Before arrival to Hanken

Having been selected by your university

The file of a nominated exchange student shall contain a number of documents. Exactly which documents you and your university are asked to provide are listed below as are the deadlines when requested documents and forms have to have reached Hanken. We kindly ask you to send these documents and forms as soon as possible after you have been nominated by your home university, early submitted documents and forms are appreciated.

It is important that you follow the deadlines for delivery of forms and documents so that we get your file complete and can prepare for your stay at Hanken.

Irrespective of whether you are going to study at our campus in Helsinki or in Vaasa, you are kindly asked to send all the following documents to the Centre for Reserach and International Affairs in Helsinki. The address, fax number and e-mail address are given below.

The Centre for Research and International Affairs
The Centre is administrating the student exchange programme under the ERASMUS and NORDPLUS programmes and the bilateral agreements and offers services to exchange students. After your home institution has nominated you for a semester or year abroad at Hanken, our staff will be glad to assist you. The information provided on the web will hopefully answer many of your questions related to planning for your stay in Finland. Please do not hesitate to contact us. Your main point of contact will be the Centre for Research and International Affairs in Helsinki, which is your "International Office". Also students who are nominated for studying at our Vaasa Campus are requested to contact the International Office in Helsinki with questions concerning their application procedure and admittance and to send the application documents to our Centre.

Application process

After receipt of a nomination from a partner university Hanken will send a Confirmation of receipt of the nomination to the partner university and the student. The Confirmation letter contains in short information on the application process to be followed by the student.

The Centre for Research and International Affairs issues an Admittance Letter after having received the requested application documents with information on the student nominated by the partner institution. The Admittance Letter is needed by non EU/EEA-member country students to apply for a visa and residence permit.

• Application documents requested:
  - The Hanken Registration Form (available on this web page under "Forms and documents")
  - 2 passport-size photos (In case you send a digital photo it has to be in jpg format, in passport size, resolution 200 dpi is enough, minimum 150 dpi)
  - The student's CV (Resumé)
  - A brief Motivation letter
  - A Transcript of Records, (with your university's stamp), i.e. the list of courses and grades you have completed at home
  - A Certificate of English profieciency is mandatory. English language test scores are mandatory as of 2009. Please consult your international office. We accept a copy of the original test score document if it is certified by your International Office.
  
  The accepted language tests and minimum scores are:
  TOEFL: 560 (PBT, paper based test), 83 (iBT, internet based test)
  IELTS: 6.0
  Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency of English CPE: Grade C
  Common European Framework of Reference for Languages CEF* B2.2
  * Hanken reserves the right to accept only CEF certificates issued by persons authorized to issue certificates in the language in question.

Deadlines for receipt of the Application documents at Hanken:

Students nominated in the spring 2010 for the Autumn semester 2010 (Aug/Sept -Dec) or Spring semester 2011 (Jan - May/June or Full year 2010-2011) are all requested to send the application documents by the same deadline:

1 May 2010

when the application documents should have reached Hanken at the Centre for Research and International Affairs (International Office). Notice that you are asked to submit your application documents by 1 May 2010 even if you are applying for the spring semester 2011.

Students applying and selected and nominated in the autumn 2010 for the Spring semester 2011 are requested to send the application documents by :

1 November 2010

when the application documents should have reached Hanken at the Centre for Research and International Affairs (International Office).

Please return the forms to the address given below.

Don't forget to date and sign forms and documents! Please observe the deadlines!

Application for accommodation

Reservation of accommodation in Helsinki will be done by yourself directly from HOAS in Helsinki with the use of a form that is available on the web page of HOAS. In Vaasa students reserve the accommodation directly from VOAS. No applications for accommodation are to be sent to Hanken.

Helsinki Campus
Students selected to the Helsinki Campus shall contact the Student Housing Foundation (HOAS) directly to reserve their accommodation. The information needed is available on the HOAS webpage www.hoas.fi.

