VIRTA higher education achievement register facilitates shared information flows
The professional rights of social welfare and health care personnel in Finland are supervised by the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health Valvira. For this purpose, Valvira needs detailed and individualized data on the degrees, and special qualifications completed by employees and students in this field. The data volume to be processed is large, which is why Valvira began to digitalize its services and application processes more than a decade ago. The data obtained directly from higher education institutions were not interoperable, which significantly hampered the digitalization process.
The fragmentation of education data was also seen as a problem in the Ministry of Education and Culture. The VIRTA higher education achievement register was established for the purposes of producing and reporting data in an interoperable format. VIRTA was built in cooperation between the Ministry of Education and Culture, higher education institutions and CSC. Already in the planning stage of the service, it was realized that not only the Ministry of Education and Culture and Statistics Finland but also other institutions, including Valvira, could benefit from it. From the planning stage onwards, VIRTA was developed to also meet Valvira’s needs.
Cooperation within and outside the system
While the VIRTA higher education achievement register is maintained by CSC and developed together with the higher education institutions, the cooperation between Valvira and CSC also covers many other aspects. CSC acts as a link between the higher education institutions and Valvira. When changes or additions to the data are needed, CSC helps implement them in a way that benefits both parties. One example of such changes is the limited right to prescribe medicines that entered into force in 2019. A completely new competence code was created for this purpose in VIRTA, and the higher education institutions undertook to use it. Data concerning specialists’ and psychotherapists’ applications for professional rights have also been added to VIRTA as a new element.
Both sides have found this cooperation fruitful. “The support of CSC experts in drawing up the specifications for and testing the data transfers has been significant.”, say Eeva Sallinen and Maria Suojala, who work with the VIRTA higher education achievement register at Valvira. They note that VIRTA has enabled Valvira to introduce completely new types of digital services.
The support of CSC experts in drawing up the specifications for and testing the data transfers has been significant.
Eeva Sallinen and Maria Suojala, Valvira
VIRTA safeguards the quality of Finnish health care
The data transferred to Valvira through VIRTA benefit graduates in the field, to whom Valvira grants the right to practice a social welfare or health care profession. The legalization process is smoother with the help of VIRTA data, and it speeds up the availability of social welfare and health care workers to the industry. The VIRTA service helps to ensure that the personnel in the field have the competence required by legislation. This way, cooperation between Valvira and CSC can facilitate and safeguard the use of social welfare and health care services.
What else is VIRTA data used for?
- The Social Insurance Institution uses Virta to check study rights and students’ progress in their studies, which affect their entitlement to student financial aid.
- The Ministry of Education and Culture and higher education institutions employ the data in their decision-making.
- Statistics Finland obtains a large part of its study-related data from VIRTA.
- In the My Studyinfo service, a person can check the degrees they have completed and their valid study rights as well as the related information. All these data come from the VIRTA higher education achievement register.
Did you know this about VIRTA?
- The oldest degree found in the VIRTA service dates back to 1922. One Master’s degree obtained at the University of Helsinki has been recorded in the service for the year in question.