In a bachelor’s degree
The language of your secondary education determines how and in which languages you will complete the native language studies and studies in the second national language of Finland as well as the maturity test required for your degree.
In a master’s degree
If you are pursuing only a master’s degree and the language of your secondary education is Finnish or Swedish, but you have completed your bachelor’s degree outside Finland, you must demonstrate your language proficiency as part of your master's degree. The language of your secondary education determines how and in which languages you will complete the required language studies.
In employment
If the language of your secondary education is Finnish or Swedish and you have completed the maturity test in the same language, your diploma demonstrates that you have excellent proficiency in the language in question, as required for central-government positions in the language of the majority population in bilingual areas. Such proficiency is also an asset when seeking other work (Government Decree No 481/2003 on the demonstration of language skills in Finnish and Swedish).
If the language of your secondary education is other than Finnish or Swedish, your diploma does not demonstrate that you have the excellent proficiency in Finnish or Swedish required for central-government positions in the language of the majority population in bilingual areas (Government Decree No 481/2003 on the demonstration of language skills in Finnish and Swedish). Instead, you can demonstrate that you have the required language proficiency as follows:
- You completed the native language test (Finnish or Swedish) included in the Finnish matriculation examination with the grade of magna cum laude approbatur or higher;
- You completed the Finnish as a second language test or the Swedish as a second language test included in the Finnish matriculation examination with the grade of eximia cum laude approbatur or higher; or
- You earn the Civil Service Language Proficiency Certificate with the grade of excellent or the equivalent National Certificate of Language Proficiency with the grade of 6. Further information about language certificates is available on the website of the Finnish National Agency for Education.