Courses in English for exchange students

During your exchange with us you are welcome to study courses with us at Åbo Akademi University, courses at Åbo Akademi’s Open University, courses at the University of Turku, UniPID online courses and HILMA network courses.

To find courses please visit the links below:

• Courses at Åbo Akademi University in English for exchange students – Please choose the campus and faculty you will study at. This should coincide with the agreement you are coming on exchange via.
• Courses at Åbo Akademi’s Open University in English
• Courses at University of Turku in English for exchange students – Restrictions apply, please read more info via the link below.
  • More information can be found here.
• UniPID online courses 
• HILMA Network online courses
• You must choose a minimum of 50% of your courses from Åbo Akademi University, from the faculty that you will be studying at during your exchange.

Courses available at Åbo Akademi University in English for exchange students can be found in the Study Handbook.

Some tips on using the study handbook to find courses can be found below:

Course information:

• Course information is always subject to change, therefore it is important that students have alternative courses ready for flexibility.
• Click on the campus/faculty that offers the courses within your subject are.
• Click directly on the course to read course descriptions, see restrictions, see when the course will be held and how many credits it will be worth.
• If a course has prerequisites it will always be listed in the course description in the study handbook.
• The study handbook and courses that are available to study during the next academic year will be updated during the summer and latest on August 1^st. Therefore you should base your study plan on courses that were offered during the same semester of the previous year. Most of the courses will be the same.
• Combining courses from both campuses (Åbo and Vasa) is not possible (unless if it is a self-study course), due to the distance between the campuses.

Rules:

• You should choose 50% of your courses from the faculty that you will be studying at during your exchange, i.e., the faculty which offers courses which matches your agreement.
• You are able to choose 50% of your courses from another faculty.
• You always need to meet any course prerequisites.
• All courses need to be listed on your learning agreement when you apply.
• Erasmus+ students are to remember within what agreement they are applying, and to choose courses accordingly.
• Students that are proficient in Swedish can see the regular curriculum studiehandboken.abo.fi (updated annually on 1 August).

Semesters/Periods/timetables

• Periods 1 and 2 are in the Autumn, and periods 3 and 4 in the Spring. When a course is offered period 1, 2, 3, 4, it usually implies that the course is a self-study course that can be taken anytime.
• If there is a blue box in the beginning of the course description, the course is offered this academic year. Click on it to see more info when and where it’s taught.
• Please check when the courses will be offered in the study handbook. Try to check when planning your studies that courses will not be offered at the same time (same time during the day), to avoid timetable clashes.

The course timetable is updated before the start of a new semester, during the summer for the autumn semester and in November/December for the Spring semester.

It may be the case that when you are planning your studies with us that you do not have access to course schedules yet and that is completely ok.

You can just make your proposed study plan based on the course information from the previous year. If you then notice when the timetables are published that some of your courses clash, you are able to change those course in your study plan.

A learning agreement is a list of courses that you want to study at ÅAU and is an obligatory part of your application and exchange. The learning agreement at this stage is just a preliminary plan of the courses your want to study and does not guarantee you a place on the course. The learning agreement is also not enrollment to the course, that will happen later when you arrive to Åbo Akademi University, this is just a plan of your studies.

The study plan must be approved and signed appropriately by your home institution. Åbo Akademi University does not need to sign your learning agreement when you submit your application. We will check all learning agreements and study plans after the application deadline. Only your home university needs to sign you learning agreement for you to submit your exchange application.

You should include all courses you want to study on the learning agreement including courses at Åbo Akademi University, courses at Åbo Akademi’s Open University, at University of Turku, HILMA online courses and UniPID online courses.

Rules: 

• Students will receive feedback on their study plan before the exchange begins, and are encouraged to read their e-mail often as we expect answers within a few days.
• Once students have a confirmed and signed learning agreement, students are permitted to make changes to their learning agreements once only after they have arrived to Åbo Akademi University. The reason for changing the learning agreement needs to be valid i.e. course timetable clashes, a class is full, or the student feels the course is too hard. 

You are encouraged to study one of Finland’s national languages during your exchange with us.

We offer language courses in both Swedish and Finnish. You can find more information and course descriptions in the Study Handbook. 

Due to our language courses being so popular please choose only one language to study during your time with us.

If you are planning to write a Master’s thesis during your exchange with us, firstly please visit the following website page: Writing a Master’s Thesis but you should list your master’s thesis title and amount of credits that you have agreed on with your supervisor at Åbo Akademi University in the study plan section in SoleMOVE. Your learning agreement should also be signed by your home university and your master’s thesis supervisor at Åbo Akademi University when you submit your exchange application.

Most of our courses are taught on campus, however some of our courses can be taught online e.g. via Zoom, or be literature studies where there are no physical classes.

Information on how the course will be organized is available in the study handbook so please read course information very carefully when planning your studies with us.

Combining courses from both campuses (Åbo and Vasa) is not possible (unless if it is a self-study course), due to the distance between the campuses.

• A full-time course load for one semester is 30 credits, for an academic year 60 credits. The home institution must approve the study plan (signed appropriately).
• Exchange students should aim to study 30 or 60 credits during their exchange which is a healthy work load.
• Incoming students are welcome to use the study plan / Learning Agreement form of Åbo Akademi University, or use the home university’s equivalent form. Erasmus+ students should use their home universities’ own Erasmus+ Learning Agreement.

ECTS grades        Åbo Akademi University grades

A                               5 (Excellent)

B                               4 (Very good)

C                               3 (Good)

D                               2 (Satisfactory)

E                                1 (Sufficient)

You can find dates of the academic year here. 

Exchange students at Åbo Akademi University based in Åbo can also study courses at the University of Turku.

Courses at the Turku School of Economics and Business are unfortunately not available for exchange students. 

Please check the following website page for more information: Studies at the University of Turku. 

Any courses that you would like to study at the University of Turku should also be included in your proposed study plan and your learning agreement when you submit your exchange application. Åbo Akademi University will not confirm whether you can be accepted to the courses at the University of Turku, you will need to complete an online application to all courses at the University of Turku at the beginning of your studies at Åbo Akademi University. You will then be accepted or declined by the University of Turku.

For more information on how to apply to courses at the University of Turku please see here: How to apply for courses at the University of Turku.

As an exchange student at Åbo Akademi University you are also able to study courses available in networks that we are members of.

The National network Hilma is especially aimed at students of Gender studies and the UniPID network offers courses in Development studies.

These courses are open to all students from all subjects. A separate enrollment will need to be made to enroll to these courses.

You are more than welcome to take courses offered by the Open University.

Please find more information about the Open University here.

You can find courses that are available to study in English at the Open University here.

Wherever possible, Åbo Akademi University tries to arrange the teaching so that it is suitable for people with special needs, both regarding physical accessibility, psychological challenges, social accessibility and dyslectic difficulties. Should you have a special need that would require special arrangements at the study facilities, we recommend you to be in contact already during the application period (studinfo@abo.fi, tfn 02-215 4169) for a discussion and assessment. It is in the interest of both the university and the applicant that these needs are reported at an early point. For individual arrangement regarding the entrance exam it is also important that special needs are reported early. If you have a certificate of dyslexia that you wish be taken into account, please be in contact before the event.

Should you be admitted for studies at Åbo Akademi University and should you wish for your special need to be taken into account during your studies, you should bring a certificate of the special need to your accessibility advisor who would assist regarding support services such as:

• longer examinations
• alternative examination forms
• longer library loans
• right to use supporting technical equipment at hand

For more information please read here.