Scholarships and tuition fees

The Finland Scholarship is a scholarship category for the best non-EU/EEA applicants who are admitted to Master’s degree studies at the University of Turku. From 2022 to 2024, each international Master’s programme of UTU can award a Finland Scholarship to their applicant(s) with most merit. Applicants chosen to double degree programmes or who choose a double degree option cannot receive a Finland Scholarship. The number of Finland Scholarship recipients per programme depends on the programme quota.

The Finland Scholarship covers the tuition fee and includes a separate 5,000 € grant for expenses in starting the studies in Turku, Finland. The 5,000 € grant will be paid to a Finnish bank account during the first semester, after the student has enrolled as an attending student at the University of Turku and moved to Finland.

As part of the Finland Scholarship decision, the scholarship recipient is also granted a conditional second year scholarship to cover 100% of the second year’s tuition fee. In order to confirm the second year scholarship the student must complete 45 credits by the end of March or 55 credits by the end of June of their previous study year. Details will be given in the scholarship offer.

The University of Turku grants Finland Scholarships as part of the national Finland Scholarship programme, funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture. The Finland Scholarships will be available until 2024.

How to apply?

You can apply for the Finland Scholarship at the same time as applying for admission to one of our Master’s degree programmes if you are subject to tuition fee. Applying for a Finland Scholarship is simple: just indicate “yes” in the appropriate questions on your application form for the programme.

Finland Scholarships are awarded based on academic merit. Extracurricular activities are not evaluated and means testing is not used. The programmes rank their applicants based on the admission criteria that may include an interview, motivation letter or relevant academic experience in addition to the grades of the previous degree. The highest ranked applicant(s) in each programme are then proposed to the scholarship committee as candidates for the scholarships. The committee awards the scholarships to the best candidate(s) of each programme.

All applicants who have applied for the scholarship will receive information of the decisions in their admission offer. If the admitted student has been put on the waiting list for the Finland Scholarship, they will be informed of a possible scholarship at the latest by the end of May.

The University offers a generous scholarship programme for students who are subject to the tuition fees. The scholarship are awarded to students in the Master's and Bachelor's Programmes in the following categories:

For Master’s Degree Programmes

• 2-year scholarship that covers the entire tuition fee for 2 academic years for Master’s Degree Programmes.
• 2-year scholarship that covers 50 % of the tuition fee for 2 academic years for Master’s Degree Programmes.

For Bachelor’s Degree Programmes

• 3-year scholarship that covers the entire tuition fee for 3 academic years for Bachelor’s Degree Programmes.
• 3-year scholarship that covers 50 % of the tuition fee for 3 academic years for Bachelor’s Degree Programmes.

A scholarship will be granted to up to 30 % of the admitted students who are subject to tuition fees and have applied for a scholarship.

The scholarship is awarded for the duration of the degree (three years for bachelor and two years for master), but the 2nd and 3rd year of the scholarship is conditional. In order to confirm the second year scholarship the student must complete 45 credits by the end of March or 55 credits by the end of June of their previous study year. Details will be given in the scholarship offer.

How to apply?

You can apply for the 2-year or 3-year UTU scholarship at the same time as applying for admission to one of our Bachelor’s or Master’s degree programmes if you are subject to tuition fees. Applying for a 2 or 3 year scholarship that covers the tuition fee fully or 50% is simple: just indicate “yes” in the appropriate questions on your application form for the programme.

The 2- and 3-year scholarships are awarded based on academic merit. Extracurricular activities are not evaluated and means testing is not used. The programmes rank their applicants based on the admission criteria that may include an interview, motivation letter or relevant academic experience in addition to the grades of the previous degree. The highest ranked applicants are then proposed to the scholarship committee as candidates for the scholarships. The committee awards the scholarships to the best candidates of each programme. The candidates may be offered a full scholarship or a 50% scholarship.

All applicants who have applied for the scholarship will receive information of the decisions in their admission offer. If the admitted student has been put on the waiting list for the scholarship, they will be informed of a possible scholarship at the latest by the end of May. The scholarship must be accepted within 2-3 weeks after the decision has been published or it will be given to the next person on the waiting list, the exact dates will be given in the admission offer.

The scholarships for outstanding performance will be awarded based on studies at the University of Turku and the programme the student has been admitted to. Students who have paid for their studies during their first year(s) of studies at the University of Turku are eligible to apply for this scholarship.

