Finland opens Opin.fi service for higher education institutions

08 May 2025 | Network Updates | Update from CSC – IT CENTER FOR SCIENCE
These updates are republished press releases and communications from members of the Science|Business Network

Launched in April 2025, Opin.fi marks a significant step in the digital transformation of Finnish higher education. Developed in the Digivisio 2030 programme, the service brings on a single site open studies from Finnish universities and universities of applied sciences, making it easier for learners to search and compare suitable studies. Already, 29 Finnish higher education institutions have joined the service. CSC contributes to the programme with its strong expertise of collaboration with higher education institutions, interoperability, and data management.

Opin.fi is a joint service of Finnish higher education institutions that brings open university courses within an easy reach on one platform. The service helps users find suitable open studies from Finnish higher education institutions’ wide selection. The service is available at www.opin.fi.

The service is designed to help anyone who wants to develop their competence at different stages of life. 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, and no prior university studies are required. Users can compare studies, and search function and various filters help narrow down options: for example, by whether the course is organized remotely or in-person, or self-paced or scheduled. In addition to actual courses, the service also offers other ways of learning, such as podcasts or webinars.

Development continues and study offering will grow

Opin.fi has been developed in the Digivisio 2030 programme together with all Finnish higher education institutions and future service users. Development will continue even after the launch. Future plans include, for example, smart recommendations based on user data, helping learners discover content that matches their interests. User experiences and feedback will also be used to develop Opin.fi further.

The study offering on the platform will also evolve and grow. In the initial phase in April 2025, the service includes open studies form 29 Finnish universities and universities of applied sciences. The goal is to have open studies from 37 Finnish institutions available by the end of the year, offered in Finnish, Swedish and English, and available both online and in person.

Higher education institutions working together to meet future challenges

Opin.fi is developed by Digivisio 2030, a joint programme of all Finnish higher education institutions, and operated by HigherEd Hub Finland Ltd. It’s the first service to run on the higher education institutions’ new shared digital service platform created in the programme. The platform enables the development and use of shared data resources to build digital services, and ensures interoperability across institutions.

Through Digivisio 2030, higher education institutions are working to tackle many societal challenges in Finland: raising competence levels, supporting lifelong learning, strengthening national competitiveness and responding to skills shortages. Digivisio-yhteistyö auttaa varmistamaan, että korkeakoulutus on saavutettavampaa, joustavampaa ja vastaa tulevaisuuden muuttuviin tarpeisiin. Se vahvistaa korkeakoulujen asemaa jatkuvan oppimisen markkinalla. Hanke luo myös digitaalista pohjaa älykkäälle, datapohjaiselle koulutustarjonnan ja korkeakoulujen palvelujen kehittämiselle ja sujuvalle yhteistyölle korkeakoulujen välillä.

“Opin.fi is the first visible result of the exceptional collaboration between our higher education institutions – even by international standards – to build a sustainable future. This shared digital service makes education easily accessible to everyone and helps raise the skill level that is vital for our society,” says Hanna Nordlund, Programme Director of Digivisio 2030.

The programme office is part of CSC, enabling close collaboration: the programme benefits from CSC’s extensive expertise in higher education environments and systems, data management, interoperability, and data security.

“Collaboration in the Digivisio 2030 programme brings CSC even closer to the higher education sector. It’s great to be part of supporting the higher education institutions’ shared vision of future learning,” says Kimmo Koski, Managing Director of CSC.

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