Applicants at Helsinki University Int`l programmes up

The international Master’s programmes of the University of Helsinki received a total of 2,946 applications, an increase of 83% from the previous year.

A new degree programme, the Master’s Programme in Environmental Change and Global Sustainability, ranked among the top programmes, said a press release.

The number declined significantly last year. The decline in applicants last year was largely due to the adoption of tuition fees for students from outside the EU and the EEA.

The number of applicants clearly exceeded the equivalent figures for 2016 when the tuition fees were yet to be introduced.

The percentage of non-EU and non-EEA applicants was 58%, whereas last year it was 57%. Before the adoption of the tuition fees, approximately three quarters of all applications came from outside the EU and EEA. Finnish applicants accounted for 28% of all the applicants (29% in 2017).

As in previous years, the largest numbers of applicants came from Pakistan, China and Ghana. There was a marked increase in applications from many countries, such as India, Columbia, Ecuador, Chile, Peru, Indonesia, the USA, Hongkong, Russia and Vietnam. Applications were received from 127 countries in total.