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Tuition fees, waivers and scholarships

The non-European citizens studying in an international Bachelor's or Master’s degree have fees which vary from 8,000 to 10,000 € per year depending on the programme. The university offers tuition waivers and scholarships for international degree students required to pay tuition fees. There are no tuition fees for the EU and EEA citizens. For further information, please see "Who will need to pay for tuition?"

The tuition waiver is a partial exemption from the tuition fee (partial scholarship). For students selected in 2024, the tuition waiver may cover max. 50 % of the programme’s tuition fee. However, the programmes have had the right to decide that the tuition waiver percentage can be lower than that. The student must apply for the tuition waiver on the application form. The waiver is granted for maximum of four (4) semesters (Master students) and for maximum of six (6) semesters (Bachelor students).

A waiver granted based on temporary protection has not yet been decided for the year 2024. For more information about the temporary protection, please see the website of Finnish Immigration Service.

For students, the tuition fee will remain the same throughout the entire time of completing their degrees. The exact tuition fee of the programme can be found below and on the programme’s websites. For Erasmus Mundus programmes, please see the programme’s website for more information.

The tuition fee covers the studies included in the degree (personal study plan), studies-related supervision and counselling, and studies-related supporting services offered by the university. In addition, students are also entitled to the services of the Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS). There are separate fees for FSHS and the Student Union. The university assists students in finding accommodation. See also the residence permit requirements and application process from the Finnish Immigration Service's website.

The University of Eastern Finland also grants an Early Bird tuition fee deduction of 500 € for the autumn semester to students who accept the study place and pay the tuition fees within three weeks of the date the results are published (for Master's students starting in autumn 2024 by 3 May 2024, for Bachelor's students the deadline is on 21 June 2024). Early Bird payment can only be done online (electronically). This Early Bird deduction does not apply to Erasmus Mundus and joint degree programmes.

Tuition fees and waivers 2024 by programme (Programme, Fee per year, Tuition waiver)

Bachelor's degree programmes

  • Information Technology, 10 000 €, 50 % new also in Kuopio
  • Lifelong Learning and Sustainable Development, 10 000 €, 50 %
  • Sustainable Forest Bioeconomy, 10 000 €, 50 %, new
  • Social Sciences, 10 000 €, 50 %

Master's degree programmes

  • Accounting and Finance, 10 000 €, 0% and 50 %*, new
  • Biomedicine (BIOMED), 8 000 €, 50 %
  • Biology of Environmental Change (BEC, only in Joensuu), 8 000 €, 50 %
  • Digital Marketing and Analytics, 10 000 €, 0 % and 50 %*
  • Early Language Education for Intercultural Communication, 8 000 €, 50 %
  • English Language and Culture, 8 000 €, 50 %
  • Environmental and Ecosystem Ecology (former BEC Kuopio), 8 000 €, 50 %
  • Environmental Health and Technology, 8 000 €, 50 %
  • Environmental Policy and Law, 8 000 €, 50 %
  • Forestry, 8 000 €, 50 %
  • Information Technology (IMPIT), 8 000 €, 50 %
  • International Business and Sales Management (IBS), 10 000 €, 0% and 50 %*
  • Linguistic Data Sciences, 8 000 €, 50 %
  • Medical Physics, 8 000 €, 50 %
  • Pedagogy and Teaching for Sustainability, 8 000 €, 50 %
  • Photonics, 8 000 €, 50 %
  • Public Health, 8 000 €, 50 %
  • Research Chemists, 8 000 €, 50 %
  • Sustainability Leadership, 10 000 €, 0% and 50 %* new
  • Tourism Marketing and Management, 10 000 €, 0% and 50 %*
  • Toxicology, 8 000 €, 50 %

* In the programme the best 50 % of the student quota will receive a 50 % waiver, and the rest will pay 100 % (no reserve list for the waiver).

What is the Finland Scholarship? 

UEF will grant a Finland Scholarship (Suomi-stipendi) for the two best applicants (who received best points) in each Master's degree programme. The Finland Scholarship is granted for the first year of Master’s studies and the students who receive it must be non-EU/EEA citizens who are liable to pay tuition fees. The total value of the Finland Scholarship is € 13 000–15 000, depending on the programme’s tuition fee. The Finland Scholarship includes:

  • 100 % tuition waiver for the first year's tuition fee (value € 8 000–10 000)
  • € 5 000 relocation grant 

The scholarship is a one-year scholarship for the first-year Master’s students. For the second year of study, students need to secure sufficient funds themselves. The programmes' general tuition waivers will be offered for the second-year studies.  

The Finland Scholarships will be granted until 2024. Students who apply to Master’s studies in 2025 are not eligible. The national Finland Scholarship programme is funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture.

