Frequently Asked Questions

COURSES

What courses should I take?

At the beginning of your studies, you will create a personal study plan with your teachers who will help you find which courses suit you best and what obligatory courses you need to take. The personal study plan will be created in a tool called Sisu. When it comes to elective courses, it all depends on what you are interested in, and you are quite free to take anything that you like. If you are, for example, a general linguistics major, you could complement your studies with language technology, or a phonetics student might be interested in cognitive science, or vice versa. You can also take courses from other programmes and faculties as long as you fulfill their prerequisites.

 

Where can I find the courses?  

Preliminary teaching programmes contain information on which courses can be completed during the academic year, in which period, in which language and what is their method of completion. The final teaching programmes for master’s programmes are published in . LingDig is an interdisciplinary programme and therefore we encourage our students to take courses from other study tracks within the programme but also from other study tracks or even faculties. Remember to check the prerequisites other subjects may have and if you have the study right to take the courses.  

and  

, , list the track-specific courses.

STUDY TRACKS

What are the study tracks and how do they differ from one other?

The study tracks that are part of the integrated international master’s programme in Linguistic Diversity and Digital Humanities (LingDig) are: general linguistics, cognitive science, digital humanities, language technology and phonetics.  

When you apply, you choose one track as your major. All the tracks follow this structure: 75 credits of advanced studies + 45 credits of elective studies (= 120 credits). The 75 credits you will study within the LingDig programme and the 45 credits you can choose freely from other LingDig studies or any faculty or university.

Can I take courses from other study tracks?

Yes. You can place them to the elective studies (45 credits)

EMPLOYMENT 

How many are employed right away? Where do students go after graduation?

In general, alumni of the Faculty of Arts have a high employment rate. Our recent survey of over forty LingDig alumni suggests that most graduates find that skills they acquired during their studies are highly relevant and valuable in their careers. Get inspired by our , and see our to learn more!

Check also what . From the you can for example see where the alumni work, and if there are open job positions at the university.

NATIONALITIES, LANGUAGES

Where do the students come from? 

Our students come from all over the world, and we can’t know much in advance which nationalities we will have each year. Approximately one-third of the students in the programme are international and the remaining are Finnish.

Overall, the University of Helsinki has a total of 31,600 degree students of which 3,215 are international degree and exchange students. In 2021, alongside Finland, the highest number of admitted students to the university came from China, the USA and Bangladesh.

What languages do I need to study and live in Finland?

LingDig is an international programme and therefore the teaching language is English. Finland is a bilingual country: our official languages are Finnish and Swedish. Living in Finland is a great opportunity to learn a non-Indo-European language and learning the local language will boost your understanding of what is going on around you in Finnish society and culture! Finns have good proficiency in English, so you can take care of your everyday tasks in English as well. Finnish people love it though, if someone tries to speak Finnish, so Finnish courses can be useful in that sense as well.

OTHER MATTERS

Housing 

Check the . We recommend you start your house hunting as soon as possible. Helsinki is quite an expensive city to live in, so be prepared to pay at least €500-€600 per month for a studio apartment. In a shared apartment, the rent is around €200-€400. The university cannot guarantee you an apartment but it is available to help you in your search. The LingDig programme does not have apartments to offer for students and questions related to housing should be sent directly to the housing organization, for instance, to HOAS ().

Healthcare

As a degree student in Finland, you are entitled to the . FSHS is an affordable health service, and you get access to it when you pay the healthcare fee. . Any further questions are to be directed to FSHS.

Didn’t find an answer to your question? Here you can find the for Admission services, Student services and other helpful university services.