Upcoming studies at the open university

Open university courses are available all year round. Browse the preliminary information on the courses offered in the academic year 2024-2025!

The open university provides University of Helsinki's courses for everyone interested in them. More than a thousand courses are offered annually on the University of Helsinki campuses, at partner institutions and flexibly online.  

  • The preliminary information on the academic year 2024-2025 will be updated during the spring and summer. 
  • The complete course catalogue will be published on July 2024. 
  • If you want to start your studies already before autumn, browse the course catalogue for studies in summer! Open university: Summers courses 
Preliminary information on the studies in the academic year 2024-2025
  • Courses corresponding to bachelor’s degree programmes are for the first-cycle (bachelor’s) stage of studies. Most bachelor’s level studies are available to all with no previous education in the field. 
  • Courses corresponding to master’s degree programmes are for the second-cycle (master’s) stage. For the master’s level, students must usually have some knowledge or prior studies in the field of the programme or an adjacent field.

Agricultural Science

Individual courses on a master's degree level

  • Biodiversity.now 2 cr, MOOC ♦ 
  • New! Research design and analysis 5 cr

Atmospheric Science

Individual courses on a master's degree level

  • Climate.now 2 cr, MOOC ♦
  • Introduction to Sustainability 3 cr, MOOC ♦
  • Political Economy of Sustainability 2 cr, MOOC ♦
  • Sustainability and the Arts 1 cr, MOOC ♦
  • Climate.now 5 cr
  • Leadership for Sustainable Change 2cr/5 cr
  • Sustainable.now 5 cr
  • SystemsChange.now 5 cr
  • Solution.now 5 cr
  • ClimateComms.now 2 cr
  • Living with Changing Climate 5 cr
  • Uutta! Forests and Climate Change 2 cr

Environmental and Food Economy

Individual courses on a bachelor's degree level

  • Cooperatives and Sustainable Development 5 cr

Environmental Change and Global Sustainability

Individual courses on a master's degree level

  • Introduction to Sustainability Science 5 cr
  • Philosophical and Methodological Foundations of Sustainability Science 5 cr

Courses on a bachelor's degree level

Cultural Studies  

  • Sustainable Stewardship of Nature and Indigenous Ecological Knowledge 5 cr
  • Introduction to Digital Humanities and Social Sciences 5 cr  
  • New! Introduction to Japanese culture and society 5 cr ♦
  • New! Food Culture in Japan 5 cr
  • New! Introduction to Korean History and Culture 5 cr
  • New! Bollywood and Indian Film: Methods, Analysis and Contexts 5 cr
  • New! 20th Century Korea: Politics, People and Place 5 cr 
  • New! Responses to Cultural Assimilation in the US 5 cr
  • New! US Political system and The 2024 Presidential elections 5 cr
  • New! History and Cultures of Hawaií: Archipelagic Aprraoch to North america 5 cr 
  • New! Modern textile histories – textile craft, art, and design shaping modern society 5 cr 
History
  • New! Introduction to Game Studies and Analysis 5 cr
  • New! Cultural history of pain 5 cr
  • New! Women, Power and Political Culture: Medieval to Modern 5 cr
     

 

 

Courses on a master's degree level

 

Area and Cultural Studies
  • New! Methods and Theories in Area and Cultural Studies
  • New! Transcultural Flows and Asian Diasporas
  • New! Who's got the Power? Communicating and Negotiating Authority and Identity in Indian Festival Cultures 
  • New! Reading North Korea 
  • New! Latin American Studies
  • New! Lifestyle Migration, Mobilities and Identities
  • New! Monuments, Colonialism, and Contested Public Spaces
  • New! Critical Thinking in Latin America
  • New! Arts and Politics in Latin America 

 

Cultural Heritage  
  • Archaeology 
    • New! Isotope Geochemistry for Archaeologists 5 cr 
    • New! Water Worlds 5 cr 
    • New! The Prehistory of Europe 5 cr 
    • New! Arch Sciences Module 5 cr   
    • Issues in Maritime Archaeology – Past and Present: PART 1 5 cr   
  • Museology
    • Museums and Museology: History, Theory and Sources 5 cr
    • Museums, Community, and Learning 5 cr
    • Local Museums as Spaces of Memory and History: an introduction to interdisciplinary methods 5 cr 
       
