ARCADA POLYTECHNIC

HELSINKI
Helsinki is the capital and largest city of Finland. It is located in the southern part of Finland on the shore of the Gulf of Finland by the Baltic Sea. The city has a population of 565,000  but the Greater Helsinki area comprises several more neighboring cities and has a total population of some 1,295,000, which means that one out of four Finns lives in the Greater Helsinki area. The city's climate is humid continental, meaning the average of the coldest month is no more than −3 °C. Summers are usually warm, with temperatures up to 30 °C.

ARCADA POLYTECHNIC
Arcada Polytechnic was established in 1996. There are about 170 members of staff and 2000 students at at Arcada. Arcada offers 15 degree programmes, three of which are in English, but most are taught in Finland-Swedish. There are three departments of respectively Health Care and Social Services; Business Administration, Media and Technology; and Languages and General Studies. These turn out Bachelors of Nursing, Public Health, Occupational Therapy, Social Services, Engineering, Arts, Business Administration, and Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management etc., etc. Arcada has students from over 50 different countrie and is one of the most international universities in Finland

ASSORTED FACTS

TUITION
University education in Finland is funded by the government through the Ministry of Education. Students enrolled in a full-time degree programme pay no tuition fees. Tuition fees are therefore not required of a degree student at Arcada. Annual Student Union membership is 30 euros and entitles you to several student discounts.

ACCOMMODATION
Students at Arcada often find an apartment through HOAS, the Foundation for Student Housing. HOAS maintains approximately 7 000 student apartments in the Helsinki region. The apartments usually consist of private rooms with a common kitchen and bathroom. There are furnished and unfurnished alternatives. The monthly rent of a room is roughly around 200 euros, a flat is 450-850 euros.

KEY DATES
The first semester starts ultimo August and lasts till medio December. The spring, or second, semester starts primo January, after a two week Christmas break and runs until medio/ultimo June.

VISA
Neither a visa nor a residence permit is needed for Norwegian students.

CURIO
Helsinki is famous for its architecture. It has a lot of neo-classical structures as well as numerous Art Nouveau buildings designed in the early 1900s and influenced by the national epic poem Kalevala. Helsinki also features several buildings by the world-renowned Finnish architect Alvar Aalto, one of the pioneers in functionalism. In addition, there are still many areas left with distinctive old wooden houses. In fact, Helsinki architecture is so fascinating that it even has an Australian band – Architecture in Helsinki – named after it.

LINKS: THE UNIVERSITY AND ANSA'S COUNTRY PAGES
www.arcada.fi/
www.ansa.no/land/finland