School System 
The Finnish educational system is made up of the comprehensive school, post compulsory general and vocational education and higher education (see the figure below). The comprehensive school is a 9-year compulsory school designed for children from 7 to 16 years of age. The upper secondary school is a 3-year general school ending with the matriculation examination. Secondary vocational education leads to three levels of qualifications: school-level certificates, institute level diplomas and higher vocational diplomas. A student who passes the matriculation examination, or is awarded an institute-level or higher vocational level diploma, is eligible for higher education. 

As Finland is a bilingual country, education is provided, on all levels in both Finnish and Swedish. 

Higher Education 
Higher education in Finland is provided by 21 universities. The basic academic degree is equivalent to a masters degrees. All universities are also responsible for postgraduate education, offering postgraduate degrees and carrying out research. Since 1991, there has been an experimental effort to raise the level of the institute and higher vocational education. This experimentation will introduce more practically oriented higher education (non-university) qualifications into the Finnish education system. 

Vocational education will be reformed in 1995. The new system is described here. 

During the last few decades adult education has become an important part of the national policy of education and educational planning. In the last ten years vocational adult education has been regarded as a priority area in the development of education