Eligibility criteria
These admission criteria are valid for student selections made in 2025–2028. However, the faculty reserves the right to make changes to the criteria, if necessary, between admissions rounds. The number of study seats is decided on an annual basis and will be published on Studyinfo.fi before each application round.
ELIGIBILITY
To be eligible for the master’s degree programme, you must have a suitable higher education degree and demonstrate adequate English proficiency in one of the methods described below.
1. A higher education degree that fulfils the following requirements:
The degree must give eligibility for master’s-level degree studies in the awarding country. If your degree qualifies you for doctoral-level studies, you should primarily seek admission to a doctoral programme instead.
Suitable fields for the degree include, for instance:
- anthropology
- communication
- education
- linguistics or applied linguistics, or
- modern languages
Candidates with backgrounds in other fields of study may also apply, but unless they can demonstrate a strong connection to the field of language and communication, they will receive lower scores for their educational background.
Separate higher education studies that are not part of a degree may be considered when evaluating the compatibility of your previous field/calculating your admissions score.
The higher education institution awarding the degree must be officially recognised in the national education system, i.e., listed as a degree-granting higher education institution by the country where it is located or by a relevant international organisation (such as UNESCO).
If the degree 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 officially certified copies of the final educational documents so that they are received by the University by the specified deadline. The deadline will be posted on the University’s website before the application period starts.
If you currently hold a study right in this same master’s programme at the University of Jyväskylä, you cannot be admitted.
2. English proficiency demonstrated in any of the following ways:
o An upper secondary education completed in English in an EU/EEA country, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the United States, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand.
o A higher education degree 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.
o A Finnish-medium or Swedish-medium higher education degree completed in a Finnish higher education institution, with a command of a foreign language in English per the Government Decree on University Degrees (794/2004) or the Government Decree on Universities of Applied Sciences (1129/2014). If the degree is still incomplete at the time of application, it must be the same as the one used as the basis for eligibility.
o A higher education degree completed or being completed in Finland, with the English language as a major or specialisation.
o An international English language proficiency test. The approved language tests and minimum results are as follows:
- IELTS Academic, IELTS for UKVI Academic, IELTS Indicator, or IELTS Online: 6.5 (overall score)
- TOEFL iBT, TOEFL iBT Home Edition, or TOEFL iBT Paper Edition: 92 (MyBest score)
- PTE Academic, PTE Academic UKVI, or PTE Academic Online: 62 (overall score)
- Cambridge C2 Proficiency: A, B, C, or C1
- Cambridge C1 Advanced: A, B, or C
IELTS, PTE and TOEFL results must be valid until the end of the application period. Only Cambridge tests completed in 2005 and thereafter are accepted. If the language test result is released after the application has ended, the test report form must be released by and valid on the deadline date for submitting attachments.
o National Certificate of Language Proficiency (YKI) in English: The applicant must have received a grade 5 or higher at the advanced level in all components (speaking, writing, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension). The applicant may combine test results from multiple dates. Only YKI tests completed in 2002 and thereafter are accepted.
The University does not grant waivers for language requirements. If you fail to demonstrate your English skills by one of the above methods, your application will be rejected as ineligible. The University does not consider test report forms received after the specified deadline.
Admissions procedure
Online application, required attachments and interview
The admissions process is divided into two steps: 1) submitting the application and all required attachments, and 2) participating in an online interview (if applicable).
NB: If you use generative artificial intelligence (AI) to aid your application, you must indicate which model (e.g., ChatGPT, Bing Chat) you have used and in what way through proper citations (written assignments). However, citations are not necessary 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.fi along with the necessary attachments by the given deadlines. Eligible applications that include all required attachments are evaluated using the criteria listed below. Ineligible applications will not be processed further after they have been found not to meet the eligibility criteria/documentary requirements.
The selection committee at the Department of Language and Communication Studies will rate eligible applications based on educational background (consisting of previous degree and grades), Master’s thesis proposal (i.e., the research plan), as well as motivation letter and proven interest in the field. The different aspects of the application will have the following weights:
| Category | Points |
|---|
| Educational background
| 0 - 10 |
| Research plan / research interests | 0 - 10 |
| Motivation and proven interests in the field | 0 - 10 |
| Total maximum points | 30 |
The following criteria will be considered when evaluating the categories:
Educational background:
- Relevance of the earlier studies and degree
Research plan / research interests:
- Argumentation of the significance and justification
- Theoretical and conceptual clarity
- Methodological understanding and viability
Motivation and proven interest in the field:
- Motivation for applying into the programme
- Previous studies, activities, and commitment in relation to the contents of the programme
- Future professional plans
Phase 2: Interview
After the first phase, up to 50 highest-scoring applicants are invited to an online interview. 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.
The interview will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
| Category | Points |
|---|
| Knowledge of the field of study | 0–6 |
| Elaborating the research plan | 0–6 |
| Professional orientation | 0–6 |
| Interest and motivation | 0–6 |
| Spoken English and interaction skills | 0–6 |
| Total maximum points | 30 |
If two or more applicants score the same amount of points from Phase 1 and the amount of points would qualify them to Phase 2, they will all be invited to the interview. Applicants should receive a minimum of 18 points in the first phase to be invited.
Applicants need to receive at least 15 points in the interview to be considered for admission to the programme.
Final selection
Your scores from Phases 1 and 2 are added together to form your final admission score. Applicants will be ranked according to their admission scores, and the highest-scoring applicants, in accordance with the number of available study seats, will be admitted. If two or more applicants are 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 by email by the date given on the University’s website. Unsuccessful applicants will be informed of the policy and deadline for appealing against the admission decision.
