University vs University of Applied Sciences - What's the Difference | Study in Finland 

Hei Oliver, really appreciate you recording this content, it helped a lot clarifying my doubts about the differences between UOAS and Universities. By the way, my vacation just started today so I believe I'll be able to watch all the lives from now on! (unfortunately I couldn't watch the last two, as I was studying for my finals).

Hey Oliver, please make a video related to doctorate in finland.

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You are most welcome! This took a while to put together 😏. I hope that the timing is ok now that the application period is about to open.

Hey sava and thanks so much for the positive feedback and for sharing this. Im happy to hear that these videos are bringing some value to people. However, please let me know if you have any questions or topics that were left unclear and id love to elaborate on the topic.

I am also trying to apply for SAMK in rauma have you got in yet

@@thisguy2372 yeah got in a good couple of months ago, what course are you applying to? I applied to the sea captaincy one, got in with no complications. You are unfortunately left quite alone as an international though.

@@savapavlovic3956 am looking to get the same course how did you apply online? Or in you went there in Rauma

Send me your instagram please I’ve got couple of questions to ask you

Youre welcome! I hope that this was clear enough. Its a complicated topic and it took me a while to make sense of it myself. So i hope that i didnt add to the confusion :D

Im glad this clarified this issue 👍. Its a real pain to make sense of all the small details about the Finnish education system and im just happy if this helps people make the right decision between university and UAS studies!

My pleasure! Love helping out because i know what a pain it can be to make any sense of this information on your own. In what field would you like to do your Master's in?

@@RoadtoFinnish I would like to do my Master’s in 'Globalisation and Education' or South Asian Studies.

Interesting. Do you have idea if any Finnish university has a degree specifically in this topic or is this a general topic that you are interested in?

Youre most welcome! I hope this cleared some of the confusion that there is around these institutions and what the differences really are.

Youre most welcome! I hope this cleared some of the confusion around these two types of institutions 👍

Hey Chris and thanks for the question. Universities of applied sciences are all part of the Finnish higher education system and all of them offer high quality, reputable education. Having said this, just having a bachelor's or master's diploma does not guarantee a job. In fact, in Finland we dont really care about titles and diplomas, we mostly care about your experience and expertise. So if you have a diploma but you have no experience, or you arent really good at what you do, the diploma will not get you far. So yes, universities of applied sciences are absolutely great schools but just graduating from one is not everything. You still have to be good at what you do in order to score those first jobs.

I have a SSD full of absolutely idiotic looking pictures like this. These simply seem to work a bit better than others 😄

Oh absolutely! You just need to keep these two things in mind: 1. You need to check that the Bachelor's you are doing is going to make you eligible to apply to whatever Master's you want to do later 2. Make sure to check how many years of work experience that particular Master's requires with a UAS background (depends on the Master's degree application requirements) So just keep these in mind. However, there is nothing that stops you from following such a patch 👍

I actually explain holidays in Finland and how much you can work during them in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pE1xEHanXR4.html I actually answer the question whether or not you can pay your tuition fee with work in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-H-Ckw7_AY2w.html As a summary, it is super hard to find a job that will pay enough - especially as a student. Also, you have to pay the tuition fee in one instalment before the start of the next semester so there is no way to pay half before and half later. Anyhow, i dig deeper into this topic in that second video so i really recommend that you check it out as well.

Hey Enzamul and thanks for the question! There are multiple universities that you could apply to for such a degree but i would personally recommend Aalto University. You can read more about the uni and their engineering programmes here: www.aalto.fi/en/department-of-civil-engineering

Im pretty sure that this biochemistry is taught only at university level (im 95% sure). Do note that there are not english taught bachelor's degrees in biochemistry taught in Finland. Biochemistry is a master's level degree at least as of the time of this response. Here is an example of a master's degree in biochemistry from the university of Oulu: www.oulu.fi/en/apply/masters-biochemistry If you are applying for a bachelor's degree, you should apply for a more general science degree that would make you eligible to apply for a master's in biochemistry. One great example is the bachelor's in science at the university of Helsinki: www2.helsinki.fi/en/admissions/degree-programmes/science-bachelors-programme

To be quite honest, there should be no major difference here especially since you already have a few years of work experience under your belt. So just apply to a school and a programme based on your interests and the suitability of the course instead of thinking about whether a university or UAS is better. Fair enough?

