General information for students

• Cost of living
• Accommodation
• Meals
• Medical facilities
• Facilities for special needs students
• Insurance
• Financial support for students
• Students affairs office
• Learning facilities
• International programmes
• Practical information for mobile students
• Language courses
• Internships / Work Placements
  
• Sports and leisure facilities
• Student associations

Cost of living

The cost of living in Finland is on average comparable to the rest of Northern Europe. For detailed information, please see the Cost of Living website. Credit and debit cards are widely accepted in Finland, in particular Visa, Visa Electron, Visa Debit, MasterCard and American Express.

Accommodation

Housing for students in Tampere is administered mainly by TOAS - Tampere Student Housing Foundation, which maintains and rents out student accommodation. The number of furnished study bedrooms (bedding and dishes not included) for international students is limited. For more information, please see the Accommodation website.

Meals

There are several student restaurants and cafeterias situated at the main campus, where students can eat their lunches at modest prices (2-3 euros by presenting valid student card). Special diet and vegetarian food is also available. For more information, please see the Cafeterias at the University of Tampere website. The student discount also applies to all other student restaurants around Tampere and Finland. Also you will get a student discount in all restaurants owned by the City of Tampere, for more information please see Tampereen Ateria (in Finnish). All student restaurants in Finland can be found on the KELA's Meal Subsidy for Higher Education Students website.

Medical facilities

Health services for university students in Finland are provided by the Finnish Student Health Service, FSHS (in Finnish: Ylioppilaiden terveydenhoitosäätiö, YTHS). There are two FSHS Centres in Tampere and one of them (Kalevantien Health Centre) is located at the main campus of the University of Tampere. For more information about health services in Tampere, please see the Health Insurance and Services website.

Facilities for special needs students

The University of Tampere will make special arrangements for students with disabilities. Most of the university facilities are equipped with ramps and toilet facilities specifically for people using wheelchairs. For more information please see the Accessibility website.

Insurance

For more information please see the Health Insurance and Services website. As a general rule, the University of Tampere is not responsible for any medical charges incurred by its students.

Financial support for students

Unfortunately, the University of Tampere cannot offer financial aid or scholarships to international students. You must at all times be able to finance your studies and living expenses or have a scholarship from your home country or from other sources outside the University of Tampere. For more information please see the Financing of Studies website.

Only if you are eligible for the students’ financial aid provided by KELA, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, you can receive a study grant and a housing supplement during your study period. For more information please see the KELA's Financial Aid for Students website.

For information on scholarships please see the national Study in Finland website.

Students affairs office

The International Office at the University of Tampere will assist all international students in all general questions or direct them to the adequate school/person for asking.

When you need counselling related to your studies, e.g. the structure of your degree, curriculum, credit transfer of studies taken in other Finnish or foreign universities or planning of Doctoral studies, you are welcome to visit the study office of your school. The head of study affairs or other appropriate officer will be happy to assist you. For the contact information please see the Study Affairs in the Schools website.

Also each school has academic advisers (known as International Advisers) who will help you with questions related e.g. to teaching and taking exams.

Learning facilities

The University of Tampere offers students modern learning facilities and equipment to support learning and research. For more information and opening hours please see the University Facilities website.

The University Library premises function as well-equipped learning centers with group work rooms, computers and other equipment equipped with the neccessary software. The majority of facilities are disabled friendly. For more information please see the Facilities and Equipment website updated by the library.

The Computer Centre is an independent institute within the University. It provides computer and support services to students. The Computer Centre offers about 20 computer classrooms with approximately 430 PCs available to all students in the University buildings. Some computer classrooms are open 24h for students. For more information please see the Computer Classrooms website.

International programmes

Besides exchange programmes, the University of Tampere offers a wide range of degree programmes taught in English. For more information on all degree programmes instructed in English please see the Degree Programmes Taught in English website.

The Intercultural Communication Studies program is an international, intercultural, interdisciplinary, and multilingual program offered by the Language Centre in collaboration with some schools of the University of Tampere. It is designed to complement language and communication skills courses, and thereby increase intercultural communication competence. The program is open to students of all schools, and it has also been approved as a minor subject by some schools. The courses are taught mainly in English to encourage the participation of international students and promote interaction between them and Finnish students. For more information please see the Intercultural Communication Studies website.

Practical information for mobile students

The University of Tampere has created a website for admitted students with a lot of practical information on daily live and studies in Tampere. For more information please see the Information for Admitted Students website.

Also an annual guide, called the ECTS Survival Guide , is published for international students online (on the Information for Admitted Students website) and as paper copy (get your own from the International Office).

Language courses

The Language Centre (in Finnish: Kielikeskus) is an independent institute within the university, which is located at the main campus. It offers both compulsory (for degree students) and optional courses in the two official languages of Finland, Finnish and Swedish, and in foreign languages for students' needs in their studies and prospective careers. In previous years the following studies have been offered: Finnish for Finns, Finnish as a foreign language, Swedish, Chinese, English, French, German, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. A dozen or so further languages can be studied in our Self-Access Centre.

Finnish language courses for foreigners are taught in English and range from survival to advanced level. The language of instruction of other language courses is usually Finnish, but some courses may be taught in English. Exchange students can take part in such courses only if there are places available as some of the courses are compulsory for degree students, which gives them priority.

The Finnish Language Courses offered by the Language Centre range from elementary to advanced level and are open to all degree students of the University of Tampere. Two Finnish short courses, Survival Course and Follow-up Course, are intended for exchange students only. Please note that the Finnish language courses begin right after the Orientation Course week, and you should sign up for them beforehand in NettiOpsu. For more information on courses please see the Language Centre website.

Internships / Work Placements

An internship, traineeship, practical training or work placement, as we call it, is a useful part of the degree programme for university students. In work placement, you can apply all the academic know-how you possess in practical tasks in working life and gather valuable work experience in your own field of study. Developing general working life skills is also an important goal during the work placement.

There are different practices for work placements in different degree programmes. In some degree programmes work placement is a compulsory study module, while in some it is an optional part of the curriculum. Please find out about the requirements regarding work placement on your own degree programme and how you can include work placement in your degree. Every School at the University of Tampere has its own contact person for work placements. Please see the list of the contact persons at the (in Finnish) Harjoitteluyhdyshenkilöt tieteenalayksiköissä website.

If you are an international degree student and you are interested in a work placement abroad, please contact your International Adviser. For more information on work placements abroad, please see the Erasmus Work Placement Instructions, which can be found on the Application Periods website.

Sports and leisure facilities

The University of Tampere offers a wide range of sports services for students and staff. The sports center Atalpa is located right at the main campus. For more information on university sports services and other activities, please see the Student Wellbeing website.

For other leisure activities please see the following websites: Organizations, ESN FINT Tampere and Student Union of University of Tampere.

Student associations

A list of all student associations, as well as all contact information, can be found on the Student Associations website managed by the Student Union of University of Tampere.