Oulun Lyseon lukio is a municipal day upper secondary school in central Oulu and one of the oldest in Finland. It traces its roots to 1609, when the king approved the townspeople's request for a school; the Finnish-language lyceum started in autumn 1874, took its current name in 1974 and joined the city school system. The main building on Pokkitörmä has stood since 1831 and was renovated in 2023. The school 'receives well over a thousand applications each year'. It has several lines: the main Finnish line following the national curriculum with the ylioppilastutkinto, the August Sahlsten unit in Tyrnävä (in-person and remote), an English-language line on the Finnish curriculum opened in autumn 2026 with the ylioppilastutkinto in English, and the IB Diploma line. The school received IB Diploma authorisation in 1992, and its first IB graduates finished in spring 1995. The IB line starts with a preparatory preDP year followed by the two-year Diploma; teaching is in English, and Finnish and Swedish are strongly encouraged. 'The IB diploma is recognized in Finland as equivalent to the national matriculation examination.' The language of instruction is stated directly: English on the IB and new lines, Finnish on the main line (the English page compares its programme with the Finnish-language curriculum).
Key facts
Programmes
IB · DP · National programme
Languages of instruction
Finnish, English
Languages taught
Swedish, Chinese, Spanish, French
About the fees The school is municipal; its pages state no tuition fee. Lunch is free. The first five ylioppilastutkinto exams are free for students who started in autumn 2021 or later; further exams cost 38 EUR per subject, and a grade review costs 56 EUR (refunded if the grade is raised). Laptops are lent to students. The school does not state IB exam costs.
Admissions Students with a Finnish comprehensive school certificate apply to all lines, including IB, through the national joint application (yhteishaku) on Opintopolku; there is an information evening for ninth-graders and their guardians. EU citizens and EU residence permit holders, and other applicants, contact admissions.lyseo@ouka.fi; Chinese students apply through three agencies named by the school. The English-language line on the Finnish curriculum is for students with three years or less of Finnish basic education or residence and insufficient Finnish or Swedish; non-EU/EEA applicants need 'a residence permit for reasons other than studies'. The school's pages give no minimum grade or entrance tests.
Stages and year groups Upper secondary only (lukio), after grade 9 of basic education. Main Finnish line: national lukio curriculum in Finnish, ylioppilastutkinto; courses of three 75-minute lessons a week, five periods a year. The August Sahlsten unit in Tyrnävä follows the same curriculum. English-language line from autumn 2026: the Finnish national curriculum in English, first ylioppilastutkinto in English in autumn 2028. IB Diploma Programme in English since 1992: a preparatory preDP year on the national curriculum, then two DP years, six subjects plus TOK, CAS and the Extended Essay. DP subjects: group 1 - Finnish A, English A, Chinese SL and a self-taught language SL; group 2 - English B, Spanish or French ab initio SL; group 3 - economics, history, psychology; group 4 - biology, physics, chemistry; group 5 - mathematics at three levels; group 6 - film. 'The IB diploma is recognized in Finland as equivalent to the national matriculation examination.' 2026 groups: six general, one in Tyrnävä, one English-language, two IB.
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: Matikkaneuvola (maths homework help) · Laskupaja (problem-solving workshop in maths, physics and chemistry) · Veitikka (school newspaper) · Opiskelijakunta (student union) · Euroweek · Erasmus+ (international projects and trips)
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
Rector Mika Aalto; IB Coordinator and Deputy Principal Heli-Maarit Miihkinen. The teacher list on the website has 64 names, including the rector and counsellors. The school says its teachers are highly experienced and meet Finnish public school teaching qualifications; each teacher on a long-term contract takes IB training. On the IB line 'we have several native English speakers, but most teach in their second language'. There are three study counsellors.
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 policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school has two nurses, two school social workers, a school psychologist, two special education teachers and three study counsellors; student support is set out in the guidance plan and the learning support plan.
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 data65 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 data76 Value for money (6%) scored at the median95 "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 7 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
Oulu, Finland · est. 1874 · State