Hey and thanks for the question! So Omnia is a not a university of applied sciences. They offer upper secondary level education including vocational studies 👍

@@RoadtoFinnish Hei! Kiitos for answering back. Your channel is really helpful.

I am not Oliver, but I think for business Aalto is the best school.

Hey Swati and thanks for the question. Unfortunately i have no experience and knowledge of working as a dentist in Finland. This is a specific field and it is also heavily regulated as are all health care related fields. So i do not want to spread false information based on a guess. Rather, i recommend that you check out this website from the Finnish government. They have some official information about some of the requirements to work as a dentist in Finland: www.valvira.fi/web/en/healthcare/professional_practice_rights/qualified_outside_the_eu_eea_member_state/dentist

Im sorry but i dont understand what you mean.

To my best understanding, yes, SAMK is an excellent school to study nursing. You can check out their degree in nursing either from their own website or from Edunation which provides you an alternative pathway to apply to the programme: www.edunation.co/study-in-finland/universities/satakunta-university-of-applied-sciences/bachelors-degree-nursing/?

you can also apply to university of applied sciences and do the bachelor there and from there you can apply to master degree in university without needing to work, note it has to be from the same field as your bachelor degree.

@@asmrzonza8963 are you sure about it? where can I know more about this

Yes indeed you can. However, do note that you if you complete your bachelor's degree at a UAS, you have to the separately apply for a master's degree after graduation. On the other hand, if you apply to do your bachelor's at a university AND you are admitted, you are also automatically admitted to do your master's degree without any extra procedures. So if you already now know that you are interested in doing a master's degree, i highly recommend you to apply to a university instead of a UAS. Saves you a lot of trouble - and you get a more fluid educational experience. I hope this answered your question 👍

@@RoadtoFinnish Sir,so you are recommending to complete bachelor in University rather than in UAS but is it applicable to other countries like Switzerland?Also your video was very helpful.

@@ramesh4594 please just call me Oliver. In Finland we call each other by our first names. Calling me sir just sounds weird 😅 To your question, this depends on what you want to do. If you know already that you want to do a master's degree in Finland, then you should absolutely apply for a bachelor's at a university. However, if you want to just do a bachelor's and perhaps do a master's at some point in the future, then i would recommend you to apply to a UAS. Also, all bachelor's degrees achieved from Finland, no matter whether its from a university or a university of applied science, are accredited and valid when compared to other countries.

@@RoadtoFinnish Thanks for reply.I want to do bachelor(Eng) in biotechnology but I can't find a single university or UAS that offers it :(

Right so it is highly possible that there are no bachelor's level programmes in biotechnology. This means that you might have to do your bachelor's in something else and then do your master's in biotech. For example, you could check out this master's degree from the university of helsinki: www2.helsinki.fi/en/admissions/degree-programmes/microbiology-and-microbial-biotechnology-masters-programme

To*

Not necessarily. As mentioned in the video, this depends fully on what you want to do. There are lots of software developers that do really well with a UAS degree (bachelor's). However, doing a master's will (in general) give you better career prospects for the future. On the other hand, there are some UAS's that teach specific CS areas that universities do not. So again, i have to refer back to my original point about making a choice between the things mentioned in this video. Sorry for being so vague but this is not a black and white question. Oh and btw, since you are interested in studying in Finland, i really recommend that you join our Discord server. The idea of the server is to build a community of people interested in studying and working in Finland. In the server i post updates about upcoming videos and live streams and i answer peoples questions. You can join the server using this link: discord.gg/T84B8W3

yes

As a general rule no. Courses done in UAS level are not usually transferable to university level. This same goes to many cases where people start their studies in one university and get admitted to another university the next year. Most universities will not allow you to transfer courses done in another to theirs because the curriculum and the courses are not equal. So if you complete 1 year in a UAS and then want to do a bachelor's in a university, you have to start the university degree from zero. There might be some individual exceptions but this is the most common rule.

@@RoadtoFinnish Thanks, Can we expect one or 2 videos about Finnish Driving License. I have never watched one though I had searched a lot.

:D this is an interesting one. I think its a bit too niche considering that people who already have a drivers license dont need to get one in Finland. However, i could try to give you some pointers here. What would you like to know?

