Begin your stay in Helsinki with a visit to the Welcome Fair!

Even though it might seem that your exchange studies at the University of Helsinki are still far away, you’ll be surprised how fast January will be here.

Your exchange experience will begin with a visit to the Welcome Fair on January 8th or 9th, 2013. The Welcome Fair is the perfect place to get to know the University and the Campuses as well as to get all the official matters out of the way.

The venue for the Welcome Fair is the Language Centre of the University of Helsinki (address: Fabianinkatu 26).

At the Welcome Fair you can pick up information materials, certificates such as the certificate of attendance and local transport discount certificates and ask all the questions you have. You will also get information on things such as language courses and on how to register for the courses, information on the Student Union, student organisations such as the Erasmus Student Network (ESN)etc.

Those exchange students who have not paid the Student Union fee in advance, should visit the Student Union Customer Service, where you have the opportunity to pay the Student Union membership fee. More information is available in the attached pdf.

During the Welcome Fair you can also attend Info Sessions, which give you a lot of information on practical matters that you need to be aware of at the beginning of your stay in Finland and at the beginning of your studies. The Info Sessions are open to all new international students.

The Faculties at the University of Helsinki also arrange Faculty specific orientations. These are an excellent way for you to get to know your Faculty and department and to get a good start in your studies.

All dates, hours and locations for the different orientations, sessions and the Welcome Fair, are available on the Orientation website at http://www.helsinki.fi/orientation/course/programmes.html.

We have also created a Facebook event for the Welcome Fair, if you are on Facebook, please join the event and you will see who else is coming: http://www.facebook.com/events/143792165768755/.

During the Christmas holidays and New Year’s most of the staff at the University of Helsinki have some time off, so if you do not get an answer to your emails straight away we ask you to be patient.

See you all at the Welcome Fair!

Hello, new exchange students!

It is the end of November, and at the University of Helsinki we are expecting the arrival of snow, Santa Claus and, finally in January, all you new exchange students! On January 8 and 9, we will meet and greet you at the Welcome Fair – an event not to be missed.

You should by now have already received your Confirmation of Acceptance from the appropriate UH Faculty. If not, please contact them for more details. If you are accepted as an exchange student, the International Exchange Services will register your data automatically to the UH student register Oodi.

A warm place to live in is crucial in the Finnish winter. If you have applied for accommodation via the Helsinki Region Student Housing Foundation (HOAS), you should hear back from them very soon. When you do, please reply quickly as student housing in Helsinki is always in great demand!

Attached to your emailed Confirmation of Acceptance you should also have found information from the Student Union of the University of Helsinki (HYY). Among various activities, the HYY services also include Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS, YTHS) which means free or highly affordable general, mental and oral health care. Please note, however,  that the FSHS fee is not an insurance policy neither does it cover hospitalization costs!

For more information about the Student Union, please visit HYY’s webpage.

To become a member of HYY for the academic year 2012–2013, you need to pay the Student Union (HYY) membership fee.  You find further instructions here. We highly recommend paying the membership fee before arriving to Finland. Unfortunately paying the fee at the Welcome Fair is not possible, but if you have made the payment in advance, you can present the original receipt at the Welcome Fair to verify you previous payment.

If for some reason you still have to cancel your exchange, please remember to inform the coordinator at the Faculty and the International Exchange Services and also HOAS, if necessary, in due course.

Joyous preparations and have a happy December! See you next year!

International Exchange Services

Photo by Veikko Somerpuro

Photo competition for exchange students at UH

 

What is your Helsinki like? How do you see the University?
Show this in one picture!

In order to find out more about the real experience of exchange students, International Exchange Services of the University of Helsinki is hosting a photo competition for its incoming exchange students during autumn 2012.

Send us your best photo (only one photo per participant, high level JPG file) which represents your University of Helsinki exchange experience.

  • Send the photo to erasmus@helsinki.fi
  • Deadline 31 October 2012
  • Title of the e-mail “photo competition”.

Best pictures will be rewarded

  • 1st prize: 200 euros
  • 2nd prize: 100 euros
  • 3rd-10th prize: gift certificate

The winning photos will be published on the websites of the University of Helsinki, and displayed around the University, with your name mentioned of course. Impress us, and your friends, too, and help us tell the world what it’s like to be an exchange student here!

When sending your photo, include your name, contact information, a short description of the photo. Also, please make sure that you have permission from all the people in the photo for the photo to be published. The winning photos will be used in the promotion of the University of Helsinki’s International Exchange Services, for instance on the website, brochures etc., with your name as the photographer. By taking part, you give the right to use your photo with no extra compensation.

Degree students, visiting students and potential applicants, sorry! This competition is only open for the incoming exchange students, who are studying at the University of Helsinki during autumn 2012. Bilateral exchange students, Erasmus or Nordplus students, ISEP, N2N etc. — whichever exchange programme brought you here, please participate!    

There’s a Facebook event for the competition as well, come see who else is participating.

Raisa from the International Exchange Services,
Photo by Eva Anundi

Time to Learn Some Finnish!

Photograph by Eeva Anundi
Photograph by Eeva Anundi

The time to register for the autumn semester’s Finnish courses for international exchange and degree students has started! The registration period will end next Friday on August 31st at 11.59pm or 4pm depending on the course.

