Language of School Education
The student's language of school education is the language which
- was the language of teaching in Finnish comprehensive school and/or general upper secondary school and
- the student studied as their native language in Finnish comprehensive school and/or general upper secondary school.
The language of school education is not determined by on the basis of secondary-level upper secondary vocational education and training or the language spoken at the student's home, only on the basis of comprehensive school and general upper secondary school.
Language of School Education
If a student has completed comprehensive school and/or general upper secondary school in Finnish and completed their studies with Finnish as a native language, their language of school education is Finnish.
If a student has completed comprehensive school and/or general upper secondary school in Swedish and completed their studies with Swedish as a native language, their language of school education is Swedish.
If a student has, for example, completed comprehensive school in Finnish and general upper secondary school in Swedish, they have two schooling languages (Finnish and Swedish) and can choose either of them as their language of school education.
If a student has completed comprehensive school and/or general upper secondary school in Finnish or Swedish and studied Finnish/Swedish as a second language, they can be considered to have received a school education in Finnish or Swedish
- if they have passed the native language matriculation exam of Finland (Finnish or Swedish)
- if they have received the grade of magna cum laude approbatur, eximia cum laude approbatur or laudatur from the matriculation exam's Finnish as a second language or Swedish as a second language test.
If a student has completed comprehensive school and/or general upper secondary school in Finnish or Swedish and after that IB qualifications in Finland or abroad, their schooling language is determined on the basis of the language considered the native language in comprehensive school (Finnish or Swedish).
If the student's language of school education is Swedish, the student does not have to apply for recognition of prior learning (RPL) or exemption from studying Swedish. Instead, the course for vocational Swedish is removed from the PSP on the basis of a Notification of schooling language e-form
Instead of studying Swedish, the student must do the course Finnish as a second language: working life Finnish (level B2).
If a student has completed comprehensive school and/or general upper secondary school in Finnish/Swedish and studied with Finnish/Swedish as a second language, their language of school education is other than Finnish or Swedish. If, however, they have passed the Finnish matriculation examination Finnish/Swedish as native language test or received the grade of magna cum laude approbatur, eximia cum laude approbatur or laudatur from the matriculation exam's Finnish/Swedish as a second language test, their schooling language is Finnish/Swedish.
If a student has completed comprehensive school and/or general upper secondary school in a language other than Finnish or Swedish, their schooling language is other than Finnish or Swedish, even if they had studied Finnish/Swedish as a native language or passed the Finnish matriculation exam's Finnish as a native language or Finnish as a second language.
If a student has received their education abroad, their language of school education is other than Finnish or Swedish. The student does not have to indicate what the language of teaching was or their native language studies, a certificate from comprehensive school and/or general upper secondary school is sufficient.
If a student has studied in a Finnish comprehensive school or general upper secondary school with sign language as native language, their schooling language is sign language. A student with sign language as their native language can also be considered to have received their education in Finnish or Swedish
- if they have passed the native language matriculation exam of Finland (Finnish or Swedish) or
- if they have received the grade of magna cum laude approbatur, eximia cum laude approbatur or laudatur from the matriculation exam's Finnish as a second language or Swedish as a second language test.
A student whose schooling language is other than Finnish must submit a notification of schooling language e-form form at the beginning of their studies. No appeal may be lodged against a decision concerning a schooling language notification (sections 57 and 60 of the Universities of Applied Sciences Act, 932 of 2014).
Path studies
Path students of open UAS fill in a Notification of schooling language e-form already during their path studies provided their path studies include Swedish as the second national language courses. On the basis of the language of school education process, any necessary changes are made to their personal study plan (PSP), but the language statements will not be entered in the degree certificate until the student in question has become a degree student.
A student who has transferred from UAS path studies to a degree student must immediately contact their programme coordinator if their have submitted a declaration of the language of school education during their path studies. If the student has not at any point submitted a schooling language notification, they must do it as soon as they have become degree students.