The university supports practical training by paying funding to employers. As a degree student, you are entitled to traineeship funding when your traineeship meets the conditions set by the university. Read more about the conditions: Instructions for practical training supported by the university, effective from 1 January 2024 (link).
The purpose of traineeship funding is to help you find a placement in your own field. You can check your curriculum to see at what stage of your studies you can complete practical training.
Traineeship practices vary between departments/units. Each unit has a designated traineeship coordinator who:
- checks that the placement meets the objectives set out in the curriculum
- provides guidance on practical matters, such as preparing the traineeship agreement
- acts as a contact person with the employer
When traineeship funding is not available
Keep the following in mind when planning your traineeship: You can receive traineeship funding only once during your degree. If your degree includes two traineeship periods, you can receive funding for only one of them.
Traineeship funding is not paid for traineeships completed after graduation, so do not leave your practical training as the very last part of your studies.When you agree on pay with the employer, note that the employer cannot claim traineeship funding if any of the following conditions apply:
a) Your traineeship is unpaid; b) your monthly salary (gross) is less than the minimum salary that accumulates the employment condition, as confirmed annually by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (KELA). In 2026, the minimum salary is €1,463 per month; c) the employer does not commit to providing supervision at the workplace during the traineeship.
You are also not entitled to traineeship funding if the traineeship cannot be included in your degree or if the traineeship period does not qualify for funding. Examples include teaching practice and compulsory clinical placements in medical studies. Course descriptions may also specify when traineeship qualifies for funding – this is the case, for example, in speech and language pathology (logopedics) studies. For more information, please see : Instructions for practical training supported by the university, effective from 1 January 2024 (link).
Traineeships abroad
You can receive traineeship funding for a traineeship abroad regardless of your field of study. In this case, your faculty grants the funding as a scholarship.
If you receive other funding for the same traineeship (e.g. Erasmus+ or the Finnish National Agency for Education), you cannot receive traineeship funding (i.e. the faculty scholarship).
A placement agreement is drawn up for the traineeship, signed on behalf of the University of Eastern Finland by the head of department or the international contact person. Read more on the international studies pages.
More information on the criteria for international traineeships (link).
Finding a placement
As a rule, you find your traineeship placement yourself. This gives you valuable experience of entering the job market while you are still studying. You can find traineeships in, for example, companies, central government, municipalities or organisations.
You can find internships/traineeships posted to the university on the JobTeaser job portal (link, login required; instructions are available on the career planning and job seeking page in Kamu). The university may also have its own traineeship positions available – you can find these at uef.fi/fi/open positions (link).
Once you have found a placement:
Make sure that the tasks match the objectives set out for practical training in the curriculum.
Have the placement approved by the traineeship coordinator in your department/unit.
Agree on the details of the traineeship with your employer as thoroughly as possible before the traineeship begins.
Prepare a written employment contract with the employer.
Applying for traineeship funding
You can apply for traineeship funding once you have found a placement and the employer requires it. You can apply at any time during the academic year – there is no separate application process.
Agreement templates (accessible):
Agreement for practical training in Finland, effective from 1 January 2026 (docx) (link)
Agreement for international practical training (docx) (link)
More information
For traineeship matters, first contact the traineeship coordinator for your subject. They are best placed to advise you on the practices related to traineeship funding and the approval of placements. Find the traineeship coordinator for your subject (link).
General advice on practical training is provided by Coordinator Outi Suorsa at UEF Career Services.
For questions about traineeships abroad, you can contact UEF International Mobility Services: international(at)uef.fi.