Digital Humanities
  • Ethics of Artificial Intelligence 5 cr
  • Cognition & Brain Function 5 cr
  • New! Computational Literacy  5 cr 
  • New! Programming for Digital Humanities 5 cr
  • New! Statistics for Digital Humanities 5 cr
  • New! Machine Translation 5 cr 
  • New! Current Topics in Language Technology 5 cr 
  • New! Building Natural Language Processing Applications 5 cr 
     
Gender Studies
  • New! Men, Masculinities and Society 5 cr 
     
Literary Studies
  • New! What is Literary Interpretation? 5 cr 

Philosophy

  • Philosophy of Social Sciences 5 cr
  • Philosophical and Methodological Fundations of Sustainability Science 5 cr
  • Science, Policy, and Democracy 5 cr
  • Philosophy of Quantum Theory 5 cr
  • Existential Phenomenology and Society: de Beauvoir, Merleau-Ponty, Sartre 5 cr
  • Contemporary Critical Theory 5 cr
  • Values in Science: Mainstream and Feminist Approaches 5 cr
  • Philosophy of Economics 5 cr
     
Studies of Finnish and Finno-Ugric languages and cultures
  • Indigenous Peoples, Epistemic and Linguistic Diversity 5 cr

Vetenary Medicine

Individual courses on a bachelor's degree level

  • New! Me and my Dog 3 cr, MOOC 
  • New! Me and my Cat 3 cr, MOOC 

Pharmacy

Individual courses on a master's degree level

  • Recombinant DNA-Technology in Therapeutic Protein Engineering 4 cr
  • Drug Metabolism 5 cr

Neuro Science

Individual courses on a master's degree level

  • Molecular Nutrition 5 cr 
  • Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience 5 cr

Bachelor's Programme in Science 
 

Mathematics
  • Linear Algebra and Complex Numbers 5 cr
  • Calculus IA: Limits and Differentiation 5 cr
  • Calculus IB: Integration 5 cr
  • Advanced calculus5 cr
  • Probability Calculus I 5 cr
  • Linear Algebra and Matrices II 5 cr
  • Differential Equations 5 cr
Physics
  • Interactions and Bodies 5 cr
  • Matter and Interactions 5 cr
  • Electromagnetism 5 cr
  • Radiation Fields and Photons 5 cr
  • Introduction to Quantum Physics 5 cr
  • Basics of Astronomy I 5 cr
  • Basics of Astronomy II 5 cr
Chemistry
  • Atoms, Molecules and Interactions 5 cr
  • Matter and Interactions 5 cr
  • Organic Chemistry 1 5 cr
  • Inorganic Chemistry 5 cr
Computer Science
  • Introduction to Programming, MOOC
  • Advanced Course in Programming, MOOC
  • Introduction to Databases
  • Computer and Internet
  • Data structures and Algorithms I, MOOC
  • Data Structures and Algorithms II, MOOC
  • Computing and Society
  • Data Analysis with Python 2024 MOOC

Computer Science

Courses on a bachelor's degree level
  • Cyber Security Base: Introduction to Cyber Security, MOOC
  • Cyber Security Base: Securing Software, MOOC
  • Cyber Security Base: Course Project I, MOOC
  • Server-side Web Development Ruby on Rails: Hotwire, MOOC
  • Functional Programming I, MOOC
  • Functional Programming II, MOOC
  • Elements of AI: Introduction to AI, MOOC
  • Elements of AI: Building AI: Intermediate, MOOC
  • Elements of AI: Building AI: Advanced, MOOC
  • DevOps with Docker, MOOC
  • DevOps with Docker: docker-compose, MOOC
  • DevOps with Docker: security and optimization, MOOC 
  • Core 5G and Beyond, MOOC 
  • Test-Driven Development, MOOC
  • Test-Driven Development: Full Stack, MOOC
  • Computing Tools for CS Studies, MOOC

