Top 10 Universities in Finland According to Google (2015)
There are many good things about studying in Finland. Listing a few:
- It offers free education for both international and Finnish students (but a few exceptions exist),
- It has one of the best educational systems in the world, etc.
If you’ve decided to choose Finland as your higher education study destination. Choosing a suitable university is the next step to follow.
Most students choose schools based on popularity or ranking. If you’re one of them, Google has a feature that’ll help you make the right decision.
Google’s ‘Frequently Mentioned on the web’ feature
Google’s ‘frequently mentioned on the web’ ranks universities in Finland according to their popularity (mentions) on the web. This is similar to the methodologies used by ranking systems like:
- Webometrics
- 4icu
The only difference is:
Google’s is better-it’s the biggest search engine in the world after all.
If you search for “top universities in Finland”, you’d see this:
Note: Because Google is ever awake, the positions of institutions ranked according to the ‘frequently mentioned on the web’ feature could fluctuate. But the first 10 institutions are very likely to be stable.
Here are the top 10 universities in the Finland according to Google:
University of Helsinki
University of Helsinki no doubt deserves the top spot.
I’ve heard good reviews from people who’ve been to its campus. It’s ranked among the world best universities by various popular ranking organisations such as:
- Times Higher Education (THE)
- QS World University Ranking
- Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU)
For the year 2015, THE ranked it as the 103rd best University in the world, and ARWU ranked it 67th best university in the world.
University of Helsinki was founded in 1640 and has a student population of more than 36,000. This makes it the oldest and largest university in Finland .
University of Helsinki also offers the widest range of disciplines in Finland.
Aalto University
Aalto University was founded in 2010 as a merger of 3 Finnish universities that were over 100 years. They are:
- The Helsinki University of Technology (established in 1849)
- The Helsinki School of Economics (established in 1904)
- The University of Art and Design Helsinki (established in 1871)
The unification of these 3 universities was meant to foster multi-disciplinary education and research.
Aalto University has an entrepreneurship society that is one of Europe’s largest.
This entrepreneurship society has raised over US$36 million in funding since 2010. Most of this funding came through its Startup Sauna accelerator program for startups.
With over 19,000 students and 5,000 staff members, Aalto University is Finland’s third-largest university.
University of Eastern Finland
The University of Eastern Finland was formed in 2010 through the
joining of 2 universities. They are:
- University of Joensuu
- University of Kuopio
In the International Student Barometer published on 6 April 2011, international students consider the University of Eastern Finland as the best university in Finland. This is in terms of the teaching staff, research, and performance feedback.
University of Oulu
University of Oulu is one of the largest universities of applied sciences in Finland. It’s a public university with about 16,000 students and 3000 staff.
The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) ranked it among the top 500 universities in the world.
Notable alumni include:
- Martti Ahtisaari, former president of Finland and Nobel Peace Prize laureate
- Jarkko Oikarinen, D.Sc., the developer of Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
University of Turku
The University of Turku is the second largest university in Finland in terms of local and international student enrolment. It has about 20,000 students that include about 5000 postgraduate students.
The university has several English-language Master’s degree programmes and one Finnish-language Master’s degree programme for international degree students.
University of Turku has participated in many research projects in the Peruvian Amazon.
It is also a member of the Coimbra Group (CG), an association of long-established European multidisciplinary universities of high international standard.
University of Jyvaskyla
The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) has ranked University of Jyväskylä of among the top 500 best universities in the world. It’s known as the second largest university in Finland when measured according to the number of Master’s degrees conferred.
It offers specialised research-based Master’s degree programmes in English.
University of Jyväskylä is also involved in student exchanges with more than 360 universities around the world.
Tampere University of Technology
Tampere University of Technology (TUT) is Finland’s second-largest university in engineering sciences. It focuses on research and specialises in technology and architecture.
TUT combines a strong tradition of research in the fields of natural sciences and engineering with research related to industry and business.
TUT have strong ties to technology giants such as Nokia. In fact, its campus is close to a Technology Centre called Hermia, including a large Nokia research facility.
University of Tampere
The University of Tampere (UTA) is situated in the 3rd biggest city in Finland.
It’s a public University founded in 1925. It was formerly known as Civic College when it was founded before its name was changed to the present name.
The University of Tampere believes in academic freedom, creativity and social responsibility. It believes everyone has an equal right to learn, to acquire knowledge, to participate and to make an impact on society.
The University of Tampere has more than 15,000 students enrolled into degree programs and 2,100 employees.
It collaborates with the City of Tampere, Tampere Region and other higher education institutes in the area such as Tampere University of Technology.
Abo Akademi University
Abo Akademi University was founded in 1918. It is the only university in Finland with a strong Swedish environment.
It has a policy that non-Swedish speaking applicants from the Nordic countries must take part in a Swedish language test. But applicants from non-Nordic countries can choose between Swedish or English language tests.
Most of the students at this university, regardless of original language, will be functionally bilingual when they graduate.
Abo Akademi University also participates in student exchange programs with universities around the world, and offers various opportunities for a double degree.
This university has over 7941 students, which include about 1000 international students.
It shares a campus and some parts of Turku Science Park with the University of Turku.
Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
Based on the enrollment and applicant stats for 2014, Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences is the largest University of Applied Sciences in Finland. It is also one of the most well known international University of Applied Sciences in Finland.
It was founded in 2007 and opened in 2008.
Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences has a student population of more than 16,000 and staff of more than 1000.
There are about 1000 internationals students from over 90 countries at Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences.
In addition to the number of international students at this university, it participates in student exchange programs with universities around the world. Metropolia welcomes over 400 exchange students from institutions around the world every year.
Conclusion
Finland is a nice place to study abroad. If you are interested in applying to any university in Finland, here’s how to do so.
