Master s Degree Programme in East Asian Studies Centre for East Asian Studies, University of Turku, Finland Application guidelines and selection criteria for the round of applications from 1st December 2016 to 13th January 2017 to the programme to begin in September 2017 The Master s Degree Programme in East Asian Studies (MPAS) offered by the Centre for East Asian Studies (CEAS) at the University of Turku gives a unique opportunity to gain in-depth learning on the dynamic societies of contemporary East Asia: China, Japan, and Korea, taught by academic staff with wide and versatile knowledge on East Asia. The MPAS programme provides multidisciplinary expertise on East Asian contemporary history, politics, and societies as well training in social science research methods. Students acquire knowledge on national, regional, and international issues in East Asia, and also add to their skills in East Asian languages as part of the degree. They also learn to apply the methods and deepen their knowledge in their master s thesis research project. The programme prepares students to enter international public, private, and third sector professions. Students also become qualified to apply to Ph.D. programmes and pursue an academic career. This document is a reproduction of the application homepage of the Master s Programme in East Asian Studies at the University of Turku. Please visit the homepage for easier access to all the relevant information provided in the accompanying links: https://www.utu.fi/en/units/soc/units/ceas/studying/mpas/applying/pages/home.aspx The Master s Degree Programme in East Asian Studies (MPAS) at the Centre for East Asian Studies of the University of Turku, Finland welcomes applications from Finnish and international students. We offer a unique chance to gain expertise on the dynamic societies of contemporary East Asia, learn East Asian languages, and be a part of an international community of teachers, researchers, and students. Please read the information on this document carefully and visit the links especially to see the information provided by University Admissions Finland (UAF), the admissions processing organ of Finnish universities. Also don't hesitate to contact Dr Antti Leppänen (antti.leppanen@utu.fi), the academic director of the programme, in matters of applying or any other information. See also the Studies page of the Programme, and for more details of the Curriculum 2016 2018 and current courses, the CEAS Study Leaflet (pdf). Studies in the Master s Programme in East Asian Studies: https://www.utu.fi/en/units/soc/units/ceas/studying/mpas/studies/pages/home.aspx The Study Leaflet of the Centre for East Asian Studies: https://www.utu.fi/en/units/soc/units/ceas/documents/ceas-studyleaflet-2016-2017.pdf Itä-Aasian tutkimus- ja koulutuskeskus Centre for East Asian Studies Yhteiskuntatieteellinen tiedekunta Faculty of Social Sciences Arwidssoninkatu 3A, FI-20014 Turun yliopisto, Finland http://www.utu.fi/ceas/en Puhelin/Telephone +358 (0)2 333 6965 E-mail ceas@utu.fi
1. Application period and timeline From December 1, 2016 (8:00 Finnish time) to January 13, 2017 (15:00). Selection results will be announced at latest by March 31, 2017. Confirmation of the acceptance of admission to the Programme must be made by July 14, 2017 (15:00 Finnish time) to the Centre for East Asian Studies. 2. Application process The application process starts via the national Studyinfo.fi portal (http://studyinfo.fi/), and the online application form and the processing of the hardcopy documents are operated and processed by University Admissions Finland (UAF) (http://universityadmissions.fi/), a joint admissions service of nine Finnish universities. The student selection to the Programme is done at the Centre for East Asian Studies on the basis of applicants documents forwarded to us by UAF. You can access the application page of our Programme at Studyinfo.fi either by copying and pasting the link below to your browser or by going to the Studyinfo.fi portal (studyinfo.fi), entering for example "East Asian" in the search field on the top of the page or by clicking the link See all Master s level studies in English offered by Universities at Studyinfo.fi, and there enter the search term. Due to technical constraints it is not possible to provide a clickable direct link to the MPAS application page, but this link can be copied and pasted to the browser for direct access: https://studyinfo.fi/app/#!/korkeakoulu/1.2.246.562.17.68044229638 The online application will open on December 1, 2016, 8:00 Finnish time. Click [Fill in application] button in the MPAS application page to begin. Be sure to have all the required application documents at hand when starting the process. Note that the letter of motivation, (1) which is one of the selection criteria to our programme, is submitted as one item in the online application form. Draft thus the letter beforehand as a separate document and copy and paste it to the form. When you have finished, saved, and submitted the online application form, send the hard copy application documents by mail to University Admissions Finland: University Admissions Finland Unioninkatu 40 C FI-00170 Helsinki Finland You can send the hard copy documents even before submitting the online application. The documents must arrive to UAF by the deadline on January 13, 2017, 15:00 (3pm) Finnish time. Please take a close look at the following online guidelines and documents of University Admissions Finland: Application process guidelines (How to apply): http://universityadmissions.fi/?page_id=13 Country-specific requirements on submitting documents (important!): http://universityadmissions.fi/?page_id=24 2/5
Certification of documents: http://universityadmissions.fi/?page_id=16#certified_copies Frequently Asked Questions: http://universityadmissions.fi/?page_id=233 University Admissions Finland accepts only hard copy (paper) documents. Documents in electronic format are not accepted. UAF requires that all submitted documents be either officially certified by the awarding institution or legalized. For accepted methods of legalization, please see University Admission Finland s guidelines on certification and legalization of documents: http://universityadmissions.fi/?page_id=16#certified_copies In case of any technical problems in the application process, please contact UAF instead of CEAS: http://universityadmissions.fi/?page_id=28 3. Tuition fees Students with citizenship of, or with certain kinds of permanent residency in EU, European Economic Area and Switzerland do not pay tuition fees. However, the newly amended Universities Act of Finland requires tuition fees to be charged from citizens of a country outside the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland in degree programmes