MBA scholarships for Finnish citizens

Cool · Post by **Cool** » Mon Feb 15, 2010 11:05 pm

I am a Finnish citizen and want to study MBA in UK. Does anyone out there know what scholarship opportunities (Finland, EU, private ...)or government supports are available to Finns who want to study abroad, let's say in UK?

**Sponsor:**

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 12:10 am

British Council as one, maybe the British-Finnish Chamber of Commerce... then various foundations...

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 9:24 am

Isn't the employer usually the one who pays for MBAs?

inkku · Post by **inkku** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 3:59 pm

http://www.saatiopalvelu.fi/fi/Saatiot_verkossa/

http://www.helsinki.fi/ajankohtaista/yl ... rahat.html

DMC · Post by **DMC** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 4:39 pm

Upphew wrote:Isn't the employer usually the one who pays for MBAs?

I paid for my own, but on my course I think most people were there at their employers' expense.

sinikala · Post by **sinikala** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 5:29 pm

Henrik mentioned the British council... they explicitly eclude the MBA from their list of eligible courses see the section "ELIGIBILITY"

http://www.britishcouncil.fi/education/ ... arship.htm

There are some charitable foundations in Finland which support study abroad search google e.g. "mba apuraha iso-britannia"

To find grants from the UK ... it is long-winded, but you can check the Universities which you are interested in from here

http://www.scit.wlv.ac.uk/ukinfo/

go to the search box on each University's homepage and type "MBA scholarship", it will be far more specific than trying to hit lucky with google.

e.g. look for London School of Economics ...

http://www.lse.ac.uk/

in the searchbox type "mba scholarship"

gives the result

http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/studen ... easMSc.htm

jne.

inkku · Post by **inkku** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 7:57 pm

To get a scholarship in the UK when coming from abroad is practically impossible. Only if you succeeded in your studies well in the first year you could try to apply for it for the second year but not directly for the first year. The competition is huge. Of course nothing prevents you from trying it but I would not waste my time there.

The first link I gave has an extensive list of foundations in Finland, so you need to go through that list see which would suit you and when is the deadline for applications. You can find same kind of list also as a book, it is published by Suomen Kirjallisuuden Seura (Säätiöopas is the name iirc). Remember, you will need at least two recommendations from your supervisors or other academicians who know you and your academic achievements so you need to ensure you know reputable people and have a good relationship with them. You have to convince the foundations also why they should fund you, how funding your studies would benefit Finland and/or Finnish business life.

Basically, good quality MBA studies are VERY expensive, so I believe they are only feasible if somebody pays the fees for you. And you don't do anything with the crappy ones.

DMC · Post by **DMC** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 9:41 pm

inkku wrote:Basically, good quality MBA studies are VERY expensive, so I believe they are only feasible if somebody pays the fees for you.

A good house, a good car, a good MBA, a good XYZ ... the story is the same. They are expensive and if you want one and can't persuade someone else to pay for it, what choice do you have? If you want it you have to be prepared to pay for it and if you can't afford it you can't have it. Anyone who can't work that out may not be a strong candidate for an MBA.

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 10:21 pm

DMC wrote:A good house, a good car, a good MBA, a good XYZ ... the story is the same. They are expensive and if you want one and can't persuade someone else to pay for it, what choice do you have?

Bittorrent!

Cool · Post by **Cool** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 10:59 pm

thanks all you active doods out there. Inkku two links are great, I'll start digging. My employer is small so wouldn't cover. I am surprised, there is no government/kela support for Finns going abroad for study? Something, anything is better then that expensive loan!

sammy · Post by **sammy** » Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:18 am

Cool wrote:thanks all you active doods out there. Inkku two links are great, I'll start digging. My employer is small so wouldn't cover. I am surprised, there is no government/kela support for Finns going abroad for study? Something, anything is better then that expensive loan!

There is the KELA support of course. But it's not necessarily available for all possible studies abroad - usually the studies need to lead to a degree, and they need to be full-time. Also if you have not lived in Finland for some time you might not be eligible to the KELA thingy...

Financial aid for a course of study which is conducted entirely outside Finland is only available for citizens of Finland, other EU/EEA countries or Switzerland and their family members. Applicants must have been resident in Finland for at least two years within the five years preceding the course of study. In other words, they do not qualify if they have lived abroad for more than three years before beginning their studies. Further requirements which apply to citizens of EU/EEA countries and Switzerland are that they are working in Finland and the intended course of study is closely linked to their job or that they are unwillingly unemployed.

Check the details directly from them:

http://www.kela.fi/in/internet/english. ... enDocument

For those studying abroad
- phone service 020 634 6630, open 1 p.m. to 4 p.m
- ulkomaat.opintotuki@kela.fi

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:21 am

Cool wrote:thanks all you active doods out there. Inkku two links are great, I'll start digging. My employer is small so wouldn't cover. I am surprised, there is no government/kela support for Finns going abroad for study? Something, anything is better then that expensive loan!

Your point of view (imho the study loan was fairly cheap, at least competitively priced). But shelling out close to six figures of taxpayer money to get someone MBA (which is not so highly sought after here, afaik)... so no big surprise for me, that there are no government support for that.

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:42 am

Adding the fact that MBA isn''t a "Master's degree" as such - KELA and most others cover only proper degrees, like a "Master of Economics" if you study at say Hanken and then go on an exchange.

sammy · Post by **sammy** » Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:57 am

sinikala wrote:To find grants from the UK ... it is long-winded, but you can check the Universities which you are interested in

There's also a UK scholarship search function at http://www.educationuk.org - under "Study advice"... maybe worth checking?

Pursuivant - yep, MBA's are bit of a mixed bag - for example here in Finland the MBA's offered by universities (Hanken & HSE aka Aalto University) are not really considered Finnish "academic" university degrees. The "regular" Master's programmes in Business and Economics they offer are a different thing altogether. I'm not sure actually how KELA would see an MBA provided by a UK university... best to ask them directly.

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