Vaasa Campus
Students selected to the Vaasa Campus shall contact the Students Housing Foundation in Vaasa directly to reserve their accommodation at www.voas.fi .

For more information on accommodation, see further below under "Accommodation".

We look forward to receiving your application documents!

All students, please send your application documents to Helsinki at the address below.

Students going to Vaasa send only the Arrival form to Vaasa:

Documents requested for course selection and arrival

Choosing courses 2010-2011

On the right hand side of the webpage and Student portal you find the link "Courses and study plans". Click and you will find the courses listed separately for the Helsinki campus (left hand column) and the Vaasa campus (right hand column).

NB! The course programme for the following academic year is published in early summer each year.

Please note that course programme is subject to change every year. Please ensure that you have chosen the correct academic year in the drop list above the courses when you are about to send your course choices to Hanken. Until the publishing date of the following academic year you can make your preliminary course plans by looking at the ongoing academic year.

Note that the courses for Helsinki and Vaasa are listed separately.

Exchange Studies - Courses offered in English
Exchange students should scroll down the page Courses and study plans to the bottom and choose their courses by using the link Exchange Studies - Courses offered in English (ES-CE) where all the courses open to exchange students are listed. This is to avoid that you come across some course not offered to exchange students and would make preliminary plans for a course that you will not be allowed to take at Hanken. If you search for courses under a subject link (e.g Finance) you will find all the Finance courses offered in English, including the courses open to exchange students but also courses that are only aimed for students taking a degree at Hanken.

Please check the course description (the course home page) to be sure about the language of instruction (Swedish or English).

Exchange students from the Nordic countries who are able to understand teaching in Swedish and who can read literature in Swedish may choose courses taught in Swedish as well. Tip: By browsing the pages in Swedish you will see which courses are taught in Swedish as the titles are in Swedish. Look under the respective subject and notice the separate columns for courses in Helsinki and Vaasa.

Work load
Exchange students are expected to complete 30 ECTS per semester, i.e. 4-5 courses. Most courses are worth 6 or 8 credit points, some are 4 credit points which is comparable to 6, 8 or 4 ECTS credits. Hanken accepts a workload of approximately 30 ECTS, due to the fact that needed or wanted courses may not sum up to exactly 30 ECTS.

Course level
The level "intermediate" means a course at undergraduate (BSc) level. (You can ignore the notion of " basic/intermediate" it has relevance only to our regular degree students). The level "advanced" means a course at graduate (MSc) level. However, there are advanced courses of two kind; a) courses that really require profound (advanced) previous knowledge of the subject in question, or b) courses that are marked "advanced" because they are elective courses at graduate level (MSc level) of study aimed to broaden the students' field of knowledge.

Exchange students may mix levels and take both BSc and MSc level courses, provided they meet the prerequisites for a specific course. If you are a BSc level student at home, be aware of possible restrictions to take MSc level courses of category (a) at Hanken. The first advice is that you look for courses at your respective level. On the other hand, in case you are a MSc level student, and find a BSc level course that your university will accept, this will be no problem to Hanken. Sometimes choosing a BSc upper level course may solve a problem of finding a good course mix and could be a substitute for a MSc level course of category (b).

Course Councelling
Having been selected and nominated by your home university for exchange studies at Hanken you are welcome to contact the International Co-ordinator (margareta.granholm(at)hanken.fi) in case you have some specific questions regarding courses and academic matters before your arrival.

In Helsinki
During the Orientation course in Helsinki and the signing up for courses you may (may have to) make adjustments to your course plans and the the coordinator will assist you or direct you to the teacher.

In Vaasa
The International programme coordinator (incoming students) in Helsinki will reply to your general questions related to academic matters and course choices before your arrival. After your arrival in Vaasa and during the Orientation Course in Vaasa you will be assisted in your course matters by your international councellor Ms Kristina Wallin and teachers at the Vaasa Campus.

