University education in the Helsinki metropolitan area
Universities are institutions conducting scientific research and providing higher education.
University studies improve the students scientific thinking and skills to assess knowledge and produce new knowledge.
Universities offer education in 21 disciplines, such as medicine, education, law and technology. Universities can be either multidisciplinary or concentrate on specific fields.
Out of the nine universities located in the Helsinki metropolitan area, the University of Helsinki is the only multidisciplinary one. There are four art universities: the Academy of Fine Arts, the Sibelius Academy, the University of Art and Design Helsinki and the Theatre Academy of Finland. The two universities that specialise in economics and business administration are the Helsinki School of Economics and HANKEN - Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration.
Helsinki University of Technology provides education in technological sciences and the National Defence College in military training.
Six of the universities in the Helsinki metropolitan area are bilingual (Finnish and Swedish): the University of Helsinki, Helsinki University of Technology, the University of Art and Design Helsinki, the Theatre Academy, the Sibelius Academy and the Academy of Fine Arts. HANKEN is the only fully Swedish-language university.
Usually university students choose one major subject or degree programme, in addition to which they also study a minor subject, which nowadays can be flexibly chosen from universities other than the student's own. Studies also include language studies and practical training, and courses can also be taken abroad.
According to the recently introduced two-tier degree system, students first complete a Bachelor's degree and only then continue to the Master's degree. The Bachelor's degree comprises 180 credits, and the target time for completing the degree when studying full-time is three years. The Master's degree is 120 credits, which corresponds to two years of full-time study on top of the Bachelor's degree. In some fields, degrees may be more extensive than described here.
Universities also award postgraduate degrees, or licentiate or doctoral degrees. In addition, universities provide continuing education and Open University education subject to a charge.
Text: Liisa Lähteenmäki
Photo: Ida Pimenoff
Translation: Valtasana Oy