@@RoadtoFinnish kittos, u r the best Can I replace my UAE license directly when I reach there or I'm not allowed to drive since I'm on student residence permit? Can I drive buggy car in public properties (forests) or this requires special license? ATV is allowed on roads of the city? How can I get benefit of being student in terms of using taxi and public transportation? Am I allowed to open my own business if I found a Finnish Investor and be a partner on the trade license? What is the maximum speed on high ways between big cities? Can I buy a car while I'm still on student residence permit? What is the consequences of crossing red signal? Where can I submit my application of driving License? Thank you

Hey Fateh and thanks for the question. This is an almost impossible question for me to answer because i have no idea what medium level means to you. Its all about context. Having said this, my high school grades were exactly average but ive still done really well for myself during university. Its 100% doable if you are willing to put in the work.

@@RoadtoFinnish thnx

I mean years

As a general rule of thumb, no you cannot. On the other hand, even if you could this would not save you any time and would actually not give you any kind of advantages. First of all, when you are admitted to study a bachelor's degree in a university, you are automatically also admitted to do a master's degree in the same university. So if you wanted to do a master's in a university of applied sciences, you would have to decline the opportunity to do a master's in the university you have already done your bachelor's in. This makes no sense what so ever. Not only would this look extremely weird in your CV (why would you change schools suddenly considering that you already have a spot at a university?) but you would actually waste time because you cant just change schools. You would need to separately apply to a university of applied sciences and the application process itself is already 4-6 months in total. So you would waste half a year of studies in a university that you have the right to study in already even before you get to start your master's in a UAS. In addition, in order for you to do a master's degree in a university of applied sciences, you need to have at least 2 years of full-time work experience in your field AFTER graduating as a bachelor's. So basically, if you want to study a master's in a UAS, you would first need to do a bachelor's in a university and then work for two years full-time. Only after this would you be even allowed to apply for a master's in a UAS. So you would not only waste that 6 months of your time applying to another school, but you would also postpone your graduation by another 2 years. Finally, it should be said that a master's degree in a university of applied sciences takes from 1-2 years depending on the degree. So most likely you would not be able to do your master's in 1 year anyways. If you want to do a master's degree and you want to graduate as fast as possible, you can do this by studying faster than the normal pace. In Finland we have what is called academic freedom. This means that no one cares how well or how fast you do your studies, as long as you complete them according to the rules. This means that you can fill up your weeks with different courses and do school faster than what the normal curriculum advices. For example, if you have the academic mind and the work ethic, you could theoretically do a 2 year master's degree in a year or 1,5 years. However, i must warn you that this way you will run a risk of severe burnout and i do not personally recommend it. May i ask, why do you want to "save time" and do the degree faster than normal? Is this about the tuition fees or something related to your career?

@@RoadtoFinnish it is related to my career.i want to study in business...that's why i am thinking where it will be good to study....normal university or UAS university

@@RoadtoFinnish hello Oliver, is it possible, if I get admitted to Aalto university bachelors+master, can I do bachelors and then take a break for a couple of years and I’ll be automatically admitted to my masters? Or I have to study continuously?

I could perhaps make a video about OUAS at some point in the future but the challenge is that that there are so many individual schools in Finland that i would need to cover most of them to make it worth the time 😕. However, ill definitely keep this in mind next year when i plan my videos for the year.

@@RoadtoFinnish okei

Hey and thanks for the suggestion. This is a narrow topic and i will most likely not make a dedicated video about it. However, i can already say that it is my understanding that there are no Finnish universities offering Bachelor's level degrees in medicine in English. There are a bunch of medical degrees in English on Master's level. Again, this is just my understanding. Pease note that im not an expert in medical degrees so take everything i say with a grain of salt and conduct your own research just to make sure im not mistaken.

@@RoadtoFinnish OK thank you if you get info about master level medical in finland

I would personally recommend Aalto university. Not only is it my own home institution but its also the best university in Finland when it comes to engineering subjects. There are also other good schools for engineering but i would need to know a bit more about what kind of engineering you'd like to study. Its a wide field that encompasses dozens of specialities.

@@RoadtoFinnish I am to study my bachelor's in engineering of mechanical, automobile engineering,. Can I stay with a friend who is a native Finnish...

Im sorry but i dont understand what you mean here.

Im sorry but i dont understand what you mean here.

Im sorry but i dont understand what you mean here.

Did you mean to ask my major?