Fewer exchange students to arrive in autumn

Student exchanges at Finnish higher education institutions (HEIs) continue during the autumn semester 2020, although the number is much lower.

As a result of the COVID-19 situation, the number of both incoming and outgoing exchange students in Finland is much lower than that in a normal situation, said the Finnish National Agency for Education in a press release on Monday.

According to the HEIs’ estimates, the number of outgoing students from Finland will be only one-quarter of what it was in last autumn. The total number of incoming exchange students is also clearly lower than before, but some HEIs have even seen an increase in the number of incoming students.

According to the HEIs’ estimates, more than 2,300 foreign exchange students will be coming to Finland, which is about 36% of the number of incoming students a year ago.

The number of outgoing students from Finland seems to remain at one-quarter of last autumn’s figure: it now stands at about 900.

The number of outgoing students may shrink even further, as the terms elsewhere in Europe start later in the autumn and some of the planned exchanges may still be cancelled, if the COVID-19 situation in the destination countries deteriorates.

A total of 11 higher education institutions already have cancelled all student exchanges this year due to the coronavirus outbreak.

According to the reports of HEIs, the number of postponed or completely cancelled student exchanges is high. The exchanges of almost 2,200 outgoing Finnish students and 2,700 incoming foreign students were postponed or cancelled.

Exchanges have been rescheduled to the spring semester 2021 or to the next academic year, but some students may miss the exchange altogether, if it is no longer possible at a later stage of their studies.