Welcome to study at open UAS

All students completing studies at Diak must activate their personal Diak user credentials. You need to activate your account yourself in Diak’s Identification Service, available at id.diak.fi.

You can activate your account approximately three days after your study right has been granted.

NOTE! If you are a new student and your studies begin at the start of the next semester (1 January or 1 August), you will be able to activate your account after 3 January or 3 August.

If you have previously studied at Diak and your old user account is still active, you can reactivate it using the same service. Read more on IT services website.

You can find instructions related to Diak’s Identification Service in Diak’s guidance materials.

With your user credentials, you can log in to the online services you need for your studies at Diak, and they will remain valid for the entire duration of your studies.

Once the timetables have been published, you can find the implementation plan and teaching schedules on the course enrolment page under the details of the included implementations.

If you prefer a more traditional timetable view, you can retrieve your schedules from Diak’s timetable tool. You will find the timetables most easily by selecting the code of each implementation included in your studies (e.g. SEUMK25HKI) from the course information and adding them all to the same basket.

You can find all instructions for the timetable tool in Diak’s guidance materials.

Diakle is Diak’s virtual learning environment, so start your studies by logging in to the course area of your study unit in Diakle. On the Diakle course area, you will find all the instructions needed to complete the course. If your studies include online teaching, the Zoom link will also be available there.

The direct address for Diakle is https://diakle.diak.fi. We recommend using the Google Chrome browser, as Chrome provides the most reliable user experience.

You can log in to Diakle using the Diak Login button on the front page.

The username is in its full format, for example c23000101@student.diak.fi, and it uses the same password as all other Diak systems.

You will be added to the study unit automatically, after which the course will appear in the My Courses section of Diakle no later than one week before the study unit begins.

You can find all instructions for Diakle in Diak’s guidance materials.

Some online studies are completed in Howspace. You can find the link to the course’s Howspace workspace in the additional information section of the implementation in the online shop.

Diak uses the Microsoft Office 365 suite at https://portal.office.com, which includes essential applications for students, such as Outlook (Diak email), Word, Excel and Teams (online conferencing).

As a Diak student, you can use the Office applications on your own computer free of charge for the duration of your studies.

You can download the Office package from https://portal.office.com. When you sign in to the Office portal with your Diak account (the long username, e.g. c18000101), you will find the “Install Office” button in the upper right corner of the homepage, where you can see which devices are compatible. You can find the instructions for installing the Office software here.

Your Diak email address is firstname.lastname@student.diak.fi.

Please make sure to start using your email address.

Diak’s online lectures are held in Zoom at https://diak-fi.zoom.us. You can join Zoom sessions via the link on the Diakle course area of your study unit, or through the link displayed in Tuudo or the timetable tool. If Zoom lectures are recorded, the teacher will add a link to the recording in the Diakle course area.

You can find Zoom instructions for students on the guides website.

In MyDiak (https://my.diak.fi), you can find, among other things, your completed studies, personal study plan (HOPS), printing services and your personal contact information.

MyDiak is an important tool for managing your studies. In MyDiak, you can track your progress and view the courses you have completed along with your grades, give feedback on a study unit, and order a study certificate or a transcript of records.

You can find MyDiak instuctions for students on the guides website.

Printing service (transcript of records and study certificate)

Diak students obtain their study certificate and transcript of records themselves through the printing service in MyDiak. You can find instructions for using the printing service in Diak’s guidance materials.

If you do not have access to MyDiak (for example, before your studies begin or after they have ended), the study office will send you a link by email to download the certificate.

Study right

The study right granted for open UAS studies applies only to the courses for which you have registered. It is also not possible to postpone the start of your studies. Your period of study right ends when the study units you have registered for come to an end, or if you discontinue your studies.

Study benefits

Studying in the Open University of Applied Sciences is considered part‑time, which means it is not possible to receive government financial aid or a student loan for these studies. Open UAS students are also not entitled to student benefits such as public transport student discounts or Kela’s meal subsidy.

