University of Helsinki - A Leading European University

Postgraduate applicants

• General information on application procedure
• Who is a postgraduate applicant?
• Postgraduate application information
• About the certificates and transcripts
• Faculties
• General application form
• Faculty-specific application form
• Science and Research website
• China Scholarship Council Funding for Doctoral Students

General information on application procedure

Each faculty of the University of Helsinki has its individual application procedure for postgraduate applicants. On this page, you can find some general guidelines on how to apply, but you should bear in mind that the admission requirements may vary from one faculty to another. For more detailed information, please click the faculties' links below.

Who is a postgraduate applicant?

A postgraduate applicant is a student who has a higher academic degree from a higher education institution: i.e. the student is a Master’s degree holder. The duration of a Master’s degree (including undergraduate and graduate studies) is at least four to five years of full-time study.

In a two-cycle system of studies, the student first completes a Bachelor's degree: this takes about three years. After the Bachelor's degree, it usually takes two years for the student to be awarded with the Master's degree. The Master’s degree must include a Master’s thesis.

Postgraduate application information

The obligatory enclosures for the postgraduate application are listed below.

• Your degree certificate from a higher education institution
• Your transcript indicating the grading system of the institution
• The test score of a language test you have taken. Most faculties base their language skills requirement on this table that defines the ways the applicants can indicate their English language competence. However, you should be first in contact with the International Coordinator of the appropriate faculty to receive detailed information related to your situation.
• A statement of purpose (motivation letter) in your own words
• The title and summary of the applicant’s Master's thesis, in Finnish, Swedish or English
• Your research or study plan. This should be written in co-operation with your future supervisor at the University of Helsinki and necessitates contact with the appropriate faculty and/or department.
• Detailed information on how you intend to finance your studies at the University.

About the certificates and transcripts

• All copies must be legalised by the institution that has issued the original document or by a notary public.
• Postgraduate (PhD) applicants must send an authorised copy of the original Master’s diploma (or the degree certificate) and the transcript. Authorisation should be done preferably by the student’s university (or, in case this not possible, by a notary public).
• A Postgraduate (PhD) applicant’s university transcript must show all the courses included in the degree.
• All attached documents must be in Finnish, Swedish or English.
• All translations must be done by official translators. The translations must bear the stamp and signature of the translator.
• The application with all the required enclosures must be at the appropriate faculty by the closing date at the latest.
• The application with all the required enclosures must be sent via regular (air) mail or by a courier service to the faculty in question. E-mailed or faxed applications or documents will not be accepted.
• An application can be rejected if any of the required enclosures are missing.
• The authenticity of all documents submitted to the University of Helsinki will be examined. The use of forged or altered documents will lead to the rejection of the applicant.

Faculties

Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry

Faculty of Arts

Faculty of Behavioural Sciences

Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences

Faculty of Law

Faculty of Medicine

Faculty of Pharmacy

Faculty of Science

Faculty of Social Sciences

Faculty of Theology

Faculty of Veterinary Medicine

Application form

The general application form can be used by postgraduate applicants applying to:

• Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry
• Faculty of Behavioural Sciences
• Faculty of Science

The -specific application form, available on appropriate Faculty’s website (see above for the links to the sites), should be used when you are applying to:

• Faculty of Arts
• Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences
• Faculty of Law
• Faculty of Medicine
• Faculty of Pharmacy
• Faculty of Social Sciences
• Faculty of Theology
• Faculty of Veterinary Medicine

Science and Research website

The University of Helsinki carries out research of an internationally high standard. Research funding, honours and prizes awarded to our researchers are an indication of the wide-spread esteem among the global scientific community.

The University of Helsinki has regularly been ranked among Europe’s 10 to 15 best universities on worldwide ranking lists of research universities. Some 470 doctorates are completed annually and nearly 10,000 scientific articles or monographs are published yearly by the university’s researchers.

For more information, continue to the Science and Research website.

China Scholarship Council Funding for Doctoral Students

The University of Helsinki and the China Scholarship Council (CSC) have concluded an agreement, which enables Chinese PhD candidated to receive funding from CSC.

This funding will be available to candidates in the following areas: Energy, Resources, Environment, Agriculture, Manufacture, Information Technology, Life Science, Food and Health, Space Study, Maritime Study, Nanotechnology, New Materials, Humanities and Applied Social Sciences, and Law.

In order to be eligible for this funding candidates are asked to contact their Faculty of choice and to apply for admission through them.

Further information and application forms for the funding are available at CSC .