Admission criteria for Sociotechnical Systems and Sustainability Transitions

Read more about the programme at Master's programme in Sociotechnical Systems and Sustainability Transitions.

• Bachelor of Social Sciences
  • Completed in a University
  • If you have completed a Master of Social Sciences degree, or will complete it before starting LUT Master's studies makes you ineligible to apply.
• Bachelor of Social Sciences
  • Completed in a University of Applied Sciences
  • If you have a Master's degree in Social Sciences, you are still eligible to apply, but only when applying with a Bachelor's degree.
• Bachelor's Degree in a field other than Social Sciences
  • Completed in a University or University of Applied Sciences
  • A minimum of 24 ECTS credits of studies in Social Sciences is required.
  • If you have a Master's degree in a field other than Social Sciences, you are still eligible to apply, but only when applying with a Bachelor's degree.

The Admissions Committee for the programme always reserves the right to decide whether an applicant’s degree and completed studies make him/her eligible to apply for the programme.

• Bachelor of Social Sciences
  • Completed in a University, all countries
  • Including equivalent degrees with different titles but meeting the following requirements:
    • A minimum of 24 ECTS credits of studies in Social Sciences must be included.
• Bachelor of Social Sciences
  • Completed in a University of Applied Sciences, EU/EEA countries and Switzerland
  • A minimum of 24 ECTS credits studies in Social Sciences is required.
  • If you have a Master's degree in Social Sciences, you are still eligible to apply, but only when applying with a Bachelor's degree.
• Bachelor's Degree in a field other than Social Sciences
  • Completed in a University, all countries
  • A minimum of 24 ECTS credits studies in Social Sciences is required.

Overall requirements for the Bachelor's Degree

• An equivalent degree to a corresponding Finnish Bachelor's Degree by the number of academic years and ECTS credits.
• Degree providing you with eligibility to apply to university level Master's studies in the country where the degree was awarded in.

Requirements for the degree-awarding university

The university having awarded you the degree you are applying with must be

• An official and recognized part of the national education system
• Listed on the World Higher Education Database WHED by International Association of Universities

 
The Admissions Committee for the programme always reserves the right to decide whether an applicant’s degree and completed studies make him/her eligible to apply for the programme.

To be eligible to apply, you must have completed the following studies by the application deadline:

• a minimum of 24 ECTS credits of studies in social sciences relevant to the programme; public administration, human geography, philosophy, economic or social history, political communication, and political economy.

Studies must have been completed in one or two of the following university groups:

• a University, all countries
• a University of Applied Sciences, EU/EEA countries and Switzerland

On the application form, you must

• list the courses in English, also when they have been completed in Finnish and
• upload an official Transcript of Records in English.

The names of the courses you list in English on the application form must be identical with the names of the courses on the Transcript of Records in English.

Minimum requirements for the completed studies
What to do if there are no credits available for the completed courses?

To be eligible to apply, the arithmetic GPA of the degree you apply with must be

• a minimum of 3.50 on the scale of 1.00 - 5.00

The arithmetic GPA evaluated in the LUT selection process is

• an arithmetic average of all individual study records included in the degree and completed by the application deadline that have been graded on a numeric grading scale

Grade for the Final Thesis is included in the arithmetic GPA while fails are excluded.

Courses without a related study unit such as ECTS credit, credit, credit hour etc. are excluded from the arithmetic GPA even if the course having been graded on a numeric grading scale.

Courses completed outside the degree as well as courses included in the degree that have been credited or compensated are excluded from the arithmetic GPA unless the degree-awarding university having graded them on a numeric grading scale.

All the courses included in the arithmetic GPA must be listed on the official Transcript of Records for the degree you must be applying with.

The arithmetic GPA will be first checked and verified by LUT University and in case of the original grading scale not having been on a scale of 1.00 - 5.00, the arithmetic GPA will be converted by LUT University on this scale during the evaluation process. Finally, the arithmetic GPA with two decimals will be evaluated.

You must prove your proficiency in English with one of the following:

• one of the accepted language tests
• a degree in higher education completed in English in an EU/EEA country or in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland, United Kingdom or the United States of America
• a degree in higher education completed in Finnish or in Swedish in Finland

More information: How to prove your proficiency in English

Before starting your application process, have a look at the basics on applying at

• Applying to Master's Programmes through Regular Admission
  >> Application process

where all the important information regarding to applying in general is given.

You must list the programme-related studies on your application form in ECTS credits by each course under the related field of study and indicate the total ECTS credits for all the listed courses.

In case of your courses not originally listed in ECTS credits on your Transcript of Records, you are responsible for converting the original study units (credits, credit hours etc.) to ECTS credits according to the following conversion.

You must also indicate on your application form the total number of all the original study units for your Bachelor’s Degree that you have completed. If you have completed a combination of degrees that together correspond for a Bachelor's Degree you must indicate the total number of original study units for all these degrees.

How to get the conversion factor?

