Plan your studies

To plan your studies at the University of Helsinki, you can find useful information through the links below.

Course Guides and Handbooks on Web

Courses in English
Courses taught in Finnish

More information from the Faculties / departments

Language Courses in Finnish in or Swedish

Finnish language: The course programme of Finnish for International Students is on the website of the Department of   Finnish, Finno Ugrian and Scandinavian Studies  (Faculty or Arts)
Swedish Language Courses, Swedish for International Students.
More detailed information on studies from the Faculties / departments

Credits and Grading

The Credit System

The annual student workload amounts to 1600 hours. The concept of the student workload refers to the time required to achieve the set learning outcomes of a programme. A total of 60 ECTS credits (in Finnish opintopiste) will measure the workload of a full-time student during one academic year; a total of 30 credits is the full-time workload for one semester.

Grading

At the University of Helsinki a six-level grading scale of 0-5 is used in the grading of basic degrees.
The grading scale is directly comparable to the ECTS grading scale, as shown below. However, there is one important difference: the ECTS system is based on an expectancy of the distribution of different grades, the Finnish system is not. That means that in the Finnish system there is no rule or expectation as to how big a proportion of the participants in any given course can be given what grade; each student is graded on his/her individual performance, not in relation to the performance of others.

Grading scales (Finnish and ECTS):

Finnish grading scale	ECTS grading scale
5 = excellent	A
4 = very good	B
3 = good	C
2 = satisfactory	D
1 = passable	E
0 = fail	F or FX

In addition to applying this general grading system, pass/fail grading may be applied in cases of practical training and practical skills courses, as decided by the faculty council.

Bachelor's thesis grading:

Bachelor's theses, as all other studies, will be graded on a scale of 0-5.

Master's thesis grading:

A seven-level Latin grading scale will be applied in the grading of the Master's theses (laudatur being the highest grade): Laudatur/Eximia cum laude approbatur/Magna cum laude approbatur/Cum laude approbatur/Non sine laude approbatur/Lubenter approbatur/Approbatur.