Without a clear idea of exactly what form exports will take, last week, Kiuru established a working group to draft measures aimed at improving Finland’s education and training-related exports, to report back at the end of October.

“Finland has been quite appreciated as a nation with a good education system and it’s been considered here that perhaps we could offer more solutions to other countries,” Special Advisor to the Minister Esa Suominen told The PIE News. ” The government’s role is to provide the network and the possibility. There is no exact figure we’re looking for. It’s more like opening possibilities and then hoping that something will grow out of it.”

“It’s been considered here that perhaps we could offer more solutions to other countries”

According to Suominen, how education will be packaged could take many forms including consultations, digital learning platforms from the country’s successful IT industry or higher education institutions offering their courses abroad.

No decision has been made on a controversial proposal to charge non-EU students for higher education but Suominen said he would be surprised if the working group didn’t discuss the issue.

At the end of last year, a parliamentary majority informally backed the bid to charge non-EU students for higher education degrees. In 2010, 10,000 non-EU/EEA students studied in Finland, however critics of the fees say they deter interest from overseas students.

“The three person team will investigate the obstacles which are limiting the chances of offering education as an export product. We are expecting the results of their survey and looking forward to their report for some ideas of what could be done and what should be done,” he said.

Members of consulting group include the Chair of the parliamentary Committee for the Future Päivi Lipponen, Permanent Secretary  of the Ministry of Education and Culture Anita Lehikoinen, and Jari Jokinen,  Director of Policy and Foresight at Aalto University, an institution that has participated in pilot fee-paying pilot schemes for students outside of the EU.

Minister Kiuru is meeting with ministers, organisations and companies in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia

“This new initiative by the Ministry aimed at improving Finland’s potential in exporting education and training know-how and services is very welcome, as Finland’s success in the future will very much depend on our ability to attract expertise,” said Jokinen.

Early phases of the project include establishing relationships with target emerging markets. This week Kiuru is meeting with ministers, organisations and companies in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Suominen says future missions will focus on the Persian Gulf and Latin America.

“This is just the starting point. We are hoping to learn a lot from this first trip and then we will be eager to improve,” he added.