Statement of the Finnish Union of University Professors on the Government’s public finance plan for 2026–2029

In the view of the Finnish Union of University Professors, the Government’s public finance plan for 2026–2029 is contradictory. It proposes additional funding for universities’ research and development activities and available student places, but at the same time it proposes significant cuts to the core funding of universities.

According to the Union, the emergence of genuinely new R&D initiatives requires strong and predictable funding for basic research. Cutting core funding and simultaneously increasing the number of available student places will further weaken the opportunities of professors and other researchers to produce new knowledge.

The Union is concerned that it will not be possible to bring the percentage of young adults with a higher education degree towards 50 per cent mark by 2030 while maintaining the high quality of education. The target would require hundreds of millions of euros in additional resources annually and better integration of foreign students into Finnish society.

If the increase in the number of available student places at universities is not funded by a corresponding increase in the core funding of universities, universities will have to compensate for teaching with resources directed at research. This is likely to weaken both the quality of research-based teaching at universities and the universities’ opportunities to conduct basic research and produce research-based innovations.