As an applicant to an International Master’s Programmes taught in English you must always prove your level of proficiency in the English language by submitting one of the English-language tests listed on this page. You must also attach a scanned copy of the test result to the application for verification purposes.

It is always the your responsibility as an applicant to make testing arrangements for yourself and to make sure the test results are delivered on time. Be advised that it may take several weeks  before the test results are published, and thus we recommend to book a test well in advance.

• For the IELTS test, it usually takes at least 13 days for the results to be published after you have taken the test.
• Test results for PTE Academic are typically available within 5 working days following the test session.

Applicants are themselves responsible for all costs regarding the English language testing, including making the test resulst available for verification.

• Applicants with a bachelor’s degree from a programme given in Finnish or Swedish
  

  If you have a bachelor’s degree from a Finnish university or university of applied sciences, you can be exempted from the language requirements if you have demonstrated language skills in the English language according to the requirements within your degree.
  If the degree you use to prove your language skills is different from the one used as a basis for the academic eligibility for the programme, the degree must be earned by the beginning of the application period.

• Applicants who have received their secondary or university education in English

  If you have received your secondary or university education in English you still must prove your knowledge of English by submitting one of the test scores listed above (IELTS, PTE Academic, TOEFL, C1 or C2).
  You can be exempted from this rule if you have received your secondary education in English or have completed a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree with English as the language of instruction, in a university or university level institution in one of the following countries:

• • Australia
  • Canada
  • Ireland
  • New Zealand
  • the United Kingdom
  • the United States
  • an EU/EEA country or
  • Switzerland

You can be waived this requirement if:

• • the official language of instruction has been English AND it is indicated in their Bachelor’s or Master’s degree certificates AND
  • the degree has been completed in one of the countries mentioned above

If the degree you use to prove your language skills is different from the one used as a basis for the academic eligibility for the programme, the degree must have been earned by the beginning of the application period. 

Note that degrees completed as distance education or studies on an off-shore campus are not accepted even though the degree would be issued by a university in one of the countries listed above.

Students with so called double degrees where a degree has been issued from one of the countries listed above but the majority of studies have been completed at a campus outside the countries listed above should contact Åbo Akademi University before the application deadline to find out if the language requirement is fulfilled.

• Former exchange students

If you are a former exchange student at Åbo Akademi University and are applying to one of our Master’s Degree Programmes taught in English you do not need to prove your level of English by submitting a test result if you can show a good study record from your exchange period.

A good study record means that you have completed at least 20 credits (ECTS) during one term during your exchange and hence proven that you are able to study in English at Åbo Akademi University.

• Students from partner universities

In some cases the faculty can exempt applicants to Master’s degree programmes from certain partner universities from taking the English language test.
If you are from such a partner university you do not need to submit one of the language tests listed above but should instead ask your professor at the partner university to write a recommendation.
At the moment this exception only applies to applicants from certain partner universities to the Master’s Degree Programme in International Law and Human Rights. Please see their information for more details.

• Proof of language proficiency through separate assessment (only for applicants to the MDP in Social Exclusion, MA/MTh)

Applicants who do not have the above-mentioned test results can in the application form apply for the right to be assessed separately by the coordinators of the MDP in Social Exclusion. Only applicants who hold a degree that render them eligible for the program are preliminarily considered to be granted the right to get their level of proficiency in the English language tested.

Domestic applicants (i.e. applicants with domestic educational qualifications giving access to university education) to the international master’s degree programmes (taught in English) do not need to prove their knowledge of Swedish language when applying to the programme.
However, domestic students who are admitted to an English-language programme have to fullfil the general language requirements in Finnish and Swedish before graduation from the programme. For more information on the language requirements for domestic students see the page Degree requirements on our Intranet (requires login).