We list 25 Engineering programmes in Finland — 17 master's and 8 bachelor's, all taught in English. It is the only Finnish subject in this series where both halves of the higher education system are genuinely represented, and that makes it the clearest illustration of a distinction we have been explaining article after article.
Research universities and UAS, side by side
By institution: Aalto University (7), LUT University (4), Turku University of Applied Sciences (3), Tampere University (3), the University of Oulu (3), Tampere University of Applied Sciences (1) and the University of Eastern Finland (1).
Aalto, LUT, Tampere University, Oulu and UEF are research universities. Turku UAS and Tampere UAS are universities of applied sciences. In Information Technology all 25 programmes were UAS; in Nursing all 22 were. Engineering is where the research universities turn up — and they bring the master's with them.
Set the two subjects against each other and the shape is almost exactly inverted:
- IT in Finland: 25 programmes, 20 bachelor's, 100% UAS, placement-led.
- Engineering in Finland: 25 programmes, 17 master's, mostly research university, thesis-led.
Two adjacent technical fields, opposite catalogues. If you have been treating "technical degree in Finland" as one decision, it is two.
Which one you want depends on what you already hold
If you are finishing school, the IT bachelor's route is open and the Engineering one is thinner — eight bachelor's against twenty.
If you hold a BE or BTech and want a research-weighted master's, Engineering is the list to read, and Aalto at seven programmes is the deepest single address in it. LUT at four is the one most worth looking up if your interest is energy or sustainability engineering; it is a specialism that a general ranking will not show you.
And if you hold a BTech and a few years of industry behind you, the UAS master's route is built for exactly that — a UAS master's in Finland normally expects prior work experience in the field, which turns your CV from a nice-to-have into the entry requirement.
Where they are
By city: Helsinki (7), Turku (4), Tampere (4), Oulu (4), Lappeenranta (4), Kuopio (1) and Kouvola (1).
Notably flat. Unlike business or IT, Finnish engineering is not concentrated in the capital — Lappeenranta, Oulu and Tampere each hold as much as Turku, and the engineering strength in those cities is the reason the universities are there rather than the other way round.
Costs and the permit
Non-EU/EEA students pay tuition for English-taught Finnish degrees; Study in Finland publishes a typical range of €9,000–€20,000 a year plus a €100 application fee. We hold no verified fee for any Finnish programme; the programme's own page is the figure to act on.
The residence permit asks for €800 a month, €9,600 for a year or more, in your account at the point you apply, and it cannot double as the tuition money (Migri). Afterwards, the permit to look for work runs up to two years and can be claimed any time within five years of graduating (Migri).
Who it suits
An engineering graduate who wants a research-led European master's in English, is content with a smaller country and a colder one, and values a long post-study runway. Finnish industry in energy, forestry technology, telecoms and clean technology is real, and so is the Finnish-language requirement for a great deal of the domestic job market — plan for the language if you plan to stay.
Browse the set: Engineering in Finland, master's only, or compare with IT in Finland and our wider guide to studying in Finland.
Catalogue figures counted from our published listings on 6 October 2026. Finnish rules cited from Migri and Study in Finland on the same date; both change, so check the linked page. Photograph: Tampere University, Kampusareena, by Kotivalo (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons.