Application process for exchange studies

You can find the application periods on their own page.

University of Helsinki applicants for exchange studies must submit their applications during the relevant application periods through the Mobility Online system. The University of Helsinki uses Mobility Online as the electronic application and information system for international mobility. For all destinations also outside the EU and EEA area, this information is available in the section Exchange opportunities around the world.

The application process in brief – click here for detailed technical instructions. Read the detailed technical instructions and follow them when completing your application.

NOTE: There is a maintenance break in Mobility Online on every second Tuesday of the month between 10-12. During the maintenance break, you cannot login to Mobility Online. 

1. Register as an applicant by filling in the application form. Summer course have their own application form.
2. Complete the information on the registration form. Select your second, third and fourth application option, if any, on the form. 
3. After registering as an applicant, you will receive a link to your email. Use the link to log in to your Mobility Online account.
4. Obtain and prepare the necessary attachments and upload them as PDF files in the folder for submissions in your Mobility Online account. Read the detailed instructions on attachments in the section below.
5. Upload all required attachments in the Mobility Online system by the closing of the application period.
    

If the University of Helsinki selects you as an applicant for exchange studies, you must then apply to the target university according to its requirements. Students selected for exchange studies will receive instructions with the letter of acceptance sent by International Exchange Services and Education Cooperation from the address studentexchange@helsinki.fi.

Follow the detailed application instructions in Mobility Online when you begin to draft your application, and find out which attachments are required. For assistance in drawing up your application, participate in information sessions on student exchange as well as application “clinics” or contact International Exchange Services and Education Cooperation.

After registering you will not be taken directly to your own Mobility Online account. Log in at Mobility Online (use your AD account for the University network).

For technical assistance with your Mobility Online application and account, email studentexchange@helsinki.fi. Your message should include a detailed description of the problem. In urgent cases, you can also call +358 2941 22401 (Mon-Fri 12-14).

Required attachments of your application are: 

1. Study plan to each target university separately.
2. Transcript of studies, downloaded from Sisu (Sisu instructions for downloading the transcript of studies). If you have completed Bachelor’s degree at a higher education institution other than the University of Helsinki, also attach a transcript for your previous degree in PDF form. If you have been granted the right to complete JOO (Flexible Study Right Scheme) studies at another Finnish university, you can include the credits you have completed there in your total credit number. In that case, include a transcript concerning your JOO studies as an additional attachment to your application if the credits are not yet included in your University of Helsinki transcript.
3. Motivation letter
4. Possible other attachments: 
   1. Language certificate: Check always whether a language certificate is required of applicants for exchange studies. Information for non-EU / EEA countries can be found for each university on page Exchange opportunities around the world and for European destinations on page Language requirements. If you plan to study in English language only, you do not need to attach any language certificate at this point yet.  
   2. Thesis work during exchange: If you are applying for exchange in order to work on your thesis, add also this form as attachment to the application (word). (See more in"Study plan of your exchange application ")

NB! If you are applying for the free mover programme, read the relevant instructions for information on other required attachments.

General about the study plan

If you have not yet read about the teaching offered at your target university, do it now! This is often the most challenging part of the whole process, but do not get discouraged. Select an appropriate number of courses that are suitable for your degree at the University of Helsinki. Read more on how to plan the studies for exchange from here. 

The number of courses to be entered in the study plan at the application stage:

European destinations: 30 ECTS per semester irrespective of the duration of the semester.

Other destinations: See the minimum requirements for exchange studies in the introductory text for the target university in the section Exchange opportunities around the world.

You will find information on comparisons between the credit systems in different counties under the section "How will the number of credits be converted?"

Find out which courses you can complete at your destination, for example, as follows:

• Read the target university’s website and search for courses available to exchange Students. Select courses in a field covered by the exchange agreement.
• University bilateral agreements outside of Europe: See the courses available at your target university in the section Exchange opportunities around the world.

If you cannot find information on courses by following the instructions above, you can contact the target university’s exchange coordinator.

Target universities may have restrictions on what courses exchange students are allowed to study. For example, the host university may require that you have completed your Bachelor’s degree before you can study Master’s level courses.

Remember that a plan is always just a plan. Learning agreements must often be drawn up based on the courses the target university offered in the academic year before your exchange. The more compulsory courses you intend to substitute for exchange studies, the more detailed your learning agreement should be.

The degree you are including your studies to can also be the degree (Master's degree) you are planning to attend after your Bachelor’s degree. In some cases, it may be good to do two Learning agreement plans. The second plan can be made in a free format as a word document.

• In many study programmes, it is possible to complete the optional study module abroad. See more information under the section recognition and validation.
• If you intend to substitute a certain compulsory course in your degree with studies completed abroad, ensure the substitutability of the course already at the planning stage, for example by contacting the teacher in charge of that course.

Creating a study plan (learning agreement) 

In the exchange application, the study plan of your exchange studies for your primary destination (i.e. learning agreement) is drafted in Sisu. Add optional exchange studies into your primary curriculum as study drafts. You can consult our Instructions for making a study plan. Add compulsory studies to be completed during a student exchange to the timeline in Sisu. You can consult our instructions for adding compulsory studies to Sisu. There is no need to make a separate attachment to your plan since a student exchange specialist will look at your plan in Sisu. Contact the International Exchange Services and Education Cooperation if have problems with doing your Sisu study plan.

The study plan in Sisu does not have to be fully ready to be suitable for an exchange application. However, it must include the following studies:

• All the exchange studies you plan.
• All compulsory courses of your degrees that you have completed and also the ones you have not completed yet.
• All of your credits that count towards your degree and have been registered by the date of making the exchange studies application (including any credits earned that you do not intend to use for your degree).

If you plan to study during your exchange for both your bachelor’s and your future master’s degree please make a plan in Sisu that shows you’ll be in an exchange during the completion of both degrees. In some cases, you may want to draft two alternative study plans, one of which you can add as a separate attachment. Do this, for example, if you plan to apply to a master's program or field of study other than your primary master's option.

If you are applying to more than one university, make a study plan for your first exchange destination in Sisu. Make the study plans for the other exchange destinations, one per destination, separately, and attach these as PDF documents in your application in Mobility Online. Each study plan must indicate where you want to place the exchange courses in your degree requirements at the University of Helsinki after your return when you apply for the transfer of the exchange credits. Please indicate in your application if you are planning to replace compulsory courses in your degree requirements with studies at an exchange university. For optional studies, list the names of the courses, and the number of credits for each course you intend to take at the exchange university. See an example of a study plan (word).

Language studies during exchange studies

• The Language Centre is responsible for the recognition of the compulsory language studies included in the degree.  Instructions of the Language Centre. Plan courses into Sisu's timeline.
• Language studies completed in other universities in Finland or abroad can be included in Language Centre modules upon agreement with the module coordinator. Plan study courses during the exchange into Sisu as study drafts.
• You can also include exchange studies in your degree as optional studies. Draw them up in Sisu as study drafts.

Making thesis work during exchange studies

If you plan to work on your thesis during the exchange, attach the Agreement for Thesis work form (word) as an attachment to the application instead of a study plan. You may do thesis work only in exchange destinations in Europe (Erasmus+ and Nordplus) and some unit-level destinations outside of Europe (Faculty and unit bilateral agreements). When applying for the exchange placement from the University of Helsinki, preliminary approval from an exchange coordinator at the host university is sufficient. However, you must find an academic co-supervisor from the host university before the beginning of the exchange period.

If you plan to contribute your thesis (remotely) to UH in a way that is not part of your exchange studies, you do not need to mention the thesis when you apply. Please note that you still must obtain the minimum number of credits required by UH for the exchange university's transcript of records, 5 ECTS/month in Europe, in non-European destinations depending on the destination, usually around 24-30 ECTS/semester. So if you want to contribute your thesis to UH during your exchange, make sure you can also complete the required number of credits in the form of courses.

The purpose of the motivation letter is to convince those who decide on applications to select you at this precise stage of your studies.

• The maximum length of the letter is one A4 page (max. 400 words).
• You can write the letter in Finnish, Swedish or English.
• If you are applying to more than one university in the same application round, write a single letter of motivation in the same file, but put emphasis on the first option in the letter.

