Master's Degree Programme in International Business and Sales Management

Eligibility

A previous Bachelor's degree corresponding to at least 3 years of full-time academic studies from an institution for higher education is required from all Master's degree applicants. The degree must be awarded by an internationally recognized university. 

Applicants with the following degrees and studies are eligible

1. Bachelor’s degree
   • A 3- or 4-year, or equivalent, bachelor’s degree at an accredited university or an accredited university of applied sciences/polytechnic level is required. Also, the degree must give the right to apply for university-level master's studies in the country concerned.
   • The grade point average (GPA) of the degree used as the basis for the application must be at least 3.5/5 (on a 5-point scale).
2. Academic business studies
   • Either a minimum of 60 ECTS* in academic business studies, or a bachelor’s or a master’s (or equivalent) degree in business studies is required. (* 1 ECTS = a workload of 27 hours (lectures, assignments etc.)
   • Language, communication and research method studies, internships, work experience, and final thesis/exam/project are not included in the above-mentioned studies. However, one course in economics, one course in logistics, one course in mathematics, and one course in business law may be included in the above-mentioned studies.
   • If an applicant has several higher education degrees or separate studies in higher education that are not part of a degree, all these academic business studies can be considered when defining the applicant’s eligibility.
3. Research method studies
   • In addition, a minimum of 5 ECTS or two courses (minimum total of 5 ECTS) of research methods studies is required.
   • If the name of your methodological course is not directly 'Econometrics', ‘Statistics’, or 'Quantitative/Qualitative Research Methods,' you may attach a course description to ensure the relevant course is counted toward the required quantitative studies. If no course description is provided, the course suitability will be evaluated based on the course name provided in the transcript.

Please note that all these three (3) requirements must be met for the applicant to be eligible to apply.

You must apply to our programme with your Bachelor’s (or equivalent) degree, which will be used as the basis for the application. You must also submit all other higher educational documents that prove your eligibility to the programme, i.e., if your academic business studies are not included in your bachelor’s degree.

Applicants selected to pursue the master’s degree may be required to take supplementary studies; this is defined on an individual basis and will be included in the study plan for the student.

Applicants who are not eligible

Applicants with a Finnish higher university degree in business administration Master of Science in the field of Economics and Business Administration or equivalent are not eligible. This applies also to those applicants who will graduate with a Master of Science in the field of Economics and Business Administration before the right to study begins. 

In addition, applicants who have completed a higher university degree leading to a higher university degree that does not include a lower university degree (e.g., a Finnish master's degree completed before the two-tier degree system) may be selected to complete a master’s degree.

Proficiency in English

Applicants must either (1) meet the language proficiency criteria (see below), or (2) reach the minimum required language test results to be considered eligible to the University of Eastern Finland. No exceptions will be made and no waivers regarding the language proficiency requirements are given.

1) Applicants who hold one of the following do not have to take an English language test:

• A language test is not required if the applicant has completed Finnish Matriculation Examination, English language (A-language, advanced syllabus) with a minimum grade of magna cum laude approbatur (M).  
   
• A language test is not required if the applicant has completed their secondary education in English language in EU/EEA -countries, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand or in Switzerland. The applicants from EU/ETA -countries and Switzerland must prove the language of instruction. The medium of instruction must be clearly stated in the educational documents. If your documents do not explicitly mention English as the medium of instruction, you must provide an additional official statement issued by a representative of your educational institution confirming this. 
   
• A language test is not required if the applicant has completed a Bachelor’s, Master’s or higher degree in an English-taught programme in EU/EEA -countries, or in one of the following countries:
  Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Cameroon, Dominica, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gambia, Grenada, Guyana, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South-Africa, Switzerland, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
  • The applicants from these countries must prove the language of instruction. The medium of instruction must be clearly stated in the educational documents. If your documents do not explicitly mention English as the medium of instruction, you must provide an additional official statement issued by a representative of your educational institution confirming this.
     
• A language test is not required if the applicant has completed a Bachelor’s, Master’s or higher degree in an English-taught programme in Australia, Canada, Ghana, Ireland, New Zealand, Nigeria, the United Kingdom or the United States.  The applicants prove their language skills with a university degree.

The degree/programme must be taught and assessed in English (at least 50 % of the degree must be completed in English). If you verify your language skills with your education degree, the language of instruction must be clearly indicated in the educational documents.

Online studies or studies completed on offshore campuses outside the accepted countries/area cannot be used to indicate language skills, even if the degree-awarding institution is in one of the accepted countries.

2) All other applicants must take one of the following language tests:

• TOEFL iBT, overall score 92, min. 22 in writing
• IELTS (academic) overall score 6.5, min. 6.0 in writing
• PTE (academic), overall score 62, min 54 in writing
• C1 Advanced overall score C or 180, with min. 162 in writing
• C2 Proficiency overall score level C1 or 180, with min. 162 in writing
• National Certificate of Language Proficiency YKI-test: level 5 in all different subtests (reading comprehension, writing, speaking comprehension and speaking). It is possible to combine different examinations. 

Kindly note that the University of Eastern Finland also accepts the following tests:

• IELTS Academic online and UKVI tests, IELTS One Skill Retake test results.
• PTE Academic online and UKVI tests
• TOEFL iBT Home Edition tests, MyBest Scores

No other degrees or statements of language proficiency will be accepted.

TOEFL, IELTS and PTE certificates are valid for two years from the day they are issued, i.e. the language test needs to be in effect during the application period, from 1 October 2025 onwards.

The language test results must be verifiable from the online verification service of the organiser. 

Learn more about the language requirements here.

A maximum of 15 students will be selected into the programme. If you are admitted to the programme, you will gain the right to complete a Master of Science degree programme in International Business and Sales Management.

The applicants need to apply through the national Studyinfo portal at www.studyinfo.fi. Each applicant can only fill in and submit one application form in the joint application.

In Studyinfo.fi, the applicant may apply to a maximum of two (2) application options offered by the UEF Business School. 

Applications are assessed based on the information available to the applications after the application and completion period. No further information will be requested, and incomplete applications will be rejected.

Delimitation of granting right to study 

According to One study place per term provision, a student may accept only one study place leading to a higher education degree in Finland during one academic term. This rule applies to all higher education.

Applicants cannot be granted a new right to study resulting in a Master of Science (Economics and Business Administration) degree in International Business and Sales Management (major) if they already have a valid right to study in the degree programme resulting in a Master of Science (Economics and Business Administration) degree in International Business and Sales Management (major) at the University of Eastern Finland.

Supporting documents to be enclosed along with the application

The required enclosures need to be uploaded electronically to the application by 22 October 2025 at 3 pm (EET) at the latest. UEF does not process application documents that have arrived after the given deadline. All enclosures are compulsory for the selection process, and if an applicant fails to attach the required documents, their application will be rejected. 

• Bachelor’s degree certificate, and if necessary, an English translation provided by an authorised translator. You are also required to submit educational documents for other degrees that you use to demonstrate your eligibility, e.g., language proficiency or business studies.
• Original (or officially certified copy of) transcript of academic record, and if necessary, an English translation provided by an authorised translator. The transcript must include the course names, the number of credits of each course, grading, beginning and end dates of the studies, and the scale of grading used for the GPA and course grading, otherwise the application will not be considered. Note also, that the grade point average must either be given in the degree certificate, transcript of records or a separate, certified calculation.
• English language test certificate (if needed)
• A copy of a passport/other document of identification (not required from Finnish applicants)
• A 2-minute video, sharing your motivations for studying at UEF. Please answer all 3 of the following questions in the video:
  • 1) How do your abilities help you to succeed in your studies at UEF Business School?
  • 2) What are your motivations when applying to UEF?
  • This video is an introduction video of the applicant. The maximum duration is 2 minutes, within which the applicant must answer all the above questions. Please note that if you are applying to two Business School programmes, only record one video. Please record the video in Recright by following this link. The video must have both sound and video to be considered. Please send the Studyinfo application before you submit the motivation video. The link to the Recright recording platform can be found in the Studyinfo application and the programme website. You have until the 22 October 2025 15.00 (Helsinki time, GMT+3) to record the video. 