Timetables
The course timetables that are important for your course planning will be published on the web closer to semester start. The timetables for courses offered in the autumn semester 2010 will be published in the first half of June 2010 and timetables for courses offered in the spring semester 2011 will be published in early November 2010. The timetables will be available on the web on the "Studies" portal under "Timetables and Academic Calendar" (left hand menu). The timetable for each course is available on the home page of the course. Select "Courses and study plans" in the right tool bar > Select subject > Select a course > Click Schedule. The program shows the time, the name and code of the course, the name of the teacher, the auditorium and what type of class it is (föreläsning = lecture, övning = excersise). Students get assistance in exploring the timetables in detail and with their final course choices and the sign up for the courses in the Hanken database during the Orientation course held on 25-27 August 2010 (autumn semester) and on 19-21 January 2011 (spring semester) in Helsinki and Vaasa. During the Orientation course there will be time reserved for councelling on how possible timetable clashes could be handled. We stronly advice you to compare your course plan to the time tables before you arrive.

Preliminary course choice to be sent to Hanken
Hanken uses the Erasmus ECTS Learning Agreement as the standard form for the preliminary course choice that exchange students are asked to send previous to arrival. Please download the (EU standard) form available at the end of this page. Students may alternatively use the ECTS form of their own university.

Students should send their course choices, either a preliminary plan or the course plan formally accepted by their university, a signed Learning Agreement, by 1 August (students arriving in the autumn) or by 1 December (students arriving for the spring semester). This gives you time to check the timetables before sending us the course choices/Learning Agreement. Full year students may, of course, communicate their spring semester course plans in August and hand in a revised or new Learning Agreement in in December.

Signing up for courses = Registration
You will do the final signing up for courses in the Hanken register, the WebOodi, yourself upon arrival. Prerequisites for a course, such as previous knowledge or possible limited number of places will be mentioned on the course home page. NB! The chance of being accepted to preferred courses will be improved if you bring with you an up-to-date Transcript of Records of the courses you have taken at your home university. Admittance to some courses may be strictly checked, because of limited number of places or qualification requirements. You may be requested to hand in up-to-date information as your councellor may assist you and the professor only if you provide the latest transcript or other written information that support your application.

We recommend that you have some optional course choices (a plan B) in case you would not be admitted to your most preferred courses. There is always a possibility to change courses upon arrival at Hanken, this is not a problem for Hanken. You shall, however, always check what is accepted by your home university.

Signing of Learning Agreement
The Learning Agreement will be signed by Hanken when you have been able to set a workable course plan after your arrival at Hanken. Please inform your home university about this. Changes to a Learning Agreement may be done if needed, and well be re-signed by the home and host yuniversity. All Learning Agreements are signed by the ECTS coordinator(s) at the Helsinki Campus.


Deadline for sending course selection and arrival documents

Students starting in September at Hanken are requested to send the following documents by 1 August 2010 and students coming for the spring start in January to send the following documents by 1 December 2010.

• The Course Selection form (= the ECTS Learning Agreement form) and, if available, and updated Transcript of Records showing all courses completed to date. Alternatively you are recommended to bring an up-to-date Transcript with you to Hanken.
  Both Helsinki and Vaasa campus students are requested to send the course selection form/the Learning Agreement to the Centre for Research and International Affairs (International office) in Helsinki.
  
• Arrival date and time form
  We ask you to send your information by 1 August 2010at the latest and by 1 December 2010 (spring semester students). This is very important so that the Hanken Exchange Committee, EC, (the tutors) will have time to arrange the pickup service for your arrival.
  
  Vaasa campus students are kindly asked to send the arrival information directly to the Vaasa campus to Ms Kristina Wallin, address given under "Application Process". The tutors in Vaasa will arrange for your pickup.

Thank you for sending also these documents by the deadlines!

Visa and Residence Permit

If you are not a citizen of the Nordic countries and intend to stay for longer than three months in Finland, you will need a residence permit.

For more information, please visit the website of the Directorate of Immigration at www.uvi.fi >English>Students and the website of the Ministry of foreign affairs of Finland at http://formin.finland.fi/english / > Services >Foreign nationals arriving in Finland.

