HELSINKI (AFP) - Finland, which repeatedly tops world charts in secondary education, must reform its universities to revive its recession-hit economy and boost innovation, the OECD said.

• OECD: Finland's economy to recover slowly

Students in higher education are "insulated from labour market signals by not having to repay the cost of their tuition", the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said in its economic survey of Finland.

The OECD, which also highlighted the "ready access to generous in-study benefits" that contributed to insulating Finnish students and their choices, suggested introducing tuition fees to shorten study times at university.

The Paris-based organisation also recommended introducing a government loan scheme linking repayment to post-graduate income, to replace government grants and subsidised loans from private banks used by most Finnish students.

Finns tend to study for longer periods than their counterparts in other OECD countries, with around 43 percent of all 20-29-year-olds registered as students, compared to the OECD average of 25 percent.

While Finland is known for excellent primary and secondary education, nabbing top spot in an OECD ranking of science results in 2009, the OECD criticised it for inefficient handling of students moving into university.

Many high school graduates are forced to wait years before getting into a university or polytechnic due to entry exams, which follow standardised secondary level exit tests.

A "more standardised system of university entrance would be helpful rather than the current systems where entrance procedures and requirements vary across different institutions and courses of study," the OECD said.

Finland's Ministry of Education last month recommended a reform of student admissions to higher education along the lines of the OECD's proposal of using matriculation results as the primary basis of entrance into higher education.