in Finland taught in a foreign language from the academic year 2017 2018 onwards. Fees do not apply to exchange students, regardless of their citizenship, nor to doctoral programmes. The annual tuition fee for citizens outside of EU, EEA, and Switzerland in the Master's Programme in East Asian Studies is 8000 in accordance with the decision by the University of Turku. The University of Turku has established a scholarship system for students liable to pay tuition fees. Please see the University of Turku's page on tuition fees and the scholarship system for more information: https://www.utu.fi/en/studying/tuition-fees/pages/home.aspx 4. Application requirements and selection criteria The following requirements need to be fulfilled in order to apply: 1. A Bachelor's degree of at least three years in length 2. Verified proficiency in the English language (see below for recognized qualifications and required levels) The following selection criteria will be used when assessing the applicants: 1. The East Asia contents and relevance of previous degree studies and achieved grades. This includes major or minor in East Asian Studies (or Korean, Japanese, and Chinese Studies) or other studies related to contemporary East Asian societies. 2. Knowledge of East Asian languages, verified appropriately (transcripts, certificates etc.) 3. Letter of motivation (see below for guidelines) (1) Applicant s fulfilment of the application requirements and qualifications for the application criteria need to be documented with certified documents. 3/5
In case you are going to graduate after the admissions deadline, you must include a certificate or a statement from your home university or institute stating the expected date of graduation. The degree and the required studies have to be completed and the related enclosures (certificates) received by the Faculty of the Social Sciences by 14 July, 2017 at 15:00 Finnish time. Persons who have the Finnish first-cycle polytechnic degree called ammattikorkeakoulututkinto and have completed courses on scientific thinking, writing and research methods in areas relevant to the Programme are also eligibles to apply. Proficiency in the English language needs to be verified, in accordance with the standards set by the University of Turku, by one of the following certificates, which must have been completed in the last two years. The certificate must be valid on the application deadline (13th January 2017). TOEFL ibt test (http://www.ets.org/toefl) with a score of at least 92 and no individual score below 20 IELTS Academic test (http://www.ielts.org/) with an overall band score of 6.5 and no individual score below 6.0 Cambridge ESOL test (http://www.cambridgeesol.org/exams/) Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) or Certificate In Advanced English (CAE), pass grade A, B, or C National Certificate of English Language Proficiency by the Finnish National Board of Education (http://www.oph.fi/english/services/yki), overall language proficiency level of 5 Pearson PTE (http://pearsonpte.com/)academic test with a score of at least 62 and no individual score below 54 Exemption from these tests is granted to applicants who have a Bachelor's degree or an equivalent degree in an English-language programme in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States or in an EU/EEA country Bachelor's degree or an equivalent degree in an EU/EEA country including courses taken in English and good proficiency (magna cum laude approbatur) in English in their high school diploma (ylioppilastodistus) or equivalent. Secondary education received in English language in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom or United States 5. Application documents The following documents are required from all applicants: A copy of the degree certificate in the original language; In case you are going to graduate after the admissions deadline, you must include a certificate or a statement from your home university or institute stating the expected date of graduation. The degree and the required studies have to be completed and the related enclosures (certificates) received by the Faculty of the Social Sciences by 14 July, 2017 at 15:00 Finnish time. An English translation of the degree certificate or a Diploma Supplement (likely to be issued by your university) The transcript of records (2) 4/5
An English translation of the transcript of records (likely to be issued by your university) Certificate of English language proficiency (see above for accepted certifications); please see UAF's Language skills page on how to have the test results forwarded directly to UAF (added on Nov. 6, 2016) Curriculum Vitae (resumé) (3) Letter of motivation (1) (included as an item in the electronic application form and not attached as a separate document; see below for guidelines on contents) All the documents must be officially certified copies (http://universityadmissions.fi/?page_id=16#certified_copies). Do not send any original certificates. Submitted documents will not be returned. Please confirm from the list of country-specific document requirements (http://universityadmissions.fi/?page_id=24) whether your educational documents need to be submitted in a certain way. (For example, whether your transcript of records needs to be submitted directly by your university.) For any questions concerning the application or requirements, contact Dr Antti Leppänen (antti.leppanen@utu.fi). 6. Guidelines on application documents 1. Letter of motivation: describe briefly your study background, how you have become interested in study of East Asia, what motivates you to study East Asia and apply to MPAS in Turku, what are your topics and areas of interest in East Asia, possibly including also your tentative thesis research topic, and what are your future aspirations. Add the name and contact information (affiliation, e-mail) of two academic references, of whom at least one has been the main supervisor of your previous studies. A good length for a letter of motivation is 500 800 words. (The letter of motivation is one item in the electronic application form and not a separate attachment. Draft it thus first as a separate document and then copy the text to the application form.) 2. Transcript of records: a document containing information of completed courses and received credits and grades. A certificate of registration or a diploma is not sufficient. If a transcript cannot be obtained, an officially certified list of completed academic work or yearly examinations with information on the contents of courses will be sufficient. 3. To create your Curriculum vitae (in Europe akin to a resumé in the US), you can use for example the guidelines at EU's Europass site: https://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/ 5/5