• University of Helsinki requires prospective students
to prove their English proficiency
Recently, someone asked me about English language requirements for international students who come from an English-speaking country and want to gain admission for a programme in a Finnish university.
The person made specific reference to students from the Commonwealth nations in Africa where English is the ‘official’ or major language of instruction throughout one’s schooling.
In fact, the University of Helsinki, for example, requires a prospective student to prove their English proficiency from a number of methods.
Commonwealth countries and English
Actually, this was not the first time the person was asking whether an exemption can be given to prospective students coming from the Commonwealth countries where English is the official language or medium of instruction throughout schooling.
The person thought this would be one good option as happens in some other places.
Truly, I have no idea what exemptions are there and whether such a consideration can be given to students from Commonwealth countries.
I advised those who contacted me to find out from the faculties or departments and the programmes that they are interested to study in Finnish universities.
Accepted methods of proving language skills
According to information on the website of the University of Helsinki, for example, there are a number of methods to prove your English language skills.
The IELTS (International English Language Testing System) is one such method for testing the language skills of a prospective student. The minimum requirement for the IELTS is an overall score of 6.5, with a minimum score of 6.0 in the writing section.
The other method is the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). In this, the student has to score 92 in the internet-based test (IBT), with a minimum of 22 in the writing section.
There is also the revised Paper-delivered Test of the TOEFL which should have a minimum score of 20 in the listening section, and a minimum of 22 in the writing section. The information says that both the Home Edition and Paper Edition of TOEFL IBT are also accepted.
I think it is not easy to pass these English language tests. Moreover, I heard that the certificate expires after some months or so, which does not make things easy.
Eye-catching International Master’s Programmes
All the same, people should not lose hope and miss the many eye-catching and potentially beneficial International Master’s Programmes for foreign students in Finnish universities.
Although I do not have any figures to show how many foreign students gain admission into Finnish universities, I can say as I have previously done that there are quite huge numbers of non-European students these days wanting to pursue further education in Finland.
It is stated clearly on the website of the University of Helsinki that when students apply to their International Master’s programmes in English or to their multilingual Master’s programmes with English as the language of the degree, they must prove their language skills in English (see www.helsinki.fi).
But statements issued by individual language teachers or universities’ own language test scores are not accepted. This is because the statements cannot be compared with standardised language tests, according to the instructions for the Master’s programme applications for 2022 (which ended in early January this year).
Cooperation
Ever since those inquiries were made to me about exemptions from the English language proficiency test, I have been thinking about whether there could be a possibility for that through cooperation or an agreement between institutions in the two countries.
I have been wondering if it would be possible for the two governments or at least institutions of higher education to devise an agreement about exemption from the proficiency test as part of measures to strengthen their development cooperation relationship through education.
Finland is trying to attract more foreign students into its universities these days. As we know, studies in especially higher educational institutions is good academically, culturally, economically, politically, etc. for both the sending country and the receiving/host nation.
There is no doubt that increasing and strengthening the areas of cooperation between the two countries and individual students’ quest to study abroad can be boosted if there are official arrangements backing them. Thank you!
The writer is Ghanaian lecturer at
the University of Helsinki in Finland
By Perpetual Crentsil
Email: perpetualcrentsil@yahoo.com