The Department for Finnish, Finno-Ugrian and Scandinavian Studies is responsible for the Finnish language teaching for all the International Students of the University of Helsinki. Check out their webpages on more information about different courses and means of registration.

For those students who won’t be arriving before August 31st, if you missed the registration, you can still contact the teacher of the course you’re interested in to enquire whether there would be space in the course.

Congratulations to accepted exchange students!

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Many of you exchange students have already received acceptance letters from your Faculty.  In case you have not heard anything from your Faculty by the end of the week 25 (June 22nd), please contact the appropriate Faculty. If you are accepted as an exchange student, the International Exchange Services will register your data automatically to the University of Helsinki’s student register Oodi.

Attached to your letter of acceptance sent by email was also information from the Student Union of the University of Helsinki (HYY).  The membership of HYY includes, for example, services at Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS, YTHS) which means free or highly affordable general, mental and oral health care.

Also doctoral/PhD students may join the Student Union (HYY) if they wish. However, they are not entitled to use health care services of FSHS (YTHS). Note that the FSHS fee is not an insurance policy neither does it cover hospitalization costs!

To become a member of HYY for the academic year 2012–2013, you need to pay the Student Union (HYY) membership fee.  You find the payment instructions here.

We highly recommend paying the membership fee before arriving to Finland. If you are unable to do it via bank transfer, you can also pay the fee in cash at the Welcome Fair of the University of Helsinki on Thursday 30.08. or Friday 31.08. Unfortunately paying the fee on Saturday at the Welcome Fair is not possible. At the Welcome Fair you can present the original receipt to verify you previous payment.

For more information, please visit HYY’s webpage.

If you need to cancel your exchange, please inform the coordinator at the Faculty and the appropriate coordinator at the International Exchange Services.

Joyous preparations!

International Exchange Services

Photo by Veikko Somerpuro

The application period for incoming exchange students closed on 15.05.2012!

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The University of Helsinki received over 700 applications from incoming exchange student applicants around the world (for the autumn 2012 or for the whole academic year 2012/2013)!

We received from Europe nearly 600 Erasmus and Nordplus applications and from other continents in various programs altogether over 100 applications.

You will receive your Acceptance Letter by e-mail, sent by your host faculty, if your application is approved. Acceptance information is usually available around mid-June at the latest. Before that your application is considered by your host faculty. Please try to be patient!

In addition to the Acceptance e-mail, university bilateral exchange and ISEP, AEN, MAUI and North2North exchange students (not Erasmus SMS, Nordplus etc.) will also receive an Acceptance Letter from the International Exchange Services. This letter is always sent to the coordinator of the students home university, and it is needed for Residence Permit applications.

It is very important that you should notify the faculty and also the International Exchange Services immediately, if you need to cancel your exchange period or if there is a change in your exchange period.

Accepted exchange students will receive necessary information for the enrolment with the acceptance letter and we have gathered information about how to get started at the New Students website. You will meet staff and other new students latest at the Welcome Fair on August 30 – September 1, 2012.

If you did not apply, the next application round for incoming exchange students begins in August! Stay tuned at our website!

Kind regards, International Exchange Services

Considering coming to Finland for a shorter period of time – applying to University of Helsinki as an exchange student

Has your home university selected you for exchange at the University of Helsinki? Thinking about what to do next? Congratulations! You are making a good choice.

If you have already been nominated by your own university, you have taken the first steps towards becoming an exchange student.

Wondering about what to include in your Learning agreement or how to apply? You aren’t the only one. Every spring about 600 students from UH’s partner universities apply to UH as exchange students, planning to come here for one semester or a year.

In total, University of Helsinki welcomes about 1000 exchange students each year, for one term or for the full academic year.

Applying is quite straightforward: there’s the online application, and a few enclosures (Transcript of Credits, Learning Agreement and a Language Certificate)

There’s also a different group of students, who apply independently as so called free movers or visiting students (without the nomination from their home university). Their application process is a bit different.


For the to-be-exchange students
, there are a few questions which are asked often. What puzzles the exchange students most? It’s the Learning Agreement, a preliminary plan for the courses to take during one’s exchange stay… The rules shortly are as follows: choose between 20-30 ECTS credits per semester (with 30 ECTS per semester being the norm), at least 50% of those from one of the UH’s 11 Faculties

The puzzling part? The Learning Agreement is based on this year’s teaching. It is not the final list of courses you will be taking during your exchange. Information regarding courses in 2012-13 will be available around June. What is important for UH now is that you know what types of courses are offered at UH in general, and how you can use them towards your degree at your home university.

Housing? Yes, you need to apply for it as soon as possible:

In need of technical support? UH’s Mobility Online experts will be able to help, but please read these instructions first.

Detailed questions about courses? These are the people who’ll help you:

Questions about applying in general? Please find more information here.

If you upload all the enclosures to your Mobility Online application account, then there’s no need to fax or send paper copies. That’s what Mobility Online is for!

Most importantly, when will you hear the results? When can you start packing?

The deadline for applications for autumn 2012 and full study year 2012-13 is 15 May. You’ll get e-mails throughout the process, explaining which step your application is in.

Your application first goes to UH’s International Exchange Services, where the staff checks that you have included everything. Then it is sent to the appropriate Faculty for their consideration. You’ll hear the results via e-mail by the end of June.

We are looking forward to meeting you soon in Helsinki!

Raisa from the International Exchange Services