Master's applicants: How to prove your English skills 2026

If you wish to prove your English skills with a higher education degree, the degree must be completed in English in an EU/EEA country or one of the following: Australia, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Cameroon, Canada, Dominica, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

The degree must be a bachelor's degree or some other equivalent or higher degree. The degree-awarding institution must be a recognised part of the official national education system of a country listed above. If the degree is still incomplete at the time of applying, your possible admission will be conditional until you submit proof of your graduation (by the given deadline at the latest).

Take note of the following, especially if your degree includes transfer credits, your degree is an international joint degree, or you studied on an offshore campus or in several languages: At least 50% of the credits included in the degree must have been completed in English in a country mentioned above. This rule can only be applied if you completed your degree by the time of application. Your transcript(s) of records or some other official document issued by the relevant higher education institution must clearly indicate the language of instruction and where you completed your credits.

Your degree certificate or transcript of records must unambiguously state English as a language of instruction. Otherwise, you are also required to submit some additional official document (e.g., diploma supplement, a medium of instruction certificate) issued by the relevant higher education institution stating this information. When applying, you must upload a scanned copy of the necessary document(s) to your application form. If some document was issued to you in a language other than English, Finnish, or Swedish, an official translation is required in addition to the original language version. If you are offered a study place, you are required to submit officially certified copies for verification.

You can prove your language skills with a higher education degree completed or being completed in Finnish or Swedish in a higher education institution in Finland if the degree includes command of English as a foreign language as stipulated by one of the following decrees:

• Valtioneuvoston asetus yliopistojen tutkinnoista (794/2004), i.e., Government Decree on University Degrees (794/2004)
• Valtioneuvoston asetus ammattikorkeakouluista (1129/2014), i.e., Government Decree on Universities of Applied Sciences (1129/2014)

Your degree certificate, transcript of records, or some other document issued by the awarding institution must state this information. You must upload a copy of the document to your application form on Studyinfo.fi.

Please note that degrees completed during previous government decrees are not accepted.

If your degree is still incomplete at the time of applying (i.e., you graduate after 7 January 2026), you are not required to prove in advance that your degree will fulfil the requirement upon completion. However, your possible admission will be conditional until you submit proof of your graduation (by the given deadline at the latest). Before submitting your degree certificate and final transcript of records for verification, please make sure they state that you have demonstrated command of English as stipulated by the above decree.

How do I know if my degree meets the requirement?

If you have already graduated, your degree certificate, transcript of records or diploma supplement should state it if you have demonstrated English skills according to the government decree. For example: ”Tutkinnon suorittanut on osoittanut yliopistojen tutkinnoista annetun asetuksen (794/2004) mukaisen vieraan kielen taidon englannin kielessä.”

If you have not yet graduated, you may need to contact the awarding institution to verify. If you have taken mandatory English courses as a part of your degree, your degree will likely meet the requirement upon completion. However, this may not always be the case.

You can prove your English skills with a higher education degree completed or being completed at a Finnish university if the major or specialisation of the degree is the English language.

Your degree certificate, transcript of records, or some other document issued by the awarding institution must state the major or specialisation of your degree. When applying, you need to upload a copy of the document to your application form on Studyinfo.fi.

If the degree is still incomplete at the time of applying, your possible admission will be conditional until you submit proof of your graduation (by the given deadline at the latest).

If you have completed 25 ECTS in English at a university in Finland during the current or past two academic years, you can prove your English skills by submitting the relevant transcript(s) of records. The studies must have been registered in a study system between 1 August 2023 – 21 January 2026. Please note that studies completed at universities of applied sciences are not considered.

You must upload a copy of your official transcript of records to your application form. Screenshots taken from MyStudyinfo or study registers are not considered.

We must be able to determine that you have completed 25 ECTS in English within the given time frame based on the document. Therefore, the following information must be included:

• the name of the university
• the name of student
• the number of ECTS credits
• the date(s) of completion
• English as the language of instruction

If your official transcript does not include some piece of information, you must submit an additional official document issued by the university in question.

If you have completed your formal upper secondary education (high school) fully in English in an EU/EEA country, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the United States, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand, your diploma can serve as proof of your language skills. If the language of tuition is not mentioned in your diploma, an additional document stating English as the language of instruction is required.

