The changed admissions information will be published in Finnish and Swedish on the University of Helsinki website.
On 9 April 2020, Finnish universities concluded that the coronavirus outbreak prevents the safe organisation of traditional entrance examinations in 2020. As a result, faculties faced the exceptional situation in which they had to change the 2020 admissions criteria after the application deadline. The changes apply to all options available for application in which the application procedure includes an entrance examination.
“There is nothing we can do about the current situation, but we are truly sorry for the inconvenience caused to applicants who had already prepared for a traditional entrance examination. We have done our best to ensure that the admissions procedures used in these circumstances are as fair as possible for all applicants,” says Sari Lindblom, University of Helsinki vice-rector responsible for student admissions and academic affairs.
The decision to change the admissions criteria was taken with the health of both applicants and staff in mind. The purpose is to conduct admissions in ways that avoid physical contact.
“In this spring’s joint application procedure of Finnish higher education institutions, more than 32,000 people applied to the University of Helsinki. Having thousands of people gather in the same facilities for several hours would inevitably expose both staff and applicants to the risk of infection, even if the applicants were divided up into several rooms on different campuses. In addition, the risk of infection would be multiplied if groups of people were moving between locations,” Lindblom adds.
Each option available for application still offers at least two application routes. Detailed information on entrance examinations and related completion methods will, as a rule, be published on an option-specific basis approximately one week before the entrance examination.
The shared goal of Finnish universities is to complete the amended admissions process and begin the 2020–2021 academic year in the autumn according to the regular timetable.
Further information:
Changes to admissions information in Finnish and Swedish on the University of Helsinki website