Your letter should explain:

• Why you wish to study at the university of your choice
• How student exchange at the university in question would support your degree studies at the University of Helsinki
• What part your exchange studies would play in the degree pursued at the University of Helsinki
• Why you are applying for an exchange at this stage of your studies
• What plans you have for the future, and how your exchange studies would help you make them happen. Describe your plans from your own perspective. For example, the phrase “I am aiming for an international career” is not sufficient if you do not describe your plans in detail and reflect on them.
• What other matters may affect your selection. Mention any relevant work experience or similar assets that support your selection for exchange studies. In addition, if you have taken a long break from your studies or changed major subjects, mention this in the letter of motivation.

• If you work on your thesis during the exchange, you should tell in your motivation letter why it is essential for your thesis to get to work on it at a partner university. Please also indicate, who would work as your co-supervisor at the host university or with whom you’ve agreed on this.

You can apply to four target universities at most in a single round of applications. You can apply to places offered by different exchange programmes and unit during the same round. You can select at most four target universities per application form.

A single registration form can be used to apply for destinations offered by University level, one faculty and one subject offered places only.  If you wish to apply for exchange studies through several Faculties / subjects, you must always register again by searching for your destination in the application form under the correct unit.

If you wish to apply for exchange studies through several exchange programmes, list your priority order both in conjunction with registration and in your letter of motivation. Your priority list will be taken into account, but you will be offered only one place, so do not select destinations you are unwilling to accept. Creating a priority list will not reduce your chances of being selected for your primary destination.

You must complete at least five credits in each month of your exchange.

ECTS credits: The purpose of the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is to enable comparisons between the scope of studies at educational institutions in different European countries. At the University of Helsinki, one credit equals one ECTS credit. At the University of Helsinki, ECTS credits are transferred in the same scope (1 ECT​S = 1 University of Helsinki credit).

Many European universities offer credits that are fully compatible with ECTS credits. However, in Britain one credit usually equals half a credit at the University of Helsinki (1 British credit = 0.5 ECTS credits).

Exchange opportunities outside Europe: Countries outside Europe do not usually use ECTS credits. For information on the minimum number of courses or local credits you must complete during your exchange, see the descriptions for non-European universities in the Guide instructions concerning your target region.

Comparisons between the credit systems of target universities outside Europe and the credit system of the University of Helsinki are made difficult by the fact that the credits offered by most target universities include only the amount of contact teaching to be completed and exclude the share of independent work. This means that the independent work required must be assessed on the basis of the description of each course.

After the exchange, the unit responsible for the transfer of credits must decide how many ECTS credits to provide for courses completed at the target university. The amount of ECTS credits will be decided based on the target university's credit system and/or course descriptions and in language studies also based on the course's target level. University of Helsinki's International Exchange Services and Education Cooperation has published a recommended conversion scale for each partner university. It can be used to help assess the scope. The credit conversion scale is available in the description of each target university The recommended conversion scale is not binding on the unit which decides on the credit transfer. The learning agreement drawn up at the application stage is always preliminary, and actual decisions on credit transfer will be made after the exchange, based on information about completed courses.

Read about eligibility for application and criteria for selection here.

The University of Helsinki’s International Exchange Services and Education Cooperation will decide on the selections within six weeks from the application deadline. Selected students will receive an email from the address studentexchange@helsinki.fi. Don’t be nervous though; your friend may have received information on selection before you have. Depending on exchange destination and degree programme selection, results will be sent to different students at different times.

When you recieve the acceptance e-mail you need to  Accept or reject the place offer through your Mobility Online account within seven days.

Note that you can be offered only one place even if you applied for several places with several applications. If you refuse an offer, you will not be offered another place during the same round. If you are not selected for any of the places you applied for, you can be offered a place that remains unfilled, provided you notified on your application that you are interested in such places.

If the University of Helsinki selects you as an outgoing exchange student, you must still apply to your prospective target university.

For detailed instructions, read the email confirming your selection as an exchange student. The instructions depend on your exchange programme. More information on how to do your exchange application to your destination university.