CSC

Future of education – New Opin.fi service

The new Opin.fi service marked a historic moment in Finnish education. It brings together the open course offerings of all higher education institutions, making them accessible to everyone – regardless of age, life situation, or previous educational background.

Opin.fi is the first tangible outcome of the Digivisio2030 initiative, where all Finnish 37 higher education institutions joined forces with CSC and Solita to build a national digital platform for continuous learning.

Creating value for learners has been the guiding principle throughout the project. It has been a pleasure to see the great value Solitans have brought to this program. They have been professional and enthusiastic, and together we’ve been able to make major decisions and put them into practice.

Heini-Maari Kemppainen Project Manager, Design Team Lead, CSC

Results

The national Opin.fi service launched in spring 2025 as a joint effort of 37 higher education institutions, CSC, Solita, and other vendors
An easy and engaging pathway for learners to pursue continuous learning in different life situations
A shared data model enabling data use across institutional boundaries
AI PoCs laid the groundwork for future learner-centric and AI-assisted services
A secure and reliable solution in a multi-vendor environment
Agile product development, RTE role, and increments kept the project controlled and on schedule
National competence and educational competitiveness strengthened

A national initiative with societal significance and impact

Digivisio2030 is unprecedented in scale. The €48M project involves 37 higher education institutions, around 27,000 staff, and nearly 300,000 students. Its mission is bold: to make Finland a global model country for flexible learning and to strengthen national competence to meet the rapidly changing needs of working life.

A decisive choice was made early on: all development would be tied to the value created for learners. This guided strategic design, prioritisation, and concrete product development. The launch of Opin.fi is the first visible milestone on the path towards 2030, when Finland aims to be internationally recognised as a leader in digital learning.

The newly launched Opin.fi service offers a flexible way to respond to the changing needs of working life. It is designed for everyone – regardless of age or life situation – who wants to explore opportunities for personal growth and development.

Hanna Nordlund Director of the Digivisio 2030 initiative, CSC

The project is inspiring and carries deep societal significance. Working together towards the goals has been educational and impactful. We’ve turned vision into reality, bringing ideas to life in a concrete solution that makes learning opportunities available to all.

Panu Puukari Design Lead, Solita

Co-creation made needs visible

The service was built together with learners and higher education institutions. Dozens of interviews, workshops, and usability tests provided valuable insights into learners’ challenges and the kinds of solutions that would be desirable, feasible, and viable.

Co-design ensured that only features delivering real value were developed. Learners highlighted, for example, how difficult it used to be to find suitable studies from fragmented offerings. Opin.fi solves this by bringing everything together.

Heini-Maari Kemppainen Project Manager, Design Team Lead, CSC

Design guided the right decisions

Strategic design played a central role in the project’s success. Solita’s design team helped build a shared vision and illustrative concepts that enabled all parties to align around the same goals. This was particularly vital in a large multi-vendor environment with many organisations involved in decision-making.

Design helped clarify what the service should achieve and which elements would create most value. Through concepting and prototyping, the vision evolved step by step into concrete solutions. This also prevented unnecessary investments: features with no real user value weren’t developed.

Heini-Maari Kemppainen Project Manager, Design Team Lead, CSC

A shared vision unified the data

At the heart of Opin.fi is a national data platform that consolidates information from higher education systems into a single source. This wasn’t a simple task: institutions had many practices and systems that required the definition of a new shared data model and schema. Thanks to the common model, course data can now be presented consistently in Opin.fi, and institutions can apply the same model in their own operations. The Digivisio2030 initiative has been a remarkable demonstration of how operational transformation can be achieved and how it has laid the groundwork for shared models and practices to support the future.

“The shared data schema is a huge step forward. It serves Opin.fi and lays the foundation for wider data-driven management in higher education and for building new digital services on top of it,” explains Tero Kulmala, Software Architect at Solita.

AI shows the way forward

The project also looked to the future. Solita and CSC carried out several AI-related proof-of-concept projects exploring how learning paths could be personalised and how data could be harmonised and enriched with machine learning.

“AI experiments showed that having a solid data foundation is critical, there are no quick wins, but the potential is enormous. This work points the way for the next development stages,” says Kemppainen.

Security first

Security was a top priority from the start. With 37 institutions and multiple vendors involved, even small security gaps could cause problems. We ensured security was built into every stage through shared processes, risk management, and reporting—establishing the trust in such a large initiative required.

“Security is considered at every turn. Analysis, reporting, and risk management are vital for building trust and ensuring learners and institutions can use the service with confidence,” says Tuomas Taimi, Security Specialist, Solita.

Agile development kept the project moving

We used scaled agile frameworks, moving forward in steps. At the end of each cycle, concrete results were presented, and feedback was gathered, ensuring agility and timely adjustments.

Clear goals and a shared rhythm ensured that such a large project remains manageable and progresses as planned. Our design and product expertise integrated seamlessly with this model. Agile collaboration kept Opin.fi on schedule and aligned with user needs.

Mika Valkonen Senior Agile Coach, Solita

Collaboration powered a multi-vendor model

The Opin.fi initiative was developed in a multi-vendor setting with Solita, Digia, Gofore, and Futurice. Such models might present challenges, but in Digivisio2030 collaboration worked exceptionally well.

Openness, solution orientation, and a shared goal kept all parties moving in the same direction.

“We’ve been able to work together in a good spirit. Solita’s expertise and enthusiasm have been especially valuable for us,” Kemppainen says.

Check out the Opin.fi service.