Information for New Bachelor's Degree Students

Accepting the study place and enrolment

The study place must be accepted and the enrolment for academic year 2024–2025 completed by latest on Friday 11 July 2024 at 3 pm Finnish time in Studyinfo database. The study place is accepted by using the link you receive from Studyinfo or by using the strong identification (a Finnish bank account, mobile certificate, or an electronic ID card). If you do not have a possibility for strong identification or the link you received from Studyinfo does not work, fill in the confirmation/enrolment form you received in your acceptance letter and send it by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

You can find more details about the enrolment here: Right to Study 

Remember to use secure email if you are sending your certificate of absence by email:

1. Register your e-mail address to the service https://securemail.oulu.fi/ 
2. You will receive an email titled: ”Turvaposti Oulun Yliopisto”. The email includes a personal link to register to the service.
3. In the "To" -field, please write This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and to the "Subject" -field, please write: Certificate of absence.
4. Attach your copies of certificate(s) to your email.
5. Send your confidential email in this service.

Please note, that absence during the first academic year is possible only due to reasons defined in the Finnish Law. More information about the acceptable reasons for absence can be found in your acceptance letter (page 4).

The prerequisite for absence is that you submit a document for the statutory reason for your absence:

- enlistment order or service certificate,
- Kela's certificate for the period of pregnancy or parental allowance or, if there is no certificate yet, a doctor's certificate for pregnancy. Corresponding certificates of statutory parental leave from the authorities of other countries are also accepted.
- sickness allowance decision or, if there is none, a medical certificate. The medical certificate must state which illness or disability is involved and that the illness or disability in question prevents the start of the studies. The student's own statement is not sufficient.

If you enroll as absent for the first academic year due to illness or injury, it will consume your two-semester-right of absence. For spring semester you can only change your enrollment from presence to absence if the illness or injury that was the reason for the absence in the fall semester continues in the spring semester as well. The application for the change in the enrollment must be submitted by 15 January or the next business day.

Absence due to military service, non-military service, women's voluntary military service, pregnancy or parental leave is possible at any stage of the studies, and it does not consume the right to absence for two semesters.

You can submit the certificate of absence by e-mail or submit a copy of the document to the Admission Services by post. Submitted copies will be destroyed after review. Documents must be submitted in Finnish, Swedish or English. If you do not submit documents by the deadline or if they are incomplete, you will be registered as an attending student.

Performing conscript or non-military service after gaining admission to school

If you are in conscript, non-military or voluntary military service after you have been admitted to a school and you are absent from school either before or after performing the service, you could potentially lose your eligibility for a student loan compensation. The period qualifying you for the compensation can be extended, but that only applies to the academic terms in which you are in active service.

- For more on the qualifying criteria for the student loan compensation
- Use an online calculator to check your eligibility for a student loan compensation (in Finnish)

Residence permit

Tuition fees and scholarships

At Oamk the amount of the tuition fee for Bachelor's degree is 10 000 € per academic year.

Tuition fee is charged from the non-EU/EEA students (including UK citizens) studying in the English degree programmes who do not hold the Finnish residence permit that gives the exemption from the tuition fees. Document proving the right for exemption must be submitted before the tuition fee is charged.

If you confirm your study place and enroll present within 7 days from receiving the information of acceptance, you are entitled for an early bird discount of 2 000 €. This means that the tuition fee for the first academic year is 8 000 €.

The tuition fee must be paid in full by the due date. If you fail to pay the tuition fee within the given due date, you will lose your right to study. 

The scholarship is awarded solely on the basis of the student's Finnish language skills. Students can enhance their language skills during their studies. The maximum of scholarship during the optimal study time of the degree programme is 6000€. The scholarship is applied to tuition paying students who have been admitted to the degree programmes with official start day in August 2024.

Please see more information from the Study Guide.

Student username, password and devices

Digital Starter Package

Moving to Finland

 
Housing and Accommodation

Student housing for all degree students is mainly provided by the local student housing organisation PSOAS, the Student Housing Foundation of Northern Finland. Admitted students should contact PSOAS directly once they receive their acceptance letter.

Please notice that the applications for housing must be sent directly to PSOAS as early as possible, preferably at least 2 to 3 months before the date of the student's arrival.

PSOAS contact information:
Mannenkatu 6 A
90130 Oulu
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Students can also find more housing options from Study Guide. Study Guide has a Living in Oulu section that has been made for exchange students but has a lot of valuable information for international degree students as well. Please note that all information is not applicable for you, for example the insurance coverage requirements are different.

You can also find valuable information in this guide for newcomers: Welcome to Oulu.



Travelling to Oulu, Finland

If you are unable to start your studies in Oulu in August, please get in contact with the Head of Degree Programme and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. about your situation and the reason for your absence. You also must present a document that proves your ongoing residence permit application process.

