Master's Degree Programme in Forestry (Transatlantic Forestry)

Degree requirements (when UEF is the home/host university*)

A previous Bachelor's degree in forestry or in related field corresponding to at least 3 year's of full time academic studies from an institution for higher education is required from all Master's degree applicants. The degree must be awarded by an internationally recognized university. Applicants who have a previous Bachelor’s degree in forestry or in related field from a recognized university of applied sciences or polytechnic are also eligible.

Admission is conditional if applicant applies 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 9 August 2024.

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. The student has graduated. The temporary degree certificate is issued as a replacement for the actual degree certificate e.g. in case the actual degree certificate cannot be given to the student immediately after the studies have been completed due to technical or administrative reasons. 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. A temporary (provisional) degree certificate is accepted if it was awarded no more than five years earlier. The five-year validity period begins from the date on which the degree was conferred and must not expire prior to the application deadline. In other words, a temporary degree certificate is not accepted if it was awarded more than five years ago. In such cases, the applicant must present his or her final degree certificate.  

Statement issued by the university
In case, the applicant has not yet received a BSc Degree certificate by the admission deadline, a statement issued by the applicant's university is also accepted as a replacement of the actual degree certificate. This statement should include the name of the institution which is going to award the degree, the expected date of issue (graduation), and the name of the person to whom the degree certificate will be awarded. The final deadline to submit the actual degree certificate to the programme coordinator at the University of Eastern Finland is 9 August 2024.  

Requirements for the educational documents and their translations.

Language requirements (when UEF is the home/host university*)

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 

• Previous higher education has been completed in English in EU/EEA -countries, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand or in Switzerland.

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

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, from 3 January 2022 onwards.

More information about submitting the language test reports: http://www.uef.fi/en/web/admissions/language-requirements

*If you do not apply to UEF as your home or host university, please check the degree and language requirements at the websites of the Transfor-M Universities you wish to apply to)

You will apply through your desired home university and be selected by both the home and the host university, and will be required to meet the minimum admission criteria for graduate studies at both universities.  

If there are any questions related to the application or general requirements, please contact the local Transfor-M advisor.  

Transfor-M application procedures at UEF

Every year 1-5 students from UEF will get the chance to study in Canada. Selection will favour students with strong academic records and experience and credentials, suggesting serious interest in international work.

Please see below the instructions how to apply for admission:  

1) Apply for the study right at UEF through Studyinfo.fi  between 3 - 17 January 2024 in case you wish to have UEF as the home university. For the instructions see here.  

2) Students who have applied to Transfor-M programme as one of the Canadian universities as the home university and have been pre-selected to Transfor-M programme with UEF as the host university, will be informed  how to apply for the study right at UEF in case selected to Transfor-M programme. In principle, students having UEF as the second-year host university in 2024-2025, will apply to UEF through Studyinfo.fi  between 3 - 17 January 2024 as instructed below.

If there are any questions related to the application or general requirements at UEF, please contact the local Transfor-M advisor at UEF.  

Instructions how to apply for the study right at UEF  

The on-line application form must be filled in and the required enclosures need to be attached (in pdf format) with the on-line application. At the application state we require only scanned enclosures attached (uploaded) to the application form. Paper copies are not required during the application period. Please see further instructions and how to submit your application documents here. The recommendation letters can be attached with the online application form OR they can be sent by email directly to the programme coordinator, Ms. Marjoriitta Möttönen (marjoriitta.mottonen@uef.fi) by the referee.

The required enclosures are:  

a. The scanned copy of the original degree certificate (in the original language) and an English, Finnish or Swedish translation of the degree certificate, see admission requirements below  

b. The scanned copy of the original transcript of records (in the original language) and an English, Finnish or Swedish translation of the transcript of records, see admission requirements below  

c. English language certificate, see admission requirements below  

d. Two recommendation letters (use the templates: doc or pdf)

e. A copy of passport (not required from Finnish applicants)  

f. Curriculum vitae  

g. Possible document giving you an exemption from paying tuition fee  In addition, as a part of the admission requirements, in the application form you will be requested to write a motivation letter (max. 1300 characters) and include information about your work experience (max. 500 characters) and international experience (max. 500 characters).  

Application procedure step by step for the University of Eastern Finland  

You will begin the application process on the national Studyinfo portal. Application form is available at studyinfo.fi only when the call for applications is open (3 - 17 January 2024 at 15:00 (GMT +2)).

Go to Studyinfo portal and begin the application here. You must fill in the online application and submit it with the required scanned enclosures. We will not process application documents that have arrived after the deadline.  For more information about how to apply, please see the website of the Admissions Office of the University of Eastern Finland.

Application instructions in a nutshell  

If you wish to have UEF as your home university (or your second-year host university will be UEF), you are advised to fill in the online application form and to make sure you have attached the required application enclosures (in pdf format). At the application state we require only scanned enclosures attached (uploaded) to the application form. Paper copies are not required during the application period.  

Should you have any questions about completing your application, please contact our Admissions Office, admissions@uef.fi, tel. +358 29 445 8990.

In case you have questions concerning the application requirements, please contact Ms Marjoriitta Möttönen, marjoriitta.mottonen@uef.fi, tel. +358 (0) 50 442 3031.  

Application documents will not be returned to the applicant.  

Further information on application procedure at the University of Eastern Finland: Admission to Master's Degree Programmes.

Selection criteria (UEF as the home university)

The admission processes aim 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. 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 the waiting list.

The applications will be graded using the following criteria:

All eligible applications will be evaluated according to five selection criteria:

1. Academic excellence (0-20 points) (0=poor, 20=excellent)
2. Prestige and level of the home university (0-5 points) (0=poor, 5=excellent)
3. Relevant studies and other background (e.g. work experience, international experience and other projects) (0-15 points) (0=poor, 15=excellent)
4. Recommendation letters (0-5 points) (0=poor, 5=excellent)
5. Motivation (0-10 points) (0=poor, 10=excellent)

The ranking list is made according to the total score. Whenever two or more applicants have the same total points, the one who has higher score in academic excellence will be placed first.

Admission results

Results for studies starting in autumn 2024 will be published on 12 April 2024 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 11 July 2024 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.

Verification of original documents

We require that all admitted applicants submit their original degree certificates for verification upon arrival in Finland.

All accepted students will, therefore, be conditionally accepted until

• they have provided officially certified copies of their educational documents, 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 9 August 2024. In case the applicants do not deliver the documents by the given deadline, their study right will be cancelled.

NB! There are country-specific document requirements in place for academic qualifications awarded in certain countries. If your degree is completed in a country that has country-specific requirements, you must submit your educational documents following the relevant country-specific instructions.

Scholarships and tuition fees in Transfor-M  

We would encourage you to search and apply for funding from all possible sources and foundations for your year abroad as Transfor-M programme is not able to offer any scholarships. You would need to pay to your home institution full tuition and all other mandatory and required fees associated with a normal full-time registration with the fee payment schedule of the home institution. You can receive more details from the local Transfor-M advisor(s) and below.  

Instructions for the EU/EEA students whose home university is UEF

The students coming from EU/EEA countries and whose home university will be UEF should note the fact that you do not need to pay the tuition fees to your host university in Canada which can be regarded as a full scholarship from your Canadian host university. You may, however, need to pay e.g. the compulsory payments related to the visas, health service, insurance etc.  

Instructions for the non-EU/EEA students students whose home university is UEF or one of the Canadian Transfor-M partner universities

The non-EU/EEA students whose home university will be UEF or one of the Canadian Transfor-M partner universities will pay tuition fees to the home university for both first and second academic years.  

Students whose home university is in Canada and who pay these tuition fees to Canada, can apply for an exemption for the tuition fees of UEF.  

The other fees related to e.g. your Finnish residence permit, student union fee, insurance etc. will be on your side.  

The tuition fee for the non-EU/ETA students whose home university is UEF is 8 000 euros per academic year. The tuition fee includes the studies included in the degree (120 ECTS) and studies-related councelling and supervision. In addition, the fee includes:

• Assistance in applying for student housing
• An orientation programme
• An appointed student tutor
• Access to IT services
• Wireless Internet access on campus, computer classrooms available 24/7
• Free use of the Library  

The tuition fee waiver is applied for 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 tuition fee waiver is awarded on the basis of the student's academic achievements described in the admission criteria. The waiver is personal and it is awarded for two academic years.  

The tuition fee waiver exempts the student from the tuition fee partially (50%) (in 2024-2025).  

Applicants will be notified of their acceptance to the university and possible waiver upon their admission.  

The tuition fee is paid in two instalments. The first instalment is paid by 31 July and the second instalment by 30 November.

All degree students of the university are members of the Student Union. The Student Union membership fee is about 70 euros (the exact amount can be found at the student union website) per academic year. The Student Union membership fee entitles the student to, for example:

• reduced lunch prices at student cafeterias
• discounts on local buses and long-distance transportation
• discounts on many public services and free-time activities

Further information is available on the website of the Student Union.

You can receive more details from the local Transfor-M advisor(s).