Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I find a student counselor (opiskelijaneuvonta)?

The official student counselor is located at Fabianinkatu 33. But, in most cases, they’re going to tell you the name of the person who SHOULD be able to answer to your problem. It’s better to ask from a) Your tutor, b) Tsemppi, c) The Study Guide/Orientation Handbook, d) Your faculty department directly.

If you are a PhD student, you need to contact your department and/or your supervisor on how to structure your studies.

I’m a freshman, what are the first things I should take care of at the university?

This is very important and it’s strongly recommended that you take care of these things before the orientation course!: Enrolment –>registration –> Student ID and student number —> Lyyra card and Weboodi. Moreover some might need a residence permit and a bank account.

How do I study languages at the university (especially Finnish)?

There are two institutions at UH where you can study languages: The Department of Finnish, Finno-Ugrian and Scandinavian Studies and the Language Center. Remember to check when registration occurs so you don’t miss it!

What are the languages of instruction at the university of Helsinki?

Officially: Finnish, Swedish and English. In practice: It depends by what subject you’re studying. Sometimes there are few courses offered in English which means that you’re going to read a book in English and do the exam in English (that is not bad since most of the Finns do that as well). Option B: If you know a bit of Finnish, you can improve it by attending lectures in Finnish. Option C: If you don’t know any Finnish at all you could take some courses in Finnish in the later stages of your degree.

How do I get make new friends?

You have to be active in the student life; that doesn’t mean showing up at the lectures but by participating in the student organisations. A few options:

a) Tsemppi! b) Your department’s and faculty student organisation. c) Student nations. d) Other interest university clubs. Remember to join the respective mailing lists in order to be updated.

What are my degree requirements (that is compulsory courses) ?

Generally you can find them from your faculty’s web pages under the name of “Study Guide”.

What is WebOodi?

Weboodi is a web site that allows you to register to courses and check your credits. You need a university userid and password to access it.

Where do I get my User Id and password?

After you register, go and ask for your University of Helsinki user ID and password at Alexandria. There should be a sign with something like “ATK- käyttöluvantoimisto”.

How do I register to courses?

You may be told that everything works through Weboodi but that’s not always the case. For example, some departments may have their own version of weboodi; anyway, sometimes you can just step into the classes and register there.

It looks like, that as an international degree student I have to fight with a huge amount of bureaucracy, is that the case also for Finns?

Yes and no, the Finns have to get through the same processes and forms, but they are generally better prepared since they have been in the Finnish educational system before. Nevertheless also the Finns sometimes have no clue about certain matters.

The university’s English pages quite often sends me to pages in Finnish, and usually the information in English is poor compared to the one in Finnish. What can I do?

For now, as for help at your department.  Over the long term, learning Finnish will help.

…Feel free to add your own questions here and we will answer to them to the best of our knowledge!…