Henna Virkkunen (cons), the Finnish education minister

Henna Virkkunen (cons), the Finnish education minister, was quoted as saying by regional daily Keskisuomalainen on Friday that the government had no intention of imposing a tuition fee on Finnish students.

"The current government has made a commitment in its government programme to keep Finnish education free," Ms Virkkunen told the Jyväskylä-based paper.

National daily Helsingin Sanomat had quoted an education ministry working group as mulling a 1,000-euro tuition fee.

"Neither the government nor myself is about to make a proposal to charge Finns in higher education. That is a completely unambiguous point of departure."

The minister went on to point out that charging fees from Finnish students would be a breach of the Universities Act.

She added that the working group had not even been asked to tackle higher education funding.

This year a number of degree programmes in Finnish universities and polytechnics will be subject to tuition fees but the trial affects only students hailing from outside the European Economic Area.

STT