Currently, the health care industry is suffering from a particularly serious labor shortage. In addition, the attractiveness of education in the field has been in a downward trend for a long time.
At the same time, degree-specific funding for nursing and social work education has dropped by as much as half between 2010 and 2021.
“It is contradictory that although we are concerned about the labor shortage in healthcare, the funding of universities of applied sciences that produce professionals in the field has been drastically cut. If we want to address the shortage of healthcare professionals, we have to fix the funding of education,” says Elina Juntunen.
Funding is significantly weakened by the fact that nursing and social work degrees are currently financed with the lowest funding category of state funding for universities.
“At the same time, the number of study places has been increased, which has led to larger class sizes. Especially in healthcare education, expensive special facilities, equipment and small group teaching are needed. However, all this must be achieved with as little funding as possible,” Juntunen explains.
In light of the health care crisis, it is not justified that the funding of degrees in the social and health sector is left behind by many other fields. According to Juntunen, there is a simple solution to fixing the financing.
“Health field degrees should be moved to a higher funding category. Those who graduate from the social and health field play a significant role in ensuring societal well-being and productivity. Funding should reflect the real costs of education in order to increase the attractiveness of the field and ensure quality.”
Many political parties have proposed increasing study places in health education to solve the crisis. However, Juntunen reminds that sufficient resources to produce high-quality education are necessary to attract students to these places of study.
“This way we can ensure that we will continue to have a sufficient number of nurses and other healthcare professionals.”
HT