The ranking holds 12 schools with an international accreditation or an authorised programme. International Baccalaureate programmes are taught at 9 of them. A year of school costs from €4 895 to €16 608. A swimming pool on site is confirmed at 1.
We do not take reviews from maps and directories: their terms forbid it, and nobody checks the quality there. Everything below comes from the official registers of the accrediting organisations and from the schools' own sites, and every fact carries its source and the date of the check.
| Cheapest | $5 530 a year | École française Jules Verne |
| Median | $14 452 a year | top of the fee range at 2 schools with a published fee |
| Most expensive | $18 763 a year | International School of Helsinki |
| Free | 4 schools | Helsingin Suomalainen Yhteiskoulu, Ressun lukio, Vantaan ammattiopisto Varia, Mattlidens gymnasium |
Figures are converted to dollars at a weekly rate; schools publish their fees in their own currency. One-off charges, meals, transport and uniform are not included unless the school says otherwise. Fees for schools in Helsinki are taken from published price lists, not from what third parties say.
4 of the 12 schools in the ranking are private. The other 8 are state schools, set out below. The type of school does not affect the score: private and state schools sit in one list and are scored by the same formula, and only verifiable data moves the number.
4 schools in Helsinki teach an international programme with no tuition fee: Helsingin Suomalainen Yhteiskoulu, Ressun lukio, Vantaan ammattiopisto Varia, Mattlidens gymnasium. On value for money such schools get the top score, because they sit outside the price range altogether.
8 schools with an international accreditation are funded by the state: Ressun lukio, European School of Helsinki, Ressun peruskoulu, Tikkurilan lukio, Vantaan ammattiopisto Varia, Espoo International School, Mattlidens gymnasium, Etelä-Tapiolan lukio. Admission to these schools is usually competitive, and tuition is free or markedly cheaper than at a private school. In the ranking they stand alongside private schools and are scored on the same nine criteria.
Schools in Helsinki with an IB programme (9): Helsingin Suomalainen Yhteiskoulu, Ressun lukio, International School of Helsinki, Ressun peruskoulu, Tikkurilan lukio, Vantaan ammattiopisto Varia, Espoo International School, Mattlidens gymnasium, Etelä-Tapiolan lukio. 1 of them runs the full three-stage cycle: PYP, MYP and DP. Authorisation is confirmed against the International Baccalaureate register.
These schools stand in the suburbs, up to 16 km from the centre of Helsinki. Each card names the school's own town; they are gathered here because a family in Helsinki chooses between them as between districts of one place.
A facility counts only when the school names it outright on its own site: a modern campus is not a swimming pool. Swimming pool: 1 school.
Comparing schools on a single feature is useless: the most expensive is not the best, and a famous name says nothing about what is backed by documents. The score is therefore built from nine criteria with different weights - from academic programmes and accreditation to facilities, clubs and fees relative to other schools in the country.
A criterion counts towards the score only when there is verifiable data behind it. That is why every score says how many of the nine criteria were counted: at schools in Helsinki that is 7.5 out of 9 on average. A school with a detailed site and a school with no site cannot earn an equally reliable score, and that is shown rather than hidden.
Ratings and reviews from Google Maps and other map services are not used: their terms forbid aggregation. Only verified reviews left here count. Full methodology →
Published fees run from $5 530 to $18 763 for a school year. The cheapest is École française Jules Verne, the most expensive International School of Helsinki. The median for the senior stage is $14 452 a year. Tuition is free at 4 schools: Helsingin Suomalainen Yhteiskoulu, Ressun lukio, Vantaan ammattiopisto Varia, Mattlidens gymnasium. Fees are converted into dollars at a weekly rate; schools publish them in their own currency.
Helsingin Suomalainen Yhteiskoulu comes first with 79.1 points out of 100, counted from 8 of the 9 criteria. Next come Ressun lukio (77.2) and Tikkurilan lukio (76.6). The score is built from data anyone can check: accreditations found in official registers, programmes, facilities and published fees. A place in the ranking is not for sale.
The ranking holds 12 schools: 4 private and 8 state (Ressun lukio, European School of Helsinki, Ressun peruskoulu, Tikkurilan lukio, Vantaan ammattiopisto Varia, Espoo International School, Mattlidens gymnasium, Etelä-Tapiolan lukio). Private and state schools go into the ranking on equal terms.
International Baccalaureate programmes are taught at 9 schools: Helsingin Suomalainen Yhteiskoulu, Ressun lukio, International School of Helsinki, Ressun peruskoulu, Tikkurilan lukio, Vantaan ammattiopisto Varia, Espoo International School, Mattlidens gymnasium, Etelä-Tapiolan lukio. 1 of them runs the full three-stage cycle: PYP, MYP and DP.
The earliest intake starts at 2 years old. 4 schools have a preschool section.
The score of every school adds up from nine criteria with different weights: academic programmes, accreditation, facilities, clubs, the fee against other schools in the country, reviews, university destinations, safety and teachers. A criterion counts only when there is data behind it that can be checked, so every score says how many of the nine were counted. Right now that is 7.5 out of 9 on average. We do not use reviews from maps or directories.