Administration and finance
The Ministry of Education and Culture is responsible for the strategic and normative steering of VET and leads national development. The Government Programme and other strategies provide the overall policy framework for this work.
The national objectives of VET, the structure of the vocational qualifications and the core/common units included in them are determined by Parliament or the Government. Vocational qualifications and their scope are determined by the Ministry of Education and Culture.
The National Agency for Education designs and makes decisions on the national qualification requirements, which describe the vocational skills requirements of qualifications and units and the methods and criteria to assess learning outcomes.
The Finnish system is based on trust and shared responsibility. The network of vocational education and training providers play a key role in implementing VET and ensuring the quality of training and qualifications.
The Parliament decides on the legislation and the annual budget allocations to VET.
The Government decides on the development of VET in the Government Programme. The Government also makes decisions on the structure of vocational qualifications.
The Ministry of Education and Culture prepares legislation related to VET and steers, regulates, finances and monitors the industry.
The Finnish National Agency for Education (EDUFI) prepares the national qualification requirements for vocational qualifications and preparatory education and training for VET.
EDUFI also develops education and training through funding projects, increases the productivity of education and supports internationalisation of the Finnish society.
Licence to provide vocational education and training
The Ministry of Education and Culture grants licences to provide vocational education and training. The licence determines the educational task of the education provider and ensures that education providers meet the preconditions for providing high-quality qualifications and education. The licence covers VET provided to both young people and adults. The licence entitles the organisation to provide education required for completing vocational qualifications, to organise competence demonstrations and to grant qualifications.
Within the limits of their licence, education providers decide independently on the allocation of the education they offer, and how and in which educational institutions and learning environments the education is organised. Education providers also decide how they are profiled based on different fields or customer groups and what kind of staff they have.
Funding based on outcomes, efficiency and effectiveness
The VET funding system rewards education providers for their outcomes, efficiency and effectiveness of their activities. The focus of funding is on completed units and qualifications, employment or placement in further studies after the education as well as the feedback collected from students an working life. The amount of time spent on education is not relevant from the point of view of the funding structure.
VET is jointly financed by central and local government. The funding is based on an appropriation in the state budget. The funding is granted and paid directly to the VET providers, who decide on the use and allocation of the financing.
The funding comprises strategic funding, core funding, performance-based funding and effectiveness-based funding. The share of strategic funding is at least 4 % of the appropriation for VET. The remaining part of the appropriation for VET is granted on a basis according to which the share of basic funding is 70%, performance-based funding 20% and effectiveness-based funding 10%.