• Divide 180 ECTS credits (= the total credits for a LUT Bachelor’s Degree) by the total number of all the original study units (credits, credit hours etc.) you have completed for the Bachelor’s degree that you are applying with
• As a result you will get a factor for the following conversion.

How to convert your study units to ECTS credits?

• Multiply the original number of study unit (credits, credit hours etc.) for your courses with the factor explained above
• As a result you will have your courses in ECTS credits

Case example:

The total study units completed for your Bachelor’s Degree are 120 credits and you need to convert a course with 2 credits to ECTS credits.
Divide 180 ECTS credits by 120 credits >> the conversion factor is 1.5
Multiply 2 credits with the factor 1.5 >> your course is equal to 3 ECTS credits.

What to do if there are no credits available for the completed courses?

• Degree Certificate for the Bachelor's Degree
  + an official translation when required
  Upload a scan for the original/s.

• Transcript of Records for the Bachelor's Degree
  + an official translation when required
  Upload a scan for the original/s.
  What to do if there are no credits available for the completed courses?

• Language Test result when required
  Upload a scan for the test result or a screenshot from your test account.
  The result is always electronically verified from the test database.

• Additional educational documents when required
  + official translations when required
  Upload a scan for the original/s.
  When proving your proficiency in English with another degree apart from the one you are applying with.
  When having completed programme-specifically required university-level studies not included in the degree you are applying with.

• Passport or ID card with nationality
  Upload a scan for the document or card.

• Finnish Residence Permit Card
  Upload a scan for the card if having one.

What is an unfinished Bachelor's Degree?

• You have not yet graduated = you have not been awarded your Degree Certificate or the Provisional Degree Certificate

Having completed all your studies does not mean that you have graduated unless not having been awarded the Degree Certificate or the Provisional Degree Certificate.

If not being able to upload your Degree Certificate or the Provisional Degree Certificate by the supplementary deadline, you must identify your status on the application form as "not yet graduated".

When applying

• Indicate the estimated date of graduation on your Application Form
  • No official statement for the date required from the home university
• Upload your latest Transcript of Records to your Online Application Form
  • plus the official translation (when required)
  • The Transcript of Records must include the name of the degree to be awarded.
    • If not included, an additional statement issued by the awarding university about the name of the degree must be uploaded to your Online Application Form.

If admitted

If admitted, you must be able to

• Graduate by 31 August 2024
• Provide us with the following documents by 31 August 2024 at 15:00 (UTC+3)
  • Scan for your original Degree Certificate
  • Scan for your original Transcript of Records
• Provide us with the following documents by 6 September 2024 at 15:00 (UTC+3)
  • Scans for the official translations in English for both the documents (when applicable)
  • Official translations required, if the original documents are not issued in English, Finnish or Swedish.

The documents must be provided according to the given instructions despite of the country the degree was awarded in.

If not being able to meet with both the requirements by the given deadlines, your right to study in the programme will automatically be cancelled and you will lose your place without a possibility to claim it back.

Before the academic evaluation begins, the admission committee checks the programme-specific requirements. The applicants who meet the requirements will proceed to the academic evaluation.

The evaluation process does not include an interview as the final selection of applicants is based on the educational background. It will be evaluated based on the required information given on the application form and the required application documents.

Only a limited number of applicants will be admitted.

Academic Success, max. 6 points

Arithmetic GPA for the degree you must apply with is scored as follows:

• 3.50 - 3.99 = 4 points
• 4.00 - 4.49 = 5 points
• 4.50 - 5.00 = 6 points

The arithmetic GPA evaluated in the LUT selection process is

• an arithmetic average of all individual study records included in the degree and completed by the application deadline that have been graded on a numeric grading scale

Grade for the Final Thesis is included in the arithmetic GPA while all fails are excluded.

Courses without a related study unit such as ECTS credit, credit, credit hour etc. are excluded from the arithmetic GPA even if the course having been graded on a numeric grading scale.

Courses completed outside the degree as well as courses included in the degree that have been credited or compensated are excluded from the arithmetic GPA unless the degree-awarding university having graded them on a numeric grading scale.

All the courses included in the arithmetic GPA must be listed on the official Transcript of Records for the degree you must be applying with.

The arithmetic GPA will be first checked and verified by LUT University and in case of the original grading scale not having been on a scale of 1.00 - 5.00, the arithmetic GPA will be converted by LUT University on this scale during the evaluation process. Finally, the arithmetic GPA with two decimals will be evaluated.

Previous Relevant Studies, max. 8 points

Studies in social sciences relevant to the programme are scored as follows:

• 24 - 40 ECTS credits = 2 points
• 41 - 59 ECTS credits = 4 points
• 60 - 79 ECTS credits = 6 points
• 80 or more ECTS credits = 8 points

On the application form, you must

• list the courses in English, also when they have been completed in Finnish and
• upload an official Transcript of Records in English.

The names of the courses you list in English on the application form must be identical with the names of the courses on the Transcript of Records in English.

Minimum requirements for the completed studies
What to do if there are no credits available for the completed courses?