Tamara Collij chose to come to Jyväskylä for an exchange, because Finland is a country she wouldn’t visit for a holiday. ”Usually you’d go somewhere where it's warm”, the Dutch student of interdisciplinary social sciences tells. Josine Popken, a journalism student also from Netherlands, would have preferred England or Scotland. ”But it’s really beautiful here. Cold, but beautiful”, she adds. (Photo: Natanael Sinisalo)
Tamara Collij chose to come to Jyväskylä for an exchange, because Finland is a country she wouldn’t visit for a holiday. ”Usually you’d go somewhere where it's warm”, the Dutch student of interdisciplinary social sciences tells. Josine Popken, a journalism student also from Netherlands, would have preferred England or Scotland. ”But it’s really beautiful here. Cold, but beautiful”, she adds. (Photo: Natanael Sinisalo)

Finland is increasingly popular among exchange students. Most come from Europe, where also the Finns are usually heading.

Finland has become an increasingly popular country to do an exchange in. According to the statistics of the Centre for International Mobility the number of incoming exchange students has doubled since the beginning of the 21st century. Since year 2007 there have been more incoming exchange student than ones going abroad from Finland.
”The popularity of doing an exchange, however, is fairly sensitive to trends”, says Irma Garam, a researcher from CIMO.
Perhaps thus, this spring there has been a slight decrease in the amount of exchange student coming to Jyväskylä. The Head of International Office Tuija Koponen estimates that the drop will be roughly twenty students or even more.
”We haven’t surveyed the partner universities for a specific reason, but I would think the economic depression is one reason. Many students have to rely on their parents for support. Doing an exchange is one of the first things they might be prone to cut due to financial difficulties”, she says.
Koponen notes also that some of the Erasmus-partner universities have had fewer grants to share.

The greatest number of foreign exchange student come to Finland from Germany, France and Spain. Finnish students also prefer Spain and Germany alongside with the United Kingdom. The emphasis on Europe is due to the popularity of the Erasmus.
The two most common majors among exchange students coming to Finland are technology and business. However, also agriculture, dentistry and law take in a lot of exchange students compared to the amount of new students. Among Finns, students in humanities and social sciences are the most eager to do an exchange.

Marja Honkonen
paatoimittaja(at)jyy.fi