← Back to the rankingJyväskylän Lyseon lukio
Jyvaskyla, Finland · est. 1858 · State
Illustration · Jyvaskyla
Jyväskylän Lyseon lukio is a city upper secondary school in central Jyväskylä, on the Harju campus, run by the municipal education consortium Gradia. It was founded in 1858 and calls itself the first Finnish-language upper secondary school; it has about 1300 students. Lines: the general line (lukiolinja), with emphases on sciences, internationalism, theatre or entrepreneurship; the IT line, from which students with good results can go straight on to computer science at the University of Jyväskylä; and the IB line, teaching in English since 2001. The general and IT lines are taught in Finnish: the applicant pages for these lines are in Finnish, and English is named as the language of instruction only for the IB line. The IB line runs alongside the Finnish upper secondary school: a PreDP year on the Finnish curriculum with additions, followed by the two-year IB Diploma Programme. The school has been a UNESCO ASPnet school since 1984, holds Erasmus+ accreditation for 2021-2028 and has 14 partner schools in Italy, Greece, France, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, Canada and Germany.
Key facts
Programmes
IB · DP · National programme
Languages of instruction
Finnish, English
Languages taught
Swedish, German, French, Spanish, Russian
About the fees The school writes: 'Teaching, morning porridge, and lunch are free for daytime high school students at Gradia', and students in compulsory education get a laptop and learning materials free. From 1 August 2026 students who arrive in or stay in Finland on a student residence permit pay per school year: 9300 euros for the General, Music and Sports Programmes and 10300 euros for the IB Diploma Programme; the fee set at the start remains for the whole duration of studies. Exempt are holders of a permanent residence permit (P), a continuous permit (A) whose first permit was not based on studies, exchange students for up to 1 year and people under temporary or international protection. The card shows what a family that moves to Finland and lives here pays: tuition is free; the fee above applies to students who come alone on a student residence permit.
Admissions All lines are applied to through the spring joint application (yhteishaku) on Studyinfo (Opintopolku). The general line admits by the grade average of theoretical subjects in the peruskoulu final report. The IB line requires a 'minimum grade point average for theoretical subjects of 8,0' (8.0) and adequate written and spoken English; under the IB policies English fluency is tested by an interview (level B1-B2). The school welcomes applications from 'all students, both Finnish and international'. Applicants with foreign certificates submit an official English translation and tick discretionary admission (harkinnanvarainen) on the form; special consideration is given to those unable to study in Finnish. Minor applicants from outside the EU are expected to have a guardian holding a residence permit in Finland, and non-EU applicants must have started the residence permit process when applying. From 1 August 2026 students on a student residence permit pay tuition fees. The school states no Finnish language requirement. The school commits to admitting 60 new students to the IB preparatory year each year.
Stages and year groups Grades lukio 1-3; IB: PreDP, DP1-DP2. Finnish upper secondary school (lukio) on the national curriculum with the ylioppilastutkinto examination: the general line (lukiolinja) and the IT line. The IB line runs alongside: a PreDP year on the Finnish curriculum with additions, taught in English from the first day, followed by the two-year IB Diploma Programme with Theory of Knowledge, Extended Essay and CAS. Diploma subjects: English A Lang&Lit, Finnish A Literature and self-taught literature in the mother tongue; Finnish B, French ab initio, Spanish ab initio; Economics, Psychology, History, Global Politics; Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Environmental Systems and Societies; Mathematics: Analysis and Approaches and Applications and Interpretations; Visual Arts. In the preparatory year all students study English, Finnish speakers also Finnish and Swedish, and German, French, Russian and Spanish may be available. No other IB programmes (PYP, MYP, CP) appear on the website.
Address Sepänkatu 3, Jyväskylä
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · DP · authorised programmeThe IB register lists the Diploma Programme at the school; it runs as a separate English-language line with a preparatory year alongside the Finnish upper secondary programme and the ylioppilastutkinto matriculation exam.
school is in an official registryconfirmed by a school document, by membership or by taking part in a networkclaimed by the school, no confirmation, not counted in the scoreGuide to all organisations → What stands behind each entry
IBInternational Baccalaureate
A Swiss non-profit, working since 1968. Its programmes are among the most widely recognised school programmes in the world. Authorisation is granted stage by stage, so a school with the final stage does not necessarily run the younger ones; which stages this school holds is set out in the line below.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. At this school: DP (ages 16-19). DP is the final stage, ages 16 to 19: six subjects plus a compulsory core of theory of knowledge, an extended essay and CAS. The diploma is accepted by universities all over the world, and in a number of countries it counts for admission on the same footing as the local leaving certificate.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →National programme
The state school programme of the country the school stands in: it is set by that country's ministry of education, which also licenses the school and awards the leaving certificate. That certificate is used for entry to local universities, and abroad it is matched to the local one.
What this means for this school. This entry does not count towards the score, and that is deliberate. Every lawful school in a country works to the national programme, so on its own it tells one school apart from no other - unlike the French, German or Russian programmes, which are carried abroad and confirmed by the register of their organisation. We show it because a parent needs to know what programme their child is taught and what certificate the child will get. Counting it would lift the whole ranking at once and still tell nobody apart.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
The school publishes nothing about where its leavers go: no share going on to university, no exam results, no list of universities.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Clubs and activities: Debate Club · Let's Get Global (charity group) · Celestial (PreDP students' band) · Opiskelijakunta (student union)
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
·Teacher qualificationsnot stated
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
·Students per teacher or class sizenot stated
The school is led by Principal Samuli Laitinen and three deputy principals; there are 6 guidance counsellors (opinto-ohjaaja), one of them for the IB line, and a coordinator of English-language education. IB teachers can take English courses and 1-2 week job shadowing at another IB school. The school does not publish the total number or qualifications of its teachers.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
·Security staffnot stated on the website
·Access controlnot stated on the website
✓Nurse or medical room
✓Counsellor
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
Under the IB inclusion policy, 'The school SEN teacher has the most important role' in detecting learning difficulties; support also comes from home-class teachers, counsellors, the school psychologist, the school social worker and the school nurse. The IB programme has written admission, language, inclusion and academic integrity policies.
Reviews
No reviews yet. The community rating counts towards the score once a school has five verified reviews - until then we do not show a zero, so as not to mislead.
Criteria breakdown criterion weight in brackets
Academics and programmes (16%)82 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data55 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data70 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data65 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data70 "Scored on disclosed data" stands where we count only what the school has written about itself on its own site: exams and destinations, safety and wellbeing, teaching staff, facilities, clubs and activities. A low score here means the school does not write about this, not that the school does not have it: a school with good security and a sparse site will score low. A school can fill in its profile, and the score will be counted again.
The score is counted from 8 of the 9 criteria.Only those with checkable data count: programmes and accreditations from official registers, the fee from a published price list. Where it says "scored on the median", the school has no data and the middle of the list is put in its place, so that a gap gives no advantage. Admissions, teaching staff and reviews come in as their data arrives.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country