Admission requirements

Minimum eligibility criteria

  • Bachelor’s degree in forestry or related field with good grades issued by an internationally recognised university.
  • Good command of English language. TOEFL iBT 90 or IELTS 6.5 or PTE 59. The English language test is not required from applicants who have conducted
    • Bachelor’s or master’s degree (or higher) in English, or
    • Secondary education in English in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom or the United States. Please see the details below.

Application form

The on-line application form (available only when the call for applications is open) must be filled in and the required enclosures need to be attached  (in pdf format, except the photo can be submitted as jpeg) with the on-line application.  At the application state we require only scanned enclosures attached (uploaded) to the application form. Paper copies are not required during the application period. Please see further instructions and how to submit your application documents. The recommendation letters can also be attached with the application or they can be sent by email directly to the MSc EF programme Coordinator,  MS. Marjoriitta Möttönen (marjoriitta.mottonen(at)uef.fi) by the referees.  Also the recommendation letters need to arrive by the given deadline.

Application enclosures

The following application enclosures are required to be attached with your application:

  • The scanned copy of the original degree certificate (in the original language) and an English, Finnish or Swedish translation of the degree certificate
  • The scanned copy of the original transcript of records (in the original language) and an English, Finnish or Swedish translation of the transcript of records.
  • English language certificate
  • Two recommendation letters, use the template provided below
  • Curriculum vitae. CV must be presented in chronological order and must not have gaps longer than 12 months during the most recent five years.
  • A certificate of residence*
  • A copy of your passport
  • A passport-size photo of you (e.g. in .jpeg)

*The place of residence can be verified by:

  • a residence certificate issued in accordance with the candidate’s municipality normal registration rules OR
  • a certificate from the candidate’s place of work, study or training issued by the employer or institution in question.

The certificate must include the full name and current address (incl. city and country) of the candidate and it has to be issued within the 12 months prior to the submission deadline of applying.

In addition, as a part of the admission requirements, in the on-line application form you will be requested to write a motivation letter (max. 1 300 characters to be written the the text box in the application form) and also to include information about your work experience (max. 500 characters to be written in the text box in the application form) and international experience (max. 500 characters to be written in the text box in the application form). The motivation letter, information on work experience and on international experience will all have own text boxes in the application form = three text boxes). Please do NOT attach separate motivation letters with the application form.

Admission requirements

1. Degree requirements

All applicants should have a bachelor’s degree in forest sciences corresponding to at least three years’ of full-time academic studies (equivalent to 180 ECTS credit units in the Finnish university system) obtained at an internationally recognised and accredited university or higher education institution.

Temporary (provisional) degree certificate
A temporary (provisional) degree certificate is a document issued by an institution to a student who has successfully completed all studies included in the degree. The student has graduated. The temporary degree certificate is issued as a replacement for the actual degree certificate e.g. in case the actual degree certificate cannot be given to the student immediately after completion of studies due to technical or administrative reasons. The temporary degree certificate should include the name of the institution awarding the degree, the date of issue, and the name of the person to whom the degree certificate has been issued and which title/degree the person has been awarded. A temporary (provisional) degree certificate is accepted if it was awarded no more than five years earlier. The five-year validity period begins from the date on which the degree was conferred and must not expire prior to the application deadline. In other words, a temporary degree certificate is not accepted if it was awarded more than five years ago. In such cases, the applicant must present his or her final degree certificate.

Statement issued by the university
In case, the applicant has not yet received a BSc Degree certificate by the admission deadline, a statement issued by the applicant’s university is also accepted as a replacement of the actual degree certificate. This statement should include the name of the institution which is going to award the degree, the expected date of issue (graduation), and the name of the person to whom the degree certificate will be awarded. The final deadline to submit the actual degree certificate to the MSc EF programme coordinator (Ms Marjoriitta Möttönen) is 9 August 2024.

Requirements for the educational documents and their translations

2. Language requirements

Applicant must have sufficient English language proficiency. The English language proficiency must be proved by:
•    IELTS (Academic or IELTS indicator*): overall 6.5, or
•    TOEFL (iBT or TOEFL iBT Home Edition**): 90, or
•    PTE: 59.

*The University of Eastern Finland also accepts IELTS Indicator test results for the time being.

**The University of Eastern Finland also accepts TOEFL iBT Home Edition test results. Please check the equipment and environment requirements from ETS websites.

The English language test is not required from applicants who have conducted
•   Bachelor’s or master’s degree (or higher) in English language, or
•   Secondary education in English in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom or the United States.

Instead of language test scores, it is required that the above-mentioned candidates enclose in the application a certificate from the university stating that the language of instruction during BSc/MSc studies has been English. Those who have completed their secondary education in the above-mentioned countries must enclose a copy of their transcript in the application.

Requirements and instructions for language tests

3. Recommendation letter forms

Recommendation letters must be written by academics from the applicant’s previous university. They can be attached with the online application form or they can be sent by email to the MSc EF programme coordinator Ms. Marjoriitta Möttönen (marjoriitta.mottonen(at)uef.fi) by the referee. Please use the letter template below:

Reference-letter-MSc-EF-2024 (DOC)

Reference-letter-MSc-EF-2024 (PDF)