13,800 higher education students have received a request for information about academic progress
Students in higher education who do not meet the minimum credit requirement for financial aid have received a request for further information. The deadline for replies is 25 October 2021. Students can, for example, use the OmaKela e-service to reply.
The academic progress of students in higher education is assessed on the basis of financial aid data and information about the number of credits they have earned. The assessment can focus on the academic year 2020−2021 or the entire time that a student has pursued higher education studies in Finland.
It takes into account all credits earned at Finnish institutions of higher education and the number of months financial aid since 1 August 2011. If a student has credits from more than one institution of higher education, Kela will automatically include such credits in the assessment. Also incomplete studies are taken into account.
Academic progress is sufficient if the student has earned at least 20 credits in the 2020–2021 academic year and on average at least 5 credits for each month of financial aid, either during academic year 2020-2021 or the entire course of study. The 20-credit requirements does not apply to students who began their studies in spring term 2021.
Students who graduated in the 2020-2021 academic year are considered to have made satisfactory progress. For students who have a higher education degree and who continue their studies in higher education, academic progress is assessed for the period following the month of graduation.
The assessment of academic progress is based on the laws governing the student financial aid system.
Students are advised to reply promptly to the request for information
The deadline for replying to the request is 25 October 2021. Students can, for example, use the online form available on the OmaKela e-service.
Based on the reply, Kela will consider whether there are acceptable reasons for unsatisfactory academic progress. Financial aid payments to students who do not reply or whose reasons are not accepted will be stopped effective 1 January 2022.
Number of information requests returns to pre-pandemic level
Kela assesses the academic progress of higher education students on a yearly basis. The assessment has now been carried out for around 131,600 higher education students who received financial aid for at least three months in the academic year 2020-2021.
A request for information was sent to 7,100 university students and 6,700 students of universities of applied sciences. Last year, a total of 7,600 students received the request, 4,100 of whom attended a university and 5,350 a university of applied sciences.
Fewer requests for further information were sent out because the academic progress requirements were eased on account of COVID-19. Because the requirements were not eased for the assessment focusing on the 2020-2021 academic year, the number of information requests returned to autumn 2019 levels.
Students who have not made enough progress with their studies because of COVID-19 must respond to the request for further information and describe how the epidemic has affected their studies.
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