Master's Degree Programme in Linguistic Data Sciences

Language use and linguistic data are essential in various disciplines today and in all areas of our digitalized society. It is widely recognized that society needs people who understand language as data, who can work analytically and can analyze linguistic data systematically. The Master's Degree Programme in Linguistic Data Sciences focuses on the interfaces between languages and digitalization in today's world.

This Master's degree programme, taught entirely in English, provides an opportunity to study language in today's digitalized society from a variety of perspectives. These consist of sociolinguistics, language technology and translation. The core of this programme consists of a set of courses in empirical linguistics (syntax, phonetics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, contact linguistics, translation studies) that offer various areas of specialization for the students. In addition, we cross disciplinary boundaries and collaborate with computer science as well as data sciences and statistics. This means that students are encouraged to choose from optional packages that be used to tailor the programme to suit individual needs. Many of the courses utilize text and speech data mining and big data analytics.

Key questions that students encounter in this programme include:

How does digitalization change languages?
What types of digital tools are used to study languages?
What kinds of text and speech data mining tools are available today?
How are these digital tools and resources used?
What types of everyday applications and assistive technologies for special needs (i.e. synthetic speech, augmented translation) built on these tools exist?
How can they benefit our daily life?
How is language and its variation modelled quantitatively?
How can geospatial modelling or multivariate analysis help modelling variability?
What technological solutions are used in translation and multilingual communication today and what is their role in the future?

Key information

Level of degree: Master's degree
Programme duration: 2 years / 120 ECTS credits
Language of instruction: English
Application period: 1.12.2020 - 20.1.2021
Programme start: September 2021
Tuition fee: EU/EEA nationals no tuition fee; non-EU/EEA nationals 8,000 €/academic year
Tuition waivers available for everyone
Study campus: Joensuu

Why study with us?

This programme provides an opportunity to study language in today's digitalized society from a variety of perspectives.
You are able to tailor the programme to suit your individual needs by choosing from optional packages.

Studies

In the Master's Degree Programme in Linguistic Data Sciences, some of the courses are common to all students. The contents of the main subject studies vary according to the selected sub-programme.

: Language Technology in Linguistics and Translation Studies

The MA students from the Language Technology in Linguistics and Translation Studies sub-programme have the necessary academic skills, theoretical knowledge and other capacities to enable them to continue their studies in data-oriented Linguistics or Translation Studies PhD programs, or to be able to work as specialists in non-academic jobs requiring intensive and extensive experience with language technology.

Language and Society

Language is in the core of the digital revolution of today, and a great share of the digitally available data in the society today includes language in use. The studies in this orientation build on a solid foundation of variationist sociolinguistics and contact linguistics, combining them with empirical methods in corpus linguistics and digital humanities. The students will be equipped with a solid foundation for a career in research, higher education, or organizations that utilize language data for research analytic purposes for identifying trends in society.

The curriculum consists of

Compulsory Introductory Courses (20 cp)
Main Subject Studies (80 ECTS)
Elective Studies (20 ECTS)

Compulsory Introductory Courses (20 ECTS)

All students take the courses common to both sub-programmes. These courses contain a considerable selection of basic courses in Linguistics and Language Technology.

Main subject studies (40 ECTS)

Students are supposed to select main subject courses according to their sub-programme (see WebOodi for details):

Compulsory Courses (15 ECTS)
Optional Courses (20 ECTS)
MA Seminar (5 ECTS)
MA thesis (40 ECTS)

Elective Studies (20 ECTS)

Elective studies include courses that serve to deepen students' expertise and/or promote to the topic of the Master's thesis. They can be chosen from the other sub-programme, from other international study programmes, or they can be general knowledge courses, such as courses in Finnish or in abstract writing in English organised by the UEF Language Centre.

Elective studies may vary according to the students' academic or personal interests.

For more detailed information concerning the structure of the programme, please see the degree structure in WebOodi.

How to apply?

Eligibility

A recognized Bachelor's degree (or higher) in the area of linguistics, language studies, or translation studies is required.

The programme will accept a temporary degree certificate. The temporary degree certificate is issued as a replacement for the actual degree certificate in case the latter cannot be given to student immediately after the studies have been completed due to technical or administrative reasons. The temporary degree certificate should include the same information as the actual degree certificate. The programme will accept a temporary certificate only if all the studies included in the degree have been successfully completed.

The programme will conditionally accept applications from persons who will not have graduated by the time the application period for the programme ends. The conditional applicants are required to indicate their anticipated graduation date in their application and submit an officially certified copy of their last transcript of records by the end of the application period. The conditional applicants must submit their final degree certificate and the final transcript of records to the programme coordinator by 6 August 2021.

