Master's Degree Programme in Photonics

The application period opens on 7 January 2026 and closes on 21 January 2026 at 3 pm (EET). The applicants need to apply through the national Studyinfo portal at studyinfo.fi. Each applicant can only fill in and submit one application form in the 1. joint application.

Eligibility

Degree certificate

A previous bachelor’s degree* corresponding to at least 3 years of full-time academic studies (equivalent of 180 ECTS credit units in the Finnish university system) from an institution for higher education is required from all master’s programme applicants. The degree must be awarded by an internationally recognised university or university of applied sciences. The degree should entitle the applicant to apply to master's studies in the country where the degree has been awarded. 

*Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in physics, optics, photonics, physical and engineering sciences with an extensive physics basic education, or another discipline related to the programme, entailing proficiency in physics and mathematics.

Admission is conditional if applicant applies to the programme with a degree that is not finished during the application period. It is required that the applicants deliver officially certified copies of the final degree certificate and the transcript of records to the programme coordinator by 30 July 2026.

The applicants should follow the guidelines given for the temporary (provisional) degree certificate and for official translations and country-specific requirements here.

Language requirements

Applicants must either (1) meet the language proficiency criteria (see below), or (2) reach the minimum required language test results to be considered eligible to the University of Eastern Finland. No exceptions will be made and no waivers to the language proficiency requirements are given. 

(1) Applicants who hold one of the following do not have to take an English language test 

1. a) A language test is not required if the applicant has completed Finnish Matriculation Examination, English language (A-language, advanced syllabus) with a minimum grade of magna cum laude approbatur (M)  

1. b) A language test is not required if the applicant has completed their secondary education in English language in EU/EEA -countries, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand or in Switzerland. The applicants from EU/EEA -countries and Switzerland must prove the language of instruction. The medium of instruction must be clearly stated on the educational documents. If the documents do not explicitly mention English as the medium of instruction, applicants must provide an additional official statement issued by a representative of their educational institution confirming this. 

1. c) A language test is not required if the applicant has completed a Bachelor’s, Master’s or higher degree in an English-taught programme in EU/EEA -countries, or in one of the following countries:
Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Cameroon, Dominica, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gambia, Grenada, Guyana, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South-Africa, Switzerland, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

The applicants from these countries must prove the language of instruction. The medium of instruction must be clearly stated on the educational documents. If your documents do not explicitly mention English as the medium of instruction, you must provide an additional official statement issued by a representative of your educational institution confirming this.

1. d) A language test is not required if the applicant has completed a Bachelor’s, Master’s or higher degree in an English-taught programme in Australia, Canada, Ghana, Ireland, New Zealand, Nigeria, the United Kingdom or the United States.  The applicants prove their language skills with a university degree.

The degree/programme must be taught and assessed in English (at least 50 % of the degree must be completed in English). If applicants verify their language skills with their education degree, the language of instruction must be clearly indicated on the educational documents.

Online studies or studies completed on offshore campuses outside the accepted countries/area cannot be used to indicate language skills, even if the degree-awarding institution is in one of the accepted countries.

(2) All other applicants have to take one of the following language tests  

• TOEFL iBT, overall score 92, min. 22 in writing
• IELTS (academic) overall score 6.5, min. 6.0 in writing
• PTE (academic), overall score 62, min 54 in writing
• C1 Advanced overall score C or 180, with min. 162 in writing
• C2 Proficiency overall score level C1 or 180, with min. 162 in writing
• National Certificate of Language Proficiency YKI-test: level 5 in all different subtests (reading  comprehension, writing, speaking comprehension and speaking). It is possible to combine different examinations. 
  
   

Kindly note that the University of Eastern Finland also accepts the following tests:

• IELTS Academic online and UKVI tests, IELTS One Skill Retake test results
• PTE Academic online and UKVI tests
• TOEFL iBT Home Edition tests, MyBest Scores

No other degrees or statements of language proficiency will be accepted.

TOEFL, IELTS and PTE certificates are valid for two years from the day they are issued, i.e. the language test needs to be in effect during the application period, from 7 January 2024 onwards.

The language test results must be verifiable from the online verification service of the organiser. 

More information about submitting the language test reports is available here. 

The applicant needs to apply through national Studyinfo portal at studyinfo.fi. Application form is available at studyinfo.fi only when the call for applications is open (7.1.2026-21.1.2026). Once you have filled out the online application, required enclosures must be uploaded electronically to the application form (recommended file types pdf and jpeg, max. file size 1.0 GB) by 28.1.2026 at 15.00 (EET). Please make sure that you upload each enclosure to the right place in the application form.  More information about how to submit documents is available here.

UEF does not process application documents that have arrived after the deadline.

Instructions in a nutshell

• Make sure you know the admission requirements (content above). Sign up for a language test, if required and/or necessary.
• When the application period begins, fill out the online application form with care, upload all the required documents in electronic format and submit the online application.
• Required enclosures (content below) must be uploaded electronically to the application. Please see more information on How to submit documents.
  • We accept high quality scans of the original degree certificates and transcripts, along with translations when required.
  • Please scan original documents carefully, always in color, and include all pages. Blurry, discolored, or flawed scans will not be accepted. PDF format is recommended to ensure compatibility across all operating systems.
  • Recommended file types: PDF or JPEG; max. file size: 1.0 GB.
  • The University of Eastern Finland also accepts electronic transcripts submitted through a few recognized sources. Please see Electronic Transcripts for details.
• Make sure your application enclosures are uploaded by the given deadline at 3 pm (EET). Also the language test results must reach the University of Eastern Finland by the deadline.
• Should you have any questions about completing your application and uploading the documents to UEF application form, please contact our admissions office, [email protected]. 

