University of Helsinki demands an indication of academic level language skills in either Finnish, Swedish or English of all applicants. You can prove your skills in any of these three languages – it does not have to be your doctoral dissertation’s language. The language that you choose to prove your skills in will be marked as the language of your doctoral degree.
When applying for Doctoral studies, please submit the language test directly to the Admission Services of the University of Helsinki.
When applying for more than one programme and you verify your language skills to them with the same language test, University of Helsinki needs to receive the test result only once.
Your language test score must be valid throughout the entire application period. This means that if your language test expires even one day before the final application deadline, your score will not meet the requirements set by the programme.
Check the validity of your test score and make arrangements for a new language test well in advance, if necessary.
Instructions for sending documents can be found on the page Eligibility and educational documents.
Minimum requirement:
Please note that the University of Helsinki only accepts IELTS Academic test scores. Tests taken at the general level are not accepted.
The IELTS Indicator test is also accepted.
You can submit your IELTS results in one of the following ways:
IELTS Academic:
or
IELTS Indicator:
It is advisable to book your test date well before the application period has started as it may take some time after the test date for your test score to be published.
IELTS scores are valid for two years and the score must be valid throughout the application period. This means that the test score must not expire before to the application deadline.
Minimum requirement:
The Special Home Edition of TOEFL iBT is also accepted.
Request the TOEFL test centre to forward your results to University of Helsinki by giving the University of Helsinki's Institution Code 9872 in the Score Report Recipient field. The test organiser must make the test score available to the University of Helsinki electronically or send the score slip directly to the University of Helsinki. Test scores sent by the applicant are not accepted.
It is advisable to book your test date well before the application period has started, as it may take some time after the test date for your test score to be published.
TOEFL scores are valid for two years and your test score must be valid throughout the application period. This means it must not expire prior to the application deadline.
Minimum requirement:
To submit your C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency (formerly known as CAE and CPE) results to the Admission Services, log into your Candidate Results website and share your test result with the University of Helsinki.
It is advisable to book your test date well before the application period has started, as it may take some time after the test date for your test score to be published.
Please note that only tests taken after 2005 are accepted. Please also note that the University of Helsinki only accepts C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency, no other Cambridge language tests are accepted.
Minimum requirement:
Upload a copy of your test score with your Score Report Code in the application system. Your results will be verified from the test organiser.
It is advisable to book your test date well before the application period has started, as it may take some time after the test date for your test score to be published.
PTE Academic scores are valid for two years and the test result must be valid throughout the application period. This means it must not expire prior to the application deadline.
Minimum requirement:
Upload the copy of your National Certificate of Language Proficiency test score as a PDF file in the application system.
Your results will be verified from the test organiser.
You can prove your language skills with upper-secondary education conducted in English in the following countries:
Submit an officially certified copy of your diploma to the Admission Services. If your upper-secondary education was completed in the Nordic countries, the language of instruction must be stated on the diploma.
You can prove your language skills with the International Baccalaureate® (IB) Diploma Programme (DP) or the International Baccalaureate® (IB) Career-related Programme (CP), if your programme has been completed in English.
If your IB examination has been completed in a language other than English, you can prove your language skills with the the following grades:
Submit an officially certified copy of your diploma and grades to the Admission Services.
Alternatively you can order a Transcript of Grades from IBO and ask them to send it to the Admission Services of the University of Helsinki. University of Helsinki will get the final grades electronically from IBO.
You can prove your language skills with the European Baccalaureate. The following grades are accepted as proof of language skills:
Submit an officially certified copy of your diploma and grades to the Admission Services.
You can prove your language skills with a university degree (Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Doctoral degree, or polytechnic/university of applied science degree) completed in English in one of the following countries:
Please note that your degree/programme must be taught and assessed entirely in English.
Submit your degree certificate and transcript of records following the instructions on how to submit educational documents.
If your degree includes transfer credits from outside the specified countries/area, or courses conducted in a language other than English, the degree might not meet the requirement.
Online studies or studies completed on offshore campuses outside the accepted countries/area cannot be used to indicate language skills, even if the degree-awarding institution is located in one of the accepted countries.
The language of instruction must always be indicated clearly on the educational documents. You can prove your language skills also with an incomplete degree, if it is the same degree that you use to indicate your eligibility to Master’s level studies.
Online language studies or open university studies cannot be used to prove your language skills.
You can prove your language skills with a degree completed in a Finnish university or university of applied sciences if you have demonstrated foreign language proficiency in the English language in accordance with the Government Decree on University Degrees (794/2004) or University of Applied Sciences Degrees (1129/2014).
Submit your educational documents following the instructions for degrees completed in Finland. Upload also a copy of your degree certificate and transcript of records that show that you have met the foreign language proficiency requirement in the English language to the application system.
If your degree is incomplete, the course that meets the foreign language proficiency requirement must be registered in your transcript of records by the deadline for submitting application enclosures.
You can prove your language skills with a degree completed at a Finnish university with English as the major subject.
Submit your educational documents following the instructions for degrees completed in Finland.
Please note that degrees completed in other countries with English as the major subject are only accepted as proof of language skills if the degree also fulfils the requirements mentioned above (University degree completed in English in EU/EEA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland, UK, USA).
Please note that the test is not currently organised, but if you have taken the test earlier, you may still use it to prove your language skills when applying to doctoral programmes.
You can prove your language skills with the language skills level test for University of Helsinki applicants organised by the Helsinki University Language Services. The test includes the following sections: reading comprehension, grammar and vocabulary, writing and oral skills.
Minimum requirement:
The Admission Services will check your test result from the Language Services. You do not need to send a copy of your test result to the Admission Services.