Master's Degree Programme in Photonics

The application period opens on 7 January 2027 and closes on 21 January 2027 at 3 PM (UTC+2). Applicants must submit their application through the national Studyinfo portal at studyinfo.fi. Each applicant may complete and submit only one application form in the first joint application round.

Eligibility

Degree certificate

A previous Bachelor’s degree* corresponding to at least 3 years of full-time academic studies (equivalent to 180 ECTS credit units in the Finnish university system) from a higher education institution is required from all master’s programme applicants. The degree must be awarded by an internationally recognized university or university of applied sciences. The degree should entitle the applicant to apply for master’s studies in the country where the degree has been awarded. 

*Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in physics, optics, photonics, physical and engineering sciences with an extensive physics basic education, or another discipline related to the programme, entailing proficiency in physics and mathematics.

Admission is conditional if the applicant applies to the programme with a degree that has not been completed during the application period. Applicants are required to submit officially certified copies of the final degree certificate and the transcript of records to the programme coordinator by 30 July 2027. If the applicant does not submit their documents by the given deadline, their right to study will be cancelled.

Language requirements

Applicants must demonstrate the required level of language proficiency for admission by either (1) achieving at least the minimum required results in one of the approved language tests or (2) meeting the language proficiency criteria outlined below. These requirements apply to all applicants. No exceptions or waivers of language proficiency requirements will be granted.  

(1) Applicants must complete one of the following language tests, with at least the minimum scores listed below:

• TOEFL iBT
  Total score: 92, with a minimum of 22 in writing (the test was completed before January 21, 2026)
  Overall score: 4.5, with a minimum of 4.0 in each component (the test was completed on or after January 21, 2026)
• IELTS Academic
   Overall score: 6.5, with a minimum of 6.0 in each component 
• PTE Academic: 
   Total score: 68, with a minimum of 61 in writing
• Cambridge C1 Advanced
   Overall grade: C
• Cambridge C2 Proficiency
   Overall result corresponding to level C1

• National Certificate of Language Proficiency (YKI-test)
   Level 5 in all subtests (reading comprehension, writing, listening comprehension, and speaking). Results from different examination sessions may be combined.
   

  TOEFL, IELTS and PTE certificates are valid for two years from the day they are issued. We accept language tests that are completed from 7 January 2025 onwards. The language test results must be verifiable through the online verification service of the test organiser.

Kindly note that the University of Eastern Finland also accepts the following tests:

• IELTS Academic online and UKVI tests, IELTS One Skill Retake test results.
• PTE Academic online and UKVI tests.
• TOEFL iBT Home Edition tests, MyBest Scores.

OR

 (2)  Applicants who meet one of the following criteria do not have to take an English language test: 

• 2. a) A language test is not required if the applicant has completed Finnish Matriculation Examination, English language (A-language, advanced syllabus) with a minimum grade of magna cum laude approbatur (M)  
   
• 2. b) 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. Applicants from EU/EEA countries and Switzerland must prove the language of instruction. The medium of instruction must be clearly stated on the educational documents. If your documents do not explicitly mention English as the medium of instruction, you must provide an additional official statement issued by a representative of your educational institution confirming this. 
   
• 2. c) A language test is not required if the applicant has completed a Bachelor’s, Master’s or higher degree in an English-taught programme in EU/EEA countries, or in one of the following countries:
  Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Cameroon, Dominica, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gambia, Grenada, Guyana, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, the Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Applicants from these countries must prove the language of instruction. The medium of instruction must be clearly stated on the educational documents. If your documents do not explicitly mention English as the medium of instruction, you must provide an additional official statement issued by a representative of your educational institution confirming this.

• 2. d) A language test is not required if the applicant has completed a Bachelor’s, Master’s or higher degree in an English-taught programme in Australia, Canada, Ghana, Ireland, New Zealand, Nigeria, the United Kingdom or the United States. Applicants demonstrate their language skills with a university degree.

The degree/programme must be taught and assessed in English (at least 50% of the degree must be completed in English).  When language proficiency is demonstrated through the degree, the language of instruction must be clearly indicated in the educational documents.

Online studies or studies completed on offshore campuses outside the accepted countries or areas cannot be used to demonstrate language skills, even if the degree-awarding institution is in one of the accepted countries.

A language test is not required if the applicant has completed a degree at a Finnish university or university of applied sciences, provided that the degree includes the mandatory foreign language studies in English required by Finnish degree regulations (Government Decree on University Degrees 794/2004 or Government Decree on Degrees of Universities of Applied Sciences 1129/2014).

No other degrees or statements of language proficiency will be accepted.

More information about submitting the language test reports is available here. 

The applicant needs to apply through national Studyinfo portal at studyinfo.fi. Application form is available at studyinfo.fi only when the call for applications is open (7.1.2027-21.1.2027). Once you have filled out the online application, required enclosures must be uploaded electronically to the application form (recommended file types pdf and jpeg, max. file size 1.0 GB) by 28.1.2027 at 15.00 (EET). Please make sure that you upload each enclosure to the right place in the application form. More information about how to submit documents is available here.

UEF does not process application documents that have arrived after the deadline.

