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Eligibility criteria

Diak will not offer Master’s degree programmes in 2023 or 2024.

Candidates who have a suitable degree on bachelor level in one of the following fields can apply:

    • social services
    • social work
    • diocesan social work
    • youth work
    • nursing
    • public health nursing
    • a post-secondary or higher vocational level diploma (opisto- tai ammatillisen korkea-asteen tutkinto) in a suitable field completed in Finland is also accepted.

Applicants also need to have at least two years of relevant work experience gained after the completion of their university degree (bachelor’s degree). The cut-off date for the accumulation of the work experience is July 31.

Relevant work experience obtained after completion of a post-secondary or higher vocational level diploma in Finland (opisto- tai ammatillisen korkea-asteen tutkinto, in any field of education) but prior to taking the higher education degree is also accepted.

Required documents

Upload colour copies of your certificates to the online application form at Studyinfo.fi.

You can either

  • upload the documents when filling the application form or
  • submit your application without any attachments and come back to submit them by the given deadline by using the link you received in your email after submitting your application.

If you cannot upload your documents, you can submit them by post, email or by handing them in at the info desk of Diak’s Helsinki campus. If you send your document copies via email, please take into account IT security matters.

Certificate copies arriving late will not be accepted.

Finnish qualifications

If you are applying with a Finnish UAS or university Bachelor’s Degree, you do not need to submit copies of your certificates when applying. Instead, add a link to your credentials on Studyinfo (Opintopolku). We will verify your degree from the national database.

However, if you have taken post-secondary or higher vocational level diploma, you need to upload a copy of your degree certificate to your online application form.

Certificate of Employment

In order to be eligible for an UAS Master’s Degree Programme, the candidate must have at least two years of relevant work experience.

Upload the work certificates onto your application on Studyinfo.fi.

The cut-off date for the accumulation of the work experience is July 31. In other words, if your two years of experience is only complete after the admission period, please submit a temporary work certificate which indicates that your contract is ongoing.

Official translations of certificates

Each applicant must also submit a copy of their qualification certificate translated into Finnish, Swedish or English by an official (authorised) translator, if the original document is in none of these languages. Translations must be signed and stamped by the translator.

The translations must be uploaded to the online application form.

Applicants with refugee status

A person with refugee status or an asylum seeker may apply and be accepted to study in education just as any other eligible citizen of Finland or any other country.

If the applicant is a refugee, has status comparable to a refugee or is an asylum seeker, and cannot thus verify their previous degree with relevant documentation, the higher education institution may invite the applicant to take an entrance exam or, if necessary, submit the application for academic assessment.

The higher education institution of the degree programme will use the report requested from the applicant as basis for making the decision on whether the documentation on the previous degree is sufficient.

The applicant must have a decision by the authorities concerning their status (decision on asylum or residence permit on the basis of protection).

The applicant must submit a copy of the relevant decision to the admission services of all the higher education institutions that s/he is applying to. Please note that this attachment cannot be uploaded to the online application form.

In order to declare their status, an asylum seeker who has not yet been granted a decision may verify their status by presenting an identity card with a photograph granted by Migri.

In addition, when required by the degree programme, they must present a fee-based (€20) pending application by Migri that states that the applicant is permitted to legally reside in Finland during the time when their case is being processed, i.e. until a lawful decision has been made on the case.

A person with refugee status i.e. asylum = Residence outside of one’s country of origin or country of former habitual residence owing to a justified fear of being persecuted in the country concerned. The reason for persecution must be the person’s origin, religion, nationality, membership in a certain social group, or political opinions. It is also assumed that because of the person’s fear, they are unwilling to turn to the country concerned for protection.

A person whose status is comparable to a refugee is a person provided with subsidiary protection = the person faces a risk of being subjected to the death penalty, execution, torture or other inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in their home country or country of former habitual residence. A permit may also be issued if the person is unable to return to their home country or country of former habitual residence without being exposed to serious and individual threat as a result of an armed conflict in the country concerned.

Document forgery and misuse may lead to criminal responsibility and belongs to police authority.

Language certificates

Applicants to the Master’s Degree Programmes do not need to submit evidence of English or Finnish language proficiency.

Applicants’ English language proficiency will be tested in the entrance examination.

Note that other universities of applied sciences may also require a proof of Finnish skills when applying.