AYY issued a statement on the provision of a single study right

This text provides a brief summary of AYY’s statement. The full statement, as well as the statements of other organisations, are available at Lausuntopalvelu website and OKM’s project website. AYY’s statement (in Finnish) is also attached at the end of this text. 

The proposal limits study and learning opportunities 

With this proposal, OKM aims to allocate higher education study places and resources to first-time applicants. Another objective behind the proposal is to increase the proportion of young adults with a higher education degree. AYY supports most of these goals but does not support the proposal itself. We primarily see the proposal as a restriction on study and learning opportunities, and we do not find the potentially freed-up resources or other benefits sufficient to justify the proposal. The proposal would also contribute to weakening the financial position of students pursuing a second degree and would likely increase the stress related to choosing the right field of study. 

Deficiencies in impact assessments 

According to the proposal, students would permanently lose their previous study rights. The proposal does not explain why revoked study rights could not be recovered under any circumstances, nor have the possibilities for restoration been assessed in practice. AYY suggests one possible alleviation at the end of the statement. 

The proposal assumes that higher education institutions currently need to be prepared for students with multiple study rights, and that, under the provision, these resources could be used for other purposes. However, the amount of resources to be freed up has not been assessed in detail, and in AYY’s view, it is unlikely to be significant. In addition, we consider that if the discontinuation of study rights is implemented alongside other admission decisions, it will place an additional burden on the already remarkably busy study administration during the middle of summer. 

In terms of students, the proposal draws one-sided conclusions from the sources cited. It justifies the proposal by stating that pursuing a second degree does not statistically improve labour market developments, such as median income and employment. However, this does not take into account students’ motivation to obtain a second study right, nor the effect of other degrees on work motivation after graduation. 

AYY suggests an addition 

If the provision is to be implemented, AYY proposes including the possibility of recovering one of the revoked study rights after graduation, for example. This proposal would not jeopardise the goal of focusing on a single degree. Our suggested new subsection can be found at the end of the statement. 

Prime Minister Orpo’s Government aims to submit the final proposal to Parliament for a decision during the autumn. 

Earlier this year, AYY’s Policy Specialist Teemu Palkki wrote a blog post about the provision of a single study right: Final days for overlapping degrees