Low Tuition Universities in Finland, Admission Requirements and Essential Information for International Students

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland across Estonia to the south.  Finland is home to more than 5.5 million people. Helsinki is the capital and largest city, forming a larger metropolitan area with the neighbouring cities of Espoo, Kauniainen, and Vantaa. The main language is Finnish; Swedish is also an official language. The national currency of Finland is Euro (EUR).

Finland is known as one of Europe’s most modern, most innovative countries, and its educational system is world-renowned.

Below, we’ll discuss Finland’s higher education system, tuition fees, costs of living, admission requirements and the list of low tuition universities in Finland

Higher Education System

  • Bachelor’s degree: 3 years (180 ECTS credits)of full-time study and offer students core teaching in the chosen discipline, as well as a broad general education. The academic bachelor gives access to study toward a masters degree.
  • Master’s degree: 1-2 years (60 or 120 ECTS credits). Provides specialized content whilst allowing for further development of the scientific research process. After obtaining a Masters degree, students can choose to pursue research projects leading to a Doctorate degree (PhD). PhDs are only awarded by Universities.
  • Doctorate (PhD) degree: A doctoral degree in Finland usually lasts about 4 years. Furthermore, these may be ready made doctoral programs or a student can contact the department of interest for doctoral study options. PhD’s are only awarded by universities

Tuition Fees

Tuition fees in Finland are mandatory for students from non-EU/EEA countries and will vary between universities.

The tuition fee for non-EU/EEA citizens in bachelor’s and master’s programmes taught in English is:

  • 12 000 euros per academic year for bachelor’s degree programmes
    Normative duration of bachelor’s degree studies is 3 academic years.
  • 15 000 euros per academic year for master’s degree programmes
    Normative duration of master’s degree studies is 2 academic years.

Cost of Living

  • Housing: ranging from 160 to 800 EUR/month depending on city and type of housing. Private apartments are more expensive than student housing.
  • Food expenses: around 200 – 300 EUR/month

Transportation: Living costs in Finland include transportation. The transportation costs depend on where you live, in Helsinki metropolitan area public transportation can be more costly. However, in Helsinki you have the opportunity to use commuter trains, buses and trams. In Tampere you can also use trams but in the other cities in Finland, there are only buses for short distance transportation. The cost of a 30-day ticket varies from 38 to 65 EUR per month, the cost depends on how many zones in the city (A, B, C, D) you have to travel through.

Overall it would be wise to budget about 700 – 1,100 EUR/month for all the living expenses, including social activities and transportation.

Admission Requirements

For Bachelor’s Degree

To be eligible for a Bachelor’s degree programme at Finnish Universities, students are required to possess the following qualifications:
  • Finnish matriculation examination Certificate
  • Foreign certificate equivalent to the matriculation examination certificate
  • Vocational qualification from a vocational school or through apprenticeship of 3 years or more
  • The International Baccalaureate
  • European Baccalaureate
  • Reifeprufung

For Master’s Degree

  • Students must hold a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent qualification in order to get accepted into a Master degree programme at Finnish Universities.

For Postgraduate Studies

  • At Finnish Universities, students can go for artistic or scientific postgraduate degrees, which are the licentiate and the doctorate.
  • Students must hold a Master’s degree or its equivalent for doctoral studies in Finland. Doctoral degrees are not the part of the joint application procedure.
  • For doctorate studies, students must apply to the concerned university directly.

Low Tuition Universities

  • Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
  • University of Turku
  • Humak University of Applied Sciences
  • ITMO University
  •  University of Helsinki
  • University of Vaasa
  • University of Eastern Finland
  •  Tampere University
  • Arcada University of Applied Sciences
  • University of Oulu
  • Aalto University
  • Novia University of Applied Science
  • Lahti University of Technology (LUT)
  • University of Jyväskylä
  • Åbo Akademi University.

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