Access to higher education in Finland: emerging processes of hidden privatization

Abstract

This article focuses on the hidden processes of privatization in access to higher education in Finland, and the role of economic capital in the admission process. The relevance of this analysis derives from the discourse around educational equity in Finland and the emerging contradiction of tuition-free higher education that still requires economic resources from the applicant prior to admission, but is rarely discussed in terms of economic inequalities leading to educational reproduction. These aspects are investigated through qualitative content analysis of interviews with central stakeholders (n = 17) operating in different areas of the field of university-admission. The results show how the privatization of public education (exogenous) manifests as shadow education alongside the public university system. There is thus a need to re-evaluate the forms and consequences of privatization in and of public education in Finnish HE.