Eligibility for International Master's programmes

This page explains what is required of applicants to prove their eligibility to apply for international Master's programmes.

You are eligible to apply to the international master's programmes at the University of Helsinki  if you meet the following criteria:

  1. You have completed a first- or second-cycle (bachelor’s or master’s) degree or a postgraduate degree at a higher education institution in Finland, or an equivalent degree abroad that gives you eligibility to apply to master's level programmes in the awarding country, or will do so by the given deadline.
  2. You have sufficient skills in the language (English, Finnish or Swedish), that you choose as the language of the degree on the application form.
  3. You have completed a sufficient amount of studies applicable to the master’s programme.
Degrees that grant eligibility

You can apply to a master's degree programme if have completed or will complete one of the following qualifications by the deadline:

  • a Finnish university degree (bachelor, master, doctoral), or an equivalent foreign degree,
  • a Finnish university of applied sciences degree (bachelor, master), or an equivalent foreign degree,
  • a foreign qualification that, in the country of award, gives eligibility to apply to master's level programmes.

Please note! The institution that confers the foreign qualification must be recognised as an official higher education institution with degree-conferring authority by the official authorising body of the country in question.

Please note! Diploma level programmes, such as National Diploma or Higher National Diploma, do not give eligibility to apply to master's programmes at the University of Helsinki.

If you are currently or have previously been a degree student of the University of Helsinki, please read the information on this page regarding any applicable restrictions on admission before applying for a new right to complete a degree:
Applicable studies

Applicable studies are studies that prepare you to complete a Master's degree in the Master's programme you are applying for. Applicable studies can also mean an applicable degree. Please check the admission criteria of the master's programme on Studyinfo to find out whether you need to have a certain number of applicable studies, an applicable degree, or perhaps both.

You must have completed all the applicable studies by the application deadline.

Please consult the website and the degree structure of the Master's programme you are applying for to assess whether you have completed enough applicable studies. You can also find out more about the courses offered in the Master's programme and the courses offered by other departments of the university.

The applicability and adequacy of your studies will be assessed as part of the admission process after you have submitted an application and all the required attachments. No prior assessment of the applicability of previous studies will be made.
 

 
Language proficiency requirement

You must prove your proficiency in the language (English, Finnish or Swedish) that you choose as the language of the degree on the application form. See below for the accepted ways of proving language proficiency for the international master's programmes: