Funding cuts hit Finland’s universities

Finland’s government has announced that it will change the way it uses the university index, which determines the level of public spending on higher education in Finland, in 2015—resulting in less funding for universities.

The index, which has been in use since 2011, links basic public funding for universities to their actual costs. It determines the budget by collating three other indices: the consumer price index, the index for wage and salary earnings and the wholesale price index.

As a result of government budget negotiations for 2015 to 2018, use of the index has been altered so that the amount of funding determined by the index in 2015 will only reflect half of the actual costs of universities.