How to apply?
HELBUS admissions to the Bachelor’s programme is based on a personal statement and an interview gauging your motivation, strengths, and future career aspirations. We look for applicants who can provide balanced and well-thought arguments in their essay and demonstrate the level of communication required in higher education studies. On this page you will find all the relevant information on apply to the programme. To apply, please fill in and submit the online application form attaching the relevant documents described below.
Entry requirements
If you are a non-EU citizen who would need a student resident permit in Finland for their studies, please read more here. The following information applies to citizens of EU and EEA, or applicants who have a residence permit in Finland for the full duration of their studies for other, such as family reasons.
To be eligible to apply for the programme, you must have:
1. Upper Secondary School qualification:
- Education abroad that would provide eligibility for academic higher education studies in that particular country
- International Baccalaureate examination
- European Baccalaureate examination
- Reifeprüfung examination
- Finnish Matriculation Examination (Ylioppilastutkinto)
- Vocational secondary education with a minimum duration of three years in Finland, or a vocational adult education qualification
2. English language proficiency via one of the following ways*:
- Finnish Matriculation Examination A1 English Cum Laude Approbatur (C) or better
- Finnish Vocational College English grade 4 (scale 1-5)
- International Baccalaureate English A 4 SL & HL
- International Baccalaureate English B 6 SL / 5 HL
- Completion of upper secondary education in English
- An English proficiency test (max 2 years old):
- IELTS overall score 6.0 with no section below 5.5
- TOEFL overall score 70, minimum scores: Listening – 17, Reading – 18, Writing – 17, Speaking- 20
- PTE Academic: overall score 51, no section below 51
- Cambridge English: overall score 170, no section below 165
*If your diploma examination grades are lower, please contact our admissions staff at admissions(at)helbus.fi to discuss your options.
3. High motivation to study business!
If you are completing your matriculation or IB exam in the spring, you can still submit an application and receive a conditional admission offer. The offer will be made unconditionally after you receive your final diploma.
Application deadlines
You can apply to HELBUS programmes at any time of the year. We make admissions decisions throughout the year. You can apply early and indicate in your application which intake you are applying to. However, for each intake we have set deadlines. If you submit your application after this deadline, we cannot guarantee a decision before the studies start:
January 2025 application period open until 01.12.24
September 2025 application period open until 15.8.25
Application process
Application
First, applicants must fill in the application form and add the following documents:
- Scanned copies of your upper secondary school diplomas and transcripts. If the documents are not in English or Finnish, please provide official translations.
- Proof of English language proficiency (as listed in the “Entry requirements” -section).
- A personal statement in English describing your motivation and competencies to study in the programme. The statement should be max. 500 words, which is equivalent to one A4 document. Please find more information on what the personal statement should include in the guidance for Personal Statements.
- Non-EU citizens must provide a copy of their passport and residence permit.
All documents should be uploaded either in PDF or JPEG format.
Please note, applicants must complete and submit the application by themselves. Never copy statements written by other people or found on the internet. Do not use artificial intelligence tools to generate answers; there are detection tools and the statement must give an accurate picture of the applicants writing competencies and unique background. If such a breach is discovered, the application will be rejected or your studies may be terminated without warning.
Non-EU applicants who already have a valid residence permit in Finland for the duration of their studies will follow the same instructions as applicants from Finland and other EU countries. Please provide a copy of your residence permit in the application (must be valid until the end of the studies).
Interview
If your application fulfils our entry requirements, you will be invited for an online interview for which you will need to book a time. During the interview, we will further assess your competencies to study the programme, your motivation, and your English level. The interview will either be held over the phone, or Zoom, depending on your location and background and lasts approximately 20-30 minutes.
Admissions decision
Around 1 week after the interview, you will receive the admissions decision via email. If admitted, you will also receive more information about the studies and how to respond to the offer.
If you have any questions regarding the admissions process, please contact admissions(at)helbus.fi.