See also: Bachelor's Programme in Science
 

Courses on a master's degree level
  • New! Approximation Algorithms
  • New! Seminar on Theoretical Computer Science
  • New! Compilers
  • Seminar on Data Management for Machine Learning
  • Distributed Systems
  • Introduction to the Internet of Things, MOOC
  • Cyber Security Base: Advanced Topics, MOOC
  • Cyber Security Base: Course Project II, MOOC
  • Cyber Security Base: Capture The Flag, MOOC
  • Full Stack Web Development, MOOC
  • Full Stack Web Development, extension 1, MOOC
  • Full Stack Web Development, extension 2, MOOC
  • Full Stack Web Development: Containers, MOOC
  • Full Stack Web Development Project, MOOC
  • Full Stack Web Development Project, MOOC
  • Full Stack Web Development Project, MOOC
  • Full Stack Web Development: TypeScript, MOOC
  • Full Stack Web Development: React Native, MOOC
  • Full Stack Web Development: Continuous Integration, MOOC
  • Full Stack Web Development: GraphQL, MOOC
  • Full Stack Web Development: Relational Databases, MOOC

 

Data Science

Individual courses on a master's degree level

  • Introduction to Data Science
  • Big Data Platforms, MOOC
  • Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
  • AI in Society: Introduction, MOOC
  • AI in Society: AI and Discrimination, MOOC
  • AI in Society: AI and State, MOOC
  • AI in Society: AI and Democracy, MOOC
  • New! Seminar on Generative AI

Geo Sciences 

Individual courses on a master's degree level

  • Environmental Geochemistry 5 op
  • Life on the Baltic Continent - A Palaeozoic History 5 op
  • Lithosphere Structure and Dynamics 5 op
  • Geodynamics 5 op
  • Environmental Magnetism 5 op

Life Informatics

Individual Courses on a master's degree level

  • Introduction to Mathematical Biology I 5 cr
  • Bayesian Data Analysis 5 cr
  • Clinical Data Mining 5 cr

Mathematics 

Individual courses on a bachelor's degree level

  • Advanced Calculus 5 cr
  • Calculus IA: Limits and Differentiation 5 cr 
  • Calculus IB: Integration 5 cr
  • Introduction to Logic I 5 op 
  • Introduction to Logic II 5 op 

See also: Bachelor's Programme in Science

Microbiology 

Individual courses on a master's degree level

  • Food and Environmental Hygiene and Control 5 cr
  • Seminar in Evolution of Microbioal Pathogenesis 5 cr 

Physics

Individual courses on a bachelor's degree level

  • Laboratory Exercises in Basic Studies of Physics I 5 cr
  • Laboratory Exercises in Basic Studies of Physics II 5 cr

See also: Bachelor's Programme in Science

Individual courses on a bachelor's degree level

  • New! Education and Social Justice 5 cr 
  • Finnish School and Subject Education 5 cr

 

Courses on a master's degree level: 

 

Master's program in Education

  • Neuroscience of Special Education 5 cr

 

Master's program in Changing Education

  • Uncover Finnish Education 3 cr MOOC
  • Uncover Finnish Education 2 cr
  • Neuroscientific Approach to Artistic and Practical Subjects 5 cr
  • Neuroscience in Educational Sciences 5 cr
  • Introduction to Comparative and International Education: Policies and Practices 5 cr  
  • Finnish School and Subject Education 5 cr

Agricultural, Environmental and Resource Economics  

Individual courses on a master's degree level

  • Cost-Benefit Analysis 5 cr
  • Sustainable Rural Social Entrepreneurship 5 cr
  • Qualitative Methods in Agricultural, Environmental and Resource Economics 5 cr

Law Studies

Individual courses on a master's degree level

  • Introduction to Data Protection Law 2 cr, MOOC 
  • International and European Migration Law 5 cr 

Social Sciences

Individual courses on a bachelor's degree level

  • Theoretical Thinking in Sociology 5 cr

Individual courses on a master's degree level

  • New! Sociology of Belonging 5 cr
  • Social Psychological Perspectives on Inequalities 5 cr
  • New! Critical and Intersectional Social Psychologies of Gender 5 cr
  • Sustainable Welfare, Sustainability Course II 5 cr
  • Sustainable Welfare 5 cr
  • Disability in Global Perspectives 5 cr

Master's Programme in English Studies

  • Working with Text in Python 5 cr MOOC
  • Natural Language Processing for Linguists 5 cr MOOC

Other courses

  • New! Advanced Business English Communication 2 op
  • Advanced English: Professional Writing 2 op
  • New!: Advanced Chinese 4: Speaking and Writing in the Workplace 4 op
  • New! Elementary Course in Ukrainian 5 cr
  • Slavic Peoples and Languages 5 cr
  • New! Latvian 1 5 cr