There are 125 Kenyan nursing students and physiotherapy students studying at Tampere University of Applied Sciences and Tampere Vocational Training Center. Their tuition fees for the fall are unpaid. The money should have come from Uasin Gishu Province.
The original due date for autumn tuition fees was already in June. When, despite repeated inquiries, the money did not appear in the educational institutions’ accounts, TAMK sent a stern collection letter to Uashi Gishu province at the end of October.
“This is the last reminder of unpaid bills. TAMK demands that Uasin Gishu pay the bills immediately so that teaching can continue seamlessly. If the payments are not in TAMK’s account by November 26, teaching will be suspended from the beginning of January 2023,” says TAMK’s vice principal Ari Sivulan and the director of international relations Carita Prokin in the signed letter.
Carita Prokki says that Uasin Gishu still hasn’t paid its bills even in the middle of December.
– But the letter opened a dialogue with the province’s new governor, elected in August. He has promised to find out the reason for the delay in payments, and we have now given Uasin Gishu until the end of December to pay.
Carita Prokki emphasizes that Kenyan students’ studies and internships in Tampere are going well.
– They are eager to learn and very hardworking people. It is a real shame that they are now caught in such a bureaucratic middle ground.
And what will TAMK do if the Kenyan province does not pay its bills even by the December due date?
– We won’t send anyone back to Kenya, even if the money doesn’t come now, assures Carita Prokki.
“Students must not suffer”
If there are no payments, TAMK will go to Carita Prok to discuss the situation with the Ministry of Education. According to him, the situation is comparable to if the degree education had been bought by a company that goes bankrupt.
– Some way must be found so that the students do not have to suffer. We have to find them another subscriber or resolve the issue in some other way.
Director General of the Department of Higher Education and Science Policy of the Ministry of Education Atte Jääskeläinen according to which the responsibility for payment difficulties lies primarily with the higher education institutions themselves.
– We haven’t made any contracts and we can’t bear their risks either. But of course we are always interested in securing the students’ position, and are ready to discuss this issue as well, says Jääskeläinen.
According to Carita Prok, the Gishu province of Uas has failed to pay the tuition fees for the past fall, totaling approximately 200,000 euros.
It has been reported publicly that the Kenyan state would pay for Kenyan students’ studies in Finland. In practice, the situation is much more complicated.
– We only know that the Kenyan provinces pay us the tuition fees of the student groups. Whether that money is money from the Kenyan government or collected from the students themselves, we don’t have exact information on that, says Carita Prokki.
Students cannot pay directly
According to Carita Prok, families of Kenyans studying in Tampere have asked TAMK about the possibility of paying their own children’s tuition fees directly to the educational institution.
But this is not possible according to the legal provisions governing Finland’s education exports.
Custom training must always be given to groups of students.
Normally, a student gets the right to study through the entrance exams, but in order training, the subscriber decides who can join the training. The contractual relationship is therefore created between the customer and the higher education institution, not directly between the student and the higher education institution.
In contract education, the person ordering and paying for the degrees can be a company, state, international organization, public entity or foundation. In education cooperation between Kenya and Finland, the client is usually someone from the provinces of Kenya.
Whether the money is state money or collected from students, we don’t have exact information about that.
Carita Prokki, TAMK
According to CEO Atte Jääskeläinen, the original basic model of on-demand training is an employer who buys degree training for its own staff in Finland. But in practice, the relationship between the customer and the students can be looser and the money transaction more complicated.
– In the background there can be discussions between the person ordering the education and the student, in which the student pays the customer for his studies.
The Ministry of Education is currently investigating contract training as part of the program for the sustainable growth of higher education institutions.
– We go through the entire system and examine its need to change, which is acceptable and desirable. During this government’s term, there is no time to make new legislation, but we are gathering information for the preparation of the next government program, Atte Jääskeläinen says.
Edusampo students stuck in Kenya
Finnish educational institutions already have a dozen degree export agreements with three provinces in the northwestern part of Kenya: Uasin Gishu, Nandi and Elgeyo Maragweti.
From the beginning of this year, vocational schools have also had the opportunity to start exporting degrees. Edusampo Oy, owned by Saimaa vocational school, seized the opportunity and signed a cooperation agreement with Nandi and Uasin Gishu provinces. The purpose of Edusampo is to train cleaners, cooks and caregivers.
The first group of nursing students was selected in the summer, and they had to start their studies in Lappeenranta at the beginning of September. But the students still haven’t received residence permits in Finland. During the fall, the teaching is organized as distance learning between Lappeenranta and Kapsabet, the capital of Nandi.
In the background are the ambiguities in the financing of education.
Who ultimately pays the costs?
The province of Nandi has sent Edusammo a document in which it is assured that the province pays all the costs of the studies: tuition fees, travel costs, license fees, accommodation and maintenance.
“This is money from the provincial government, which has been earmarked to support students. (…) The students have not paid anything to the province of Nandi or to any other party”, says the provincial secretary Francis Sang in the signed letter.
– However, we have received information from students and their families that they have had to pay significant sums to the provincial government themselves. That is why we have sent a request for clarification to Nandi provincial administration, says Edusammo’s CEO Terhi Toikkanen.
The Finnish Immigration Service is responsible for processing students’ residence permit applications and is particularly interested in whether students’ livelihoods in Finland are secured during their studies. If the student has a scholarship and the grantor is a reliable entity such as the EU, he should not allocate funds in advance for his living expenses in Finland.
In the case of Kenyan students, the Immigration Office has concluded that the students must prove that they have the legally required 650 euros per month in their account for the duration of the first year of study. Without this evidence, a residence permit cannot be granted.
– We were initially told that for Kenyan students it would be a provincial scholarship. But we have received information from various sources that it is not a scholarship but a loan. We are now investigating money traffic on the Kenyan end, and it will take its own time, says the director of the profit area Anu Tarén From the Immigration Office.
Distance studies of Edusampo nursing students will continue for the time being in Nandi County, Kenya. According to Terhi Toikkanen, they will only be able to travel to Lappeenranta and local education once the residence permits have been obtained and the province of Nandi has given a credible report on money transactions.
– However, I believe that everything will be arranged and we will get a group of students here already at the beginning of January, Terhi Toikkanen assures.