Faculty of Social Science

The Faculty of Social Sciences is an international multidisciplinary institute providing education in the Finnish, Swedish and English languages.








The Faculty educates experts who are well versed in various social phenomena in different cultures, and who bear responsibility for the promotion of human values both locally and globally.

More than one fourth of those holding a Master's degree and about one third of those holding a doctorate in the social sciences in Finland are graduates of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Helsinki .

The Faculty of Social Sciences is one of the largest faculties of the University of Helsinki and has a relatively large body of international students, both exchange and degree students.

International students can complete a Master´s level degree (M.Soc.Sc.) or a Doctor's degree (D.Soc.Sc) at the fields offered at the Faculty.

If the applicant has a throughout knowledge of Finnish or Swedish, they may also apply through the regular entrance examination of the Faculty and may be accepted to study for Bachelor´s degree.

Admission for Undergraduate Studies
International applicants can apply for undergraduate studies by taking the entrance examination held in Finnish and Swedish. Detailed information on general admission is available here.

Admission for Graduate Studies
This admission procedure is meant for applicants who already have a Bachelor's degree in a subject offered at the Faculty or in a field very close to this. This procedure applies to those applicants, who either want to apply for a Master´s programme of the Faculty or who want to study another field at the Faculty.

Applicants accepted for graduate studies receive the right to study for the higher academic degree only (Master of Social Sciences), i.e they may not finish their lower academic degree (B.Soc.Sc.) at the University of Helsinki.

The following fields are offered at the Faculty, some as Master´s Programmes and some as Studies leading to Master´s degree.

• Economics
  
• Communication
  
• Mathematics and Statistics
  
• Political Science
  
• Administration and Organisations
  
• Politics
  
• World Politics
  
• Social and Moral Philosophy
  
• Social Policy
  
• Social Psychology
  
• Social work
  
• Social Science History
  
• Economic and Social History
  
• Political History
  
• Social and Cultural Anthropology
  
• Sociology
  
• Development Studies

Undergraduate degrees offered by the Faculty include the Bachelor of Social Sciences degree, which is a lower basic degree, and the Master of Social Sciences degree, which is a higher basic degree. Postgraduate degrees include the Licentiate and Doctor of Social Sciences.

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.

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