Master's Degree Programme in Pedagogy and Teaching for Sustainability

Eligibility

A recognized applicable Bachelor’s degree (or higher) including a considerable amount of studies in education is required for eligibility.

A Bachelor’s degree corresponding to at least 3 years of full-time academic studies from an institution of higher education is required from all applicants. The degree must be awarded by an internationally recognized university. The programme also accepts degrees from a recognized university of applied sciences or polytechnic.

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. Conditionally accepted 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. Conditionally accepted applicants must submit their final degree certificate and the final transcript of records to the programme coordinator by 9 August 2024.

English proficiency

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

• IELTS Academic: overall score of 6.5, with 6.0 in the writing section
• TOEFL iBT: overall score of 92, with 22 in the writing section
• PTE Academic: overall score of 62, with 54 in the writing section
• C1 Advanced (formerly CAE): overall score of 180, with 162 in the writing section
• C2 Proficiency (formerly CPE): overall score of 180, with 162 in the writing section
• National Certificate of Language Proficiency (YKI): level 5 in all sections

(IELTS writing section score corrected to match the official admission criteria on 5 January 2024.)

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 or a university degree completely in English in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, Switzerland, or an EU/EEA country
• a university degree in Finland with English as a major subject

No other degrees or statements of language proficiency will be accepted. No exceptions will be made and no waivers to the language proficiency requirements will be given.

Application period  

Application period: 3.1.2024 8:00 – 17.1.2024 15:00 (EEST).

Application procedure

Applications are submitted through the national Studyinfo portal (studyinfo.fi) by 17 January 2024 15.00 (EEST). Once the online application has been filled out, required enclosures must be uploaded to the application by 24 January 2024 15.00 (EEST).

Should you have any questions about completing your application, please contact our admissions office, admissions@uef.fi, tel. +358294458990.

Required documents

Applicants must submit the following documents:

• 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.
• 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.
• Certificate of English proficiency. For detailed information about submitting the language test reports, see language requirements.
• Copy of the identification page of passport or other ID.
• 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, also official translations of them to one of these languages are required.

Incomplete applications will not be processed.

Admission decision

The results of the selection will be announced to the applicants on 12 April 2024. All applicants will be informed of their acceptance/rejection by email.

Admitted students shall inform whether they accept their study place by 11 July 2024 3:00 pm (EEST) onlina at the Studyinfo portal or by submitting a 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.

The programme will accept 20 students. The 20 best applicants are accepted and the rest are rejected. Applicants are not placed in a reserve list.

The applications will be graded according to the following criteria (overall maximum 20 points):

1. Suitability and the content of the previous studies to the area of Teaching of Sustainability: 0-5 p (0=poor, 5=excellent)
2. Applicant's success in the previous studies in general:  0-5 p (0=poor, 5=excellent)
3. Applicant's success in the previous studies of the suitable field(s): 0-5 p (0=poor, 5=excellent)
4. Applicant's own explanations about their motivation to apply for studies: 0-5 p (0=poor, 5=excellent)

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  

There is an annual tuition fee of 8000 euros for other students. In 2024, all new students receive a scholarship covering 50 % of the tuition fee.

For further information and for documents exempting students from paying for tuition, please see the website. 

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 installments for an academic year. The due dates are 31 August (autumn semester) and 30 December (spring semester). 

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 ca. 100 € 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.  

All students also need to pay a healthcare fee, which entitles students to use the services of the Finnish Student Health Service. The healthcare fee is 35-40 € per semester.

Students should be able to cover all the other expenses related to their studying in Finland (500-800 €/month, depending on individual spending habits). The UEF does not offer selected students any additional funding or financial aid.

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

The Finland Scholarship

UEF will grant a Finland Scholarship (Suomi-stipendi) of 5000 € for the best two applicants in each master's degree programme. The Finland Scholarship is granted for the first year of master’s studies, and the students who receive it must be non-EU/EEA citizens who are liable to pay for tuition. Recipients of the Finland Scholarship are also exempted from paying the tuiton fee for the first academic year.

For more information about the Finland Scholarship, please see the Tuition fees, waivers and scholarships website.