The first joint application for higher education institutions in spring 2024 ended on Wednesday, 17 January. There were about 8,300 starting places to apply to in 412 study programmes. Roughly half of the study options are at universities and the rest at universities of applied sciences.

The number of applicants applying for education in English was over 60,000, of which the majority were non-EU/EEA citizens. The largest citizenship groups in the applicants were citizens of Bangladesh, Finland and Pakistan. Also programmes in Finnish and Swedish at the University of Arts and the theatre study programme at the University of Tampere were available in the joint application this spring. These programmes had 5,400 applicants altogether.

Big differences between study fields in the competition for study places
In absolute numbers, the highest number of applicants were for study programmes in the fields of business, administration and law, and information and communication technologies (ICT).

In higher education, the toughest competition for a study place, i.e. the highest number of applicants in comparison to study places, takes place in Arts and culture (about 23 applicants/study place), services (about 19 applicants/study place) and social sciences (about 16 applicants/study place).

The lowest number of applicants in comparison to study places is in engineering, manufacturing and construction (about 9 applicants/study place), as well as in humanities (about 11 applicants/study place).

The results of the selections will be published at the end of May at the latest
Currently, higher education institutions are reviewing applications and organizing entrance examinations. The results of the first joint application for the spring will be published starting from the end of January and the beginning of February. All results will be published no later than May 31.

Applicants with a Finnish citizenship follow the status of their application in the My Studyinfo service. Anyone accepted as a student will automatically receive information about the selection via email.

The second joint application period for higher education is in March
The second joint application this spring is from 13 March to 17 March 2024. The application includes study programmes in Finnish and Swedish at the higher education institutions starting in the autumn. The application is arranged in the Studyinfo service maintained by the Finnish National Agency of Education at Opintopolku.fi.