{"id":369680,"date":"2026-06-17T10:25:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T07:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/?p=369680"},"modified":"2026-06-17T10:25:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T07:25:50","slug":"helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Helga issued a statement on the right to award degrees through open higher education"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Student Union of Haaga-Helia Helga has issued its statement on the draft Government proposal for acts amending the Universities Act, the Universities of Applied Sciences Act, Section 4 of the Act on Student Financial Aid, and Section 2 of the Act on Healthcare for Higher Education Students (degree as open higher education).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Helga takes a critical view of the draft proposal, as it would mean a significant change to the fundamental principles of the Finnish higher education system by bringing a fee-charging degree pathway as part of domestic higher education. Although the objective of the proposal is to increase the accessibility and flexibility of higher education, Helga sees that the proposed regulation contains substantial risks regarding educational equality, student equity, and tuition-free Finnish higher education. Consequently, Helga opposes the proposal on the right to award degrees through open higher education and proposes its cancellation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Helga\u2019s key observations are the following:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The proposal in practice builds a parallel fee-charging degree pathway, the accessibility of which is largely based on an individual\u2019s ability to pay.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fee-charging degree education may increase socioeconomic segregation in higher education and strengthen the intergenerational transmission of education.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Helga does not consider it appropriate that fee-charging degree education organized as open higher education would automatically fall under student financial aid or FSHS (Finnish Student Health Service) services, as this could blur the primacy of tuition-free degree education in the Finnish higher education system.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The impact assessments of the proposal identify several problems, but the protective structures included in the proposal do not sufficiently eliminate these risks.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Helga considers the development of continuous learning and flexible study paths important, but deems that they should primarily be implemented within the framework of a publicly funded and equitable higher education system.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Helga considers it important that educational equality, equity, accessibility, student well-being, and the principle of tuition-free degree education continue to remain the foundation of the Finnish higher education system in the future. The development of continuous learning and flexible study paths is important, but they should not be implemented in a way that increases educational inequality or shifts the responsibility for the costs of higher education to individuals. Helga deems that the accessibility and educational capacity of higher education should primarily be strengthened through means of public funding.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/drive\/folders\/1IYl_QGbflkESSk4xTivA58tDg-Co-mJA\"><b>Statement<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>More information<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Otso Muhonen<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chairperson of the Board<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Student Union of Haaga-Helia \u2013 Helga<br \/>\notso.muhonen@helga.fi<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Student Union of Haaga-Helia Helga has issued its statement on the draft Government proposal for acts amending the Universities Act, the Universities of Applied Sciences Act, Section 4 of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":369587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-369680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-statement"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Helga issued a statement on the right to award degrees through open higher education - helga.fi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Helga issued a statement on the right to award degrees through open higher education - helga.fi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Student Union of Haaga-Helia Helga has issued its statement on the draft Government proposal for acts amending the Universities Act, the Universities of Applied Sciences Act, Section 4 of [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"helga.fi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-17T07:25:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/helga.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/54.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2240\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1260\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Taru Moisiola\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Taru Moisiola\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/en\\\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/en\\\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Taru Moisiola\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/26eef1645e9eeca9402e24104b8e0a54\"},\"headline\":\"Helga issued a statement on the right to award degrees through open higher education\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-17T07:25:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/en\\\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":411,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/en\\\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/54.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"STATEMENT\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/en\\\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/en\\\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/en\\\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\\\/\",\"name\":\"Helga issued a statement on the right to award degrees through open higher education - helga.fi\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/en\\\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/en\\\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/54.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-17T07:25:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/26eef1645e9eeca9402e24104b8e0a54\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/en\\\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/en\\\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/en\\\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/54.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/54.png\",\"width\":2240,\"height\":1260},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/en\\\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Helga issued a statement on the right to award degrees through open higher education\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"helga.fi\",\"description\":\"Haaga-Helian opiskelijakunta Helga\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/26eef1645e9eeca9402e24104b8e0a54\",\"name\":\"Taru Moisiola\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ad6d00474241c371791184f6d3c948acad529556cd073e806a01808d38434a84?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ad6d00474241c371791184f6d3c948acad529556cd073e806a01808d38434a84?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ad6d00474241c371791184f6d3c948acad529556cd073e806a01808d38434a84?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Taru Moisiola\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/helga.fi\\\/en\\\/author\\\/taru-moisiolahelga-fi\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Helga issued a statement on the right to award degrees through open higher education - helga.fi","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Helga issued a statement on the right to award degrees through open higher education - helga.fi","og_description":"The Student Union of Haaga-Helia Helga has issued its statement on the draft Government proposal for acts amending the Universities Act, the Universities of Applied Sciences Act, Section 4 of [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\/","og_site_name":"helga.fi","article_published_time":"2026-06-17T07:25:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2240,"height":1260,"url":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/54.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Taru Moisiola","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Taru Moisiola","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\/"},"author":{"name":"Taru Moisiola","@id":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/26eef1645e9eeca9402e24104b8e0a54"},"headline":"Helga issued a statement on the right to award degrees through open higher education","datePublished":"2026-06-17T07:25:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\/"},"wordCount":411,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/54.png","articleSection":["STATEMENT"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\/","url":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\/","name":"Helga issued a statement on the right to award degrees through open higher education - helga.fi","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/54.png","datePublished":"2026-06-17T07:25:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/26eef1645e9eeca9402e24104b8e0a54"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/54.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/54.png","width":2240,"height":1260},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/helga-issued-a-statement-on-the-right-to-award-degrees-through-open-higher-education\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Helga issued a statement on the right to award degrees through open higher education"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/","name":"helga.fi","description":"Haaga-Helian opiskelijakunta Helga","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/26eef1645e9eeca9402e24104b8e0a54","name":"Taru Moisiola","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad6d00474241c371791184f6d3c948acad529556cd073e806a01808d38434a84?s=96&d=retro&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad6d00474241c371791184f6d3c948acad529556cd073e806a01808d38434a84?s=96&d=retro&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad6d00474241c371791184f6d3c948acad529556cd073e806a01808d38434a84?s=96&d=retro&r=g","caption":"Taru Moisiola"},"url":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/author\/taru-moisiolahelga-fi\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":369681,"href":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369680\/revisions\/369681"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helga.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}