The number of applicants for English-taught programmes at the University of Oulu almost doubled from last year

The ICT and business sectors have the largest number of applicants, for which this application round also has the largest number of study places. The number of applicants for the Bachelor's degree programme in Digitalisation, Computing and Electronics is 1,308, the Master's degree programme in Computer Science and Engineering 1,044 and the Master's degree programme in Business Analytics 1,064.

‘Most of the applications came from abroad. Thank you to all the applicants, it is great that our education is attractive. One of the key objectives of the University of Oulu is to increase the number of international students and their degrees. At the same time, we continue to intensify efforts to support their attachment to our community and placement in working life after graduation in Finland,’ says Tapio Koivu, Vice Rector for Education at the University of Oulu.

The highest number of applicants was awarded the following master's degree programmes: Epidemiology and Biomedical Data Science, Education and Globalisation, International Business Management, Environmental Engineering, and Product and Project Management.

‘The application process included new degree programmes, and the number of study places has been increased, but the number of applicants doubled for many of the programmes that had already been available,’ says Vice President Koivu and continues, ‘Other universities have also reported on the increase in the number of applicants. In connection with the applications, we always compete for the best applicants with other universities both in Finland and internationally. We need to bring the competitive advantage to different markets in different ways to attract the right kind of interest.’

Of the two degree programmes that were included in the joint application process for the first time, the Master's degree programme in Sustainable and Autonomous Systems, which combines sustainable development and information technology in a new way, immediately received 440 applicants and the Bachelor's programme in International Business Management received 493 applicants.

The largest number of applicants are from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nigeria. There are 620 applicants from Finland.

The 836 study places offered in the application round are located in 21 master's degree programmes and 3 bachelor's degree programmes. Most of the results will be available in March.

The second joint application period for the university's Finnish-language programmes is 15-30 March 2023.