This presentation pictures how the Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS) have been institutionalized since they were established in the 1990s. The exploration is based on secondary analysis of existing data and studies concerning Finnish UAS. It aims to provide an overview of how the trends concerning student pathways via UAS to work have developed, and enhance understanding of the role of UAS in the education system. The Finnish UAS were founded when former vocational colleges were developed to form the other pillar of the higher education system beside the traditional science universities (Ahola, 1997). The UAS have developed through several phases towards enhancing regional and national collaboration between their own network and other providers of education (Rauhala et al., 2022, Rantanen & Toikko, 2012). These phases can be characterized as follows. First, the UAS were experimented in 1991-1996. The UAS study programmes were developed through piloting, and programme standards raised to the level of Bachelors´ degrees. The successful piloting of the UAS was followed by a period of their systemic induction and developing regulation for them in 1997-2003. Between 2004-2013, the UAS studies matured to become a full member of the higher education system. In 2005, they also started to provide Master's studies for those with former UAS Bachelors, or equivalent, and work experience (Rantanen & Toikko, 2012). In the next developmental phase, between 2014-2016, there has been a shift toward a more unified higher education sector, legitimized by diminishing age cohorts and demand for economic efficiency. Whereas in the 1990s much emphasis in the Finnish UAS was put on upgrading and developing curriculum and pedagogy, in the 2000s there has been an increased shift toward emphasizing research and development as well as education for adults who are at work. Since 2017 the efforts to provide studies through the national network of UAS for students all over the country by digital means have been enhanced (Koskinen et al., 2020). The common provision has been targeted to enable flexible and more efficient provision of studies for UAS students. The ways to organize work-based learning as part of UAS studies have also been developed from the original model of internships towards more varied forms of placements and work-integrated learning (Virolainen, 2007; Tynjälä et al., 2022). During their lifetime the Finnish UAS have become an important route to higher education especially for those with initial vocational qualifications.

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