Arrival by Air

Finland and Oulu are easily reached by air as several airlines fly regularly to the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, the main airport of Finland. Information about the Oulu Airport and other airports in Finland and their travel connections is available on the website of the Finnish airport operator Finavia. The current operators in Oulu Airport are Finnair and Norwegian. Both operators have several daily flight connections between Helsinki and Oulu.

Oulu Airport is located in Oulunsalo approximately 14 km southwest from the city center of Oulu. There are regular local bus connections on the bus lines 8 (Airport-Linnanmaa) and 9 (Airport- City centre of Oulu). You can check the current timetables from the electronic displays at bus stops or from the website of Public Transport in Oulu.

Taxis are also usually available in front of the Airport.

Arrival by Train

There are several daily trains from Helsinki to Oulu. The journey time is usually 6-8 hours (9-10 hours on the overnight trains). In order to take a train to Oulu you first need to go from Helsinki Airport to Tikkurila Station in Vantaa or to Helsinki Central Railway Station. All long-haul trains from Helsinki to Oulu stop also at Tikkurila.
The Oulu Railway Station is in the center of the city. For train timetables and ticket prices please see the VR’s website (the Finnish railway company).

Arrival by Bus

There are 4-6 daily bus connections from Helsinki to Oulu. Notice, however, that on the buses the travel time is remarkably longer and the fares often higher than on the railways. For more information on long-haul bus connections in Finland, please see the Matkahuolto website.

There is also Onnibus which is a low-cost bus services that operates in some parts of the country. Onnibus has daily services between Helsinki and Oulu. The travel time on this route is approximately 8–10 hours.
 

Registering as a citizen of Oulu

In Finland, a personal identity code is used to identify persons. The code consists of your birth date and four unique characters. Within two weeks after arriving, you need to register with the Digital and Population Data Services Agency DVV in the local registry office (Maistraatti) in Oulu. This means that you will set your home municipality in Oulu and you will receive your Finnish personal identity code, if you do not have one already.

For more information on the DVV registration of foreign citizens, please see https://dvv.fi/en/international-student.

How to register with the Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV)?

After registering, please send a copy of the document you received from DVV to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. To protect your personal data, we recommend you to send the file from your student email address.

Student health care

All students who study for a Bachelor’s or a Master’s level degree at a university of applied sciences and enroll as attending must pay the healthcare fee to the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela).

The healthcare fee entitles you to use the services of the Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS). No bill will be sent on the healthcare fee, and thus you have to pay the fee on your own initiative. For the autumn term, the due date is November 15th and for the spring term, the due date is March 15th.

If you live outside Finland, you still have to pay the healthcare fee. FSHS offers also services online. 

If you have social security coverage in another EU/EEA country or in Switzerland or the United Kingdom, you do not have to pay the healthcare fee. 

You can find the instructions and account number for payment in Kela’s web site: How to pay the healthcare fee in higher education.

Oulu regional service points
More information: What is the healthcare fee in higher education?
Read more about services of FSHS

Student benefits (Kela)

OSAKO – Your Student Union: picnic for new students 

Congratulations on your admission as a student! Student union OSAKO will organize a pre-picnic event for new students for each study field before the start of studies. The picnic will involve your tutors and last year students and of course, your own group members! You can get to know each other, your field of study and the tutors on the picnic in a relaxed way. The event is alcohol free. The next pre-picnics will be organized on XXX, location depends on your study field / studying organization:

Social and health care (OSASTO): Hollihaka park
Business students (OUTO): Kiikeli
Culture (Kultti) and renewable natural resources (Luva): Linnasaari
Technology students (OTE) and construction architects (Arkko): Tuira beach

Student Union of Oulu University of Applied Sciences – OSAKO is a service and support organization for all students of Oamk. OSAKO operates by students, for students, with the help of a couple of employees. As a student of Oulu UAS, you can get the student card only from OSAKO. Get familiar with the other benefits you can get from OSAKO.

Oamk Campuses

Linnanmaa campus is home to the schools of information technology, engineering, business, culture and natural resources as well as vocational teacher training. This campus is located approximately five kilometers north of central Oulu. It is shared by Oamk and the University of Oulu.

Address: Yliopistokatu 9, 90570 OULU
Janitor: (+358) 050 472 8285
Linnanmaa campus map and working hours

Kontinkangas campus is home to the school of health and social care. 

Address: Kiviharjuntie 4, 90220, Oulu
Janitor: (+358) 040 141 5515
Kontinkangas campus map and working hours

Oulu Campus Navigator
Oulu Campus Navigator is a mobile application which provides indoor navigation on the Linnanmaa campus. It can be downloaded from Google Play and App Store. You do not need to sign in to application, and it does not track the location of individual users. Its operations are based on Bluetooth transmitters on the campus.

More about Oamk premises (campuses, libraries, parking)

Academic Affairs