Bachelor's Degree Programme in Information Technology

Eligible applicants hold an upper secondary education certificate:

• Finnish matriculation examination
• International Baccalaureate degree (IB)
• European Baccalaureate degree (EB)
• Deutsches Internationales Abitur degree (DIA) or Reifeprüfung degree (RP) in Finland
• A Finnish vocational upper secondary qualification, further vocational qualification or specialist vocational qualification as set in the Vocational Education Act (531/2017)
• any other comparable upper secondary educational qualification which provides eligibility for university-level Bachelor’s studies in the country in question.
• Advanced International Certificate of Education degree (AICE) in Finland, or has the right to study towards a university degree in Finland, or holds a degree conferred by a Finnish higher education institution or at least a Bachelor level degree conferred by a foreign institution.

Applicants who are in the final semester of their upper secondary education are also eligible to apply.
Completed Finnish matriculation examinations and Finnish vocational qualifications of which the university has received information by 14 June 2024 will be taken into account. International matriculation examinations and degrees completed abroad will be taken into account if the required attachments have been sent by the deadline.

If you are a refugee or your status is comparable to a refugee, and you thus cannot verify your eligibility to higher education with documentation, the university may allow you to take part in an entrance examination for the bachelor’s degree programme. You must have a decision by the authorities regarding your refugee status (decision on asylum or residence permit on the basis of protection), and you must submit a copy of the decision to the Admissions Office on 24 January 2024 at the latest.

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.

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

• Proof of completed secondary or tertiary education taught exclusively in English
• Finnish matriculation examination in English language, minimum grade of magna cum laude approbatur (M)
• International Baccalaureate degree (diploma completed in English, satisfactory completion of A level English exam (literature / language and literature / literature and performance), satisfactory completion of B level English exam, minimum grade of 5 (good).
• EB degree: L1, mother tongue (English) completed successfully OR L2 – or L3 language (English) completed with a minimum score of 7.
• Reifeprüfung (RP) degree (German school of Helsinki) Satisfactory completion of English A (or a similar expected grade from upcoming DIA degree): Written scores are at a satisfactory level AND Oral score being minimum of 8.

The language of instruction of secondary education must be proven with the degree certificate, diploma or transcript. Please note that all teaching and assessments must be entirely in English.

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

Some test organisers give an expiration date on the tests. The language test results must be verifiable from the online verification service of the organiser. Language test scores are valid for two years from the day they are issued.

• TOEFL: minimum score 78 (IBT-test) 
• IELTS (academic)-test minimum score 6.0
• PTE (academic)-test minimum score 54
• C1 Advanced score C
• C2 Proficiency minimum score: Level C1
• A National certificate of language proficiency (YKI) (English) of The Finnish National Agency for Education done at level 4 in all different areas.

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

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 3 January 2022 onwards.

A language test is not needed if the applicant’s secondary education was conducted in English or they have completed a university degree or a university of applied sciences degree in English in an EU/EEA country, the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, or Switzerland.

Entrance examination course and video interview

Students are selected to the Bachelor in Science, Information Technology degree programme in using an online entrance exam course and an video interview.

There are 40 student places in Joensuu campus.

There are 40 student places in Kuopio campus.

Entrance exam course will be passed during the application evaluation period. The course opens at 1 February 2024 and the course must be finished by 14 April 2024. The course must be completed using the university Moodle platform. Access rights for the course will be sent for the applicants after the application period. Eligibility of applicants will be checked by 28 February.

The course consists of two parts: Introduction to Programming and Introduction to Computer Science and Algorithmic Thinking. The course contains material and exercises on elementary Computer Science, programming, and algorithmic subjects. The course is worth 5 ECTS units and the selected students can use the credits within their BSc degree.

Scoring the entrance examination course and video interview

To be considered in admission, the applicants must complete the whole course by 14 April 2024. The maximum for the whole course is 100 points. To be considered in admission, the applicant must get at least 50 points. After completing the course, at least 60 best applicants according to the course points are then invited for a video interview. The video interview will be graded on based on the (1) motivation, (2) presentation skills, and (3) knowledge of the subjects of the entrance exam course. Each grading part (1)-(3) has maximum 10 points and at least 5 points must be achieved in each grading part (1)-(3) to be considered in admission.

The applicants are then ranked based of the combined score of entrance exam course and video interview, maximum 130 points. If more than one applicant has the same combined score, all such applicants will be admitted.

Selections for video interview will be published at latest 26 April. Video interviews will be organized on 2 May – 10 May.

The results of the entrance examination course admission will be announced in the My Studyinfo service on 31 May 2024 at the latest.

The granted right to study

If you are admitted to the programme, you will gain the right to complete a Bachelor in Science, Information Technology degree.

You may accept only one student place leading to a higher education degree in education that begins in the same academic term.

Additional information on applying

Conditional acceptance

You will be informed in the result letter you receive from Studyinfo and in the My Studyinfo service if your acceptance is conditional. If you do not meet the condition by the deadline, you will lose the study place offered to you.

Applicants who complete an IB or EB degree in the same spring they apply

If the applicant completes their IB or EB degree in the spring of 2024, the final result of selection will be made based on the final grades of the IB/EB degree. If, for example, your grades improve from preliminary grades so that your selection points would increase over the cut-off, you will be selected as an extra student. If your grades decline so that you would not have been selected, then the selection will be cancelled. All the information will be checked at the latest when you start your studies. Checking and registering the final grades of applicants whose acceptance is conditional in Studyinfo may change the admission order of all applicants.

Delimitation of granting right to study

You cannot be granted a new right to study resulting in a Bachelor in Science, Information Technology degree if you already have a valid right to study in the Information Technology degree programme resulting in a Bachelor in Science, Information Technology degree or a right to study in the Information Technology degree programme resulting in a Master of Science degree at the University of Eastern Finland.

Rectifying procedure

If you disagree with the student selection decision, you may apply for a rectification of the decision after the results have been published between 31 May – 14 June 2024 before 15:00 pm. Appeal instructions.

Attachments

Eligibility

The attachments must be electronically saved on the application form (pdf, jpg or png) by 24 January 2024 at 15:00 pm. If attachments are required from you, after submitting the application form, you will receive information on the required attachments on the screen as well as by email (confirmation message about submitting the application form).

Certification of English language skills

To verify your English language proficiency, upload the required document to the application form by 24 January 2024 at 15:00 p.m. If you must upload a required attachment to the application form, after submitting the application form, you will receive information on the required attachments on the screen as well as by email (confirmation message about submitting the application form).

Information concerning the required documents.

Applicants receiving their diplomas in 2024 please see our website

The attachment is uploaded to the application form

Deadline for uploading attachments

24 January 2024 at 15:00 pm

Annual tuition fees for non-EU/ETA students will be 10.000 EUR. There are no tuition fees for EU/ETA students.

Non-EU/ETA applicants can apply for the tuition fee waivers when applying for admission to the university by filling out the relevant section of the application form. The decision about the waiver is made in connection with student admission, and the student is notified of the matter in the letter of acceptance. The waiver is personal and it is awarded for two academic years. The waiver exempts the student from the tuition fee partially (50%).

Students who are awarded a tuition fee waiver are required to sign and return a student agreement. The Early Bird deduction ends on 21 June 2024. The first tuition fee payment for autumn 2024 needs to be made by 31 August 2024. In addition, the Student Union membership fee and Kela student health care fee are obligatory for bachelor’s degree students.'