Application before entering Finland:
International students who have been offered admission to Hanken will be issued an admittance letter as certificate of the acceptance that is needed for the application of a residence permit. Citizens from other than the Nordic, EU- and EEA-countries and for whom a residence permit is required should obtain a student residence permit before entering the country by submitting an application form accompanied by the admittance letter as well as documents verifying financial resources to the nearest Embassy or Consulate of Finland. The processing time of the application for a residence permit varies, but could take months. Therefore we strongly recommend that the admitted student submit an application for a residence permit immediately upon receipt of the Admittance letter (May or November respectively).

A residence permit will not be issued unless the candidate can prove that he/she has sufficient funds to support him- or herself during the entire period of studies in Finland, either through a grant or through other funds. The applicant must have a minimum of EUR 500 per month at his or her disposal. In some cases the applicant can show that that the funds are available for transfer from the home country to Finland by means of reliable banking connection.

Application (registering) after entering Finland:
Citizens of an EU or EEA country (plus Switzerland) do not need a visa to enter Finland but must have a residence permit for a stay of longer than three months. A student residence permit should be applied for after arrival in Finland.

In Helsinki you apply for the residence permit at the police station at Malmi, Viljatie 2, 00700 Helsinki.
In Vaasa you apply for the residence permit at the police station at Rauhankatu 22.

The documents you need to bring with you are:
- your passport
- the Letter of Enrolment issued upon arrival showing that your study right as a student at Hanken in the exchange programme has been activated
- a copy of a document showing that you have sufficient funds to cover your expenses during your entire stay in Finland (separate statements for any scholarship, study grant, and private funding)
- 1 passport-size photo and
- EUR 40.00

You will receive a residence card approximately one month after you have filed your application with the police, which serves as evidence that your official permission to stay in Finland is in order.

No registration required:
Citizens of the other Nordic countries do not need to register for a residence permit upon arrival but should be prepared to verify their identity and citizenship if requested by the passport controller. Nordic students shall bring their passport with them to Finland as a passport is needed to visit Russia or the Baltic States.

Insurance and Health Services

All students arriving in Finland must have sufficient health coverage. Exchange students must arrange their insurance in their home country before they leave for Finland. Nationals of non-EU/EEA countries must have a helath insurance in order to be eligible for a residence permit. Nationals of the EU member states are partly covered by the Finnish social security system, but must make sure they are fully covered for illness and accidents before leaving their home country. For more information, please see the information given by the Centre for Mobility, CIMO, at http://finland.cimo.fi/

Health care
You should contact your local health authority and insurance agency at home to make sure that you are fully covered in case of illness or accident during your travels to and from Finland and your entire stay here. In case of illness, if you come from an EU or EEA country you are covered by your national health care insurance during your stay in Finland. You should get the European health care card from your local health care authority and bring it with you. As a visiting student in Finland, you are entitled to use the Student Health Service (YTHS) when you join the Hanken Student union and receive the Student ID-card. The Student union fee includes the health care fee. Consultation, general treatment and vaccinations are free at the Student Health Service, for specialists' appointment and dental treatment there is inexpensive treatment. However, the Student health Service doesn't offer emergency and hospital services. The web address of the Student Health Centre is www.yths.fi

If you choose to use public health services, they, too, are inexpensive. If you prefer to use private health service there is a higher fee.

Hanken is not able to take any responsibility for exchange students in case of illness or accident. Please, ensure that you, and your belongings, are sufficiently insured during your entire stay in Finland. Do not forget to contact your insurance company at home and buy your insurance before you take off to Finland.

Financing and Cost of Living

Exchange students have to ensure that they have sufficient funding to cover all expenses during their stay. The exchange programme usually provides you with some grant administered by your own university, the rest you have to get from other sources. There are no Finnish grants or scholarships available for foreign exchange students. Please note that Hanken does not offer any grants or other finacial support system for international students.

