Hey all! I have a few questions about doctoral studies in Finland which have not been answered by the various websites I have visited.
For reference, I'm a EU citizen in the penultimate year of a Master's Degree in Engineering Science at Oxford University. I currently cannot speak Finnish (although have started learning).
I have a boyfriend who lives in the Helsinki region, which is a large factor when I chose possible location to study a doctorate. If studying in Finland, I have a view to live and work there upon the completion of the degree.
1/ Funding
Although I would be able to contribute to the estimated 6000 euro living cost, I would not be able to cover it completely without financial aid.
I've read a few websites and got confused about what specifically applies to international students and what applies to doctoral students. I wondered if anyone could give me clarification and links to a few of the more known sources of funding.
Somewhere I saw that doctoral students studying in graduate schools receive a basic salary financed by the Ministry of Education - does this apply to international students? Also have any international postgraduates here had a successful application for a CIMO grant?
2/ Language
Although the working language of the course I'm interested in is English, I wondered whether 3-4 years is sufficient to get a reasonable grasp of Finnish. How much Finnish do international students actually come across during the time they study in Finland?
3/ Applying
How early should I start inquiring about getting a place if I want to start after July 2011?
Thanks in advance for any replies! Any other useful information you can think of would be also appreciated.
post graduate studies for international students
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interleukin
- Posts: 2361
- Joined: Tue Apr 25, 2006 4:46 pm
- Location: Stockholm
Re: post graduate studies for international students
Hi,
I am in the field of biology, not engineering, and a postdoc not PhD student, but I can maybe answer some of your questions.
1) At least in my field, unless you have some grants with you from home, you would usually look for a research group that is already advertising a PhD position. Of course if you have time/possibility, you could contact a group leader you wish to work for and see if he/she thinks it is worth the effort to make a grant application with you to fund your work. Try to find mailing lists in your field in Finland (maybe by googling "engineering" "student" "finland" "mailing list" or similar), at least in my field there are very good mailing lists with adverts about jobs/positions/courses.
2) The language should not be a problem for you during your studies. At least where I work, there are a number of foreigners around, and the language is English as soon as a non-Finnish speaker is around. The big problem is actually that since the science is all in English, you will maybe not learn any Finnish at work. You have to really insist that people talk to you in Finnish (which is not so practical if there are other people around that do not speak Finnish either). If you really make sure to talk Finnish at home, and make Finnish friends, your Finnish will be usable after 3-4 years. (This is where I get flamed with people who reply that your Finnish will be perfect OR that you will not be able to say a word).
3) You could already start doing searches for groups that you think are doing interesting research. Contact the group leader and start discussions and find out if they would be interested in you. The earlier the better, at least if you plan on trying to make a joint application for funding with them. At least in my field, you can easily have to wait a year from applying for money until you get a decision (and then you should start working three months later.. stupid system). A polite introductory email without a super-detailed CV or information, but where you shortly explain who you are and that you think the group is doing interesting work, that can never go wrong in my opinion. The worst that happens is that you get no reply or that you get a "sorry, no funding/time for you" reply.
Good luck!
/interleukin
I am in the field of biology, not engineering, and a postdoc not PhD student, but I can maybe answer some of your questions.
1) At least in my field, unless you have some grants with you from home, you would usually look for a research group that is already advertising a PhD position. Of course if you have time/possibility, you could contact a group leader you wish to work for and see if he/she thinks it is worth the effort to make a grant application with you to fund your work. Try to find mailing lists in your field in Finland (maybe by googling "engineering" "student" "finland" "mailing list" or similar), at least in my field there are very good mailing lists with adverts about jobs/positions/courses.
2) The language should not be a problem for you during your studies. At least where I work, there are a number of foreigners around, and the language is English as soon as a non-Finnish speaker is around. The big problem is actually that since the science is all in English, you will maybe not learn any Finnish at work. You have to really insist that people talk to you in Finnish (which is not so practical if there are other people around that do not speak Finnish either). If you really make sure to talk Finnish at home, and make Finnish friends, your Finnish will be usable after 3-4 years. (This is where I get flamed with people who reply that your Finnish will be perfect OR that you will not be able to say a word).
3) You could already start doing searches for groups that you think are doing interesting research. Contact the group leader and start discussions and find out if they would be interested in you. The earlier the better, at least if you plan on trying to make a joint application for funding with them. At least in my field, you can easily have to wait a year from applying for money until you get a decision (and then you should start working three months later.. stupid system). A polite introductory email without a super-detailed CV or information, but where you shortly explain who you are and that you think the group is doing interesting work, that can never go wrong in my opinion. The worst that happens is that you get no reply or that you get a "sorry, no funding/time for you" reply.
Good luck!
/interleukin
Re: post graduate studies for international students
Can you please share the mailing list with meTry to find mailing lists in your field in Finland (maybe by googling "engineering" "student" "finland" "mailing list" or similar), at least in my field there are very good mailing lists with adverts about jobs/positions/courses.
You only live one and if you do it right once is enough.
Re: post graduate studies for international students
Hey I am also looking for a PhD position in Finland (also EU citizen).
In other countries funded PhD positions are at least advertised publicly but when I tried to get some information about Finland than it seems that you need to know already a project leader?
Well after sending out some emails I got only one rude reply back that told me to get a job and found the PhD by myself.
Did I miss someting in the application process? So far I find this a bit disappointing.
In other countries funded PhD positions are at least advertised publicly but when I tried to get some information about Finland than it seems that you need to know already a project leader?
Well after sending out some emails I got only one rude reply back that told me to get a job and found the PhD by myself.