Each application must include the following documents:

The required enclosures need to be uploaded electronically to the application in Studyinfo.fi by 28 January 2026 at 3 pm (EET) at the latest. UEF does not process application documents that have arrived after the deadline.

• Bachelor’s Degree Certificate (and an official English translation of it if needed)
• An official Transcript of Records (and an official English translation of it if needed). The transcript should include the course units, their completion time, grades, and credits awarded, and information on the grading scale used at the institution.
• English language certificate
• Copy of passport / ID
• A certificate of name change (if applicant’s name has changed after receiving the previous degree)
• Merits of the applicant form: link to the form (Word). Download the document, fill in the information, save the document as pdf and attach the form (pdf) into your application in Studyinfo.fi (if you don’t have Word on use, copy the questions into another word processing program, write your answers, save the file as a pdf, and attach it to your application).
• A motivation video* of the applicant in English. Max. duration of the video is 1,5 minutes (90 seconds). In the video, describe the reasons why you are interested in photonics and why you are applying to the Master's degree program in Photonics at UEF, and your future educational and/or career plans in the field of photonics. 

*The video format must be one of the following: x-m4v, x-matroska, x-msvideo, mpeg, ogg, webm, 3gpp, 3gpp2, mp4, MP2T, quicktime, x-ms-wmv, x-ms-vob. Maximum size of the video file is 1 GB.

All enclosures are compulsory for the selection process and without these enclosures the applicant cannot be selected for the studies.

More information about the attachments is available here.

Description of admissions criteria 

The admission processes in the Master's Degree Programme in Photonics aims at fair selection of high-quality applicants. Student selection is based on the application documents and evaluation how the applicant’s skills and competences gained by the previous academic studies correspond to the master's studies applied for. Meeting the minimum application requirements does not guarantee acceptance to the programme.

Applicants will be ranked according to the selection criteria below (total points from criteria 1 to 5). The best 20 applicants are accepted to the programme and the rest of the applicants are rejected. The programme may accept more applicants by discretion to fulfill the available study places in the programme.  Applicants are not placed on the waiting list.

The applications will be graded using the following criteria: 

1. Suitability and the content of the previous studies to the area of Photonics (transcript of records, Merits of the applicant form): (0-25 points)
2. Applicant's success in the previous studies in general (transcript of records): (0-5 points)
3. Applicant's success in the previous studies of the suitable field of science (transcript of records:mathematics, photonics/physics & programming + ICT): (0-15 points)
4. Prestige and level of the home university (based on international university rankings): (0-10 points)
5. Applicant's motivation to apply for studies (Motivation video): (0-15 points)

Maximum total points are 70. 

Selection results

Results for studies starting in September 2026 will be published on 27 May 2026 at the latest. When the selection decision has been made, the results will be posted immediately to the applicants by e-mail.

Admitted students shall inform whether they accept their study place by latest on 9 July 2026 at 3 pm (EEST) electronically via Studyinfo portal or by submitting the confirmation form to the admission office, [email protected]. 

According to One study place per term provision, a student may accept only one study place leading to a higher education degree in Finland during one academic term. This rule applies to all higher education.

Appeal 

If the applicant disagrees with the student selection decision, the applicant may apply for rectification of the decision from the Dean of the faculty. It is possible to make a request for rectification only after the admission results have been made and published. The deadline is 10 June 2026 at 3 pm (EEST) at the latest. The instructions for making a request for rectification can be found on Admissions results website. 

Additional information 

Conditional acceptance 

All accepted students must provide officially certified copies of their degree certificate and transcript of academic records. Verification of educational documents can be done electronically or by sending certified paper documents, according to the UEF instructions. Admission will remain conditional until document verification is complete. Failure to verify documents by 29 May 2026 will result in the cancellation of the conditional study offer.

In addition, non-EU/EEA students who are required to pay tuition fees will be conditionally accepted until they have paid the required tuition fees. 

Tuition fees, waivers and scholarships

Annual tuition fee for non-EU/EEA students is 10 000 EUR. There are no tuition fees for students who are citizens of EU/EEA -countries or Switzerland. 

Non-EU/EEA applicants can apply for tuition fee waivers when applying for admission to the university by filling out the relevant section on the application form. The decision about the waiver is made in connection with the student admission, and the applicant is notified of the matter in the letter of notification of the admission results. The waiver is personal, and it is awarded for two academic years. The waiver exempts the student from the tuition fee partially (50%). Tuition fee waivers are awarded to a limited number of accepted students based on their application scores. There is no waiting list. The tuition fee waiver is tied to the tuition fee obligation. 

UEF Scholarship: 100% tuition waiver for the entire duration of the studies (2 years for Master’s). The UEF Scholarship is awarded to the highest-ranked tuition fee-liable student based on admission results (one scholarship per programme). The scholarship is tied to the tuition fee obligation.

The Early Bird deduction ends on 10 June 2026. The tuition fee payment for the academic year 2026–2027 needs to be made by 31 August 2026. In addition, Student Union membership fee and Kela student health care fee is obligatory for the degree students.Kindly note that there is an application fee.

More information available here.