English proficiency

Minimum requirements for the language skills verified through official language tests are as follows:

IELTS Academic: overall score of 7.0, with 6.5 in the writing section
TOEFL iBT: overall score of 100, with 24 in the writing section
TOEFL rPDT: 20 in the reading section, 20 in the listening section, and 24 in the writing section
PTE Academic: overall score of 68, with 59 in the writing section
C1 Advanced (formerly CAE): overall score of 185, with 176 in the writing section
C2 Proficiency (formerly CPE): overall score of 185, with 176 in the writing section

Language test certificates are valid for two years from the day they are issued and they have to be valid during the application period.

A language test is not required of applicants who have completed

upper secondary education in English in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, or in a Nordic country
a university degree in English in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, Switzerland, or in an EU/EEA country
a university degree in Finland with English as a major subject

: Application process

Applications are submitted through the national Studyinfo portal (studyinfo.fi) by 20 January 2021. Once the online application has been filled out, required enclosures must be uploaded electronically to the application by 27 January 2021 15.00 (GMT+2).

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

Required documents

Applicants must submit the following documents:

1. Degree certificate(s). The degree certificate should include the name of the institution awarding the degree, the date of issue, the name of the degree and the name of the degree holder.

2. Transcript of academic records. The transcript should include full titles and completion period of the units that the student has completed for the degree (or at the very least the overall study time at the institution), grades and credit points obtained together with information on the grading scale used at the institution at the time of study. The transcript must cover the full length of studies.

3. Certificate of English proficiency. See language requirements for detailed information about submitting the language test reports.

4. Copy of the identification page of passport.

5. Motivation letter. The letter should depict applicant's educational goals and study objectives for the University of Eastern Finland and explain their personal motives for choosing this particular programme.

See also country-specific document requirements. Please note that country-specific requirements apply only to admitted applicants. During the application period, only scanned copies of original documents are required.

If educational documents are issued in a language other than English, Finnish or Swedish, official translations of them to one of these languages are required. Also officially certified copies of the original documents have to be submitted. All educational documents must be officially certified or legalised: How to submit documents.

Incomplete applications will not be processed.

Admission decision

The results of the selection will be announced to the applicants by 26 March 2021. All applicants will be informed of their acceptance/rejection by email. The successful candidates are required to accept their study place by 3 May 2021 15.00 (GMT+2). Students will start their studies in September 2021.

Number of places

The programme will accept 20 students.

Ranking of applicants

All applicants will be assessed and placed in the rank order on the basis of the following criteria, each graded from 0 to 5:

overall language test result (20 %)
writing test result (20 %)
academic performance (40 %)
motivation letter (20 %)

Citizens of EU/EEA countries and Switzerland

This programme is offered free of charge for the citizens of EU/EEA countries and Switzerland

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

Citizens of other countries

For students who are not citizens of EU/EEA countries or Switzerland, the annual tuition fee for the academic years 2021-2023 is 8000 €. In 2021, all new students receive a scholarship covering 70 % of the tuition fee.

Students are exempted from paying tuition fees if they have one of the following documents:

Passport or identity card to indicate the citizenship of EU/EEA/Switzerland
EU Blue Card in Finland
Continuos residence permit card in Finland, Type A
EU Family Member's Residence Card in Finland
Permanent residence permit card in Finland, Type P permit
EU residence permit for third-country citizens with long-term residence permit card in Finland (Type P-EU)

Tuition fees cover the studies included in the degree (120 ECTS), as well as studies-related academic supervision and counseling. They also cover supporting services offered by the university; assistance in applying for student accommodation, orientation programme, tutoring, access to IT services, wireless internet access on campus, computer classrooms available 24/7 and library services.

The annual fee is paid in two equal instalments for an academic year. The due dates for the first academic year are 14 June 2021 and 30 November 2021 and for the second academic year 31 July 2022 and 30 November 2022. Students will be sent an invoice for each instalment with more specific payment details. Each instalment has to be completely paid until the concerning due date.

Other mandatory fees for all degree students regardless of their country of origin

All degree students of the university are members of the Student Union. The Student Union membership fee is 100 € per academic year.

The Student Union membership fee entitles the student to, for example:

free basic health care
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

All students should be also able to cover all the other expenses related to their studying in Finland (500-800 EUR/month, depending on individual spending habits).

The UEF does not offer selected students any additional funding, financial aid or working opportunities. Therefore, students must be able to cover all their own living costs in Finland independently. Finding any other funding opportunities is also the responsibility of the students himself/herself. One's own finances are one of the requirements for the Finnish residence permit, and finances need to be available permanently on a student's bank account for the whole period the permit is applicable. Completely financing one's stay and studies in Finland by working is not possible, though part-time work may be available.

For more information about the residence permit, please see the Finnish Immigration Service's website.