When applying, you must submit a scanned copy of the document to your application form on Studyinfo.fi. If you are admitted, you are required to submit a certified copy for verification. Please note that any country-specific requirements do not apply to high school diplomas.

If you have attended an upper secondary school where the language of tuition is other than English, you cannot use your diploma as proof of your language skills, even if you have taken an English test as a part of your matriculation examination or similar.

You must have achieved the minimum overall score of 6.5.

We accept IELTS Academic (including IELTS Academic for UKVI) and IELTS Online. IELTS General Training test does not suffice.

IELTS results are valid for two years from the test date.

After you have taken the test, it usually takes at least 13 days for the test results to be published. Therefore, please book your test well in advance.

You must upload a scanned copy of your IELTS Test Report Form to your application form. The quality of the scan needs to be high and each character on the report needs to be readable.

Where to book and take your test (ielts.org)

You must have achieved the minimum MyBest score of 92.

When registering to take the TOEFL test, you can fill in the University of Jyväskylä’s Institution Code 9818 in the Score Report Recipient field. This is optional. If you have not used our institution code before taking the test, there is no need to do so afterwards.

TOEFL results are valid for two years from the test date.

You must upload a scanned copy of your TOEFL score slip to your application form. The quality of the scan needs to be high and each character on the report needs to be readable.

Schedule your test

We accept PTE Academic and PTE Academic Online test results (including PTE Academic UKVI). PTE Core test does not suffice.

You must have achieved the minimum overall score of 62.

PTE results are valid for two years from the test date.

The results are typically available within five working days from the test session. Once you receive your test score, please send it to the University of Jyväskylä from your PTE account:

1. Sign in to your My PTE account.
2. Go to “My Activity”.
3. Click “Send Scores” next to the relevant test.
4. Type “University of Jyväskylä” in the field marked ‘Institution / Organization / Department / School’ and click ‘Search’.
5. Tick the box next to the institution’s name when it appears in the list.
6. Review your details then scroll down the page and click ‘Next’ and then ‘Next’ again to confirm. It takes up to 48 hours before we can view your score.

You must also upload a copy of your Score Report to your application form. You can download your Score Report from your PTE account.

PTE Academic

PTE Academic Online

You must have achieved one of the following results:

• Cambridge C2 Proficiency (CPE): A, B, C, or C1
• Cambridge C1 Advanced (CAE): A, B, or C

CAE and CEP results do not expire. However, we only accept tests taken in 2005 and thereafter.

You must upload a scanned copy of your test certificate to your application form on Studyinfo.fi. Additionally, you must enter your Statement of Results number. If you do not have it, please contact Cambridge Assessment English. The Statement of Results number is required for us to be able to verify your test certificate.

Cambridge C1 Advanced (CAE)

Cambridge C2 Proficiency (CPE)

You must have achieved grade 5 or higher in all the components (speaking, writing, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension). The YKI test must be taken at the advanced level to get a grade of 5 or above. You may combine results from different test dates.

YKI results do not expire. However, we only accept for tests taken in 2002 and thereafter.

After you have taken the test, it takes about two months to receive your certificate by mail. Please take the test well in advance.

You must attach a copy of your test result to your application form. Your result will be verified from the test organiser.

National Certificate of Language Proficiency (YKI)

You must have achieved the minimum score requirement set for eligibility:

• GMAT Exam, current edition (Focus Edition): 515
• GMAT Exam, previous edition: 550

Please notice that GMAT test results are valid for five years. For 2026 admission, test results released on 21 January 2021 at the earliest are accepted. If the test result is released after the end date of the application period (21 January 2026), it needs to be released by and valid on the deadline date for submitting attachments (28 January 2026 3:00 p.m. UTC+2 at the latest).

You must upload your test report form to your application form by the given deadline. If you are admitted, you must submit your result to JYU through the test organiser. Further instructions will become available later this year.

You must have achieved the minimum score requirement set for eligibility:

• GRE General Test: 150 in the Quantitative Reasoning section

Please notice that GRE test results are valid for five years. For 2026 admission, test results released on 21 January 2021 at the earliest are accepted. If the test result is released after the end date of the application period (21 January 2026), it needs to be released by and valid on the deadline date for submitting attachments (28 January 2026 3:00 p.m. UTC+2 at the latest).

You must upload your test report form to your application form by the given deadline. If you are admitted, you must submit your result to JYU through the test organiser. Further instructions will become available later this year.