics released by Statistics Finland, in 2020 around 35,800 university degrees were completed in the Nordic country, which is 13% more than in the previous year. And almost 60% of these degrees were completed by women, a proportion that is at the 2019 level.

Examined by field of education, women studied clearly more often than men in the fields of education (8 out of 10 students were women), arts and humanities, health and welfare, and social sciences, journalism and information (7 out of 10).

Men, in turn, studied more often than women in the fields of information and communication technologies (IT), where 8 out of 10 were men, services and engineering, manufacturing and construction (7 out of 10 were men).

Most wanted universities and fields

In 2020 most degrees, good 8,900, were completed at the University of Helsinki. The second most degrees were completed at the University of Tampere, nearly 4,300. Some 3,500 degrees were completed each at Aalto University, the University of Turku and the University of Jyväskylä.

The smallest universities based on the number of degrees were the National Defence University (around 300 degrees) and the University of the Arts Helsinki (UniArts) (about 370 degrees).

Most degrees were completed in the field of business, administration and law (around 6,500).

The number of degrees completed in humanities and arts was around 5,800 and in social sciences about 4,700. '

Doctorate degrees

Doctorate degrees were completed most in the field of health and welfare (in total 416), natural sciences (in total 325) and technology (in total 293).

Around 30,500 new students began their university studies in 2020. The number is 13 per cent higher than one year earlier.

Nearly 156,600 students attended university education leading to a degree in 2020.