Eligibility criteria
These admission criteria are valid for student selections made in 2027. The faculty reserves the right to make changes between application rounds as necessary. The number of study seats is decided annually and will be announced on Studyinfo before the application period begins.
Eligibility criteria
To be eligible, you must have a qualification that gives eligibility for bachelor’s-level studies in the awarding country, and demonstrate adequate English proficiency, as described below.
1. Educational background
You must have completed one of the following qualifications:
- Upper secondary education (general or vocational) completed outside Finland that gives eligibility for bachelor’s-level degree studies in the awarding country,
- the Finnish matriculation examination, the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma, the European Baccalaureate (EB) diploma, or the Deutsche Internationale Abiturprüfung (DIA) or Reifeprüfung (RP) diploma,
- a Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE), or
- Finnish vocational upper secondary qualification, further vocational qualification or specialist vocational qualification as set in the Vocational Education Act (531/2017).
You are also eligible to apply if you have been granted one of the following:
- a study right to a university degree in Finland,
- a degree by a Finnish higher education institution, or
- a bachelor’s degree or higher by a foreign institution.
If the qualification used to prove eligibility is incomplete at the time of application, you may be admitted on a conditional basis. In this case, you must graduate and submit required documents regarding your educational background so that they are received by the University by a specified deadline. The deadline(s) will be posted on the University’s website before the application period starts.
Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Early Childhood Education is subject to SORA legislation. For more information, please see the Restrictions on student admission (SORA legislation).
2. English-language proficiency
Each applicant must demonstrate they possess the necessary English language profiency. Please visit the following web page for further information: Bachelor's applicants: How to prove your your English skills (jyu.fi).
We do not grant waivers for the language skill requirement. In case you fail to prove your proficiency in one of the pre-given ways, your application will be rejected.
Admissions procedure
Online application, required attachments and interview
The application process is divided into two phases: 1) submitting an online application and the required attachments, and 2) participating in an online interview (if applicable).
Admission is based on SAT and ACT results and interview.
Please note that if you use generative artificial intelligence (AI) to aid your application, you must indicate which model (e.g., ChatGPT) you have used and in what way through proper citations (written assignments) or oral communication (video assignments). Citations are not required if you use AI solely for ideation, proofreading, stylisation or similar purposes.
Claiming AI-generated content as your own without acknowledging it is considered plagiarism. If we detect that a supporting document or assignment has been generated by AI, either wholly or in part, without proper acknowledgement, it will be given zero points.
Phase 1: Application and required attachments
First, you must submit your application on Studyinfo along with the necessary attachments by the given deadlines. If your application is deemed eligible, it will be evaluated according to the criteria listed below. Ineligible applications will not be processed further after they have been found not to meet the eligibility criteria/documentary requirements.
Eligible applications will be ranked based on SAT and ACT test results.
SAT test results:
The SAT test cannot have been completed more than 5 years prior to the end of the application period.
To be considered for the next phase based on an SAT test result, you must have achieved the minimum combined score of 1100 in the following sections: Evidence-based Reading and Writing, and Mathematics. If you have completed multiple tests and the results are valid, the test result in favour of the applicant will be considered. As there is a limited amount of interview spots available, achieving a minimum score does not automatically guarantee an invitation to the online interview.
ACT test results:
The ACT test cannot have been completed more than 5 years prior to the end of the application period.
To be considered for the next phase based on an ACT test result, you must have achieved the minimum total score of 22. If you have completed multiple tests and the results are valid, the test result in favour of the applicant will be considered. As there is a limited amount of interview spots available, achieving a minimum score does not automatically guarantee an invitation to the online interview.
Applicants are ranked according to their combined scores, and based on this preselection, approximately three- to fourfold of highest scoring applicants in relation to the study seats will be invited to an online interview. In case two or more applicants share the same score, all of them will be invited. A notification of the result of this phase and detailed instructions will be sent via email to those applicants selected for Phase 2.
Please see further information on applying with an SAT or an ACT test result and how to deliver the scores to the University of Jyväskylä at our web page.
Phase 2: Online interview
After the first phase, selected applicants are invited to an online interview. The interview will take ca. 15–20 minutes per applicant. An academic article to be discussed during the interview will be attached to the interview invitation.
The academic staff of the programme will give scores in Phase 2 according to the following criteria.
| Category | Points |
|---|
| Knowledge of the field of study | 0-5 |
| Motivation and preparedness for studies | 0-5 |
| Communication and interaction | 0-5 |
| Total maximum points | 15 |
You must score at least 8 points from the interview and receive at least 1 point from each Phase 2 category to be considered for admission.
You are responsible for providing yourself with the space, time, and equipment to enable participation in the online interview. More detailed instructions will be sent with the interview invitation.
Final selection
Applicants will be ranked according to the scores received from the online interview, and the highest-scoring applicants, in accordance with the number of available study seats, will be admitted. If two or more applicants have equal points from Phase 2, the order will be determined as follows: 1) Knowledge of the field of study 2) Motivation and preparedness for studies 3) Communication and interaction. If two or more applicants are still tied for the last study place, all of them will be accepted.
The faculty may also, at their discretion, admit more applicants than there are study places to ensure there will be enough students to start their studies in the programme. There are no arrangements for clearing, i.e., unaccepted study seats will not be reallocated.
All applicants will be notified of the results via email by the date given on the University’s website. If your application was rejected, you will be informed of the policy and the deadline for requesting rectification of the admission decision.
If you accept this study place, your study rights at the same or lower level in Finland will be terminated. For more information, please see the One Study Right Rule (Studyinfo.fi).
