Courses for exchange students

The faculty you can choose courses from depends on the agreement your institution has with the University of Helsinki. This defines the programme you should choose when applying. If you are unsure of the nature of the agreement between us and your home institution, please consult your home institution's exchange coordinator. Please see our instructions for choosing the correct faculty based on the exchange programme you are applying through. 

• Erasmus, Nordplus, SEMP or Faculty and unit bilateral agreements: You should choose the majority of your courses from the faculty/degree programme (or study track) that has the exchange agreement with your home institution. 
• University bilateral agreement, Nordlys, Erasmus University Wide, Erasmus ICM or North2North: You are required to choose the majority of your courses from one faculty. You can be only accepted by the Faculty closest to your educational background. Also note that you need to have sufficient prior academic background in the disciplines taught.  
• Visiting students (freemovers): You are required to choose the majority of your courses from one faculty. You can be only accepted by the Faculty closest to your educational background. Also note that you need to have sufficient prior academic background in the disciplines taught. Please note that as a visiting student it may be very difficult to be accepted for courses of the below listed restricted faculties / degree programmes. Please see How to apply as a visiting student - Faculty specific requirements for any further information. 

Majority of your courses means that you need to take at least 50 % of your credits from a specific Faculty / degree programme / study track as indicated above. Besides those credits, you may choose courses from other faculties unless there are other restrictions. You find more information on these restrictions further down these instructions. 

Please use the preliminary teaching programmes for exchange students below instead of the Courses section you find at the top of the Studies Service when looking for courses for your Learning Agreement. Note that courses available for exchange students may be presented in different ways in the lists / tables of the individual degree programmes. Therefore, always read carefully the faculty specific information behind the links below before selecting courses. Searching for suitable courses can be challenging and time-consuming, so please be patient.  The preliminary course lists for the next academic year are published by the beginning of April. The course descriptions for the coming academic year can be found in the Courses section earliest in the end of June. Some of the courses and their course descriptions taking place in the spring term can sometimes be found only November onwards. This is why we recommend using the preliminary teaching programmes for your Learning Agreement at the application stage. 

Finding courses and course descriptions in a nutshell

When looking for courses: use the preliminary teaching programme for exchange students belowWhen looking for the course descriptions: use the Courses section of the Studies Service (see more under "Course descriptions")When you choose courses, please pay special attention to:

• Language of teaching
• Availability for exchange students
• Possible restrictions: please read more under “Restrictions in attending courses” 

Priority on courses is usually given first to the faculty’s own degree students and thereafter to exchange students enrolled at the University of Helsinki in the degree programme offering the course. 

Please select your courses so that they are not all organized during the same teaching period. An academic year is divided into four periods. Autumn semester consists of periods 1 & 2, spring semester consists of periods 3 & 4. Please note that exchange students can not take part in the intensive period before arrival or choose courses that end after the validity of their study right. Courses ending in June, July or August are also not possible for exchange students. 

Choose minimum 20 ECTS / academic term, but we recommend 30 ECTS / term. You should thus choose 10 - 15 ECTS / teaching period so that your course load is divided evenly. Many courses have lectures, but there are other kind of courses as well. Here you can read more about how the studies are completed.  

Information on the duration of an exchange, the academic year and teaching periods. 

Courses (see the first parts of the course codes of restricted courses in brackets) from the following faculties / degree programmes are not available for students other than that faculty's / degree programme's own exchange students:

• Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry: (MMB-)
• Faculty of Arts: Bachelor's Programme in Languages, study track English and Master's Programme in English Studies (KIK-EN or ENG-) 
• Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences: (MMB-)
• Faculty of Law: (ON-, OIK-, IBL- or GGL-) 
• Faculty of Medicine: Degree Programme in Medicine (MED-), Degree Programme in Psychology (PSYK- or PSYM-)
• Faculty of Science: Geography and Urban Studies (GEOG-, USP-) 
• Faculty of Social Sciences: Politics, Media and Communication, Global Politics and Communication (PVK-, PVM- or GPC) 
• Faculty of Veterinary Medicine: (ELK-, ELL- and clinical work) 
• Language Centre's English courses are not open to exchange students, with the exception of Academic writing in English for exchange students and Intercultural communication courses (when courses are offered).
• In addition, at the Faculty of Educational Sciences and the Faculty of Social Sciences it may be difficult to fit on courses if you are an exchange student from another faculty.  In Educational Sciences, you generally need to have previous studies in the field on your transcript.
• Please note that you may not be able to take all the courses you want. If there are mandatory courses which you need to take in order to graduate, we recommend that you would take them at your home university. You need to be flexible with your course selection because you may have to adjust your plans.

