How the language of school education affects the bachelor’s studies
The Finnish term “koulusivistyskieli” refers to the language of school education in Finland, which is either Finnish or Swedish.
The language that you have used to complete your school education affects the language and communication studies that are mandatory for your degree, the language of your maturity test and the language clause included in your degree certificate. The guidelines below also acknowledge students who have studied in some other language than Finnish or Swedish.
What is the language of your school education?
In the Finnish context, the language of your school education is either Finnish or Swedish, which you have used to successfully complete studies in your first language at a Finnish comprehensive school or a general upper secondary school. The languages of school education have been defined in the Finnish Basic Education Act (628/1998) and the Finnish Act on General Upper Secondary Education (629/1998).
The language of your school education remains the same throughout your studies and it determines which language and communication studies you complete as well as the language of your maturity test.
The language of your school education is Finnish when you have
- successfully completed the mother tongue syllabus in Finnish at a Finnish comprehensive school and/or general upper secondary school
- If you have completed the mother tongue syllabus at a general upper secondary school in a different language than the syllabus at a comprehensive school, you can choose which language you will use as your language of education at Uniarts Helsinki.
- successfully completed the Finnish as a mother tongue test of the Finnish matriculation examination or
- received a minimum grade of magna cum laude approbatur (M) for the Finnish as the second language test.
The language of your school education is Swedish when you have
- successfully completed the mother tongue syllabus in Swedish at a Finnish comprehensive school and/or general upper secondary school
- If you have completed the mother tongue syllabus at a general upper secondary school in a different language than the syllabus at a comprehensive school, you can choose which language you will use as your language of education at Uniarts Helsinki.
- successfully completed the Swedish as a mother tongue test of the Finnish matriculation examination or
- received a minimum grade of magna cum laude approbatur (M) for the Swedish as the second language test.
The language of your school education is some other language than Finnish or Swedish when
- you have not received a school-leaving certificate from a Finnish comprehensive school or a Finnish upper secondary general school
- you have completed comprehensive school and/or general upper secondary school in Finland and you have studied Finnish or Swedish as a second language (“S2” or “R2”). In the matriculation examination, you have received a lower grade than magna cum laude approbatur (M) in Finnish or Swedish as a second language.
The language of your school education is not affected by
- your initial vocational qualification and related language studies, and instead, the language of your school education is determined based on your comprehensive school and/or general upper secondary school studies
- upper secondary education completed abroad
- the IB, EB or German International Abitur Diploma (in this case the school education language is determined by the language of comprehensive school education, not by the language of for example the IB program)
- changing the language of your degree at Uniarts Helsinki mid-studies (e.g. from an English-language degree programme to a Finnish-language programme).
The effect on studies
The language of your school education determines which second national language studies (if any) and studies in communication and interaction skills are part of your degree. It also determines which language you use for the maturity test for your degree.
When your language of school education is Finnish
- you complete the second national language studies in Swedish
- in principle, you complete the studies in textual and interaction skills in Finnish
- the language of your maturity test is Finnish regardless of the language of instruction of your degree programme.
When your language of school education is Swedish
- you complete the second national language studies in Finnish
- in principle, you complete studies in textual and interaction skills in Swedish
- the language of your maturity test is Swedish regardless of the language of instruction of your degree programme.
When your language of school education is not Finnish or Swedish
- instead of the second national language studies, you complete studies in Finnish as a foreign language (Finnish 1–4)
- in principle, you complete studies in textual and interaction skills in English
- the language of your maturity test is Finnish if your degree programme is taught in Finnish, English if your degree programme is taught in English and Swedish if your degree programme is taught in Swedish.
The language of maturity tests completed by students whose language of school education is not Finnish or Swedish is not checked, and there is no language clause included in their degree certificate.