What is considered sufficient funds varies with individual spending habits. You certainly wish to enjoy the stay, which probably means that you have to add to your normal monthly expenses. A reasonable sum to cover costs for housing and living (Helsinki) would be EUR 800, the average rent calculated as EUR 360 per month. Students will have to pay a deposit for all types of accommodation upon arrival. This money is refunded when you leave. Take into account also the deposit for accommodation and the first month's rent when you set up your budget. At semester start you also pay for the Student ID-card for one or two semesters, depending on the length of your stay. Remember to reserve enough cash for expenses you will have during the first weeks!

Cost of living

The monthly costs in Helsinki could be broken down roughly as:
Rent: EUR 390 most common HOAS rent (approx. EUR 500 for a studio in central Helsinki) NB! as of spring 2010
Food: EUR 250 (whereof the subsidized Hanken lunch is 50)
Local transport: EUR 40
Personal/incidenta, study material: EUR 200

According to former exchange students who have been doing the "regular" touring exchange students do, i.e. Lapland, St. Petersburg, Estonia, Stockholm, the monthly average budget could amount to EUR 1000.

The monthly costs in Vaasa could be broken down roughly as:
Rent: EUR 200-350 NB! as of Spring 2010
Food: EUR 250 (whereof the subsidized Hanken lunch is 50)
Personal/incidental, study material, local transportation, : EUR 200

Accommodation

Accommodation in Helsinki

Our partner in providing accommodation is the Foundation for Student Housing in the Helsinki Region (HOAS).

All information on how to apply and on the various types of housing and locations are found on the HOAS webpage.

An exchange student at Hanken shall him/herself reserve a room from HOAS by the use of the electronic application form available on the HOAS web page www.hoas.fi under EXCHANGE. Click "How to apply for housing" and you will find the link to the application form to be used ONLY by exchange students. Please DO NOT fill in any other form.

The Hanken-HOAS agreement means that HOAS will handle the placement of students. Hanken will inform HOAS about accepted students and by a deadline set by HOAS. The deadline will be in May and from June onwards HOAS will start the placements. You secure a room by applying, preferable well in advance, before the deadline for Exchange applications given on HOAS' webpage.

We recommend nominated students to apply for HOAS accommodation as soon as possible after you have received your "Confirmation of the nomination" from Hanken. Your application will be filed and pending and HOAS will match your application against the list of finally admitted students to Hanken.

HOAS International Services (Helsinki) will in due course June /July send you the room offer and request your confirmation of the offer. You confirm the room by paying the deposit in advance from abroad and returning the requested documents by the deadline HOAS will give you in the offer.

According to the agreement on a common pool of apartments shared by the universities and polytechnics in the greater Helsinki area, Hanken cannot be guaranteed exclusive rights to apartments we have been given previously. As of Spring semester 2009 students may be offered rooms at other locations in Helsinki. The principle HOAS will follow is to offer housing at convenient distance and location with respect to the university. "First come, first served" also rules.

Having received your accommodation offer from HOAS, you should be in contact directly with HOAS in any matters concerning the accommodation, as Hanken does not handle questions regarding the accommodation.

Keys upon arrival
If you ask for the pickup service on the Arrival form you are assisted by Hanken's exchange student tutors and they will pick you up at the airport/harbour/railway station. A tutor will take you to the apartment and will have the key. The arrival dates with tutors' pickup service are on 23-24 August 2010 and 17-18 January 2011, during two days before the mandatory Orientation course. In case you are not able to arrive during the pickup days you shall contact the International Office in Helsinki to learn how to get the key for your apartment and room.

We accept late arrival (not in time for the Orientation course) only if you have exams to take at home overlapping the Orientation course, or some severe personal hindrance.

Tenancy period
The HOAS student tenancy period is fixed, and runs from 1.9-31.12.2009 (autumn semester), 1.1-31.5.2010 (spring semester) or 1.9-31.5.2010 (full year). The dates of the agreement cannot be changed! Students must pay the rent until the expiring date indicated in the tenancy agreement even if they leave before the end of the semester or academic year. Although the HOAS agreement for students arriving in the autumn semester takes effect from 1.9 you will be able to move in into the apartments during the pickup days in August.

