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Admission Criteria

Degree Programmes with English as the Language of Instruction

The minimum eligibility criteria for Bachelor degree programmes is a completed senior secondary/upper secondary/high school education proven by a final graduation diploma or certificate. Statements of results or result slips are not considered to be sufficient credentials for granting eligibility or completed minimum of three years of vocational education.

If an applicant who is applying with a non-Finnish qualification is a citizen of an EU/EEA-country, he/she can apply if the qualification is completed during the spring of applying. The admission of such EU/EEA –applicant completing his/her education in the spring of applying is conditional until the polytechnic/UAS has checked the applicant’s final certificates.

Polytechnics/UAS only accept final certificates awarded by national or regional bodies granting educational certificates. Therefore various other documents such as testimonials, statement of results, examination results or result slips are not considered as official certificates.

After submitting the application, all applicants must send copies of relevant certificates (final school leaving certificate and a language certificate ) to the admissions office by 22 February 2013 at 4.15 pm.

See Application Guide for general principles of admissions criteria for degree programmes conducted in English.

Please, note that it is not possible to apply with a Bachelor´s level/University level qualification for the Bachelor Degree Programmes at Vaasa UAS.

Language Test

Applicant who is not a citizen of an EU/EEA –country must provide proof of his/her English language skills by 22 February 2013 4.15 pm at the latest to the admissions office of his/her first preference polytechnic/UAS.

The minimum language skills requirement is:

Further information about language requirements:

  • Both TOEFL and IELTS test results are valid for two years. Applicants IELTS results are checked from IELTS verification system. TOEFL score results are only accepted directly from the Educational Testing Service. TOEFL-code for Vaasa University of Applied Sciences is 5726. Please, use this code number when indicating Vaasa UAS as as a score recipient.
  • Pearson, Cambridge and National Proficiency tests do not have a limited validation. Scores from any test year are accepted.
  • Skills level 4 in all sublevels in National Certificate of Proficiency test concerns only tests taken after 1 December 2011. Overall score is accepted from tests taken before previously mentioned date. 
  • It is not necessary to resend TOEFL language certificate to Vaasa UAS,  if you have already done so during the previous application period. In this case your score result must meet our requirements and the test date must be 7 January 2011 or later. 
  • In addition, secondary school education in English completed in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand or a Bachelor or Master degree completed in English in one of these countries, is also accepted as a demonstration of sufficient English language skills.
  • Bachelor’s or Master’s degree conducted in English in a European Union/European Economic Area –country is also accepted as a demonstration of sufficient English language skills.

Discretionary Admission

Vaasa University of Applied Sciences uses discretionary admission in joint application round 2013. Applicant can be considered eligible for the entrance examination although he/she would not meet the general admission criteria. Each case is evaluated individually. Discretion does not remove the requirement of English language proficiency, meaning that English language certificate is still mandatory to all non-EU applicants. Discretion may come in question in the following situations:

  • Applicant outside EU-region graduates later than application period closes but 30th July 2013 at the latest.
  • Applicant has minor inadequacies in his/her degree certificate.

Admittance is always conditional until original certificate has been checked and verified when studies commence. Copies of relevant school documents including a valid English language certificate are to be delivered to admissions office by 22 February 2013 at the latest. Late attachments are not considered.

'Testimonials', Statements of Results', 'Examination Results', 'Transcript of Records' or 'Result Slips' can be considered valid only if they are sent by official national or regional body.

Notice that separate attachments should be sent to every application preference if you are applying via discretionary application to other Universities of Applied Sciences.

More information: admissions(at)vamk.fi

Other Universities of Applied Sciences using discretionary admission

Applicants with A-Level/ AS-level certificates

Certificate must be issued by official awarding body. The Official awarding bodies are: AQA, CCEA, CIE, EDEXCEL, OCR and WJEC.

Requirement is at least two A-level subjects or equal amount of AS-Levels e.g. one A-level and two AS-levels.A-level/ AS-level certificate can be considered as a proof of sufficient English language skill if the education has been completed in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand.