Engineering education in Finland

Journal of Engineering Education, Apr 1999 by King, Joe

Professorships and associate professorships require the Doctoral degree as a basic qualification. Lecturers and instructors must have a Master's as the minimum qualification, although there is increasing pressure to raise the minimum qualification to a licentiate.

VI. THE FINNISH ENGINEERING DEGREE

Finland's universities grant only the equivalent of Master's and Doctorate engineering degrees (Table 1). Only the AMKs offer Bachelor degree programs, with typical programs requiring 160 credit units (CU) of study. Individual courses are roughly the same in content and in classroom hours as at American engineering schools; however, overall, much more is required of Finnish engineering students. A 2-CU course is roughly equivalent to an American 3-semester unit course, while a 3-CU course is roughly equivalent to an American 4-unit course. Therefore, 160 CU is the same as 200 to 240 American semester units. For four years, the students average 25 hours per week of classroom study with a lecturer. The university Master's degree program requires 185 CUs, or the equivalent of 240 to 270 American units, involving five years of 25 hours per week of classroom work.

A typical AMK BS engineering program includes coursework in basic studies, work placement, diploma work, compulsory professional studies, optional professional studies, and optional studies. Recall that students who come to the AMK and university are typically 19 years old and have completed the lukio program, which approximates a US lower-division undergraduate curriculum.

For the engineer, basic studies includes some 17 courses, including three courses in calculus, three courses in physics, four courses in a foreign language, and courses in statistics, economics, and information technology. Work placement, involving four to six months of full-time work at a Finnish or foreign company, usually takes place after 2-1/2 years of study. Diploma work, normally including part-time work at a Finnish company during the last year of study, consists of university-level academic work with a strong emphasis on practical engineering. Some AMK programs require diploma work be done at an engineering school outside Finland.

Compulsory professional studies include some 25 courses that are specific to the degree program. For example, the electrical engineering program includes mandatory courses in electric circuits, AC and DC circuits, telecommunication systems, mobile telecommunications, analog and digital electronics, microprocessors, signals and systems, automation, data management, product development, microwave communications, optical communication systems, C programming, management, and marketing.

Engineering students must also take a set number of optional professional studies. Many optional courses are advanced versions of the compulsory courses. Other courses allow students to add breadth to their program. For example, the electrical engineering program offers elective courses in digital signal processing, integrated circuit design, embedded systems, computer networks, software engineering, operating systems, and object-oriented programming. A number of the compulsory and elective courses include laboratory work. The degree program is rounded off with about five optional studies courses, which can be in virtually any subject the students choose to pursue.