63,000 students apply to Finnish universities´ English programmes

The joint application to degree programmes in English at Finnish higher education institutions attracted over 63 000 applicants, said the Finnish National Agency For Education in a press release on Friday.

The number of applicants is about 3 % higher compared to the number in 2023.

The first joint application for higher education institutions in spring 2024 ended on Wednesday.

There are about 1,000 more study places available than last year. Most of the applicants were non-EU/EEA citizens.

There were about 8,300 starting places to apply to in 412 study programmes. Roughly half of the study options are at universities and the rest at universities of applied sciences (Polytechnic Institutes).

The number of applicants applying for education in English was over 60,000, of which the majority were non-EU/EEA citizens.

The largest citizenship groups in the applicants were citizens of Bangladesh, Finland and Pakistan.

Also programmes in Finnish and Swedish at the University of Arts and the theatre study programme at the University of Tampere were available in the joint application this spring. These programmes had 5,400 applicants altogether.

In absolute numbers, the highest number of applicants were for study programmes in the fields of business, administration and law, and information and communication technologies (ICT).

In higher education, the toughest competition for a study place, the highest number of applicants in comparison to study places, takes place in Arts and culture (about 23 applicants/study place), services (about 19 applicants/study place) and social sciences (about 16 applicants/study place).

The lowest number of applicants in comparison to study places is in engineering, manufacturing and construction (about 9 applicants/study place), as well as in humanities (about 11 applicants/study place).

Currently, higher education institutions are reviewing applications and organizing entrance examinations. The results of the first joint application for the spring will be published starting from the end of January and the beginning of February. All results will be published no later than May 31.

The second joint application this spring is from March 13 to March 17. The application includes study programmes in Finnish and Swedish at the higher education institutions starting in the autumn.