Career

After graduating from the Master’s Programme in Genetics and Molecular Biosciences (GMB), you will be well-prepared to continue with postgraduate studies or move on to a career, for example as an expert in public administration or biotechnology companies. Your choice of specialisation and optional courses allows you to profile your skills in the direction you aim to follow for your future career.
Career opportunities for graduates

GMB graduates can find employment as specialists in private or public sectors or continue their studies towards a doctoral degree. The Master of Science (MSc) is a generalist degree, giving you the ability to work in basic and applied research and to act as an expert in public administration, the private sector and biotechnology companies. 

Typically the jobs are in the following fields:

  • research and development in the public sector (universities, research institutes) or private companies (e.g., biotechnology companies, pharmaceutical industry)
  • education (basic and upper secondary education, universities, universities of applied sciences, organizations)
  • expertise-based communication, consultation and decision-making (government, universities, public and private organizations, healthcare, companies, media)
  • self-employment (entrepreneurship)

The professional titles of graduates in molecular biosciences include senior researcher, entrepreneur, forensic chemist, research and development chemist, product manager, senior officer, editor and teacher. Your future profession and employment can be as unique as you are.

The teaching is based on the latest research, so your education is closely related and applicable to emerging fields such as bio-economy, nanotechnology, personal health and biological drugs. Some hot development areas in biotechnology include renewable energy and environmental technology. These sectors will require new kinds of specialists possessing a wide and comprehensive understanding of molecular life sciences. After graduation, you could act, for example, in health life sciences as a quality manager, laboratory specialist, scientific writer, clinical research monitor, or an expert in administration.

The graduates achieve a lot of success, both in corporations and academia, due to the strong academic culture combined with practical knowledge.
Competence

In the Master’s Programme in Genetics and Molecular Biosciences, you will acquire a Master of Science degree (MSc). It makes you eligible for admission to postgraduate/doctoral studies.

Finnish- or Swedish-speaking students can also qualify as biology teachers, provided that certain criteria are fulfilled. If you were admitted into the programme in 2019, you will not be able to apply for a study right in pedagogical studies during your Master's studies. However, you can apply for a study right after you have completed the Master's degree.

If you have selected genetics and genomics as your specialisation and are fluent in Finnish or Swedish, you will be eligible to continue your studies towards qualifying as a hospital geneticist, provided that you have chosen the required courses and modules during your studies. 

Career services

Studies are part of your career. The Career Services at the University of Helsinki, in cooperation with degree programmes, supports the growth of your expert identity as part of your studies and with separate services. From the start of your studies until one year after the completion of your degree, Career Services supports your career path and

  • gives career counselling and job seeking support, 
  • arranges info sessions, workshops and events, 
  • provides suitable job and traineeship offers for students,
  • shares university’s subsidy for traineeships and  
  • facilitates group mentoring programmes.
Group mentoring programme: UNITalent

Do you want to build a career in Finland? Get valuable insight into Finnish working life and build your professional networks by applying to our group mentoring programme. 

In the HelsinkiUNI International Talent Programme (UNITalent), a group of international talents is hosted by a local company or organisation. 

Successful applicants will get to:

  • learn about expert work first-hand from a local organisation.
  • hear about different kinds of career paths in a specific sector in Finland.
  • start building their professional network in Finland.
  • support the host in gaining an international perspective by sharing their perspective. 
  • learn career management skills. 

International master’s degree students at the University of Helsinki can apply as well as Finnish students who have completed their degree abroad.

Improve your career options with Finnish

Although international students can get by with English in the Helsinki region, learning Finnish will significantly improve your career options after graduation.

The University of Helsinki offers free Finnish language courses for enrolled international degree students. The beginners and intermediate level courses are not only a way to learn the language, but you also learn more about Finnish culture and get to network with other international students across the fields.

Doctoral education

The Master’s degree makes you eligible for admission to postgraduate/doctoral studies. The strong research orientation of the programme provides you with an excellent background for doctoral studies and a research career in Finland or abroad. 

At the University of Helsinki, the relevant doctoral programmes include:

Where students work after graduation?

The University of Helsinki conducts career monitoring surveys to collect information on graduate employment and the skills needs of employers. Career monitoring aims to determine how well a university education can meet the requirements of professional life. The data collected are used, among other things, for developing the career skills of current students.

According to the surveys, general skills gained from the studies include :

  • the ability to describe their skills (this had been the most important factor for their employment)
  • the ability to learn and adopt new things as well as self-direction/initiative
  • cooperation skills
  • problem-solving skills and stress tolerance.
International experience, organisational work or hobbies, and social media activity have been important or highly important for the employment of some respondents, even though these factors don’t stand out at the University level"
Alumni of the Uni­versity of Helsinki

After graduation, the world is wide open and full of possibilities. How can you venture forward to make the career path you want? What kind of work would you like to do? What kind of life should you lead? The Helsinki alumni community is there to support you as you transition from the University to the world of work.

All previous University of Helsinki degree and exchange students, as well as staff, are our alumni. As a member of the University of Helsinki alumni network, Finland’s largest network of experts, you get valuable support, knowledge and contacts for your working life.

More about the programme