Developments of Dual Higher Education in Finland and Technical College Education in Japan

In the early 1990s Finland created the dual education system in which the universities of applied sciences (formerly known as polytechnics) are side by side with the existing universities in response to diverse demands in the higher education. Universities of applied sciences have been rapidly developed and successfully dedicated to the practically oriented higher education. The Japanese technical colleges have been also developed successfully as remarked by OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) since their establishment aimed at practical engineering education in the early 1960s. This paper discusses the Finnish dual education system comparing with the Japanese technical colleges, on the basis of a two-month field survey in Finland. The authors suggest that the Finnish dual education system deserves to be studied for providing the Japanese higher education much diversity.