Faculty of Medicine

The Faculty of Medicine was established at the Academy of Turku in 1640. The Faculty relocated to Helsinki in 1828 and currently operates on the Meilahti Campus of the University of Helsinki.

The Faculty of Medicine carries out high-quality multidisciplinary research, trains skilled doctors and dentists, supervises their research-oriented or professionally oriented postgraduate education, and aids researchers and students in establishing international contacts.

Some 2,500 students are currently pursuing an undergraduate degree, or research-oriented or professionally-oriented postgraduate education in the Faculty. The Faculty of Medicine at the University of Helsinki is the only Finnish faculty of medicine that provides instruction in both Finnish and Swedish. The Swedish-language study programme trains doctors to meet the needs of Finland's Swedish-speaking population.

Departments, institutes and units
The following six departments and institutes operate under the auspices of the Faculty of Medicine: the Institute of Biomedicine, the Institute of Dentistry, the Department of Public Health, the Institute of Clinical Medicine, the Haartman Institute and the Department of Forensic Medicine. The National Library of Health Sciences (Terkko) functions as the faculty library, the campus library of the Meilahti Campus and the Finnish central library of medicine and health sciences. The Faculty also houses the Research and Development Unit for Medical Education (TUKE) and the Meilahti Experimental Animal Centre.

The courses offered by the Faculty primarily take place in four learning environments: preclinical studies in the recently completed Biomedicum building, clinical-theoretical studies at the Haartman Institute, studies in dentistry, forensic medicine and public health at Ruskeasuo and clinical studies mostly at research and teaching hospitals of the Helsinki University Central Hospital in the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa.

Please note that only applicants with proficiency in Finnish or Swedish may apply for the degree programs in Medicine and Dentistry (Licentiate in Medicine or Licentiate in Dentistry).

First degrees in the Faculty of Medicine comprise the 250-credit Licentiate of Medicine degree and the 200-credit Licentiate of Dentistry degree. The former degree may be completed in about six years of full-time study, while the latter takes some five years to complete.

After taking their first degree, students may pursue professionally oriented or research-oriented postgraduate studies in the Faculty. Professionally oriented postgraduate degrees include the specialist degrees in medicine and dentistry. Students may choose from 49 fields of specialisation when completing the specialist degree, which takes 5-6 years. Research-oriented postgraduate degrees include the Doctor of Medical Science, Doctor of Dental Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees.

The Faculty of Medicine conducts high-quality research and is committed to reinforcing the status of top-level medical and dental research and to improving the conditions for such research.
The aim of researcher training is to produce researchers with the ability to significantly promote the discipline. Researcher training primarily takes place in the more than 100 research groups that currently operate on the Meilahti Campus. In addition, eight doctoral programmes aid in training researchers.

Medical and dental students interested in a research career may strive in that direction from the very beginning of their studies. They may apply for the degree programme for medical researchers in the spring term of the first year of study. The successful applicants will work in supervised research groups in the summers and choose the topic for their dissertation in the third year of study. After completing their first degree, students will work on their dissertations for about two years.

Over the past ten years, the Faculty's basic education provision has been thoroughly reformed. A uniform problem-based curriculum was introduced in 1998. The objective was to move away from teacher-oriented instruction towards student-oriented learning. Teaching encourages students to take initiative, become motivated and use their creativity. As the field of medicine develops continuously, all medical practitioners must adopt the principle of lifelong learning and studying. The overall aim of the reform was to train doctors and dentists to meet the needs of individuals and society even better than their predecessors.

The first two years of studies in medicine acquaint the students with the structure and functioning of a healthy human being through the use of microscopy, autopsies, chemical experiments and case studies. Later, students adopt the essential skills of medical practice. At this stage, studies and practical training primarily take place in a teaching hospital.

During the first two years, students of dentistry pursue practically the same studies as students of medicine. After these two years, studies and practical training in dentistry mainly take place at the Institute of Dentistry. Dental training has been recently expanded so that it now takes into account the changes recorded in the incidence of dental and oral diseases. The clinical stage of studies in dentistry also includes studies in medicine.

The Faculty's Swedish-language study programme admits 5% of all students admitted to study medicine in Finland. About half of the instruction given to the admitted students is in Swedish, and Finnish-language applicants proficient in Swedish are also admitted to the study programme.

The Faculty of Medicine is an expert organisation in the field of health care. It provides high-quality health services and maintains contacts with and strives to influence health care and the industry that develops it. The Faculty's most important partner is the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa. One of the Faculty's key duties is to consolidate and develop University-led activities in hospitals belonging to the University Hospital.

Most practising doctors work in health centres or hospitals. General practitioners are usually appointed to vacant posts in health centres. The majority of permanent hospital doctors' posts require the qualifications of a specialist in the field in question. Doctors also work in teaching and research, private practice, occupational health care, administration, the armed forces and outpatient care facilities.

Dentists work in health centres and hospitals, teaching and research, and the armed forces. All licensed dentists are entitled to go into private practice.

The University of Helsinki - the leading university in Finland

The University of Helsinki is Finland’s oldest, biggest and most diverse institution of higher education conducting research and providing education based on it. The University of Helsinki consists of 11 faculties, representing all academic disciplines with the exception of technology and business, and it operates on four campuses.

The University community comprises 38,000 degree students, two-thirds of whom are women. The annual intake of new students is close to 4000; only one-fifth of the applicants pass the demanding entrance exams. The University currently has 1,200 international degree students and annually more than 700 exchange students come to study here.

Eleven faculties include - theology, law, medicine, humanities, natural sciences, behavioural sciences, social sciences, agriculture and forestry, veterinary medicine, bioscience and pharmacology - are all top of their league even in international comparison.

The strengths of the University of Helsinki are internationally acclaimed scientific research and the teaching based on it. One of the special characteristics of the University of Helsinki is that it is a bilingual institution: Swedish-language teaching provides improved opportunities for Finnish-speaking students, too, and enhances Nordic co-operation.

Using many indicators, the University of Helsinki is the most internationally oriented of Finland's universities, and it is a member of the League of European Research Universities, LERU. University of Helsinki encourages multidisciplinary studies across faculty and university boundaries. In autumn 2005, the University adopted a new two-cycle degree system, with the exception of medicine. Former credits (opintoviikko) are now ECTS credits (opintopiste).

Studying at the university is an enjoyable and exciting journey during which young people can develop themselves in many ways, both in terms of knowledge and of life skills. University of Helsinki degrees have a strong reputation. The employment prospects of our alumni are good, and the critical scientific thinking they have adopted will provide them with a solid foundation for lifelong learning that is crucial in today’s world.

faculty of medicine helsinki research sepcialisation dentist dental international bilingual pharmacy medicine law social science masters programmes theology arts agriculture