Language certificates

The Language Centre provides certificates of language proficiency to students who are registered as attending the University of Helsinki and who apply to international exchange programmes or for traineeships and are required to produce a certificate by their exchange university or international employer. Exceptions to this are students doing their major in the Bachelor’s/Master’s programme in Languages, who obtain the certificate from the teachers of their degree programme.

Language skills are assessed and certificates granted by the teacher of the language in question. Language certificates are provided in languages that are taught in the Language Centre.

A copy of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) can be enclosed with the language certificate.

NB! Owing to the limited scope of testing and more restricted content, a certificate of language proficiency cannot substitute for compulsory language studies.

The Language Centre does not provide language certificates for job or grant applications. The University’s official transcript of studies – or, after graduation, the diploma – can be used for these purposes.

Language skills are assessed and certificates granted by your Language Centre teacher in Arabic.

In order to guarantee that you get your certificate in time,

• make sure that you contact the teacher no later than two weeks before the application deadline to make an appointment (NB! Certificates will only be issued to students who have participated the Language Centre courses in Arabic)
• if you have any certificate/evidence related to your language skills, please take them with you
• reserve approx. 30 minutes for a possible testing session.

The delivery time for the certificate is at least two weeks.

If you need a language certificate as part of your application to an exchange programme or exchange university, you may ask a Language Centre English teacher to test you. Due to the limited and specific nature of the test given, the language certificate provided for the purpose of academic exchange programmes cannot be used to claim exemption from the compulsory language requirements of the university degree.

In order to guarantee that you get your certificate in time,

• contact the Language Centre's English teacher that has taught you
• if you have taken no courses at the Language Centre, your teacher no longer teaches at the Language Centre, you do not remember the teacher’s name or if you have passed an Exemption Test, contact the faculty coordinator. Faculty coordinators are Language Centre's English teachers who coordinate the teaching and testing of English in the different faculties and know of the courses offered at the faculties they are in charge of.
• make sure that you contact the teacher no later than two weeks before the application deadline
• write your email in English
• explain in your message what kind of certificate you need (e.g. a form to be filled in, a free-form) and what skills need to be tested (reading, writing, speaking, listening). In addition, indicate when your application is due.

When contacting a teacher students should indicate:

1. their student number
2. their faculty
3. if they have taken a course, when they took the course, and the code for that course
4. any deadlines they have

The Language Centre is not responsible for TOEFL, IELTS or Cambridge Certificate testing.

Language skills are assessed and certificates granted by your Language Centre teacher in Spanish.

If you have not been in Language Centre Spanish courses (or your teacher doesn't grant language certificates), please contact Spanish teacher Jacquline Chávez Turro.

In order to guarantee that you get your certificate in time,

• make sure that you contact the teacher no later than two weeks before the application deadline to make an appointment
• if you have any certificate/evidence related to your language skills, please take them with you
• reserve approx. 30 minutes for a possible testing session

The delivery time for the certificate is at least two weeks.

This instruction is available only in Finnish and in Swedish.

Tutkintoon sisältyvät toisen kotimaisen kielen, ruotsin tai suomen kirjallisen ja suullisen taidon opinnot vastaavat julkisyhteisöjen henkilöstöltä vaadittavaa kielitaitoa. Muuta virallista kielitodistusta ei tarvita. Jos olet suorittanut nämä opinnot Helsingin yliopiston kielikeskuksessa ja tarvitset kielitaitotodistusta ennen tutkinnon valmistumista, voit osoittaa kielitaitosi yliopiston virallisella opintosuoritusotteella. Mikäli suoritusta ei vielä ole, ota yhteys finskan opettajaan suorittaaksesi korvaavan kokeen.

Ulkoministeriön harjoittelupaikkoja varten ei tarvita erillistä kielitodistusta, vaan ote yliopiston opintosuoritusrekisteristä on riittävä osoitus kotimaisten kielten taidosta.

Language skills are assessed and certificates granted by your Language Centre teacher in Italian.

If you have not been in Language Centre Italian courses (or your teacher doesn't grant language certificates), please contact Italian teacher Sari Meurman.

In order to guarantee that you get your certificate in time,

• make sure that you contact the teacher no later than two weeks before the application deadline to make an appointment
• if you have any certificate/evidence related to your language skills, please take them with you
• reserve approx. 30 minutes for a possible testing session

The delivery time for the certificate is at least two weeks.

Language skills are assessed and certificates granted by your Language Centre teacher in Japanese.