Instructions in a nutshell

• Make sure you know the admission requirements (content above). Sign up for a language test, if required and/or necessary.
• When the application period begins, fill out the online application form with care, upload all the required documents in electronic format and submit the online application.
• Required enclosures (content below) must be uploaded electronically to the application. Please see more information on types of documents here.
  • We accept high quality scans of the original degree certificates and transcripts, along with translations when required.
  • Please scan original documents carefully, always in color, and include all pages. Blurry, discolored, or flawed scans will not be accepted. PDF format is recommended to ensure compatibility across all operating systems.
  • Recommended file types: PDF or JPEG; max. file size: 1.0 GB.
  • The University of Eastern Finland also accepts electronic transcripts submitted through a recognized sources. 
• Make sure your application enclosures are uploaded by the given deadline at 3 pm (EET). Also the language test results must reach the University of Eastern Finland by the deadline.
• Should you have any questions about completing your application and uploading the documents to UEF application form, please contact our admissions office, [email protected]. 

Each application must include the following documents:

The required enclosures need to be uploaded electronically to the application in Studyinfo.fi by 28 January 2027 at 3 pm (EET) at the latest. UEF does not process application documents that have arrived after the deadline.

• Bachelor’s Degree Certificate (and an official English translation of it if needed)
• An official Transcript of Records (and an official English translation of it if needed). The transcript should include the course units, their completion time, grades, and credits awarded, and information on the grading scale used at the institution.
• English language certificate
• Copy of passport / ID
• A certificate of name change (if applicant’s name has changed after receiving the previous degree)
• Merits of the applicant form: link to the form (Word). Download the document, Fill in the form, save it as a PDF and attach the PDF form into your application in Studyinfo.fi (if you don’t have Word on use, copy the questions into another word processing program, write your answers, save the file as a pdf, and attach it to your application).
• A motivation video* of the applicant in English. The maximum duration of the video is 1.5 minutes (90 seconds). In the video, describe why you are interested in photonics, why you are applying to the Master’s Degree Programme in Photonics at UEF, and your future educational and/or career plans in the field of photonics.

*The video format must be one of the following: x-m4v, x-matroska, x-msvideo, mpeg, ogg, webm, 3gpp, 3gpp2, mp4, MP2T, quicktime, x-ms-wmv, x-ms-vob. Maximum size of the video file is 1 GB.

All enclosures are compulsory for the selection process and without these enclosures the applicant cannot be selected for the studies.

More information about the attachments is available here.

Description of admissions criteria 

The admission processes in the Master's Degree Programme in Photonics aims 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 below (total points from criteria 1 to 5). The best 20 applicants are accepted to the programme 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: 

1. Suitability and the content of the previous studies to the area of Photonics (transcript of records, Merits of the applicant form): (0-25 points)
2. Applicant's success in the previous studies in general (transcript of records): (0-5 points)
3. Applicant's success in the previous studies of the suitable field of science (transcript of records; mathematics, photonics/physics, programming and ICT): (0-15 points)
4. Prestige and level of the home university (based on international university rankings): (0-10 points)
5. Applicant's motivation to apply for studies (Motivation video): (0-15 points)

Maximum total points are 70. 

Selection results

Results for studies starting in September 2027 will be published by 31 May 2027 at the latest. When the selection decision has been made, the results will be sent to the applicants by email.

Applicants must confirm their study place electronically in Studyinfo by 13 July 2027 at 3 PM (UTC+3) at the latest. Applicants without a Finnish personal identity code use the confirmation link sent by email. Applicants with a Finnish personal identity code must log in to My Studyinfo with Finnish online banking credentials, a mobile certificate, or a certificate card. If you encounter any issues, you may request a separate confirmation form from the programme coordinator.

The granted right to study 

If you are admitted to the programme, you will gain the right to complete a Master of Science (Technology) degree.

Applicants may accept only one study place leading to a higher education degree that begins in the same academic term. Furthermore, under the one study right rule, effective from 1 August 2026, an applicant may hold only one right to study leading to a bachelor’s or master’s degree at a time. Accepting a new right to study leading to a bachelor’s or master’s degree will automatically terminate any existing study rights at the same or a lower degree level.

Applicants cannot be granted a new right to study resulting in a Master of Science (Technology) degree in Photonics if they already hold a valid right to study in the Master’s Degree Programme in Photonics leading to a Master of Science (Technology) degree in Photonics at the University of Eastern Finland.

Appeal 

If you disagree with the student selection decision, you may apply for a rectification of the decision after the results have been published, no later than 20 July 2027.

Appeal instructions  

Additional information 

Conditional acceptance 

Admission is conditional if the applicant applies to UEF with 1) a degree that is not completed by the end of the application period or if 2) the degree cannot be electronically authenticated (verified) at the time of application. In such cases, applicants must submit officially certified copies of the final degree certificate and transcript of records by the deadlines specified by the UEF. Applicants remain conditionally admitted until the required certified documents have been provided.

Electronic verification of educational documents is strongly recommended; paper documents by post are also accepted. Applicants must use the document submission methods specified by the UEF. For detailed instructions, please see the webpage Verification of official educational documents.

Deadlines for document verification: 

Verified educational documents must be submitted to UEF by 31 May 2027. For graduating students, final educational documents must be submitted by 30 July 2027. If the applicant does not submit their documents by the given deadline, their study right will be cancelled.

Tuition fees, waivers and scholarships

The annual tuition fee for students from outside the EU/EEA is 10,000 EUR. There are no tuition fees for students who are citizens of EU/EEA countries or Switzerland. All tuition fees, waivers, and scholarships for the 2027–2028 academic year are determined by the Vice Rector’s decision and published on the official UEF website Tuition fees, waivers and scholarships.

Other National Fees: In addition to tuition fees, degree students are required to pay the Student Union membership fee and the Kela student healthcare fee. Please also note that a national application fee is collected from applicants from countries outside EU/EEA.