The basic requirement for receiving a scholarship is 55cr with an average score of 3.0 or higher for the first year of studies. All students who fulfill this requirement will be awarded a scholarship for the next academic year.

For Master’s Degree Programmes

• 1-year scholarship for outstanding performance during the 1st study year. The scholarship covers the 2nd year tuition fee.

For Bachelor’s Degree Programmes

• 2-year scholarship for outstanding performance during the 1st study year. The scholarship covers the 2nd and 3rd year tuition fee.
• 1-year scholarship for outstanding performance during the 1st and 2nd study year. The scholarship covers the 3rd year tuition fee.

How to apply?

There is a separate application process for the scholarships for outstanding performance. The admission services of the University will invite all eligible applicants to apply for the scholarship when the application round opens in spring.

The University also offers the Fulbright-University of Turku Graduate Award for studies beyond the Bachelor level at the University of Turku. The award includes a grant of 1000€/month and a scholarship covering the tuition fee. This award is open to U.S. citizens that are accepted to one of the programmes in the University.

Tuition fees will not be charged from

• citizens of EU/EEA states or Switzerland
• family members of Finnish citizens (you need to have a residence card for a family member of an EU citizen in Finland)
• holders of a permanent Finnish residence permit or a long-term resident’s EU residence permit (P, P-EU)
• holders of a fixed-term continuous residence permit (A) that has not been granted based on studies.
• holders of an EU Blue Card (a residence permit card with a marking “EU Blue Card” as the type of the permit)

The fixed-term continuous residence permit (A) must be valid at the beginning of each academic year (1 August), and be granted for other reasons than that of studies, to exempt the student from paying tuition fees. Students are granted the fixed term continuous residence permit (A) from 2022 onwards and if the A permit is granted based on studies, it does not exempt the student from paying tuition fees.

Fees do not apply to exchange students, regardless of their citizenship, nor to doctoral programmes.

Further information

Tuition fees will be charged from citizens of a country outside the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA)  or Switzerland.

Fees do not apply to exchange students, regardless of their citizenship, nor to doctoral programmes.

Students are granted the fixed term continuous residence permit (A) from 2022 onwards and if the A permit is granted based on studies, it does not exempt the student from paying tuition fees.

Further information

Please note that there may be exceptions to these categories. More information above: Who will not be charged?

Faculty of Education:

• Master’s Degree Programme in Education and Learning € 10,000
• Primary Teacher Education, Bachelor´s Degree Programme (located in Rauma) and Master´s Degree Programme (located in Turku, starts in 2023) € 10,000
• Bacherlor´s Degree Programme in Early Childhood Teacher Education, Bachelor´s Degree Programme (located in Rauma) € 10,000

Faculty of Humanities:

• Master’s Degree Programme in Gender Studies € 10,000
• Master’s Degree Programme in Nordic Cultural Resilience and Social Change € 10,000 (no longer intake)

Faculty of Law:

• Master’s Degree Programme  in Law and Information Society € 10,000 (no longer intake)

Faculty of Medicine:

• Master’s Degree Programme  in Biomedical Sciences € 12,000
• Master’s Degree Programme in Future Health and Technology  € 2,000
• Master’s Degree Programme in Human Neurosciences € 10,000

Faculty of Science:

• Master’s Degree Programme in Biomedical Sciences € 12,000
• Master’s Degree Programme in Biosciences € 12,000
• Master’s Degree Programme in Physical and Chemical Sciences € 12,000

Faculty of Social Sciences:

• Master’s Degree Programme in East Asian Studies € 8,000
• Master's Degree Programme in Inequalities, Interventions and New Welfare State €10,000

Faculty of Technology:

• Master’s Degree Programme in Food Development  € 12,000
• Master’s Degree Programme in Information and Communication Technology € 12,000
• Master’s Degree Programme in Materials Engineering € 12,000
• Master’s Degree Programme in Mechanical Engineering € 12,000
• Master’s Degree Programme in Health Technology € 12,000

Turku School of Economics:

• Master’s Degree Programme  in Futures Studies € 10,000
• Master’s Degree Programme  in Global Innovation Management € 10,000

The first year tuition fee has to be paid before one can register with the University.

The tuition fee covers much more than just teaching and academic guidance in your Master’s degree programme. It opens a whole range of the University’s services for you.

