Studies Opportunities? HELP

dondraper · Post by **dondraper** » Tue May 12, 2015 4:48 pm

I am an 24 years old french citizen and due to the unemployment we have in my country , as engineer that I am, I decided to come here to Helsinki because of a job offer. Since October I have a low salary but I have a good job and I have prepared a home for my wife that now is living with me. It has been a long process since January for getting all her documents, she is a russian 20 years old girl that doesn't have any degree.

We have decided after all this months that we will not study the finnish language because of its difficulty. We don't have the motivation, energy and money for studying it and we are not planning to live here all our life.

So my wife's main goal is to find studies or a job in russian, english or spanish (she has a high level of spanish). The TE-Office is not helping us because the only solution they have is waiting for more than 6 months for free finnish lessons. And now that we check studyinfo.fi and studyinfinland.fi we realise that there are not english bachelor degrees in Helsinki and Espoo. We don't find anything in the websites.

Do you have any advise or suggestion? What possibilities or opportunities she has for studying?

Best regards and Thanks

**Sponsor:**

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Tue May 12, 2015 9:43 pm

There are dozens of bachelor degree courses in English all over Finland (and especially in the capital region). But, your problem is that you missed the deadline for degrees starting this autumn. This is why you can't find any up-to-date info on studyinfinland.fi. You will now have to wait until next January to apply for courses that start in 2016. There are a few courses that start in January, you should be able to find more info on those online. Alternatively she could try applying for Open University studies. eg: http://www.metropolia.fi/en/degree-prog ... enrolment/

Or, she could try doing A levels in English at a place like Eira aikuislukio (High School for Adults) which would help her to improve her English and prepare her for applying to University next year. http://www.eira.fi/home

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Wed May 13, 2015 8:46 am

tummansininen wrote:Eira is ending the As-level Cambridge exams and I'm pretty sure are no longer taking enrolments for it (there isn't time before the last As exams which are at the end of next year).

I didn't know that. Hmm. What are the reasons for ending the Cambridge exams? Lack of demand?

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Wed May 13, 2015 2:18 pm

tummansininen wrote:I have no idea I was actually wondering if the Finnish language component was something Cambridge no longer wants to deal with.

What do you mean by "Finnish language component"? Were they offering A-level Finnish?
Cambridge still runs exams in Finland: FCE, BEC, CPE, CAE etc and they are also behind IELTS.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Wed May 13, 2015 9:38 pm

That's very odd. A few years ago when I looked at AICE for one of my kids there was no requirement to take Finnish (even at AS level) but that was at Kulosaari, not Eira. The AICE diploma was a combination of AS and A levels. I can understand why Eira would want to make some Finnish studies compulsory even if they fell outside the AICE programme. I guess it was a requirement in order to get govt funding. But I'd be surprised if that had anything to do with the decision to discontinue the AICE programme.

Anyway, thanks for the info. I can probably find out what's what as I know a couple of people who work(ed) there.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Wed May 13, 2015 11:30 pm

Could it be that the UAS no longer accept the AICE diploma for bachelors degree programmes? That would make it virtually worthless inside Finland. I must admit, I never really saw the point of the AICE diploma. If you want to study in English, then do an IB diploma or take A levels. AS levels aren't even worth much in the UK these days, unheard of outside the UK.

My understanding was that the matric in English was discontinued because they couldn't find teachers to teach it and mark the examination papers. But that was a long time ago. I don't think there has ever been any serious discussion about it coming back. Anyway, there are now quite a few IB schools in Finland (but not enough apparently).

dondraper · Post by **dondraper** » Fri May 15, 2015 4:21 pm

Rosamunda wrote:There are dozens of bachelor degree courses in English all over Finland (and especially in the capital region). But, your problem is that you missed the deadline for degrees starting this autumn. This is why you can't find any up-to-date info on studyinfinland.fi. You will now have to wait until next January to apply for courses that start in 2016. There are a few courses that start in January, you should be able to find more info on those online.

