Environmental Science is the second-largest subject in our Finnish listings — 53 published programmes, 32 at master's level and 21 at bachelor's, every one taught in English. It is also more than we hold for the subject in any other destination.
Most Indian students decide on a subject and then pick from four or five countries they already have in mind. Environmental Science is a subject where that method performs badly, because the depth is somewhere nobody has in mind.
Where the 53 are
By institution: the University of Eastern Finland (7), Tampere University (6), Aalto University (6), Häme University of Applied Sciences (5), the University of Oulu (5), Tampere University of Applied Sciences (3) and LAB University of Applied Sciences (2).
By city: Helsinki (12), Tampere (9), Kuopio (7), Oulu (6), Valkeakoski (5), Lahti (2) and Vaasa (2).
Notice how little of it is in the capital. Twelve of 53 are in Helsinki; the rest are spread across Kuopio, Oulu, Tampere and smaller places like Valkeakoski. For a field that is partly taught outdoors and in the field, being based in eastern or northern Finland is not a consolation prize — the University of Eastern Finland's environmental and forest sciences sit where the forests are.
Research university or university of applied sciences — again
The same split runs through this subject as through Finnish business degrees, and it matters just as much. The University of Eastern Finland, Tampere University, Aalto and Oulu are research universities. Häme, Tampere UAS and LAB are universities of applied sciences, where a master's normally expects prior work experience in the field and the teaching is built around practice.
For Environmental Science the distinction maps onto two genuinely different careers: research, modelling and policy analysis on one side; environmental engineering, sustainability management and field practice on the other. Pick the sector that matches the job you want, then pick the programme — not the other way round.
The 21 bachelor's programmes have no work-experience expectation and are mostly at universities of applied sciences. If you are applying from school rather than from a first degree, that is the part of this catalogue open to you.
What it costs
Non-EU/EEA students pay tuition for English-taught degrees in Finland. Study in Finland, the official national portal, publishes a typical range of €9,000–€20,000 per year across all subjects, plus a €100 application fee for non-EU/EEA applicants. We do not currently hold a verified fee for any Finnish programme in our catalogue, this subject included — each listing links to its official page and that is the number to act on.
On top of fees, the Finnish Immigration Service asks a student to show €800 per month — €9,600 for a year or more — and that money cannot also be the tuition money (Migri). Finland runs no government scholarship scheme; the waivers that exist are institutional.
The honest case, and the honest caveat
The case: unusual depth in a subject with thin Indian application volume, taught entirely in English, in a country whose post-study permit lets you take up to two years to find work and claim it any time within five years of graduating (Migri). For a field where the first job often takes a while to land, that flexibility is worth real money.
The caveat: environmental work in Finland is frequently public-sector or municipal, and that part of the labour market runs in Finnish. The degree is in English. The job may not be. Anyone planning to stay should treat learning Finnish as part of the plan rather than something to decide later.
Browse the set: Environmental Science in Finland, master's only, or the wider picture in our 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: University of Eastern Finland, Carelia building, by Lasitten (public domain) via Wikimedia Commons.