Universities Ranking

[moddie]

Hi,

Is there ranking list for the universities in Finland? How does Haaga-Helia stand in terms of ranking/recognition?

Thanks

[Pursuivant]

Well its not an "university" but a polytechnic. Depends on the faculty, they've got a couple of departments that have been top notch before the conglomeration into polytechnics.

[moddie]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

Whats the difference between a polytechnic and an university, by Finland standards?

[Pursuivant]

Well, lets say a crude difference is the university is theoretical while the polytechnic/UAS practical. Say like doctors come from the university, nurses from the polytechnic.

[moddie]

Then is it safe to say that a degree (i.e. Business IT) from Haaga-Helia UAS is not very valuable and recognised to build on?

[Pursuivant]

BIT is top notch there, even though I flunked COBOL twice. Its the only place AFAIK that teaches SAP ABAP-coding. As far as Finland goes the old ATK-instituutti was the place inventing the thing, I had teachers there who wrote their own OS back in the day.

[moddie]

In that case, do you have a reference or advice for the entrance exam for BIT in HH?

[Jukka Aho]

Whats the difference between a polytechnic and an university, by Finland standards?

A “classic”, “academic” university has its focus on scientific research. Professors do not only teach (give lectures) but conduct research and publish papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals. The studies are academic in their nature: you’re getting a degree and not a profession (as such.)

A “polytechnic”, or a “university of applied sciences”, is a more practically-oriented branch of higher education. The focus is on working life; getting practical skills for a hands-on profession, be that an engineer or a nurse or whatever. The education is more school-like with less freedoms and less chances of attending courses outside your chosen line of study. (You’ll most likely be getting a ready-made daily schedule from your school instead of choosing relatively freely from the available courses and arranging your studies yourself as you do in an academic university.)

For more information about the differences, see here, here and here.

You could think of it as a three-level hierarchy. Vocational schools (for plumbers, car mechanics, etc.) are the most practical-work-life-oriented educational institutions, whereas academic universities are the most theoretical and research-oriented ones... even though this “research” part is mostly the responsibility of the professors and not the students (or not the students at large, anyway: most university students go on to practical work life after finishing their studies, instead of becoming researchers themselves.) Universities of applied sciences fall somewhere in-between; they prepare you for professions which require considerably more theoretical knowledge than the professions taught at a vocational school, but the emphasis is still quite firmly on practical work life.

Universities of applied sciences actually haven’t been called “universities” for long, and when this changed, there was lots of debate whether they are actually worthy of using the name “university”... being more “hands-on” (and in some ways, “vocational”) in their approach than the traditional, academic universities.