STUDY COURSES OUTSIDE YOUR PROGRAMME

In addition to the courses defined in your programme curriculum, you can study courses from the other programmes according to your own choice and course availability, if the degree structure of your own programme allows. There are some hundreds of courses offered in English which broadens your possibilities remarkably in creating a unique study path and an expert profile.

LANGUAGE COURSES

The University Language Centre is responsible for the language, communication and intercultural skills teaching at the University. Some of the courses in Chinese, English, Finnish for Foreigners, and Japanese are taught in English. Also, most of the more advanced classes are taught in the target language, so you can continue to develop your skills in French, German, Italian, Russian or Spanish if you have sufficient previous knowledge on any of those.

LIBRARY SERVICES

The largest academic library in Southwest Finland gives you excellent sources of information with:

• E-books 488,178 (titles)
• E-journals 26,896 (titles)
• Printed books 1,148,781 (titles)
• Printed journals 32,491 (titles)
• Maps 15,268 items

Use of our extensive library services reduces your study related costs significantly.

IT SERVICES

IT Services for you as a student include

• 24/7 IT classrooms
• wireless networks around the campus
• utu.fi e-mail account and mailing lists
• cloud storage
• scanning and printing (with quota)
• Microsoft Office programmes

SPORTS FACILITIES

With an affordable price of EUR 66/academic year you get access to the versatile sports selection of the CampusSport. The selection includes instructed sports classes (group workouts, combat sports, outdoor sports), sports shifts, five different gyms, a swimming pool and short courses.

All tuition fees are paid on University of Turku's webshop UTUshop.

• On the top of the page, choose 'Studying'
• From the menu panel on the left side of the page, choose 'Tuition fees'
• From the panel that opens, choose your degree programme
• You can pay either with Finnish online banking credentials or with a credit card

Tuition fee is paid for each academic year that the student is studying. The deadline for the tuition fee payment is annually on 31 July. Each year you can also choose to pay in two instalments. The deadline for the first instalment is annually 31 July, and the deadline for the second instalment is annually 31 December. UTUshop offers you both options – you can either pay the tuition in full or in instalments. 

Before you complete your tuition fee payment for an academic year, please make sure that you have accepted your study place (if you are newly admitted) and are ready to start or continue your studies on that academic year. 

Please note that you should not pay the tuition fee unless you have been admitted to study at the University of Turku and have accepted your study place. Paying the tuition fee will not enable you to study with us, unless you have also applied, been admitted, and accepted your study place in one of our international degree programmes. 

Students who are subject to tuition fees cannot register for the academic year/semester with the University before they have completed their tuition fee payment (or its first instalment) for that year/semester. 

If you are unable to pay the tuition fee on UTUshop, please contact the Admission Services via e-mail: admissions[at]utu.fi. We can arrange an invoice to be sent to you via e-mail. 

BENEFITS OF A STUDENT UNION MEMBERSHIP

Membership of the Student Union is mandatory in Finland for Bachelor’s and Master’s -level students. The Student Union membership fee is around EUR 55 per academic year. The membership brings you a number of valuable benefits. 

LUNCH DISCOUNT

As a member of the Student Union, you can enjoy a healthy lunch at a student price of less than 3 € in one of the 7 student cafeterias on campus or in any other student cafeteria in Finland.

You can read more about benefits offered by the Student Union at www.tyy.fi/en.

STUDENT HEALTH CARE

All attending Bachelor's and Master's Degree students must pay the compulsory Student Health Care fee directly to Kela. After paying the Student Health Care fee, a student has the right to use Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS) in every university town in Finland. The health services provided are general practitioners and specialists, dental care, nursing care and physiotherapy as well as x-ray and laboratory work. Services also include mental health counselling, psychotherapy and psychiatric care. The services do not cover hospital care and some specialist services or cases where you get into an accident.

Tuition fees will not be charged

- From British citizens or their family members who currently reside in Finland and have applied for the right of residence by 30.9.2021.
- From British citizens or their family members who have arrived to Finland 1.10.2020-31.12.2020 and have applied for the right of residence by 31.12.2020.
More information on the right of residence and how to apply for it https://migri.fi/en/brexit/en

Tuition fees will be charged

- From British citizens and their family members who arrive to Finland after 1.1.2021.
Tuition fees will be charged in the same way as from all non-EU citizens. British citizens may also apply for scholarships.