At the Faculty of Humanities, teaching and research are closely connected. A humanist education provides a wide range of skills.
The faculty of Humanities covers a wide range of subjects in its teaching and research. A humanist education offers various skills relevant for teaching, for cultural work, in archives and museums, in administrative and planning capacities, and the communications media. The aim of the Faculty is to enable students to acquire a wide-ranging scholarly and critical understanding of society.
The Faculty of Humanities at the University of Turku is one of the largest in Finland, both in the number of students and the number of subjects. We have the largest range of subjects relating to the creative arts in the country. The Faculty and its subject departments have established agreements promoting academic exchanges and collaboration with many foreign universities, and there is a lively international exchange of students as well as teaching and research staff.
Faculty of Humanities offers you
Exchange students come to Turku under a formal exchange agreement with their home university and the University of Turku. They transfer the study units completed at the University of Turku into their degree studies at the home university. Exchange students usually apply for specific study programmes and may also take part in supplementary programmes (i.e. programmes that do not offer a full curriculum as North American Studies) and course units.
If you come to Turku through an exchange programme such as ERASMUS, NORDPLUS, ISEP, north2north, a CIMO scholarship or a bilateral agreement between your home institution and the University of Turku, you should receive information on the application procedure from your home university.
There are several course options available for exchange students at the Faculty of Humanities. Course information is available on Study Guide. You are required to make your own learning schedule. For further information about the courses please contact the responsible teacher / department. You can also always contact the International Office if you need assistance.
The universities in Finland have degree structure of a three years Bachelor's degree (usually 180 credits) plus a two years Master's degree (usually 120 credits). Degrees usually consist of studies in one major subject and in one or more minor subjects. Studies form larger entities at three levels: basic, intermediate and advanced levels. The Bachelor's level studies usually consist of the basic and intermediate level studies, and advanced studies normally correspond to the Master's level. Please notice that as a rule, all degree students must be fluent in Finnish and have to pass a Finnish entrance exam to be granted a study right at the Faculty. Our international Master's Programmes are an exception and do not require a knowledge of Finnish.
Faculty of Humanities offers one Master's Degree Programme taught in English: Gender Studies. In order to complete a Master's Degree Programme, students must obtain 120 ECTS credits as defined in the curriculum of the Programme. The entire content of the degree is offered by the Programme. It usually takes two academic years (academic year is September - May) to complete a Master's degree.
The Faculty of Humanities also offers the EC2U Joint Master’s Degree Programme European Languages, Cultures and Societies in Contact which provides students with an in-depth knowledge of the European linguistic, cultural and social landscape using advanced research methods in the academic field. This degree is in line with professional practice and will ensure students to launch their career with enhanced professionalism and quality of services in the broad field of language, cultural contact and social diversity.
The basic prerequisite for all the Master's Programmes is a university degree equivalent to a Finnish Bachelor's degree completed in the relevant field. For the programmes offered in English a good knowledge of English is required. For more information on the programmes and their requirements, please refer to the web pages of the programmes.
The Faculty also has two Doctoral Programmes. Juno is the Doctoral Programme for History, Culture and Arts Studies and Utuling is the Doctoral Programme for Language and Translation Studies. In Finland, PhD students are required to carry out independent research work and extensively familiarise themselves with research carried out in their field of study. The Doctoral degree normally requires at least four years of full-time study.
Besides degree studies, students may apply for the right to separate study modules or individual courses. These study rights, which do not result in a degree, are given specifically to the courses or modules applied for.
Different types of non-degree studies are available depending on the background and needs of the applicant.
JOO - Flexible Study Rights provides the possibility to apply for a temporary study right in another university to complete study modules or individual courses.
Visiting / non-degree students are those who independently come to the university without having a formal exchange agreement.
After completing the MA degree at the University of Turku, you may continue your studies for two (2) academic years after the graduation. These studies are free of charge.