A Study on the Economic Value of Finnish Education Exports

Abstract

Finland aims for significant growth in the value of education exports in the coming years, but measuring and monitoring the economic value of education exports is currently lacking in many ways. This study evaluates the value of education exports for Finland’s national economy and public sector using survey and registry data produced by Statistics Finland and the Finnish National Agency for Education. Additionally, based on the study’s findings and previous literature, recommendations for actions to measure the value of education exports in the future are presented.

Education exports are estimated to have contributed nearly one billion euros in value added to the Finnish economy in 2019, considering not only the revenues from the export of educational services and goods but also the indirect effects arising from the consumption of foreign students residing in the country and the employment of already graduated foreigners. Over four-fifths of the value added was related to the education of foreign degree students, and of the remaining just under one-fifth, over 80 percent is estimated to have arisen from the foreign trade of learning materials and content. Furthermore, the educational activities of foreign degree students are estimated to have produced a net benefit of 81 million euros for Finland’s public sector for the 2019–20 academic year, taking into account the education costs of foreign students and net transfers as well as the transfers paid and received by already graduated foreigners.

Due to data deficiencies, the current calculations regarding the value of education exports should be interpreted with caution. To refine these estimates, data collection related to foreign students should be further developed to include not only degree education in higher education but also other forms of education for foreigners taking place in Finland. Additionally, information on annual and other tuition fees should be collected more regularly, and it should be possible to limit analyses to foreigners who have come to Finland for studies. To better define the value of education exports not related to foreign students, a method is proposed where the data from an annual survey directed at a recognized group of education export actors is combined with company-level data from Statistics Finland.

Publication Information

Suhonen, T., Villanen, J., Nyyssölä, M. & Karhunen, H. (2022), Selvitys suomalaisen koulutusviennin taloudellisesta arvosta, Opetushallitus, Raportit ja selvitykset 2022:25.

• ISSN: 1798-8926 (Online), ISSN-L: 1798-8918
• ISBN: 978-952-13-6861-5 (Online)