You can find preliminary teaching programmes for exchange students offered by different faculties and fields of study by clicking on the links below. More information on course content, see subsection “Course information”.  

• Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry
• Faculty of Arts
• Faculty of Educational Sciences
• Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences
• Faculty of Law
• Faculty of Medicine
• Faculty of Pharmacy
• Faculty of Science
• Faculty of Social Sciences
• Swedish School of Social Science
• Faculty of Theology

Please note that exchange students are also welcome to take part in the HELSEED start up programme. HELSEED is a student entrepreneurship programme open to students with a new business idea as well as more advanced startup teams. The programme includes workshops focused on various areas of entrepreneurship. The University of Helsinki Funds will make an initial investment of €10,000–€50,000 in the most interesting startups. Students can earn credits through the programme.

• Finnish courses
• Language courses suitable for non-Finnish speakers: Language Centre, preliminary syllabus. In addition to the preliminary teaching programme, please also see a more detailed course list for other language courses suitable for non-Finnish speakers. This list will be updated annually by August for the next academic year.
• Tandem language courses (ALICE)
• Language Centre Course Assistant Programme for International students

You can find information on individual courses by using the Courses section of the Studies Service. You can always find the Courses section at the top menu of the service, no matter which page you are on (including this one).

Insert the code/name of the course you are searching for. You will first land on the course implementation page, where you find e.g. the responsible teacher, timing, scope, and teaching language of the course. If the course is available for exchange students, you find a green box with the text “Suitable for exchange students” on the course implementation page. The course descriptions (course unit information) are in general very short, and you find them by scrolling down and clicking the link to the course unit. On the course unit page you find the possible attainment languages. This refers to the language you can take the exam in. Furthermore you find e.g. the possible prerequisites, learning outcomes, assessment criteria etc.

More precise course content is available after course registration. Please note that course descriptions may be published as late as a month before the course begins. This means that during the application process for the next autumn semester / academic year, you may need to use course descriptions from the ongoing study year. In addition, if the course is taught for the first time, you can’t find the course description from the Course section before the end of June. This means that you have to proceed your planning with the name of the course. 

The courses at the University of Helsinki are offered on different levels. In the preliminary teaching programmes you can determine the level based on the level of the degree programme in question (bachelor's or master's degree). In the Courses section you can usually find out the level used (Bachelor/Master) by the degree programme that is responsible for the course. In case you need more information, here are a few examples of how you can find out the course level: 

• From the numeric course code by looking for the first number in the number line, ex. TTK-EL110, where the first number 1 indicates that the course is basic level (2 is often intermediate and 3 advanced). However, please note that not all faculties use this numbering. In those cases, the first letters of the course code will be different between Bachelor and Master level.
• Some faculties also name their study levels using concepts Basic, Intermediate or Subject and Advanced studies  
• In some faculties, K stands for bachelor and M for master in the course codes. For example, you can tell that for example "EDUK" is a Bachelor course and "EDUM" a Master course.
• Faculties or degree programmes might also divide their syllabus to bachelor and master’s level courses.  

The following terminology will help you to find out if the course is suitable for you: 

• Basic studies are Bachelor’s level courses and do not usually require previous studies in the subject. 
• Subject studies or Intermediate studies are Bachelor’s level courses, which require some previous studies. Courses are mainly for 2nd or 3rd year students of the subject. 
• Advanced studies are Master’s level courses. Courses are mainly for students who have completed a Bachelor’s degree or have the same level of knowledge. However, advanced Bachelor's level students are usually allowed to take Master's level courses in their own study field. Exceptions are listed in the course descriptions. 

Please note that depending on the course level, the programmes have the right to decide whether the student has enough previous studies to participate.