Scholarship Options for International Students

Finnish universities offer a range of scholarship options for international students.

Planning a budget for your time in Finland is an important part of preparing for the journey ahead. Universities offer a range of options for scholarships both for bachelor’s and master’s level international students.

BACHELOR’S AND MASTER’S SCHOLARSHIPS

Finnish higher education institutions offer a range of scholarship options for those non-EU/EEA students who are required to pay tuition fees. The kinds of scholarship available and any tuition fees you are expected to cover will depend on the institution and the degree programme in question.

Check the details for each degree programme descriptions and contact the institution you are applying to for further advice.

Remember that in addition to tuition fees, you are also expected to cover your living expenses.

DOCTORAL LEVEL SCHOLARSHIPS

In Finland, tuition fees are not charged for doctoral degree programmes. National scholarship schemes (such as EDUFI scholarships) for doctoral level studies and research are still available, though. Find more information on the Finnish National Agency for Education website.

The Finnish National Agency for Education awards and administers scholarships for students, researchers, and teachers. They don’t have any scholarship programmes or other financial assistance available for degree studies at bachelors or master’s level in Finland. Student scholarships are mainly intended for postgraduates who have completed a master’s degree.

Through scholarship programmes, they support the internationalization of teaching and research by forging links and encouraging academic mobility between institutions of higher education in Finland and abroad.

Some scholarships are available for applicants from all countries, while some have a specific target audience (restricted to applicants from certain countries or to degree students of the Finnish language).

Each scholarship programme has its own eligibility criteria, application procedures, and deadlines. A scholarship normally consists of a monthly allowance intended to cover living expenses in Finland for a single person. The amount of a scholarship varies according to the scholarship programme and academic qualification of the applicant. No additional expenses such as travel, housing, or insurance are covered.

Doctoral level scholarships for all academic fields:

EDUFI Fellowships

 Finnish Government Scholarship Pool

 Scholarships for advanced level Finnish studies and research:

 Finnish studies and research: scholarships for advanced studies of the Finnish language at Finnish universities

 Finnish studies and research: scholarships for postgraduate studies and research at Finnish universities

 Scholarships for Kindred Peoples (Finno-Ugrian minorities in Russia)

 Start-up finance for young Ph.D. students and researchers

EDUFI scholarships are not full scholarships, for example, they cannot be applied to cover a whole Ph.D. Rather, they are intended to work as start-up finance for young Ph.D. students and researchers, who are yet to be invited to a Finnish university and who do not have a long post-master’s research career behind them.

However, EDUFI scholarships are also applicable to those who have, for example, been accepted into a Doctoral degree programme, even though they can not cover the whole time it takes to complete a Ph.D.

The extent of the scholarship programmes varies from three (3) months to an academic year.

If you are granted an EDUFI scholarship, and your studies or research continue in Finland after your initial EDUFI scholarship period is over, you should plan ahead and also research into other funding possibilities. Please see the other sources of funding section.