JEDU must repay more than €2.2 million in state funding

Yle reports that Finland’s Ministry of Education and Culture is reclaiming €2,229,170.32, including interest, from Jokilaaksojen koulutuskuntayhtymä, a vocational education consortium operating in North Ostrobothnia. The ministry says the funding was granted without proper grounds.

The ministry ordered an audit of the consortium’s operations and finances in January 2024. It examined vocational education provided in 2022 and 2023, focusing especially on studies arranged for citizens of countries outside the EU and European Economic Area.

The audit found widespread and repeated shortcomings in preparing students’ personal competence development plans and in planning and documenting apprenticeship and training agreement programmes. It also identified deficiencies in planning skills demonstrations and handling information used to determine state funding.

The ministry said the deficiencies concerned key legal obligations and could not be considered isolated or minor procedural errors. It concluded that a significant part of the education examined had been provided contrary to the Vocational Education and Training Act and related regulations. The consortium was consulted on a draft decision in April and may request a review from the ministry.