Welcome new 2026 Bachelor's students in Liberal Arts & Sciences

You are about to start a new exciting phase in your life, the Bachelor's Programme in Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Helsinki. Begin your journey by reading this welcome page with the greetings from the Rector and the Programme Director, and other useful information for starting your studies in autumn 2026.

The admission results for Bachelor's Programme in Liberal Arts and Sciences (Admission group 1) from the application round between 2 Jan 2026 and 16 Jan 2026 and (Admission group 2) from the application round 10–24 March 2026 have been sent to the applicants to the e-mail address given on their application form. The results can also be found in the .

Greetings from Rector Sari Lindblom

Congratulations! You have made an excellent decision in choosing the University of Helsinki, a place for both personal and scholarly advances — breakthroughs for life. Whether major or minor, they may come as insights, friendships or academic achievements.

For some time, the world has gone through major social and political changes. It creates uncertainty and fear when we don’t fully understand what is happening or what the consequences will be. These global shifts are also reflected at universities, shaping both research and teaching. Our aim is to deepen understanding and bring hope by working toward long‑term solutions.

At the University of Helsinki, one of the world’s top 1% research universities, we have since 1640 educated experts for an unknown future. In our Bachelor’s programmes, you get a truly interdisciplinary education based on high-quality research. You learn from world-class scholars, develop skills in analytical and critical thinking, problem-solving, and learn to understand broad interdisciplinary topics and perceive causalities. As sustainability is essential for future professionals, it is also an integral part of our course offering.

After completing your Bachelor’s degree, you can continue to Master’s programmes at the University of Helsinki, other universities in Finland or abroad.

But education is more than book learning. The University is also a place to explore your interests, challenge yourself, and build lifelong friendships — a place where breakthroughs begin. I strongly encourage you to get involved with our many student organisations. Extracurricular activities are a vital part of your study experience: they bring friends, networks, and important life skills such as curiosity, social skills and grit. 

Lastly, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of taking care of your health and wellbeing. If you feel overwhelmed, ask for help. Support is available for our students. We must all support one another.

For 386 years, our university community has helped shape society. I am delighted and honoured to welcome you to be part of this continuing journey!

Kind regards,
Sari Lindblom
Rector of the University of Helsinki

Our aim is to deepen understanding and bring hope by working toward long‑term solutions.
Welcome to our programme

We are eagerly looking forward to meeting you, our very first LAS students!

I'm personally very excited to put into practice all that we've developed during the last three years of preparation! The LAS programme is a community of curious and open-minded teachers and students exploring ideas and unexpected connections. In this programme, you will dive into a wide range of disciplines and learn to look at complex questions from multiple angles. Along the way, you will develop powerful skills in analysis, problem‑solving, and critical thinking that will help you thrive in a world where adaptability matters more than ever. We can’t wait to hear your perspectives, the questions you will ask, and the ideas you will develop together with your fellow students.

In early spring, we've added lots of new info to these webpages, so suggest you check them out once more. However, there are four things I particularly want to draw your attention to:

  1. A section on research into the benefits of LAS programmes has been added to the page.
  2. Details on the contents of all the LAS study modules, down to the course level, are now linked to from the page describing the of the programme.
  3. The page listing involved with the programme has been updated. Visit it to discover more about who planned the programme, and who you’ll be interacting with once you get here (particularly the group of )!
  4. A list of questions and answers from the online information event for the programme has been added to the bottom of this page. From it, you'll also find a link to a recording of the event and the presentation materials shown there.

Again, looking forward to meeting you in Helsinki!

On behalf of the programme,

Programme director

Looking forward to meeting you in Helsinki!
Your first steps as a new student

Start your journey at the University of Helsinki by ensuring your study place and making sure that you take all the necessary steps to make the start of your studies as smooth as possible. 

First steps for all new students

Ensure your study place and a smooth start of your studies by taking the following steps:

  • Read your acceptance letter and the  carefully.
  • Visit the  to get guidance on what to do before and upon your arrival to Helsinki.
  • by 9 July 2026 or within the deadline mentioned in your acceptance letter.
  • as soon as possible, at the latest 31 Aug 2026. Registration for the academic year 2026–2027 begins on 1 April 2026.
  • If your acceptance was conditional, the deadline for conditionally admitted applicants to is 31 Aug 2026 at 15.00 (UTC +3).
  • will guide you through the steps you need to take on your path to the University of Helsinki.
  • Monitor your inbox. You will receive newsletters with useful information about starting your studies and life in Helsinki. You will find them all in the  if you miss an issue.
  • Register for and get to know your future classmates and other students already before your studies begin. You will receive your personal invitation by email in May.
Are you an international student? Check out some additional steps.

