Finland Higher Education Explorer

About the Finland Higher Education Explorer

The Finland Higher Education Explorer is a free, searchable view of Finnish higher education. It combines programme-level information from Opintopolku / Konfo with official Statistics Finland data, so universities and universities of applied sciences (UAS, ammattikorkeakoulu) can be inspected and compared in one place.

What you can explore

• Programmes by field of education, institution type, education level, city, institution and teaching language (Finnish, Swedish, English).
• New students, qualifications awarded and annual student counts for 2021–2025.
• Gender distribution and Finland versus non-Finland backgrounds, including the most common non-Finland countries in the available data.
• Announced study places where they are published, with links to the official programme page.

How to read the numbers

• New students are students entering higher education during a given year.
• Qualifications are awards recorded during that year. They are not unique people.
• Annual student counts are yearly observations. Do not add them together as a unique five-year population.
• Programme records may be separate implementation or application offerings, not necessarily unique programme names.

This is an exploratory research tool, not a ranking. It does not claim to measure institutional quality.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Finland Higher Education Explorer?

It is a free, independent data explorer that puts Finnish higher-education programmes, institutions and official student statistics into one searchable view. It currently lists 3,575 programme records from 38 institutions in 41 cities.

Where does the data come from?

Programme information comes from Opintopolku / Konfo, Finland's national study information service. Student statistics come from Statistics Finland (PxWeb). The project republishes no private data and does not estimate missing figures.

Which years do the statistics cover?

The statistical side covers 2021–2025: new students, qualifications awarded, annual student counts, gender distribution and Finland versus non-Finland backgrounds, shown by field of education, institution type and education level wherever the official data allows.

Can I find English-taught programmes in Finland?

Yes. Use the Programs tab and set Language to English. The current inventory contains 1,701 programme records that list English among their teaching languages. Each record links to the official Opintopolku page for details and application information.

What is the difference between new students, qualifications and student counts?

New students are people starting higher education in a given year. Qualifications are awards recorded in that year and are not unique people. Annual student counts are yearly observations and must not be added together as a five-year population. Compare each figure only with figures of the same definition.

Does this site rank Finnish universities?

No. It does not measure institutional quality. It is an exploratory tool for comparing programme availability, fields, student flows and change over time using official public sources.

Is this an official service?

No. It is an independent project by Devrim Vardar and is not affiliated with Opintopolku, Konfo, Statistics Finland or any institution. For application decisions always check the official programme page linked from each record.

Sources and method

• Opintopolku / Konfo – programme and institution records available at the time of the latest inventory update.
• Statistics Finland PxWeb – official student and qualification statistics.

Statistical totals may include overlapping observations across years, for example when students stay enrolled for several years or when qualifications are recorded separately from student counts. Figures should be interpreted according to their definition rather than combined mechanically. Data last updated: 2026-10-20. The data is reviewed and updated as new programme information and statistical releases become available.