Finnish university apologises after students lured with false promises lose life savings
A Finnish university of applied sciences, Arcada, has apologised after international students were recruited with false promises of paid internships and scholarships, leaving some in severe financial distress, an investigation by Finnish broadcaster Yle’s MOT programme reveals.
Teena Abraham, an Indian nurse who sold her family’s property to fund studies in Finland, told MOT she returned to India “empty-handed” after discovering the promised stipends and job opportunities did not exist. “We lost everything we owned,” she said.
### False guarantees of income
Abraham was among roughly 1,000 Indian students who arrived in Finland in 2025 to enrol in Arcada’s “Top Up” nursing programme, designed for foreign-trained nurses seeking EU qualification. Recruitment agents, including Mangalam Study Abroad and its partner In4growth—Arcada’s official collaborator—advertised the programme as a pathway to financial stability, promising monthly stipends of over €2,000 and paid clinical placements.
Arcada’s annual tuition for non-EU students ranges from €10,000 to €12,000. Abraham paid the first €5,000 instalment plus a €3,000 agency fee, relying on the guaranteed income to cover costs. “Finland was sold as the world’s happiest country—we trusted that,” she said.
### Reality: no funds, no jobs
Upon arrival in Helsinki in early 2025, Abraham and her husband found neither the stipends nor the paid internships materialised. With savings dwindling and Finland facing high unemployment, her husband took low-wage jobs, but the couple could not sustain themselves. After less than a year, they returned to India.
“Even if we work 10 or 20 years, we won’t recover what we lost,” Abraham said. Others in her cohort faced similar hardship; MOT verified their accounts through emails, receipts, and interviews.
### Arcada knew of deception but continued partnerships
Arcada’s leadership admitted to MOT that they were aware of misleading claims by their recruitment partners as early as mid-2023. “Corrections were made at that time,” said Mona Forsskåhl, Arcada’s rector, though the collaboration with agents like In4growth persisted.
The university has since issued an apology but will not refund tuition fees. “We deeply regret the situation,” Forsskåhl said, acknowledging the “unacceptable” financial and emotional toll on students.
Recruitment agents operate globally, charging students or receiving commissions from institutions to facilitate admissions, visa processing, and language training. The industry, worth billions annually, has faced criticism for exploitative practices, including false advertising—an issue MOT previously exposed in a 2023 investigation titled A Hoax Called Finland.