You can receive student financial aid for open UAS studies only if you have an existing right to complete a degree at a higher education institution and the open UAS studies form part of your degree.

You may be eligible to apply for unemployment benefits for pathway studies (polkuopinnot) as self‑motivated studies. The TE Office considers pathway studies to be full‑time studies, as they amount to an average of at least 5 ECTS credits per month.
It is the student’s own responsibility to check their eligibility to study while receiving unemployment benefits.

Recognition of prior learning (RPL)

All study units taught in the Open UAS follow Diak’s curriculum in terms of content and level of requirements. This means that studies completed in the Open UAS can later be accredited as part of a degree if you are admitted as a degree student. If you want to explore the possibility of recognising previously acquired competence within your pathway studies, please contact a study counsellor at the very beginning of your studies.

If you are a pathway student and you have competence that could be accredited from the first‑year studies, you may leave those study units uncompleted and apply for recognition of prior learning once you have been admitted as a degree student.

Open UAS students at Diak can obtain their transcript of records through the printing service in MyDiak. The printing service is available 24/7 — you can find the instructions in the guidance materials.

If you do not have access to MyDiak, it is possible to obtain a transcript of records for your completed studies by sending an email request to the Open UAS study office at avoin@diak.fi.

It is not possible to earn a degree in open UAS. If a degree is your goal, consider applying to one of our degree programmes.

Open UAS studies are an excellent way to get started in your chosen field, if your degree programme application was unsuccessful or you are still waiting to apply.

For English speakers there are two different ways to gain access to degree education: path studies and direct application. Further information about these options is provided on subpages.

The contents and difficulty level of all open UAS courses correspond to the requirements set out in Diak’s Degree Regulations, which means that any open UAS course credits can be later transferred and accredited towards a degree.

Further information about degree programmes, studying at Diak and how to apply is available on the Admissions pages.

The tuition fee is €15 per one ECTS credit. Larger packages often have a set discount price, which can bring the price per credit below €15. Some Open UAS studies may also be offered free of charge. The tuition fee is always mentioned in the description of the studies in the online store. Make sure you check the final price when you enrol.

The tuition fee is generally paid online upon registration. In larger competence and semester packages it may also be possible to choose billing as a payment method. The payment period for the invoices is 14 days from the date on the bill.

Other costs

In addition to tuition fees, some courses may involve other costs for materials, supplies, etc. Any additional costs are specified in the study module’s description in the online store. They are not included in the tuition fee and are paid separately.

You have the right to cancel your course enrolment. Cancellation should always be done through the link found in the confirmation message you have received after registration. If the link does not work, cancellation must be made in writing to the Open UAS Study Office.

Diak reserves the right to timetable changes and lecturer substitutions as well as course cancellations, for example, due to a low number of registrations.

If you cancel your enrolment at least 14 days prior to the beginning of your studies, you are eligible for a refund of the tuition fees already paid. We will send you instructions for sending us your bank account details and your tuition fees will be refunded to your account within 14 days (please note that during the Summer and Christmas breaks refunds may be delayed). If you have chosen billing as a payment method, you can leave your open invoices unpaid.

If you cancel your enrolment less than 14 days prior to the beginning of studies, we will charge you the full tuition fee. If you have chosen billing as a payment method, cancellation of enrolment will not invalidate any unpaid invoices.

If you do not cancel your enrolment and do not attend the course, or you decide to drop out in the middle of your studies, you will be charged the full tuition fee.

The collection of the tuition fees may be waived in whole or in part if

• you cancel or drop out due to an illness which substantially affects your ability to study, the tuition fee or cancellation charge may be waived fully. 
• you have received a study place in open UAS studies and you are selected in Diak as a degree student before you have started your studies in the open UAS.
• you have received a study place in the open UAS semester module and you are selected to another Finnish higher education institution as a degree student before you have started your open UAS studies in Diak.

In all of these cases, you must contact the Open UAS Study Office immediately if you wish to request a waiver of the tuition fee collection. Be prepared to provide Diak with either a medical certificate indicating inability to study or a certificate of acceptance as a student issued by the higher education institution in question.