Did I miss someting in the application process? So far I find this a bit disappointing.
Re: post graduate studies for international students
Which field are you trying to get a PhD in? For Helsinki, some of the offered positions can be found here:
https://www.helsinki.fi/en/open-positions
But, for example, physics - which is what I'm looking for, seems to "hide" their job postings behind a password only their Master's students have.
https://www.helsinki.fi/en/open-positions
But, for example, physics - which is what I'm looking for, seems to "hide" their job postings behind a password only their Master's students have.
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Querfeldein
- Posts: 155
- Joined: Fri Feb 06, 2015 8:10 pm
- Location: Helsinki
Re: post graduate studies for international students
No. What area of physics are you interested in? For theoretical physics, particle physics and astrophysics, you should be able to find information here: http://blogs.helsinki.fi/papu-dp/JK_Ironak wrote:Which field are you trying to get a PhD in? For Helsinki, some of the offered positions can be found here:
https://www.helsinki.fi/en/open-positions
But, for example, physics - which is what I'm looking for, seems to "hide" their job postings behind a password only their Master's students have.
The deadline to apply is typically in September of the previous year, and you should find more information for the 2017 intake closer to the time. In the meantime, feel free to ask me.
Re: post graduate studies for international students
Ok, thank you.
As far as I know, all of the sciences had some applications in September, but at the page I listed, ever since I only saw ads for humanities and medicine/biology/environmental. Since I found the page that says where ads are listed, that was under password, I concluded they just don't post them on the main site. Obviously wrongly
As far as I know, all of the sciences had some applications in September, but at the page I listed, ever since I only saw ads for humanities and medicine/biology/environmental. Since I found the page that says where ads are listed, that was under password, I concluded they just don't post them on the main site. Obviously wrongly
Re: post graduate studies for international students
Thank you very much for your support @JK_Ironak
My major is psychology, focusing on clinical/biological aspects.
Yes actually I took a look at that page.
Unfortunatley it seems there is nothing available.
Are there special announcment dates for PhD positions in that field as well?
My major is psychology, focusing on clinical/biological aspects.
Yes actually I took a look at that page.
Unfortunatley it seems there is nothing available.
Are there special announcment dates for PhD positions in that field as well?
Re: post graduate studies for international students
I have no idea how humanities work here
But! Many of the officially listed ads from all over the country get pulled by sites like duunitori and indeed, for example: link there is currently and ad about a place at Jyväskylä. If you cant find a nice supervisor/coordinator I guess it's the best option to follow these public ads. I guess that in all fields they mostly employ their own Masters students, and post ads rarely when they can't find anyone. Or in case of physics, never really post ads.
But! Many of the officially listed ads from all over the country get pulled by sites like duunitori and indeed, for example: link there is currently and ad about a place at Jyväskylä. If you cant find a nice supervisor/coordinator I guess it's the best option to follow these public ads. I guess that in all fields they mostly employ their own Masters students, and post ads rarely when they can't find anyone. Or in case of physics, never really post ads.
Re: post graduate studies for international students
Hi, I am also in similar situation. EU student, graduate from UK University and so on.
From my experience, Finland differs from some other countries in that money matters and funding matters are completely separate. So for example I made contact with the department I would like to study (I am in quite rare field, so there is only few places in Europe I could do this kind of research), had a nice chat with a head of department who seemed as if he would be very happy to see me there.
I applied with my proposal, it got accepted and I was "granted the right to study". So literary, if I secure funding, or win Euromilions, I can now come and start any time (at least this is what they told me). The head of departament is very helpful and he even sends me some odd e-mail every few months or so when there is some funding options available. So far I haven't been succesful
I tried some grants, in Finland and elsewhere, I also applied for paid positions, there is something called Juno and they provide paid positions in arts and humanities, for year, two years or full four years - but hasn't been successful. Basically there is well over 100 people for just few positions, so it's not easy.
Then I applied for Juno the next year and I got a very nice answer saying less or more "we really do like your proposal, but sadly we cannot fund you. We think you are cool though, and we would like to encourage you to look for your funding elsewhere" which, if I understand correctly (maybe there are some cultural undernotes?), means "bugger off, you tried once already and got your butt kicked, didn't you get the message last time?". Since I can't find any other options for funding, I had to postpone for now. Maybe one day...
...unless someone has any advice?
From my experience, Finland differs from some other countries in that money matters and funding matters are completely separate. So for example I made contact with the department I would like to study (I am in quite rare field, so there is only few places in Europe I could do this kind of research), had a nice chat with a head of department who seemed as if he would be very happy to see me there.
I applied with my proposal, it got accepted and I was "granted the right to study". So literary, if I secure funding, or win Euromilions, I can now come and start any time (at least this is what they told me). The head of departament is very helpful and he even sends me some odd e-mail every few months or so when there is some funding options available. So far I haven't been succesful
I tried some grants, in Finland and elsewhere, I also applied for paid positions, there is something called Juno and they provide paid positions in arts and humanities, for year, two years or full four years - but hasn't been successful. Basically there is well over 100 people for just few positions, so it's not easy.
Then I applied for Juno the next year and I got a very nice answer saying less or more "we really do like your proposal, but sadly we cannot fund you. We think you are cool though, and we would like to encourage you to look for your funding elsewhere" which, if I understand correctly (maybe there are some cultural undernotes?), means "bugger off, you tried once already and got your butt kicked, didn't you get the message last time?". Since I can't find any other options for funding, I had to postpone for now. Maybe one day...
...unless someone has any advice?
