Master's Degree Programme in Biomedicine

To assess an applicant's eligibility for the program, the applicant must submit an application during the admission period. A previous Bachelor's degree corresponding to at least 3 years of full-time academic studies from an institution for higher education is required from all Master's degree applicants.​

Eligibility criteria

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.

The background studies must include at least 10 ECTS of practical laboratory work.

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.

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:

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

*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.

The degree/programme must be taught and assessed entirely in English. If you verify your language skills with your education degree, the language of instruction must be clearly indicated on the educational document or on a separate official statement provided by the degree awarding university.

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. Applicant can only indicate the language skills with an incomplete degree if he/she is applying for the studies with the same degree. 

(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 and speaking). It is possible to combine different examinations. 

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 need to be in effect during the application period. The language test results must be verifiable from the online verification service of the organizer.

Required documents

You must attach the following documents in your application in Studyinfo:

• Degree certificates, and if needed, an English translation provided by an authorized translator
• Course transcript, and if needed, an English translation provided by an authorized translator. The transcript must include amount of credits, grading and date of each study unit, and also the scale of grading used by the university.
• A copy of passport
• If required (see the language requirements above), certificate of English language proficiency
• Curriculum Vitae (CV). Please use the Europass template > Europass CV. In the CV, please, list the most important job duties (those relevant for evaluating the laboratory or biomedical data analysis work experience) and whether the position has been full time or part time, and if part time, the weekly working hours. If you have completed a practical research project as part of your BSc or MSc thesis, please, list also that in the CV.
• Letter of motivation. A short description of the applicant's former studies / research experience and reasons why applying to degree program of Biomedicine.
• Recommendation letters from two (2) referees. The referees are recommended being academics (teachers or supervisors) from the university where the applicant has studied, or supervisor from the place of employment.
• A document to show that the background studies include at least 10 ECTS of practical laboratory work (course experiments, internships or thesis). If the practical and theory courses are clearly separated in the transcript of records, the transcript itself is enough to show this. Otherwise, please, add a separate document that is highly recommended to be written by the study programme or the degree awarding university. The document can be e.g. a course syllabus, diploma supplement, or a letter written by a representative of the study programme.

If any of the required enclosures is missing, the application will be rejected.

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 applicants themselves are not accepted.

1) Check the application period​

There is only one application period to the Master's degree programme in Biomedicine in January each year. The online application is accessible only during the application period, so be sure to check the dates.​

2) Check the admission requirements​

Ensure you meet the program-specific admission criteria. Pay attention to language requirements - do you need to take a language test? If so, register early for tests like TOEFL iBT, IELTS Academic, or PTE Academic.​

3) Gather your documents​

The required documents are described in Admission requirements, and they can also be found on Studyinfo. Prepare your documents well before the application period begins. If your educational documents are in a language other than English, Finnish, or Swedish, include official translations.​

4) Submit the application​

Application forms are available only during the specified application period. Submit your documents as electronic copies or scanned attachments along with your online application. Follow the instructions provided in Studyinfo. Ensure all documents are uploaded by the deadline, as email attachments are not accepted. After submitting, you will receive a confirmation email, which includes a link for making changes to your application during the application period. You may upload documents for up to seven days after the application window closes.​

5) After submitting your application​

The admission team will start checking the applications after the application window closes. We will assess the eligibility and authenticity of educational certificates and language tests for all applicants. After you have been accepted, you must remember to verify your documents. This process includes verifying information with previous educational institutions. Please Learn more about the verification process.

Questions?​

If you have any questions about completing your application or uploading documents, please contact our admissions office at admissions@uef.fi or by phone at +358 29 445 8990.​

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 the introduction video of the applicant will be taken into account in the selection process in evaluating the suitability of the applicant’s background. 

Note, that a previous MSc degree (or higher), or present study place in another MSc programme, 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 asks the 20-30 best applicants to make a short, max. 5 minutes introduction video about themselves. Instructions and a request to make an introduction video will be sent by e-mail, thus, the applicants don't need to attach a video in their application. If the applicant does not send the video by the given date, 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 = minor or irrelevant experience, 2p = relevant experience, 3p = wealth of significant experience)
• Motivation letter 0-3p (0p = insufficient, 1p = somewhat motivated, 2p = sufficient and well-justified motivation, 3 p = excellent motivation)
• The introduction video, including English skills, is scored on scale 0-3p (0 = insufficient, 1p = satisfactory, 2p = good, 3p = excellent). 

If the applicant scores 0p in any of the components, the application will not be processed further. 

Applicants will be ranked according to the selection criteria. The best 10 applicants are accepted to the program 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 a waiting list.

Selection results

Results for studies starting in September 2025 will be published on 28 May 2025 at the latest. When the selection decision has been made, the results will be posted immediately to applicants by e-mail. 

Admitted students shall inform whether they accept their study place by latest on 10 July 2025 at 3 pm (EEST) electronically via Studyinfo portal or by submitting the confirmation form to hakijapalvelut@uef.fi. 

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. 

Conditional acceptance

Your admission is conditional if you apply to UEF 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 31 July 2025. 

All accepted students need to provide officially certified copies, if they cannot authenticate their degree/transcript electronically when applying. The students will be conditionally accepted until they have provided the certified copies of the educational document (degree certificate and transcript of records). Country specific requirements are in use in the situations when the applicant cannot provide the documents electronically. The last date to send the documents is 30 May 2025. 

Your admission is conditional also if you are liable to pay the tuition fee until you have returned the signed Student agreement and have paid the tuition fee by 31 August 2025 at the latest. 

In case the applicants do not deliver the documents by the given deadlines, their study right 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, 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. Applicants subject to tuition fees can apply for tuition waivers and scholarships during the university application process by completing the relevant section on the application form. All tuition fees, waivers, and scholarships are outlined and determined by the Academic Rector's decision for the 2025-2026 academic year (diary number 4401/02.04.01/2024). 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 11 June 2025.

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.