If you are an international student, you should also take the following steps:

  • Get health insurance (non-EU/EEA students), a European Health Insurance Card (citizens of EU/EEA) or a UK Global Health Insurance Card (UK Citizens). .
  • Apply for a  (non-EU/EEA students) and book an appointment to prove your identity at a Finnish mission as soon as possible. The process can take several months, even half a year.
  • !
  • Check our to make sure you have adequate funding for the entire period of your studies. Attend the Financing Your Studies -webinar on Wed 29 April 2026 at 16:00–17:00 (UTC+3). A personal invitation will be sent to all admitted international students by email. A recording will be available afterwards.
  • Attend the Webinar for new international students on Wed 22 April 2026 at 14:00–15:00 (UTC+3). A personal invitation will be sent to all admitted international students by email. A recording will be available afterwards.
  • Attend the Student Life in Helsinki -webinar by the Student Union HYY on Tue 5 May 2026 14:00–15:00 (UTC+3). A personal invitation will be sent to all admitted international students by email. The recording will be available afterwards.
  • Complete the for a smooth transition to your studies at UH. The course opens in April.
  • Attend the Pre-arrival -webinar on 11 August 2026. A personal invitation will be sent to all admitted non-Finnish students by email closer to the event. A recording will be available afterwards.
  • Join our :
    • Survival Finnish with three online meetings in August (date and details to be confirmed)
  • Moving to Finland with children? Our on the Studies Service can help you with the information you might need.
Studying in the programme

If you want a sneak peek into what you’ll be studying, details on the contents of each of the LAS study modules down to the course level are now available from the main curriculum information system, linked to from the page describing the

In the , you will find practical information for the University of Helsinki students in one place, for example:

  • Bulletins and current topics regarding your studies. Remember to always select Liberal Arts and Sciences in the dropdown menu.
  • Instructions for students, e.g. a section  and tools to .
  •  where you can filter and look for available courses (the teaching for the academic year 2026–27 will be published by the end of June). The preliminary teaching programme will be published by the end of March on the page
Support when your studies start

Academic freedom is highly valued and a capability to study independently is required at the University of Helsinki. However, you will not be left alone. Many helping hands and events will guide you through the start of your studies.

  • Your studies in Helsinki will start with an orientation week on Monday 24 August 2026.  You will be assigned to a tutor group led by a senior student and get to know your fellow students and teachers. You will learn more about studying in LAS and at the University of Helsinki and get support with administrative matters and registering for courses. This will make it easier for you to start your studies and life in Helsinki. Your student tutor will contact you in August and meet you personally when the orientation activities begin. You can also meet some tutors in the Goin’ Connect app!

  • A detailed will be published in the Instructions for students later in the spring and summer. Select “Bachelor’s Programme in Liberal Arts and Sciences” in the dropdown menu to access the programme-specific information. Please note that the orientation is a compulsory part of your degree. If you miss the orientation week, the start of your studies will be more time-consuming and challenging, as you have to take care of everything independently and make up for your absence.

  • During the first week of your studies, the pink ASK ME! -logo will guide you with any questions you have!
  • The Student Union (HYY) organises an event in September to introduce freshers to their activities and student organisations.
  • The  gives you guidance and support all year round.
  • According to our students, professors and teachers are easily approachable when you need help or consultation.

International Degree student's journey

Students have lots of services at their disposal from the moment they apply to life after graduation. The International Degree Student's Journey has been designed to help international students understand and navigate the services available to them.

Get to know our students and student life

What do our students think about studying in at the University of Helsinki? How is student life or housing in Helsinki? 

  • on our platform to get answers to your questions (note that questions related to admissions should be directed to the ).
  • The  are a great way to get an overview of student life in Helsinki.
  • by the University of Helsinki students and alumni to find out about their studies and student life, and how they've gotten support with their aspirations and goals.
  • Watch student stories on our .
  • Watch Made by Students videos on our .
Our active community of students

The Student Union of the University of Helsinki (HYY) advocates students’ interests both at the university and in society. They organise services, benefits and events so that you as a student can focus on the most important part: studying and student life.

Extracurricular opportunities are an important part of your study experience. Over operating within the Student Union (HYY) open up a field of opportunities for you.

Learning environments

Within the LAS programme, you will get to study on three of the four campuses of the University of Helsinki:

  • is the largest campus with many different faculties. LAS courses in social data science, digital humanities, education and cultural studies are held on the Centre Campus.
  • is home to the Faculty of Science. LAS courses focusing on data science, mathematics and statistics will be held in Kumpula.
  • is where the courses in ecology and adaptation, economics of natural resources and forestry will take place.
  • the core LAS courses will have lectures on all three campuses.

During the orientation week, the tutor groups will tour all three campuses. If you want, you can already have a sneak peek through the virtual campus tours .

