FINLAND

In Finland, the responsibility for education is at both the State and the local authorities where the Ministryof Education and Culture supervise the education policy while the Finnish National Agency for Education is in charge of its implementation. Preschools are from 0 to 6 years, then from 7 to 16 years there is compulsory school. Upper secondary education takes 3 years to complete and is divided into general upper secondary education and vocational upper secondary education. At higher education level, there are universities and universities of Applied Sciences. All education is publicly funded and free for the students. The figure below shows the structure of the Finnish school system.