Selection results

Results from the early admission round for studies starting in September 2026 will be published by 15 December 2025 at the latest. Once the selection decision has been made, the results will be emailed to the applicants immediately.

Admitted students shall inform whether they accept their study place by latest on 14 January 2026 at 3 pm (EEST) electronically via Studyinfo portal or by submitting the confirmation form to the admission office, admissions@uef.fi.

Conditional Acceptance

All accepted students need to provide officially certified copies, if they cannot authenticate their degree/transcript electronically when applying. The students will be conditionally accepted until they have provided the certified copies of the educational documents (degree certificate and transcript of records). Country specific requirements are in use in the situations when the applicant cannot provide the documents electronically. The last date when the documents need to be at the university is 29 May 2026. In case the applicants do not deliver the documents by the given deadline, their study right will be cancelled.

Appeal

If you disagree with the student selection decision you may apply for rectification of the decision from the Dean of the faculty. It is possible to make a request for rectification only after the admission results have been made and published. The deadline is 29 December 2025 at 3 pm (EEST) at the latest. The instructions for making a request for rectification can be found on Admissions results website.  

Applications that satisfy the eligibility criteria will be put through a subsequent evaluation process to determine, which applicants are selected for admission to the programme. The following selection process is made up of two (2) phases; in phase one (1) applicants are ranked according to their GPA and in phase two (2) the best scoring applicants will be ranked according to the points received for previous studies and motivation video. Further information on scoring detailed below.   

The top scoring 15 applicants will be admitted, and the rest of the applications will be rejected. The programme may accept more applicants to fill the available study places in the programme. There will be no waiting list. Applicants must receive selection points from both their previous studies and motivation video to be accepted. Selection points will not be calculated for applicants who do not receive points from both previous studies and motivation video.

To be considered for admission, the applicant must receive a minimum of 10 selection points. The applicant may obtain a maximum of 20 selection points. 

Phase 1: Eligible applicants will be ranked based on their GPA

In phase 1, eligible applicants are ranked based on the GPA they received in their bachelor’s degree.

The GPA must either be given in the degree certificate, transcript of records, or a separate, certified calculation, otherwise the application will not be considered.  If the applicant’s GPA does not follow the ECTS grading system, it will be converted accordingly for the programme during the evaluation process.

Phase 2: Suitability of the earlier studies for the master's programme

In the final phase (phase 2), the top ranked applicants based on their GPA, will have their motivational video and relevant studies scored, based on the description below.

First, the motivation video is scored. The applicant can receive a maximum of 5 selection points from their motivation video. A 0 or 1 point is awarded for each question answered (maximum 3 points). A maximum of 2 points are awarded for communication skills. The video duration is maximum 2 minutes, only the first 2 minutes of the video will be scored. The video must contain functional video footage and audio.

Finally, applicants are awarded selection points based on the amount of relevant previous studies (in ECTS) in the fields of International Business, Sales, Sales Management and/or Marketing. In addition, one appropriate quantitative research methodology course will also be calculated into this section. These studies are scored as follows: 1 ECTS = 0,5 points (a maximum of 15 points). Internships, work experience, and final thesis/exam/project (or equivalent) are not included in the above-mentioned studies.

If an applicant has several higher education degrees or separate studies in higher education that are not part of a degree, all of these can be considered when calculating the suitable studies, provided that the attachments proving these studies meet the University’s document requirements.

Annual tuition fees for non-EU/EEA students will be 10 000 EUR. There are no tuition fees for students who are citizens of EU/EEA -countries or Switzerland. 

There are no scholarships or waivers available in this early admission round.

The Early Bird deduction ends on 29 December 2025. The tuition fee payment for the academic year 2026-2027 needs to be made by 31 August 2026. In addition, Student Union membership fee and Kela student health care fee is obligatory for the degree students. Kindly note that there is an application fee. 

Learn more about the tuition fees here If you have any questions about tuition fees and waivers, please don't hesitate to contact: imdpbs-uef(at)uef.fi.