University of Helsinki in brief

The University of Helsinki, one of the world's top 1% research universities, is a place for both personal and scholarly advances. Whether major or minor, they may come as personal insights, enduring friendships or academic achievements. 

A place where breakthroughs begin — since 1640.

Our core values

Breakthroughs are born from freedom to learn, explore and find your own path. The ability to ask questions, think critically, and seek new knowledge. From cultivating an understanding of oneself, others, and the world. A community where everyone can feel included.

For international students

How is the city of Helsinki for students? What's special about studying in Finland and what are the quick facts about the country? What do you need to take into consideration when planning a budget for your studies in Finland? Check out the information for international students on our website.

Contacts and useful links

If you have questions related to the admissions and accepting your student place, please contact the .

If you have questions about the content of the Bachelor's Programme in Liberal Arts and Sciences, please contact the .

Questions & Answers, gathered from the online information event of the programme
What should I do if I can't be present for all days of the orientation week?

It would be good to let your student tutor know. The programme can be found here:  

 

Can a Bachelor's thesis combine disciplines?

Emphatically yes! Cross-disciplinarity is actively encouraged throughout LAS.

What's the difference between the disciplines and the study tracks?

Disciplines represent the individual fields of knowledge that you can study within LAS. The study tracks (or specialisations) are pre-selected loose groupings of the disciplines that lead to sensible expert profiles and already grant eligibility for certain Master's options. However, these are also not even the end of it, as there are also other master's options from the programme (and thus sensible disciplinary combinations). Thus, when looking for your options on disciplinary combinations, we suggest actually starting from the master's option eligibility definitions.

Is there a limit to the amount of students that can be accepted to specific courses? Is it possible that there won't be enough places on the course and I'll have to choose another course?

In general across the university, individual courses sometimes have limits, but within the courses explicitly part of the LAS curriculum, we've done our best to ensure this wouldn't become a problem.

Are there opportunities for studying abroad within the program?

Due to attracting students from a broad international pool, a varied international experience is already baked into the programme. However, exchange periods at partner universities abroad are also available as an option. 

What options will we have for foreign language studies? Apart from Finnish and Swedish? And on the other hand, for Finnish mother tongue students, will we be able to take some academic writing courses for our mother tongue?

The language centre offers courses in many different languages (including Finnish as a native language)

Just to clarify, non-Finnish speaking students are able to get language courses and get credits for those, which will also be useful in the future for choosing a masters degree?

Yes. 

Firstly, we specifically encourage our international students to take up to 30 credits of Finnish, which should be enough both for an everyday proficiency as well as passing the language proficiency tests required for continuing also into Finnish language Master's programmes. 

Secondly, apart from Finnish, the language centre offers courses suitable also for non-Finnish speakers in a variety of languages.

Both options are eligible for inclusion as part of your Bachelor's degree.

A bit of a silly question, but I saw that students at the University of Helsinki get colorful overalls at the start of their studies. Out of curiosity, will the LAS program also get these (if so, has the color been established)?

The overalls and their colours rest in the domain of student organisations. So to get an overall, you'll have to first establish your own student organisation for the LAS students, and then you'll get to decide its colour for yourselves!

Which student organization is in charge of our tutoring?

Because LAS is a new programme, the students in charge of tutoring for the first year have been sourced from the various programmes adjacent to it.

Will we get an opportunity to explore work life within the program? e.g. internships within the university?

A 5-credit work-life course is part of the programme. This course may also be accomplished through an internship. In addition, research adjacency is also baked into the design of the programme, within its project course, bachelor's seminar, etc. 

At the same time, it must be said that most paid internship opportunities usually appear only on the master's level.

Similar to the question about interships, is it common in general for students to work part-time while studying? Even outside the scope of the university.

In general, full-time devotion to studies is assumed in order to be able to graduate in three years. The career services also have some resources specifically for international students regarding funding your studies, so check them out.

Do you think that by the time we have our Bachelor's degree, there will be new masters courses coming additionally to the already existing ones to LAS?

There are no plans to extend the Liberal Arts and Sciences programme to the Master's level. 

Instead, the programme has been designed to pair well with a wide range of existing (inter)disciplinary master's programmes at the university and beyond.

And actually, research has shown this to be kind of the optimal approach, where students from LAS Bachelors continuing through (inter)disciplinary Master's perform at least as well or better in their Master's studies as students coming from disciplinary Bachelor's, and then move on to perform equally well in their work lives.

Which campus will most of the lectures be at, or will they be spread across all three?

Generally, disciplinary lectures will be at the campus where the discipline lives (Kumpula for computer science and maths, Viikki for the life sciences, and the City Centre campus for the others). 

Core LAS courses will be organised where expedient with regard to the disciplinary teaching. In the first autumn, the core teaching will be held in Viikki.

Can we get a link to the recording/presentation from the online event for new students