Master's Degree Programme in Biomedicine

Degree certificate

All applicants should have at least Bachelor's or equivalent degree in an applicable field (e.g. biomedicine, cell biology, molecular biology, bioinformatics, biochemistry) corresponding to at least 3 years' of full‐time academic studies (equivalent of 180 ECTS credit units in the Finnish university system) obtained at an internationally recognized and accredited university or higher education institution. Applicants having a Bachelor's degree from a Finnish University of Applied Sciences or Polytechnic are not electable.

Note that biological, environmental, medical, veterinarian or pharmacy studies, as such, do not give an adequate knowledge base for biomedicine MSc studies. For a successful study performance, a more comprehensive understanding of the structure and function of the genome is needed.

Conditional admission

The admission is conditional if the degree is not completed by 18th January 2023. The applicant informs the estimated graduation date in the application form. The final deadline to submit the officially certified copy of the Bachelor´s degree certificate (in original language and as translations, if applicable) to the University of Eastern Finland is 28th July 2023. The proof of the completed degree can be submitted together with the confirmation on accepting the offered study placement. If the copy of the official degree certificate does not reach the University of Eastern Finland by the deadline, admission to the Master’s programme will be cancelled.

Temporary (provisional) degree certificate

A temporary (provisional) degree certificate is a document issued by an institution to a student who has successfully completed all studies included in the degree and the student has graduated. The temporary degree certificate should include the name of the institution awarding the degree, the date of issue, and the name of the person to whom the degree certificate has been issued and which title/degree the person has been awarded.

Official translations

All application documents should be submitted in Finnish, Swedish or English. Also the copies of the original documents have to be submitted. Translations of educational documents must be 1) issued by the awarding institution or 2) officially certified copy of a translation issued by the awarding institution or 3) translated by an official translator or 4) officially certified copy of a translation made by an official translator. Each page of an official translation must bear the translator’s stamp and/or signature. Official translations must be exact translations of the original documents. Translations done by the applicant him‐ or herself are not accepted.

Language requirements

Applicants must demonstrate excellent skills of English language. English language proficiency can be proven with official Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), International English Language Testing Service (IELTS), CAE/CPE (Cambridge Advanced/Proficiency Examination) Pearson Test of English (PTE) test score report or National Certificate of Language Proficiency (YKI) -test:

• IELTS (academic): overall 6.5 (min. 6.0 in writing)
• TOEFL iBT: 92 (min. 22 in writing) *
• PTE (Pearson Test of English, academic): 62 (min. 54 in writing)
• Cambridge English Qualification:
  C1 Advanced (Certificate of Advanced English) overall score of 180 with min 162 in writing
  C2 Proficiency (Certificate of Proficiency in English) overall score of 180 with min 162 in writing
• National Certificate of Language Proficiency (YKI) -test: level 5 in the reading comprehension, writing and speaking subtests

Applicants will be exempt from submitting the official language proficiency test if: 

• Passed English exam in Matriculation Examination in Finland 
• English as A1 language as part of International Baccalaureate examination 
• Bachelor's, Master's or Doctoral degree was conducted in English language in EU/EEA country** or  Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom or United States  
• Bachelor's, Master's or Doctoral degree was conducted in English language in our cooperation university, University of Ghana
• Bachelor's, Master's or Doctoral degree was conducted in English language in our cooperation university KNUST (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology) in Ghana
• Exchange studies (at least 20 ECTS) completed in English in University of Eastern Finland

* TOEFL code of the University of Eastern Finland is 9779.

** EU countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden. EEA countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. 

Online studies or studies completed on offshore campuses outside the accepted countries cannot be used to indicate language skills, even if the degree-awarding institution is in one of the accepted countries. If the applicant is applying with one degree and indicating the language skills with another, he/she is required to submit educational documents regarding both degrees. He/she can only indicate the language skills with an incomplete degree if he/she is applying for the studies with the same degree.

