A Bachelor of Science (BSc) in a relevant field of study (Astronomy and/or Physics). The BSc must be awarded from a full university (i.e. an institution with the right to award doctorate degrees) and the BSc must correspond to the level of Bachelor's degree as awarded at Finnish universities in terms of its extent (at least 180 ECTS, or European credits), or to three years of full time study. The BSc formally qualifies the applicant to access the Master's programme.
The applicant shall give evidence of his/her educational background by submitting officially attested copies of certificates in time and, in addition, the accepted student will have to show the original documents in the appropriate Faculty in order to be able to register at the university.
The contents of formally eligible students' previous degrees do not always correspond to the academic level in the programme. Students can be required to complete additional Bachelor level studies while studying for the Master's Degree. These additional studies (max. 60 ECTS) are not part of the Master's Degree. The extent and contents of the additional studies are defined individually for each student when a personal study plan is created in the beginning of his/her studies. Depending on the amount of additional studies, the study time for the Master's Degree can be more than the targeted study time, which is 2 years.
All applicants must prove their knowledge of English in one of the ways accepted by the Faculty. The language requirements are given on http://www.sci.utu.fi/tdk/en/education/applying/Languagerequirements.html
The application period is 1 December 2011 - 31 January 2012 for studies starting in September 2012. Students graduating after the application deadline may apply, on the condition that the application includes a statement from the home institution stating the expected date of graduation. In this case, a certified copy of the original degree certificate (in the original language), and an English, Swedish of Finnish translation (or a Diploma Supplement), must arrive at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences by July 31, 2012 at 16.15 hrs (Finnish Summer time). Applications arriving after the deadline are not considered. Postmark dates on the applications will not be taken into account; the applications must arrive at University Admissions Finland before the above deadline.
The electronic application template is available on https://admissions.it.helsinki.fi/uaf/pages/utu.jsp
All applications are sent to University Admissions Finland, from where the complete applications are forwarded to the universities. The following documents must be sent by the applicant:
During the application round, a secondary/high school certificate may be
requested from the applicant, if this is necessary for determining the
length of the applicant's previous education (this concerns degrees from
a minority of countries).
All copies of original documents must be officially certified (attested) by the awarding institution or a notary public (please note also country-specific requirements ). Copies of copies will not be accepted. All copies must have the original stamp and signature on them. Please note that all pages of the copy must be stamped separately and clearly indicate the signature of the certifying officer and the stamp of the awarding institution or notary public. A stamp stating only "Certified true copy" will not be accepted. In Finland a notary public (julkinen notaari) can be found at the local Register Office (maistraatti).
A maximum of 20 students are accepted to the astronomy track.
If you use a courier service please also mark down the University Admissions Finland's phone number +358 (0)9 191 23528
Applications sent by e-mail or fax are not accepted. Application documents will not be returned to the applicant. Incomplete applications will not be processed.