Research Snapshot: Education export in Finland
Repurposing public education: Governmental rationality of education export in Finland through public education problematisations
Published date: 06 June 2024
This research exercise was undertaken by Kimmo Kuotti at Tampere University. It grew out of an interest to study the phenomenon of Finnish education export, which to date had been mainly contextualised as a feature of internationalisation and commercialisation of education, but had not been conceptualised as producing discourses and practices which affect the whole field of education policy in Finland. This research examines how Finland seeks to promote and coordinate education as an export product, with a focus on its emergence and construction as governmental rationality. The research data consists of key policy documents such as the four education export programme documents of the Finnish government. The focus is on measures and effects across education systems covering also higher education.
This research explores how education is becoming an ecosystem for an economy in itself.
About the authors
Key findings from the research:
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The Finnish government's education export (FGEE) programme aims to coordinate an ecosystem which links all levels of education system to produce products for education export. This programme assists in the production of changing educational professionalities and normalises public-private roles in education
- Education export is profoundly linked to the domestic, publicly funded education in Finland.
- Education is becoming an economy in itself where different parts of the education system are interlinked in a governmental logic which could be characterised as "primary production" of knowledge economy. This has implications for how practitioners can conceptualise their work and concrete input in the field of education.
