Scholarship for qualified employee

The scholarship for qualified employee has been discontinued as of 1 August 2024, so it can no longer be granted.

The conditions for obtaining a scholarship were:

• Complete the basic vocational qualification, vocational qualification or specialist vocational qualification referred to in the Act on Vocational Education (531/2017).
• The scholarship was granted only on the basis of the completion of the entire degree. Neither the parts of the degree nor the updating of the degree justified the scholarship. The scholarship could not be obtained on the basis of a university degree.
• By the date of completion of the degree, you had to have accumulated a pension-insured employment history for at least five years.
• On the day of completing the degree and at the time of applying for the scholarship, you were to live permanently in Finland and be covered by Finnish social security.
• The date of completion of the examination was also required to be less than 68 years of age.
• The degree must have been completed by 31 July 2024 due to the termination of adult education benefits.

The scholarship awarded on or after 1 January 2022 was 414 euros. The revision of the amount of the scholarship is based on a decree issued by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (1017/2021).

Appeals to Scholarship for qualified employee

If you applied for a scholarship by using the online service, you received the decision via the online service.  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.