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Published: 18 February 2010

Number of educational institutions fell further

According to Statistics Finland's Register of Providers of Education and Register of Educational Institutions, there were 804 active providers of education and 4,161 educational institutions in which 1.9 million students pursued studies at the end of 2009.

The number of providers of education was 73 lower than in 2008. Of the providers of education 49 per cent were municipalities or joint municipal boards, seven per cent were central government units and 42 per cent private. The remaining two per cent of the providers of education operated in the region of Åland. In 2009, there were 15 new providers of education to be added to the Register of Providers of Education.

The number of educational institutions was 163 lower than the year before. There were 2,889 active comprehensive schools which had 531,000 pupils. Special education schools at the comprehensive school level numbered 138 and they had 7,200 pupils. A total of 115 comprehensive schools or comprehensive school level special education schools were closed down or merged with another educational institution. Of these, 31 were educational institutions with under 20 pupils, 51 had between 20 and 49 pupils while 33 had at least 50 pupils. The number of closures was the highest in the regions of North Ostrobothnia, Satakunta and North Karelia.

Of all comprehensive schools 76 per cent taught grades 1 to 6, 13 per cent taught grades 7-9 and 11 per cent of comprehensive schools taught all the grades from 1 through to 9. In all, 26 per cent of comprehensive schools had under 50 pupils and five per cent had over 500 pupils.

Educational institutions of the school system and numbers of students by type of educational institution in 2009

Type of educational institution Number Change from previous year 1) Students 2)
11 Comprehensive schools 2 889 -99 531 000
12 Comprehensive school level special education schools 138 -10 7 200
15 Upper secondary general schools 398 -8 119 200
19 Comprehensive and upper secondary general level schools 38 - 24 600
21 Vocational institutes 137 -15 176 700
22 Special needs vocational institutes 6 -6 5 100
23 Specialised vocational institutes 35 -2 24 800
24 Vocational adult education centres 27 -5 43 300
28 Fire, police and security service institutes 1 - 300
29 Military vocational institutes 14 - ..
41 Polytechnics 28 - 144 600
42 Universities 20 - 168 300
43 Military academies 1 - 500
61 Music schools and colleges 89 - 63 800
62 Sports institutes 14 - 2 000
63 Folk high schools 83 - 15 800
64 Adult education centres 205 -18 525 500
65 Study circle centres 11 - 55 100
66 Summer universities 20 - 37 900
99 Other educational institutions 7 - 600
Total 4 161 -163 1 946 300
1) The change is described in the Finnish-language table Koululaitoksen oppilaitoksiin tehdyt muutokset oppilaitostyypin mukaan 2009 (Changes made to educational institutions of the school system by type of educational institution 2009).
2) The data on the number of students is mainly as on 20 September 2009 and include the number of all students in educational institutions belonging to the type of educational institution independent of the level of education.

Source: Education Statistics 2009. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Elina Huusko (09) 1734 3571, koulutustilastot@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma


Updated 18.2.2010

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Providers of education and educational institutions [e-publication].
ISSN=1799-5825. 2009. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 28.3.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/kjarj/2009/kjarj_2009_2010-02-18_tie_001_en.html