Who can apply for the Finland Scholarship? 

Prospective students who: 

  • are non-EU/EEA citizens 
  • are liable to pay tuition fees 
  • apply for Master-level studies and whose study right starts on 1 August 2022 or after that (until August 2024)

How to apply?

You must state your wish to apply for a Finland Scholarship on the Studyinfo application form. Finland Scholarships are awarded based on the programme's own admission criteria for the two best applicants per programme who have been chosen for the studies based on their success in the admission process (received best points). Scholarships are always personal, and UEF will notify applicants about the decision regarding the scholarship at the same time with the admission results. The decisions on scholarships cannot be appealed against.

About the Finland Scholarship at UEF 

  • The relocation grant is paid in one instalment after the student has registered as being present at UEF. 
  • The student must have a Finnish bank account, and the € 5 000 portion of the scholarship will be paid to that account at the earliest in October. 
  • The student needs to study on campus, as it is not possible to have these extra scholarships for distance learning.
  • If a student is exempted from paying tuition fees, they are no longer eligible to receive the Finland Scholarship.
  • Master-level students who have been admitted in 2021 or earlier are not eligible, even if the start of their studies is postponed.
  • If the student defers the start of their studies for a statutory reason, they may begin the studies in the following academic year with the same conditions and keep the Finland Scholarship (one time).
  • The Finland Scholarship is not granted in UEF's Erasmus Mundus and special agreement programmes (see the list of the Finland Scholarship programmes at UEF below)

Finland Scholarship can be granted in these UEF programmes

Philosophical Faculty 

Faculty of Science, Forestry and Technology

Faculty of Health Sciences

Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies 

We recommend that prospective applicants apply for both the Finland Scholarship and UEF's own tuition waiver at the same time. If you are not awarded the Finland Scholarship, UEF will grant the tuition waiver. You must apply for both in the Studyinfo application form. Neither the Finland Scholarship nor the tuition waiver can be applied for afterwards.

Fees will be collected from citizens outside the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland, starting their studies in Bachelor's or Master’s degree programmes conducted in English in August 2017 or after that.

You are not required to pay tuition fee if you have one of the documents mentioned below. Student who:

  • is a citizen of the member states of the European Union (EU) or European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland.  
  • has a permanent residence permit card in Finland, type P permit
  • has a continuous residence permit card in Finland, type A permit, based on other grounds than studying.
    • Please note that if you have a continuous residence permit card in Finland (type A) issued for studies, you are liable to pay tuition fees
  • has an EU residence permit for third-country citizens with long-term residence permit card in Finland (type P-EU permit)
  • has an EU family member's residence card in Finland
  • has an EU blue card in Finland
  • has a Brexit residence permit card, type SEU = Right of residence under the withdrawal agreement, or P SEU = Right of permanent residence under the withdrawal agreement

The degree programmes conducted in Finnish will remain free of charge regardless of the student’s citizenship.

In order to be exempted from tuition fees for the academic year, your residence permit has to be valid at the start of that academic year, i.e. 1 August. To prove your residency status, copies of both sides of your valid residence permit card in Finland must be enclosed to your application. A copy of your valid passport, or national ID card where your citizenship is indicated, is required to prove your citizenship.

The tuition fee exemption is tied to the time that the exempting residence permit is valid. If the permit runs out and is not renewed, full tuition fee liability will normally start from the beginning of the next semester following the end of the exempting permit.

More information about determining your liability to pay and exemptions from tuition fees can be found on Studyinfo (studyinfo.fi).

Information about the changes in applying for a residence permit for studies or research is available on the Finnish Immigration Service website (migri.fi).

The annual fee is paid in two equal instalments per academic year. The due date for autumn semester is 31August and for spring semester 31 December. If you have been accepted for your studies in 2022 or before, the tuition fee for the second academic year (and the third for bachelor's studies) depends on the completion of the required 55 ECTS by the end of the previous study year. NB. For the students that have been accepted for the studies beginning in September 2023 or after that, the tuition waiver will be granted for two years (Master's) or three years (Bachelor's).

The first payment is done by using the link announced in the letter of acceptance. Copy the link from the letter of acceptance to browser and fill in payer and student information. Please make sure that you complete the Studyinfo Learner Number / ID and Student name in exact form as stated in the Student Agreement and the Letter of acceptance. After filling in the form select “Pay” to go to the online payment service (ePayments to Finnish banks, Credit card payments, MobilePay and PayPal are possible payment methods). After the payment you will receive the confirmation and receipt of the payment to the email provided in payer’s information. The payment links concerning the autumn semester 2023 (second year), will be made available during summer.

