University of Turku

Mari Kähkönen

Student Pathways Advocate

Early Motivations and Defining Moments

I studied mathematics at the University of Joensuu (currently University of Eastern Finland). Even though I did not know about the labor market situation of mathematicians, it seemed to be a good choice then and I still think so. At the end of studies, I got an internship and a temporary work at the department. Then I realized that I am an administrator at heart. After graduating I stayed at the university working in various administrative positions.

Now I have been working with student admissions for over twenty years. Eight years ago, I got this position as the head of admissions at the University of Turku. I have an efficient team of ten experts to run, and I really enjoy doing it! I am sure that somehow the logical thinking needed in this work is the reason, why I am interested in admissions. Due to all changes, the work never gets boring.

Navigating Shifts, Challenges, and Student Priorities

The goal of admissions has always been the same: to select the best applicants with the best capabilities to study, graduate and employ. During the last years there has been a lot of discussion about young people’s mental health issues and of the pressure of getting to higher education. Studies and discussions with student counselors and even with my children and their friends have showed me that most of the recent changes have increased the pressure.

“The glory of higher education lies not in admissions, but in learning, learning and learning for the sake of the future”

After the pandemic Finnish universities decided to renew both the selection based on the Finnish matriculation examination and the selection based on entrance exams and this seems to ease the pressure. The grading of the matriculation examination will be changed so that the upper secondary students do not have to make forced decisions when choosing courses, but they can focus on the subjects interesting to them. And also, the entrance exams have changed: whereas in 2024 there were about 120 different entrance exams to the universities, in 2025 there were only nine exams that were organized on campuses around the country. By taking one exam, an applicant can apply to many universities and degree programs, with less preliminary material.

As said, there has been a lot changing in admissions at university and national levels. In Finland, student admissions are strongly regulated by law and everybody seems to have strong opinions on how they should be done. As long as there are not desired places for all applicants, there are always disappointments. University of Turku has over 40,000 applicants on yearly-basis, but only less than 4000 get accepted.

Just to mention few changes:

1. The one study place per term provision has changed the applicants’ behavior: in Finland you can only accept one study place leading to a higher education degree in education that begins in the same academic term. Therefore, a lot of applicants apply to many degree programs, but will not take the place unless it is his/her highest priority.

2. The Finnish HEIs have had generous scholarships, but from 2026 on non-EU and non-EEA citizens will have to pay full-cost tuition fees. That will definitely change the group of applicants, and probably the group of students as well.

3. The pandemic posed major challenges for the organization of entrance exams and that required long working days. But with many skilled and innovative colleagues and fast responding decision makers, we survived and organized the exams, some of them online for the first time.

Sometimes the changes in regulation are personally hard to understand and accept, but I have learned to position myself so, that these are the circumstances that we just need to adapt our processes to. I consider myself very lucky to have all these admission experts in my team,we will survive, no matter what!

Innovating Admissions in a Globalised World

I would like to see the processes evolving maybe with a help of some AI tools so that we could choose new students with even more efficient process, where the applicant knows exactly the contents of the degree programs, knows the requirements for succeeding in studies and sees the employment possibilities (globally).

We have already some platforms where potential applicants can meet current students and have peer support from someone that has gone through the process.

As someone who thinks a lot about admissions issues, I would like to emphasize that the glory of higher education lies not in admissions, but in learning, learning and learning for the sake of the future, everyone’s future. Our job is to help with the processes so that we find the right students to learn!