The language test certificates are valid for two years from the day they are issued, and they must be valid during the application period. If the result of the language test is below the required minimum, the application will not be considered for the admission. No other means for proving language proficiency than the ones listed in the admission requirements will be accepted. No waivers to the language proficiency requirements are given.

Student selection will be based on the application documents and evaluation of how the applicant's skills and competences gained by the previous academic studies correspond to the Master´s studies applied. Also, the success in earlier studies, possible earlier research experience, the motivation letter and performance in the interview will be taken into account in the selection process.

Please note, that a previous MSc degree (or higher), or present study place in another MSc programme at the University of Eastern Finland, are not necessarily considered to be beneficial. Meeting the minimum application requirements does not guarantee acceptance to the programme.  

Applications are evaluated by the admission committee of the Master's Degree Programme. The admission committee also interviews a maximum number of 20 applicants. The interview invitations will be sent by e-mail. If the applicant is not reached for the interview, the application will not be processed further.

The admission committee scores the selected applicants by following application components:  

• Compatibility of the background studies 0-5 p (0p = insufficient, 1p = poor, 2p = satisfactory, 3p = good, 4p = very good, 5p = excellent relevance to Biomed programme curriculum)
• Previous academic success and study history 0-3p (0p = poor, 1p = satisfactory, 2p = good, 3p = excellent)
• Laboratory or biomedical data analysis work experience 0-3p (0p = no experience, 1p = laboratory / data analysis course work as part of previous studies, 2p or 3p = additional experience, which is not directly included in the previous studies, e.g. internships, summer projects, other working experience)
• Motivation letter 0-3p (0p = insufficient, 1p = somewhat motivated, 2p = sufficient and well-justified motivation, 3 p = excellent motivation)
• The interview performance, including English skills, is scored on scale 0-3p (0 = insufficient, 1p = satisfactory, 2p = good, 3p = excellent).

If the applicant scores 0 p in any of the components, the application will not be processed further. The 10 best scoring applicants will be accepted in the programme, and the rest will be rejected. The programme can use it’s discretion and accept more than 10 applicants in order to fill the study places available in the programme.

Publication of selection results and start of studies

Selection results will be published by 31st March 2023. The applicants must accept the offered study place by 14th July 2023.The results will be sent to the applicants only via email.

Admitted applicants who are unable to submit their final degree certificate and transcript of records electronically certified will be admitted conditionally. The admitted applicants must submit officially certified copies of their degree certificate and transcript, or provide verification of their educational documents following the country-specific requirements by 11th August 2023. If the required documents do not arrive on time, and they can’t be verified electronically by the deadline, the study place will be cancelled.

Students who are not citizens of an EU/EEA member state or Switzerland are liable to pay the tuition fee of 10 000 € per academic year. The tuition fee covers the studies included in the degree (personal study plan), studies-related supervision and counselling, and studies-related supporting services offered by the university.

In addition, all degree students are liable to pay the membership fee of the Student Union. By paying the Student Union membership fee, students are also entitled to university sports services (Sykettä).  All degree students are entitled to the services of the Finnish Student Health Service by paying the mandatory student healthcare fee.

University of Eastern Finland offers scholarships for non-EU/EEA students. Non-EU/EEA students in the Master's Degree Programme in Biomedicine are all granted a scholarship in the form of a partial tuition fee waiver. The scholarship covers 70 percent of the tuition fee (7000 € per year) and is granted for two years. The University of Eastern Finland will also grant an Early Bird tuition fee deduction of 500 € to students who accept the study place and pay the tuition fees by 21st April 2023.

There is no separate application for scholarship. Those applicants who are liable to pay the tuition fee apply for the scholarship within the application form.  

The Scholarship does not cover living costs. Students are expected to cover all living expenses (app. 800 euros per month) and other study related costs from their own financial resources.

More information on tuition fees, waivers and scholarships can be found in the University of Eastern Finland website.