Photo: Satu Haavisto

Degree programmes

Finnish higher education institutions provide over 390 degree programmes at Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctor’s level. All these programmes lead to an official Finnish higher education degree.

Degree education in English is available in various fields of study.

You can browse through the available programmes by using the study programmes database.

Degree types at academic universities

Finnish universities have a degree structure of a three years Bachelor's degree (worth 180 ECTS credits), and two years Master's degree (worth 120 ECTS credits).

Post-Master's level degree at universities are Licentiate (worth 60 ECTS credits) and Doctor’s (worth 240 ECTS credits) degrees. The Doctoral degree normally requires at least four years of full-time study.

Degree types at polytechnics (UAS)

The polytechnics (universities of applied sciences, UAS) also have a two-tier degree system with a Bachelor’s degree (worth 210-270 ECTS credits) lasting from 3.5 to 4.5 years. Polytechnic Master’s degrees (worth 60-90 ECTS credits) last from 1 to 1.5 years. The UAS Master's degrees are targeted at people with a Bachelor's Degree followed by at least 3 years of relevant work experience.

ECTS credit system & Diploma Supplement

Finnish higher education institutions use the ECTS system (European Credit Transfer System) in measuring a student’s workload. In this system one full-time academic year is equivalent to 60 higher education credits.

Finnish HEIs issue their graduates a Diploma Supplement, a document jointly designed by the EU, the Council of Europe and UNESCO to provide information about the studies completed by the student, the status of the degree and the qualification provided by the degree for further studies and for jobs.