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Space Sciences – (M.Sc.)
University of Helsinki
Masters Programmes in English| Application Deadline: | January 31 | ||
| Annual Tuition Fee: | Free - | ||
| Location: | Helsinki / Finland / View location on map ▾ Hide location on map ▴ | ||
| Duration: | 24 months | Start Date: | August, September |
| Educational Form: |
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| Education Variants: |
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| Credits (ECTS): | 120 | ||
| Languages: | English | ||
Location of University of Helsinki
The Master's Degree Programme in Space Sciences is a new programme at the University of Helsinki, initiated in the autumn term of 2007. It is organized by the Department of Physics. The goal of the programme is to educate students with outstanding skills needed both in post-graduate studies and in many other, often international, careers in space sciences or related fields.
Each student has a personal study plan that can emphasize experimental or observational work, methods for data-analysis, or theoretical science. The study plan includes fundamental courses and a number of special items. These may be selected from an extensive menu, including lecture courses, laboratory exercises, observational work, data-analysis, or computer simulations. The student can also include in his/her personal study plan courses in space technology and remote sensing at the Aalto University. While the individual study plans may be different, all students participate in joint seminars, where they report on topics which they have studied themselves. The goal is to complete the Master's Programme in two academic years.
During the last semester of the programme the student writes a Master's Thesis. Its topic is closely tied with state-of-the-art research in Astronomy or Space Physics, which may be related with ongoing research projects of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) or the European Space Agency (ESA), or other international space research programmes. In addition to the University departments, the Space Research and Remote Sensing Units of the Finnish Meteorological Institute provide supervision and challenging Master's thesis topics for the students. Often the thesis topic is based on work that the student has started as a summer trainee between the first and second year of the programme.
Contents
The Master's degree programme in Space Sciences consists of 120 ECTS-compatible credits leading to a Master of Science degree. The target schedule for completing the degree is two years, and the language of the degree programme is English.
The degree consists of three main parts:
* Major subject studies (minimum 80 credits)
* Minor subject studies (10-38 credits)
* Other studies (2-20 credits)
Students are required to make a personal study plan (HOPS) as part of their MSc degree.
Studies in space sciences consist of lectures, seminars, practical exercises and homework exercises.
Lecture courses
Besides lectures, the lecture courses typically contain exercise sessions where solutions to homework problems are discussed. The students are expected to spend at least twice the time they use for lectures and exercises to study the course material and solve exercise problems. Passing a lecture course usually requires completion of a sufficient number of exercises and passing the course exam. The exams are in most cases written but also oral exams take place.
Laboratory exercises and participation in observational work
Depending on the personal study plan, some part of the studies can involve laboratory exercises or practical work with actual observations in local laboratories, at astronomical observatories, or in a laboratory of a collaborating institute, e.g. the Finnish Meteorological Institute. After completing the exercise or observations, the student must deliver a written report of the work. The results can also be used as material for the seminars.
Seminars
The student must participate in the seminar series of the Programme during at least two semesters. Each student is required to give at least one presentation and deliver a written seminar paper and actively participate in the discussions during each semester to obtain the required 10 credits. Grading is based on the oral presentation, participation in discussions and the written paper. Seminars usually meet once during the whole semester. Students are required to be present during at least 3/4 of the weekly meetings.
Registration for the courses and examinations
Students register for courses and separate examinations offered by the University of Helsinki according to the registration practices in the department organizing the course. Usually the registration takes place at the start of a lecture series.
Advanced internship
The degree includes an obligatory advanced internship phase. In practice this means a period of work in a research group or in a company active in a space science related field. The aim of the internship is to familiarize the student with real-world space research and researchers. A recommendable procedure to fulfill this requirement is to get a summer trainee position in a space science related laboratory during the summer between the first and second year of studies. This period can also lay the background to the student's Master's thesis during the second year of studies. The internship position is agreed on with the student counsellor as a part of the study plan and the Programme will assist the students to find appropriate positions. Some available positions for the internship will be announced on the Programme's web page.
Grading
All courses are graded either on the six-step scale 0-5 or the two-step scale fail/pass. On the former scale of UH, the lowest passing grade is 1/5, for which the student usually needs to get about 45 % of the maximum points. To get the highest grade 5/5, the student usually needs about 85 % of the maximum points. These limits are, however, indicative only.
Teaching language
The teaching language in the Programme is English.
Master's thesis
The Master's thesis is the final thesis done independently by the student for the MSc degree. The extent of the thesis is 40 credits. The thesis is written during the second year of studies.
The topic of the thesis is agreed upon with a professor of the Programme. Usually the topic is related to research conducted at the participating departments or at a collaborating space research group either in Finland or abroad.
While working on the Master's thesis, the student is expected to participate in the seminar series of the Programme and present the research plan and the progress in the seminar.
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Requirements
The Master's Degree Programme in Space Sciences is open to applicants who
* have completed an appropriate Bachelor's degree or an equivalent degree in Finland or abroad
* are sufficiently proficient in English.
In particular, qualifying degrees include Bachelor's degrees in physics, geophysics, meteorology, theoretical physics and astronomy, and Bachelor's degrees or equivalent qualifications with sufficient grounding in physics from universities of technology.
Additional Requirements
| Minimal degree required: | Bachelor's degree |
| Minimal amount of work experience | Not specified |
Language Proficiency
| IELTS Band: | 6.5 |
| Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE): | Grade C (Score: 60) |
| TOEFL Paper-based: | 580 |
| TOEFL Internet-based: | 92 |
Accreditation
Finnish Universities are accredited by the law. Universities are responsible for the quality and continuous development of their education and other operations. Legislation also requires them to regularly perform external evaluations of their operations and quality systems and to publish the results of such evaluations. Finnish HEIs decide on their own quality systems, and the comprehensiveness, functioning and effectiveness of the systems are evaluated in the audits, which are valid for six years.
Ask a Question
You can contact International Admissions Services to ask a question about Space Sciences at University of Helsinki.
Relevant Links
- Programme website
- University website
- Tuition Fees & Costs
- Grants & Scholarships
- International Student Services
- Exchange students
- City website
- Study in Finland
- Tourist guide to Finland
- Ministry of Education and Culture
- University Admissions Finland
- Online Application to Universities of Applied Sciences in Finland
- Student experiences about Finland - STeXX.eu
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