Rosamunda, are you saying that we doesn't find any English Bachelor Degree in the search because is late? I think that in that website you find all the possible alternatives and in Helsinki there are less than 10. If you check Arcada, Metropolia, Aalto.. etc. websites you find the same. Please would you like to check it and send me the links? I'll appreciate it. Thanks

Querfeldein · Post by **Querfeldein** » Sun May 17, 2015 11:31 am

Rosamunda already gave you the link you need: http://studyinfinland.fi/what_to_study/ ... s_database
Just enter language "English" and level "Bachelor", and click through the results. You will indeed see plenty of results, but that includes those for which the application deadlines (for 2015) have already passed. If you click on an individual result, it will show the application deadline. Also see http://studyinfinland.fi/how_to_apply/a ... admissions which explains the typical application period. Perhaps it is worth contacting individual departments to ask if there are still places available (the worst that can happen is that they say no), but that's something you'll have to do for yourself.

dondraper · Post by **dondraper** » Thu May 21, 2015 5:01 pm

Querfeldein wrote:You will indeed see plenty of results, but that includes those for which the application deadlines (for 2015) have already passed.

English-Bachelor-Degrees.. "Found 80 study programmes" But 90% of them are outside Helsinki or Espoo (Lahti, Tampere, Turku...)

These are the only opportunities that you can find in the website:
Aalto University: International Business
Arcada: Materials and Processing Technology // Nursing
Diaconia: Social Services
HAAGA-HELIA: Tourism // Sport // Multilingual Assistant
Metropolia: Information Technology // 2 Engineerings

I have deleted the repeated in the list.
As you can see, the amount of posibilities are not enough.
Isn't it?

Flossy1978 · Post by **Flossy1978** » Thu May 21, 2015 5:27 pm

Well, it's Finland.... Not a hugely populated English speaking country. What do you expect???

Why should there be a lot courses in English? Since you are going to study for free, you should be grateful for even this amount of courses in English

Good luck!

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Thu May 21, 2015 7:31 pm

Your list isn't complete. I know for a fact that Haaga-Helia has 8 degree programmes taught in English

At Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences students can study Bachelor’s degree programmes and Master’s degree programmes. Haaga-Helia offers 40 Bachelor’s degree programmes out of which 8 are delivered in English. Degree programmes conducted in English, full-time studies:

DP for Multilingual Management Assistants, Pasila campus
DP in International Business, Pasila campus
DP in International Sales and Marketing, Porvoo campus
DP in Business Information Technology, Pasila campus
DP in Hospitality, Tourism and Experience Management, Haaga campus
DP in Tourism, Porvoo campus
DP in Sports and Leisure Management, Vierumäki campus

And Metropolia has a long list that includes nursing, social services, international business & logistics, European business administration,European management etc
http://www.metropolia.fi/en/degree-programmes/

@Flossy1978, Finland probably has the highest number of bachelor degree programmes taught in English of any country in Europe (not including the UK). If I remember correctly, only the Netherlands and Denmark come close. There are many reasons for this, some to do with politics, internationalisation, the ease of doing research in English, the materials and resources available in English etc etc... It seems crazy to me that there would be courses in IT, engineering, tourism, international business etc actually taught in Finnish!

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Fri May 22, 2015 7:03 am

Rosamunda wrote:@Flossy1978, Finland probably has the highest number of bachelor degree programmes taught in English of any country in Europe (not including the UK). If I remember correctly, only the Netherlands and Denmark come close. There are many reasons for this, some to do with politics, internationalisation, the ease of doing research in English, the materials and resources available in English etc etc.

let alone the number or potential students in the world. For the schools it is a business oportunity, so far the state has been willing to foot the bill.

It seems crazy to me that there would be courses in IT, engineering, tourism, international business etc actually taught in Finnish!

Because the overwhelming majority of the natives are actually more fluent with that language?

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Sat May 23, 2015 1:21 pm

Tourism of course is mostly run on other language than Finnish, though it would be better if they would not all be just speakers of English (and presumably the things they teach on classes is not quite the same as the conversations with the tourists are). I still maintain it is the exception not the rule to have a native lecturer that is as fluent in English as in Finnish. THE UAS as main rule do not get the best students from high school.

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