Each installment must be paid in full by the deadline. The university will not send any reminders. If a student fails to pay the tuition fee in full by the deadline, the student cannot register to the university. The university has the obligation to report to the Finnish Immigration Service (MIGRI), if the students do not start their studies or the students drop out.

You have the right to a full refund (excluding possible bank-specific payment charges) of the tuition fee paid:

  • if you have been conditionally admitted and the condition is not met: your study place is thus cancelled,
  • if you have submitted your residence permit application by 31 July but you have not been granted a residence permit in Finland.  NB! The refund is not possible if the student has already registered as being present.
  • if your residence permit status changes before the beginning of the academic year (1 August) at the university and, according to the new residence permit, you are no longer required to pay fees,
  • if the university is unable to offer the degree programme you have been admitted to.

Kindly note that the refund must be applied before the end of September of the year you have been accepted to the University of Eastern Finland. The students must apply for the refund themselves, and if the student is late for the given deadline (end of September), the university has no obligation to return the tuition fee.

The refund policy takes into consideration the student's personal reasons only. The refund policy does not apply if the reasons are not related directly to the student but third parties, e.g. family members, friends or other relatives.

If there is a change in the student's residence permit, the influence of this change to payments of the student will take effect from the beginning of the following academic term. The student must provide a Finnish residence permit as proof for university's decision-making. The already paid tuition fee will not be refunded.

All new students admitted to international degree programmes in 2023 (September intake) who are required to pay tuition fees are eligible to receive a partial tuition waiver. The tuition waiver is 50–70 % of the annual tuition fee and it is granted for maximum of four (4) semesters (Master students) and for maximum of six (6) semesters (Bachelor students).

A waiver granted based on temporary protection: A student may apply for a tuition fee grant on humanitarian grounds if they are liable to pay tuition fee and have been accepted into an international bachelor’s or master’s degree programme at the University of Eastern Finland and they arrive in Finland on account of requiring temporary protection. The grant is awarded as a 100 % tuition fee waiver for the target duration of completing a degree. For more information please see the website of Finnish Immigration Service.

The student may register as being present for the 2023-2024 academic year. If the student does not receive a decision on being granted temporary protection, they will not be awarded the tuition fee waiver. If the student has paid the tuition fee and is then granted temporary protection, the tuition fee will be refunded to them.

For students, the tuition fee will remain the same throughout the entire time of completing their degrees. The exact tuition fee of the programme can be found below and on the programme’s websites. For Erasmus Mundus programmes, please see the programme’s website.

The tuition fee covers the studies included in the degree (personal study plan), studies-related supervision and counselling, and studies-related supporting services offered by the university. In addition, students are also entitled to the services of the Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS). There are separate fees for FSHS and the Student Union. The university assists students in finding accommodation. See also the residence permit requirements and application process from the Finnish Immigration Service website.

The University of Eastern Finland will also grant an Early Bird tuition fee deduction of 500 € for the autumn semester to students who accept the study place and pay the tuition fees within three weeks of the date the results are published (for Master's students starting in autumn 2023 by 21 April 2023, for Bachelor's students the deadline is on 23 June 2023). Early Bird payment can only be done online. This Early Bird deduction does not apply to Erasmus Mundus and joint degree programmes.

Tuition fees and waivers 2023 by programme (Programme, Fee per year, Tuition waiver)

Bachelor's degree programmes

  • Information Technology, 10 000 €, 70 % new
  • Lifelong Learning and Sustainable Development, 10 000 €, 50 %
  • Social Sciences, 10 000 €, 50 %

Master's degree programmes

  • Biomedicine (BIOMED), 10 000 €, 70 %
  • Biology of Environmental Change, 8 000 €, 70 %
  • Digital Marketing and Analytics, 8 000 €, 50 % new
  • Early Language Education for Intercultural Communication, 8 000 €, 70 %
  • English Language and Culture, 8 000 €, 70 %
  • Environmental Health and Technology, 8 000 €, 70 %
  • Environmental Policy and Law, 8 000 €, 70 %
  • Forestry & Transatlantic Forestry, 8 000 €, 70 %
  • Information Technology (IMPIT), 8 000 €, 70 %
  • International Business and Sales Management (IBS), 8 000 €, 50 %
  • Linguistic Data Sciences, 8 000 €, 70 %
  • Materials Technology, 8 000 €, 70 % new
  • Medical Physics, 8 000 €, 70 %
  • Pedagogy and Teaching for Sustainability, 8 000 €, 70 %
  • Photonics, 8 000 €, 70 %
  • Public Health, 10 000 €, 70 %
  • Research Chemists, 8 000 €, 70 %
  • Tourism Marketing and Management, 8 000 €, 50 %
  • Toxicology, 10 000 €, 70 %