Published: 11 February 2016
Number of educational institutions fell further, highest number of closures in Etelä-Savo and South Ostrobotnia
According to Statistics Finland's Register of Providers of Education and Register of Educational Institutions, there were 748 active providers of education and 3,483 educational institutions in which 1.87 million students pursued studies at the end of 2015. The number of all educational institutions has fallen by 16 per cent in five years. In 2010, the number of comprehensive schools was nearly 2,800, whereas at the end of 2015 their number was only just under 2,400.
Number of all educational institutions and comprehensive schools in 2010-2015
![Number of all educational institutions and comprehensive schools in 2010-2015](kjarj_2015_2016-02-11_tie_001_en_001.png)
*Comprehensive schools include types 11,12,19 of educational institutions
The number of providers of education was 10 lower than in 2014. Of the providers of education 47 per cent were municipalities or joint municipal boards, six per cent were central government units and 45 per cent private. The remaining two per cent of the providers of education operated in the region of Åland. In 2015, there were 7 new providers of education to be added to the Register of Providers of Education. The number of educational institutions was 145 lower than the year before.
Educational institutions of the school system and numbers of students by type of educational institution in 2015
Type of educational institution | Number | Change from previous year 1) | Students 2) |
11 Comprehensive schools | 2 397 | -102 | 526 800 |
12 Comprehensive school level special education schools | 85 | -14 | 4 700 |
15 Upper secondary general schools | 350 | -16 | 113 100 |
19 Comprehensive and upper secondary general level schools | 41 | - | 27 800 |
21 Vocational institutes | 102 | -3 | 169 700 |
22 Special needs vocational institutes | 6 | - | 5 300 |
23 Specialised vocational institutes | 29 | -3 | 34 200 |
24 Vocational adult education centres | 26 | - | 37 000 |
28 Fire, police and security service institutes | 1 | - | 200 |
29 Military vocational institutes | 6 | -6 | .. |
41 Polytechnics | 26 | - | 143 600 |
42 Universities | 14 | - | 160 700 |
43 Military academies | 1 | - | 900 |
61 Music schools and colleges | 86 | -1 | 64 000 |
62 Sports institutes | 14 | - | 5 200 |
63 Folk high schools | 76 | -1 | 17 400 |
64 Adult education centres | 185 | 0 | 495 000 |
65 Study circle centres | 12 | 1 | 33 100 |
66 Summer universities | 20 | - | 28 800 |
99 Other educational institutions | 6 | - | 500 |
Total | 3 483 | -145 | 1 868 000 |
2) The data on the number of students are mainly as on 20 September 2015 and include the number of all students in educational institutions belonging to the type of educational institution independent of the level of education.
There were 2,397 active comprehensive schools which had 526,800 pupils. Special education schools at the comprehensive school level numbered 85 and they had 4,700 pupils. A total of 123 comprehensive schools or comprehensive school level special education schools were closed down or merged with another educational institution. Of these, 24 were educational institutions with under 20 pupils, 51 had between 20 and 49 pupils while 48 had at least 50 pupils. The number of closures was the highest in the region of Etelä Savo and South Ostrobotnia.
Of all comprehensive schools 71 per cent taught grades 1 to 6, 12 per cent taught grades 7 to 9 and 17 per cent of comprehensive schools taught grades from 1 through to 9. In all, 17 per cent of comprehensive schools had under 50 pupils and nine per cent had over 500 pupils.
According to preliminary data for 2015, there were 1.28 million students in education leading to a qualification or degree. These data derive from education statistics compiled by Statistics Finland. Data on the subject matter are published on Statistics Finland’s website on the statistics on students and qualifications of educational institutions, pre-primary and comprehensive school education, upper secondary general education, vocational education, polytechnic education, university education, and adult education of educational institutions.
Source: Education Statistics. Statistics Finland
Inquiries: Mika Witting 029 551 3571, koulutustilastot@stat.fi
Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma
Publication in pdf-format (215.1 kB)
Updated 11.2.2016
Official Statistics of Finland (OSF):
Providers of education and educational institutions [e-publication].
ISSN=1799-5825. 2015. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 17.8.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/kjarj/2015/kjarj_2015_2016-02-11_tie_001_en.html