In order to guarantee that you get your certificate in time,

• make sure that you contact the teacher no later than two weeks before the application deadline to make an appointment (NB! Certificates will only be issued to students who have participated the Language Centre courses in Japanese)
• if you have any certificate/evidence related to your language skills, please take them with you
• reserve approx. 30 minutes for a possible testing session.

The delivery time for the certificate is at least two weeks.

Language skills are assessed and certificates granted by your Language Centre teacher in Chinese.

In order to guarantee that you get your certificate in time,

• make sure that you contact the teacher no later than two weeks before the application deadline to make an appointment (NB! Certificates will only be issued to students who have participated the Language Centre courses in Chinese)
• if you have any certificate/evidence related to your language skills, please take them with you
• reserve approx. 30 minutes for a possible testing session.

The delivery time for the certificate is at least two weeks.

Language skills are assessed and certificates granted by your Language Centre teacher in Portuguese.

In order to guarantee that you get your certificate in time,

• make sure that you contact the teacher no later than two weeks before the application deadline to make an appointment (NB! Certificates will only be issued to students who have participated the Language Centre courses in Portuguese)
• if you have any certificate/evidence related to your language skills, please take them with you
• reserve approx. 30 minutes for a possible testing session.

The delivery time for the certificate is at least two weeks.

Language skills are assessed and certificates granted by your Language Centre teacher in French.

If you have not been in Language Centre French courses (or your teacher doesn't grant language certificates), please contact the following French teachers:

• Ritva Nordström-Ylönen
• Frédéric Nozais
• Suvi Kotkavuori

In order to guarantee that you get your certificate in time,

• make sure that you contact the teacher no later than two weeks before the application deadline to make an appointment
• if you have any certificate/evidence related to your language skills, please take them with you
• reserve approx. 30-45 minutes for a possible testing session.

The delivery time for the certificate is at least two weeks.

This instruction is available only in Finnish and in Swedish.

Tutkintoon sisältyvät toisen kotimaisen kielen, ruotsin tai suomen kirjallisen ja suullisen taidon opinnot vastaavat julkisyhteisöjen henkilöstöltä vaadittavaa kielitaitoa. Muuta virallista kielitodistusta ei tarvita. Jos olet suorittanut nämä opinnot Helsingin yliopiston kielikeskuksessa ja tarvitset kielitaitotodistusta ennen tutkinnon valmistumista, voit osoittaa kielitaitosi yliopiston virallisella opintosuoritusotteella. Mikäli suoritusta ei vielä ole, ota yhteys ruotsin tiedekuntakoordinaattoriin suorittaaksesi tasokokeen.

Ulkoministeriön harjoittelupaikkoja varten ei tarvita erillistä kielitodistusta, vaan ote yliopiston opintosuoritusrekisteristä on riittävä osoitus kotimaisten kielten taidosta.

Language skills are assessed and certificates granted by your Language Centre teacher in German.

If you have not been in Language Centre German courses (or your teacher doesn't grant language certificates), please contact German teacher Christian Niedling.

In order to guarantee that you get your certificate in time,

• make sure that you contact the teacher no later than two weeks before the application deadline to make an appointment
• if you have any certificate/evidence related to your language skills, please take them with you
• reserve approx. 30 minutes for a possible testing session.

The delivery time for the certificate is at least two weeks.

Language skills are assessed and certificates granted by your Language Centre teacher in Danish.

In order to guarantee that you get your certificate in time,

• make sure that you contact the teacher no later than two weeks before the application deadline to make an appointment (NB! Certificates will only be issued to students who have participated the Language Centre courses in Danish)
• if you have any certificate/evidence related to your language skills, please take them with you
• reserve approx. 30 minutes for a possible testing session.

The delivery time for the certificate is at least two weeks.

In order to guarantee that you get your certificate in time,

• make sure that you contact Heidi Mäkäläinen by email no later than two weeks before the application deadline to make an appointment
• you'll get the language certificate primarily from the teacher that has taught you. However, teachers who have no reception hour, are not giving certificates
• if you have any certificate/evidence related to your language skills, please take them with you
• reserve approx. 30 minutes for a possible testing session.

The delivery time for the certificate is at least two weeks.

Language skills are assessed and certificates granted by your Language Centre teacher in Estonian.

In order to guarantee that you get your certificate in time,

• make sure that you contact the teacher no later than two weeks before the application deadline to make an appointment (NB! Certificates will only be issued to students who have participated the Language Centre courses in Estonian)
• if you have any certificate/evidence related to your language skills, please take them with you
• reserve approx. 30 minutes for a possible testing session.

The delivery time for the certificate is at least two weeks.