Eligibility and admission criteria

Bachelor’s degree programmes

You can apply for the bachelor’s studies with upper secondary school level qualification that provides eligibility for higher education studies in the country in question, or with a prior bachelor’s or master’s degree.

Read more on the eligibility requirements on UASinfo website.

Required documents of eligibility by country

English language proficiency

Language certificates are required for admission based on the International UAS Exam. This concerns all the Bachelor’s degree programmes at Xamk except Game Design, for which the language skills are evaluated in the programme’s own entry exam. Alternative selection methods besides the International UAS Exam are available for some programmes.

If you graduate after the application period

You can apply to Bachelor’s programmes with a temporary certificate if you are able to upload your final graduation certificate (and an official translation into English, Finnish or Swedish if applicable) to your application form or information about your graduation in KOSKI service is available by:

High school / Upper secondary school qualification / Higher education degree

• autumn application round: by 27 December 2023, 3 pm
• spring application round: by 11 July 2024, 3 pm

Master’s degree programmes

You can apply to a Master’s degree programme if you have completed

• an appropriate UAS Bachelor’s degree or another appropriate higher education degree and
• at least two years of work experience in a relevant field after completing the higher education degree. As a relevant field is regarded both the field being applied to and the field of the previous higher education degree.

Language certificates are not required for admission. The language skills are either evaluated in the programme’s own entry exam or confirmed by other selection methods like GMAT.

Work experience

You must provide a work certificate written by the employer and confirmed by the empoloyer’s signature/stamp as proof of employment. Only work experience obtained after completing the higher education degree can be considered: the work experience can be accumulated from the date of award of the higher education degree and obtained no later than 31 July (spring application) / 31 December (autumn application) in the year of applying.

At Xamk, discretionary admission is used only in the field of culture, for Degree Programme in Game Design. Other degree programmes in English at Xamk do not use discretionary admission.

Discretionary admission means that Xamk may invite applicants who do not meet the eligibility requirement, to the entrance exam, if their skills and knowledge are considered sufficient.

Discretion only concerns the eligibility to apply. Discretionary applicants are included in the student selection process in the same way as other applicants and follow the regular procedure for applying.

If you wish to apply to the Game Design programme as a discretionary applicant, please follow these instructions:

1. Check the eligibility criteria at Studyinfo service.
2. Submit your application form on Studyinfo service during the application period.
3. If you do not meet the eligibility criteria attach the following documents to your application on:
   • copies of the certificates you wish to invoke to
   • a cover letter shortly explaining why your application should be considered in discretionary admission.
4. The deadline for the attachments 24 January 2024, 3 pm (Finnish time UTC +2)