HOAS Application form and "Start date" / "End date"
The application form on the web asks you to mark the Start date/End date of your stay. You shall fill in as the "Start date of exchange studies" your arrival date in August or January, for example the first Hanken pickup date. In any case your agreement will start 1.9 or 1.1, so it is not extremely important to have the exact date. As the "End date of exchange studies" you shall fill in 31.12 or 31.05. HOAS is informed about Hanken's semester dates. If needed, for examination in June for example, some arrangement for the additional days usually have been possible.

Hanken asks you to inform us (the International Office) in case you will not be using HOAS at all, but will arrange accommodation in another way. We strongly advice you not to consider finding accommodation on the open market unless you have some relatives/friends or other secured arrangement.

Accommodation in Vaasa

Students going to Hanken's Vaasa campus are expected to apply for the room by sending an electronic application for accommodation directly to the Vaasa Student Residence Foundation VOAS and handle all the practical matters with them. The Centre for Research and International Affairs or the Office of Study Affairs at the Vaasa campus is not involved in the reservation of your accommodation in Vaasa.

Complete information about student accommodation, services, flats and locations, and the application form is available on the VOAS website at www.voas.fi. Once VOAS has filed your application for accommodation they will be in contact directly with you and send you an offer. You will be requested to confirm the offer by paying the deposit for the room. If needed, you should be in contact directly with VOAS in any matters concerning accommodation.

Keys upon arrival
If you ask for the pickup service on the Arrival form you are assisted by Hanken's exchange student tutors and they will pick you up at the airport/railway station. A tutor will take you to the apartment and will have the key. The arrival dates with tutors' pickup service are on 23-24 August 2010 and 17-18 January 2011, during two days before the mandatory Orientation course. In case you are not able to arrive during the pickup days you shall contact the Office of Study affairs /Ms Kristina Wallin in Vasa to learn how to get the key for your apartment and room.

We accept late arrival (not in time for the Orientation course) only if you have exams to take at home overlapping the Orientation course, or some severe personal hindrance.

Practical information

Student Union membership
Membership in the Student Union of a higher education institution is mandatory in Finland. Exchange students at Hanken are going to be members of the Hanken Student Union and get an ID-card. This will give you benefits and discounts of the kind national students get. Find information on the Student Union card (the Lyyra ID-card) and the Hanken Student Union membership fee.

The Student Union of Hanken (Svenska Handelhögskolans Studentkår) is a separate organisation and is not a part of the university. The Student Union has four main functions: to look after the interest of its members, to work as a link between its members and the university, to provide services and organize social activities. For information on the Hanken Student Union, please visit www.shsweb.fi/en. Hanken's Vaasa Campus has its own student Union, their web page in Swedish is at www.sshv.org

Useful information
On Hanken's web pages you will find more information useful for exchange students. See www.hanken.fi/student/en/international and http://www.hanken.fi/public/en/fakta . By exploring the links in the menu at the left hand of the Studies-portal, you will get a good picture of the facilities and services offered at both of our campuses as well as of the academic matters. An information package containing brochurses and practical information needed upon arrival will be distributed during the Orientation Course.

Orientation Course
All exchange students are requested to attend the Orientation Course to be held on 25-27 August 2010 and 19-21 January 2011, respectively. The Orientation Course will prepare you for the semester start and will help you to settle down in Helsinki or Vasa as smoothly as possible. Your enrollment as an exchange student at Hanken is taking place right at the beginning of the Orientation Course.

Forms and documents

Forms to be filled in and returned:

• Registration Form Exchange Students [doc] 407k
• ECTS Learning Agreement (Course choice) Hanken form [doc] 233k
• Arrival Date and Time form [doc] 378k
  
  Documents to read: (subject to change)
  
• Student Union fee 2009-2010 [pdf] 10k
• Student Union ID-card application 2009-2010 [pdf] 5k