EDUFI (Finish National Agency for Education) has continued collecting data on the impact of COVID-19 to outgoing and incoming student mobility to Finland during spring semester 2021. The recent study states that the Finnish higher education institutions also had to cancel most student exchanges planned for the spring term. On the other hand, an increase in virtual mobility was seen in the spring term, with a growing number of students completing their exchange studies remotely from their home country.

Based on the survey, the number of exchange students in the spring is slightly higher than in the autumn term, even though a majority of the exchanges are cancelled. It seems that slightly over 1,300 higher education students from Finland will go on student or traineeship period abroad during the spring term. The number of known cancelled or postponed exchanges was 3,100 at the time of data collection for the survey.

The number of incoming students has remained higher than the number of outgoing students: 2,800 foreign exchange students are studying at Finnish HEIs during the spring term. However, a large part of incoming student exchanges to Finland have also been cancelled.

According to the survey, number of virtual exchanges has grown from the autumn term and 400 foreign students are completing their exchange studies in a Finnish HEI remotely from their home country this spring. Correspondingly, 100 Finnish students are completing their exchange virtually. In addition, 60 foreign and 50 Finnish students have decided on so-called blended mobility.

Full article on EDUFI third data collection on COVID-19 and student mobility

Full article on EDUFI second data collection on COVID-19 and student mobility

Full article on  EDUFI first data collection on COVID-19 and student mobility