Finnish higher education institutions’ joint Opin.fi service is now open – including Metropolia’s educational offering
Opin.fi is a joint service of Finnish universities and universities of applied sciences with a diverse selection of open higher education studies on a single site. This spring, 29 Finnish higher education institutions have already joined the service – including Metropolia. In Metropolia, participating in the implementation and co-development of Opin.fi has involved creating quality criteria for online teaching and ensuring its quality.
Opin.fi is a joint service of Finnish higher education institutions that brings open studies within an easy reach for learners. The service makes it easier for you to find open studies that suit you among Finnish higher education institutions’ large selection. You can now explore the service at https://www.opin.fi.
The service is designed to help anyone who wants to develop their competence at different life stages. Interest in learning may be sparked by working life needs, personal interests or a desire to change careers. The service offers studies in different fields and forms, without requiring prior university studies.
Metropolia regularly adds new content to the Opin.fi service
Metropolia has been involved in the development of the Opin.fi service since 2022. Higher education institutions have adopted the service gradually, and during the beta phase in 2024, eight institutions participated. Now in spring 2025, Metropolia's courses are also available in the service, as Opin.fi is launched to the public and expands to a total of 37 Finnish higher education institutions.
According to Taru Ruotsalainen, Head of Department of Learning Services and Networks at Metropolia, the service is a much-needed reform to strengthen Finnish expertise.
“It’s great for Metropolia to be part of developing the Opin.fi service and contributing to its course offerings. The platform challenges us higher education institutions to more actively consider what kinds of skills need strengthening in Finland. It also encourages institutions to invest in the quality of their studies, as users can easily choose what they want to study from the site. In this way, the service also helps us at Metropolia to improve our offering of open studies”, Ruotsalainen says.
Metropolia’s specialist Kimmo Leiviskä explains that participating in the implementation and co-development of Opin.fi has involved creating quality criteria for online teaching and ensuring its quality.
“Metropolia’s pedagogical professionals evaluate and collaboratively enhance course content to better support continuous learners in developing their skills. This allows us to build even better and more relevant content in the future”, Leiviskä says.
In addition to traditional open course offerings, Metropolia is also introducing other types of content developed through project activities to the service, such as podcasts, conventional digital publications, and various events.
“In terms of this other content, Metropolia currently offers the most material on Opin.fi at the time of the platform’s launch. We’re proud of our performance – we achieved our goal in this area”, Leiviskä states.
Metropolia will continue to regularly expand its offerings on Opin.fi for spring, summer, and autumn studies, as well as continuously for publications and events.
Opin.fi helps you find and compare studies
In Opin.fi, you can browse and compare the higher education institutions’ extensive offer of open studies in one place. The search function and various filters help you find what you are looking for: for example, you can filter the selection based on whether you are interested in remote learning or contact teaching, or wish to study at your own pace or on a set schedule.
The ten themes of the service are a compilation of interesting studies on topical themes, including sustainable development, new technologies and transforming working life. You do not always need to complete credits to develop your competence. This is why the service also offers other ways of learning besides actual courses, including podcasts and webinars. Identified users can view the higher education studies they have completed previously in the service.
It also allows you to save interesting study options for later. Actual enrolment takes place in the universities’ own services.
Development will continue and offer of studies will expand
Opin.fi has been developed together with all Finnish higher education institutions and future service users, and its development will also continue after the service has been launched. The offering of studies found in the service will also change and develop constantly. As the service opens in spring 2025, 29 Finnish universities and universities of applied sciences are in. The goal is that by the end of the year, the open studies of 37 higher education institutions taught in Finnish, Swedish and English, both as contact teaching and distance learning, can be found in the service.
The Digivision 2030 project is responsible for building the service, and it is operated by HigherEd Hub Finland Oy.
Links:
Find out more about the service: https://www.opin.fi/
How does Opin.fi work? Watch this video to learn more about the service: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kmXVM8-GEA
Read more about Digivision 2030 project: www.digivisio2030.fi
More information:
Taru Ruotsalainen
Head of Department of Learning Services and Networks, Metropolia UAS
taru.ruotsalainen [at] metropolia.fi (taru[dot]ruotsalainen[at]metropolia[dot]fi)
Kimmo Leiviskä
Specialist, Metropolia UAS
kimmo.leiviska [at] metropolia.fi (kimmo[dot]leiviska[at]metropolia[dot]fi)
