UEF entrance examinations to be organised remotely and for small groups

The University of Eastern Finland will be organising its entrance examinations in May and June mostly as remote examinations that will be implemented in two phases. Information has been provided to the applicants of the changes to the student admission procedure and criteria via email, and those who have not yet received the information should do so by the end of today (30 April).

“Contrary to what has been said in the media, universities have not cancelled their entrance examinations for this spring. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, we will be using other ways to organise the exams instead of the traditional exams for hundreds if not thousands of applicants at the same time ,” says the Academic Rector of the University of Eastern Finland, Tapio Määttä.

In the first phase of the two-phase remote entrance exam, the applicant takes the exam independently at a time indicated by the university. In the second phase, there are two ways to take the exam: individually as an oral exam or in a small group, with an invigilator present, on campus either in Joensuu or Kuopio, where the necessary safety precautions will be taken.

“The final decision on how to organise the second phase has not yet been made for all study programmes. Where permitted under the pandemic-induced restrictions, certain small-scale entrance examinations may be organised on campus. Where the exam is organised on campus, the applicants are split into groups of no more than 10 people per room. The applicants who go through to the second phase will be informed of the arrangements in more detail after the results of the first phase are in,” says Määttä.

With certain UEF study programmes, the student admission decisions will be made on the basis of an online course instead of an entrance exam.
“The student admission procedure used for the Western Theology and Education and Adult Education study programmes – replacing the entrance exam with an online course – is innovative, and it could potentially be introduced on a more permanent basis,” Määttä comments.

According to Määttä, the coronavirus situation has required changes to be made to the original admission quota for certain study programmes.

“The number of applicants to be admitted through certificate-based admissions has been increased, while the number of applicants to be admitted through entrance examinations has been reduced for certain study programmes. At the same time, the certificate-based admission procedure originally intended for first-timer applicants has now been made available to other applicants as well,” Määttä explains.

In the second joint application process of this spring, 24,000 applicants applied to study at the University of Eastern Finland. The number of applications was the highest for medicine (4,910 applicants), business (3,391 applicants), law (3,380 applicants), and psychology (2,321 applicants). The total number of study programmes in the joint application process was 65.

The University of Eastern Finland takes part in many joint application processes with other Finnish universities. The study programmes for which the student admission procedure is arranged with other Finnish universities through a joint online application system include medicine, education, social work, business, law, and geography, among others.

Originally, the University of Eastern Finland intended to organise 42 entrance examinations during April–June, with approximately 20,000 applicants attending the exams on the UEF campuses in Joensuu and Kuopio.

Earlier in April, the Finnish universities concluded that, due to the coronavirus situation, organising traditional entrance examinations is not possible without compromising the safety of those involved. (Unifi Bulletin 9 April 2020)

The universities have published information on the changes made to their student admission procedures and criteria by 30 April at the latest. (Unifi Bulletin 30 April 2020)

All the changes to the student admission procedures and criteria made by UEF are available (in Finnish) at https://haeyliopistoon.fi/valinnat-2020-muutokset/

If you have any questions about student admissions and the related procedures, please send them to: valintakokeet2020(at)uef.fi

Further information:
Tapio Määttä, Academic Rector, tapio.maatta@uef.fi, tel. +358 50 575 1589