Registration after being absent for your first year

All bachelor's and master's degree students who are registered as being present in a Finnish institute of higher learning are entitled to use the services of the Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS) (opens in a new tab) and must pay the healthcare fee for students in higher education (opens in a new tab) to Kela (the Social Insurance Institution of Finland) by the due date.

You will not be exempted from paying the fee even if you, e.g., do not use the services of the FSHS, do not receive student financial aid or are studying abroad. You must pay the fee even if you are studying remotely and are not based in Finland.

However, you do not have to pay the healthcare fee if you have social security coverage from another EU/EEA country, from Switzerland, or from Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In this case, you must still contact Kela. Despite not paying the fee, you can use the FSHS’s services.

Visit the Kela website for information on how to proceed if you have social security coverage in another EU/EEA country or in Great Britain and Northern Ireland (opens in a new tab).

Kela will not send you a bill for the student healthcare fee. You must pay the fee on your own initiative in the Kela e-service for each academic term. Find out how to pay the student healthcare fee (opens in a new tab) on the Kela website.

The due date for paying the student healthcare fee is determined based on the date on which you register as present, i.e., attending.

On the Kela website you can find information on the healthcare fee and the due dates as well as the payment instructions (opens in a new tab).

The Student and Learning Services’ customer service desk offers general study counselling, information on term registration and study rights and maintains the student register. The customer services desk also provides study certificates and transcripts of records.

Phone number: +358 29 445 8900

• phone service: Mon–Thu from 12 to 2 pm (12–14)

Opening/office hours:

• on Wednesdays the Student and Learning Services’ customer service desk is open from 10 am to 2 pm (10–14).
• At other times the customer service desk is open by appointment only. You can book an appointment in an hour, at the earliest, and a week in advance, at most. You can book a Teams meeting or an in-person appointment at the Joensuu or Kuopio customer service point through our booking site (opens in a new tab). The available times are shown in the booking calendar.

Exceptions to the Student and Learning Services' customer service opening hours are announced here.

Email address: opiskelu@uef.fi

• If your message contains confidential information, contact us and we will give you instructions on how to send your message encrypted.

Visiting address:

• Joensuu Campus, Aurora building, entrance A, ground floor (Yliopistokatu 2)
• Kuopio Campus, Canthia building, 2. floor, Oppari (Yliopistonrinne 3)

Postal address:

• Joensuu: University of Eastern Finland, Student and Learning Services, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu
• Kuopio: University of Eastern Finland, Student and Learning Services, P.O. Box 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio