Please note that The Act on the Abolition of Adult Education allowance has come into effect 1.6.2024. Read about its effects on the page News concerning the adult education allowance.
We can grant you a scholarship if you have completed a vocational upper secondary qualification, a further qualification or a specialist qualification as referred to in the Act on Vocational Education (531/2017) and you have at least five years of employment history covered by pension insurance by the date on which you complete the qualification. The degree must have been completed by 31 July 2024.
The scholarship for qualified employee is only granted for the completion of a full qualification. People completing part of a qualification or updating a qualification are not eligible for the scholarship. The scholarship cannot be granted for a higher education degree.
A further prerequisite for receiving a scholarship for qualified employee is that you are permanently resident in Finland and you are covered by Finnish social security on the date when you complete the qualification and the date when you apply for the scholarship. You must also be under the age of 68 on the date when you complete the qualification.
The scholarship for qualified employees is a tax-exempt lump-sum payment that is granted for those who have completed a vocational qualification. The scholarship is awarded to all those who meet the conditions.
If the scholarship is granted based on a qualification that is completed on 1 January 2022 or after, the amount of the scholarship is EUR 414. The amount of the scholarship has been revised due to a statute by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (1017/2021).
In order to receive a scholarship for qualified employees, you must have at least five years of employment history by the date on which you complete the qualification.
Your employment history includes all of the work that you have done in Finland, in countries in the EU and EEA, and in Switzerland if the work is covered by pension insurance. Work that you have done in countries in the EU and EEA and in Switzerland can be counted as of 1995 (the year when Finland joined the European Union), and no earlier than the date when the country where you worked joined the European Union.
Your employment history will be counted according to the duration of your employment and service relationships until the end of 2006. From the beginning of 2007, your employment history will be calculated based on your annual earnings for each calendar year. Work that you have done in countries in the EU and EEA and in Switzerland will be counted according to the duration of your employment. The time you have spent working as an entrepreneur or self-employed farmer cannot be included in your employment history.
If you have worked in countries other than Finland, you must attach reliable evidence of your work, such as a certificate of employment or a pay slip, to your application. If the certificates are in a language other than Finnish, Swedish or English, send translations of the texts along with copies of the certificates.
You can use the calculator to calculate your employment history. You will need a statement of your employment pension for the calculation, and you can obtain this by logging in to the online service provided by the Finnish Centre for Pensions.
You do not need to be employed when you apply for the scholarship.
You must apply for the scholarship within one year of completing the qualification. The date when you completed the qualification is the date shown on the qualification certificate.
The fastest and safest way to apply is by using our online service.
Attach the certificate of the qualification for which you are applying for the scholarship.
In order to calculate your employment history, we receive your employment information from the Finnish Centre for Pensions. For example, unemployment benefits or business income are not taken into account as wage income, only wage income received from employment or service.
If you have worked in countries in the EU or EEA or in Switzerland and the work was covered by pension insurance, attach reliable evidence to confirm the work you have done so that your employment history can be calculated, and include translated documents if the originals are not in Finnish, Swedish or English.
In order to calculate your employment history, the application asks you to state your earned income until the date when you completed the qualification in the year when you completed the qualification. For example, if you completed the qualification on 2 February 2018, enter your earnings up until that date. Earned income does not include income such as unemployment benefits or income from entrepreneurial activities – it only includes earned income.
Applications for scholarships for qualified employees are processed in the order in which we receive them. We will examine your application and contact you by email if we have any questions before we issue a decision.
If you don't have a possibility to use our online services, you can print an application here.
If you apply for a scholarship by using the online service, you will receive the decision via the online service. The online service will automatically send you an email when the decision has been made. In addition, we always send official decisions by post.
If you are not satisfied with the decision, you can appeal. Send your appeal and justifications to us at the Employment Fund but address it to the Social Security Appeals Board. This will enable us to first review whether the decision can be revised. The appeal must be submitted in writing and it must arrive at the Employment Fund within 30 days of the date when you received the original decision. If we cannot revise the decision, your appeal will be sent to the Social Security Appeals Board along with a statement from us. You will receive a separate notification of this, as well as our statement for your information.
We process appeals in the order we receive them. The processing time is approximately one month. If the decision contained an error that we can correct, you may receive a new decision within a few days.
More detailed instructions for sending an appeal are included with the decision.
Send your appeal via our online service.
