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The information package compiled by Digivisio sheds light on the diversity of degree students’ life situations, goals and needs for flexibility – and helps higher education institutions offer suitable services to them.
In the first phase of the Digivisio 2030 project between 2021 and 2025, the work focused on continuous learners. The second phase of the project was launched in autumn 2025, and it has been designed to also engage degree students. In the second phase, Digivisio will focus on new solutions for degree studies to provide students with more flexibility and help them find the right studies at the right time.
Degree students in higher education institutions are a diverse group that needs different opportunities for flexibility in their study paths. To genuinely understand and find solutions to their needs and situations, the gathering of learner understanding was already started by means of surveys and interviews in spring 2025.
The results of the work were crystallised into stories of five different learner personalities, which help the Digivisio project and higher education institutions in the development of their services.
“Higher education institutions and developers of the current systems have not previously gathered learner understanding from the perspective of flexibility. In other words, the results can be used widely – for example, in creating more systematic opportunities for flexibility in the studies of one’s own higher education institution,” says Heini-Maari Kemppainen, Project Manager of Digivisio.
More understanding of development needs and super moments
More than 1,500 students from different parts of Finland responded to the survey. Especially persons who wanted to include studies from another higher education institution in their degree were sought. Digivisio used the universities and universities of applied sciences’ own channels to collect information.
“The higher education institutions were very active in disseminating the survey,” explains service designer Liisa Kontio from Solita, a partner in the project.
In addition, seven student interviews were conducted in April. They were used to map in more detail the needs and opportunities for making degree studies more flexible.
“We wanted to delve deeper into the development needs and the moments requiring super flexibility,” Kontio says.
Students do not search for information from higher education institutions’ channels
One of the main messages from the survey and interviews was that information on the flexibility of studies is very fragmented. It would be easier for degree students if they could find it more conveniently in a single place.
It is also difficult for students to have access to information on what kind of studies would be suitable for them. Many said they were asking their friends or looking for information with Google, for example, instead of turning to the channels of the higher education institutions.
“We were also surprised ourselves by how small a proportion of the respondents said they used the Peppi or Sisu study information systems in their information search,” Kemppainen says.
The following points were identified as moments requiring super flexibility on the study path: selection of a minor subject, specialisation, transition to master’s studies, completing the degree and summer holidays. However, many people do not yet need flexibility at the very beginning of their studies.
”This helps to understand at what level of studies higher education institutions should seek opportunities for cooperation and how to make opportunities visible to students in the moments when they make important decisions,” Kemppainen says.
Results alleviate concerns about flexibility
Based on the data collection, five different learner personalities were outlined. The idea is that these personalities help higher education institutions in planning cooperation and the studies and services they offer.
“For example, they can consider how the services of their own higher education institution would work for different learners and whether the content is interesting – whether they offer opportunities that meet such needs,” Kemppainen says.
The data collection shows that students often have a strong idea of what they want and how they want to build up their competence. This alleviates the concerns about flexibility.
“For example, that it would be a threat to the speed of graduation, or that the degrees would begin to uncontrollably fall into pieces,” Kemppainen explains.
What happens next?
Higher education institutions should now familiarise themselves with the information package and consider whether it is in line with previous observations – and whether it may be necessary to collect supplementary information on the needs of their own students.
Digivisio, on the other hand, utilises the information package in its own development work. The planning of degree education services for the Opin.fi platform is currently under way, and the results of the data collection also guide this work.
“They can be used to help prioritisation so that a decision can be made not to begin to respond to some needs because the solution can be found, say, in higher education institutions’ activities or study information systems,” Kontio says.
It is important to note that the learner personalities presented here do not comprehensively represent the group of degree students. They are a tool for communication and planning for the moment, and better understanding of students’ wishes is gained along the way.
”The gathering of learner understanding does not end here,” Kemppainen summarises.