Update: The Finnish Parliament has passed new regulations to introduce tuition fees for non-European Union student. More details here: No More Free Tuition to Study in Finland From Autumn 2017
Many of you are interested in studying abroad but do not have the financial power to do so. This does not have to stop you from achieving your dream of a university education in a world renowned university. In this blog post, I’ll explain the easy step on how to apply for and gain admission to study in Finland.
Finland is one of the five Nordic countries of Europe, the others are Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Iceland. This five countries form the nordic countries have excellent universities at very low costs or even free compared to the United Kingdom, France and other EU countries.
Now I’m going to explain how to begin your application to study in Finland for Free. The first thing you have to find out in other to apply is whether or not you are eligible to apply for admission.
How do I know if I’m Eligible?
To be considered as an eligible candidate for admission, you need to fill some certain criteria if you want to study in Finland. The criteria for eligibility varies from university to university, so it is important to check with the university you want to apply into. If you are not eligible for one reason or the other, your application will not be processed. So make sure you confirm your eligibility.
Below are the general eligibility rules for admission into a Bachelor’s degree program:
Applying For Bachelor’s Programmes
If you are applying for Bachelor’s level entry, you are expected to have the following:
- Hold an academic certificate that makes you qualified to apply for university education in your home country.
- pass the English language skills requirements as set by the institution you are applying to.
- Pass successfully an entrance examination set by the university of your choice
Applying to Master’s / Doctoral Programmes
If you already hold a university education qualification from your home country and want to apply for a Master’s or Doctoral PhD Level programme in Finland, the you will be eligible based on the following:
- The time period it took to achieve your previous academic qualification. i.e a three – four year Bachelor’s degree.
- Your language skills and other possible faculty-specific requirements.
If you have examined these criteria and you qualify for admission, now you can move to the next step, which is applying for a free university degree in Finland.
The admissions procedure briefly consists of the following:
- The first step is to select the programme(s) you wish to apply to
- Submit your application, with all the required certificates and documents, before the application deadline
- You need to take an entrance examination if required by your university
- After your done all this, the university will make the final student selection from all the eligible candidates.
- If you are admitted, congratulations! Now you can start arranging for your final arrival to Finland.
N.B. You must make your application and submit it before the deadline which is as follows:
- January-February: the main application period; for Bachelor’s studies starting in the Fall term. (from September)
- August-September: The application period for studies starting in the spring term.
The application dates can be found at www.admissions.fi site.
So this is the simple straightforward steps on how to apply for free university education to study in Finland.
If you require further information and assistance, feel free to post your questions in the Study in Finland Forum and you’ll get a prompt reply.