SAMK Bachelor of Health Care – Nursing

The degree programme in Nursing at SAMK (Satakunta University of Applied Sciences) will prepare you for a valued profession, in which you will be working with clients of different age groups promoting their health and wellbeing and treating their diseases.

• Degree title: Bachelor of Health Care
• Educational field: Health and welfare
• Mode of teaching: Full-time studies
• Language of tuition: English
• Extent: 210 credits
• Application period: 8 Jan – 22 Jan 2025
• Studies begin: Autumn 2025
• Location of studies: Pori, Finland
• Duration: 3 years 6 months
• Intake: 40
• Tuition fee for non-EU/EEA students: 9,500 €
• Admissions procedure: Online entrance exam

What Does Nursing Program Involve?

Nursing education gives you qualifications to work as an expert in different areas of health care, e.g. in primary health care, hospital, private services, third sector organizations or as an entrepreneur. Finnish nursing degree is highly valued and provides good opportunities for working and being employed also internationally.

The goal of the education is to train health care professionals so that a graduating nurse responsible for general nursing care knows how to promote and maintain the health of the population, to prevent illnesses and to provide evidence-based nursing care comprehensively for clients and patients of all ages and suffering from different illnesses, and to alleviate the suffering of the patients and their close ones.

A nurse masters the comprehensive and advanced knowledge of his/her own field, which includes critical understanding and evaluation of the theories, central concepts, methods and principles. A nurse understands the scope and limits of professional duties and/or discipline. A nurse masters advanced cognitive and practical skills that show issues management, ability to apply and ability to come up with creative solutions and realizations to solve complex or unpredictable problems.

A nurse works independently in expert duties in the field and in international cooperation or as an entrepreneur. A nurse is capable of managing complex professional tasks or projects. A nurse is capable of decision-making in unpredictable environments.

Besides being responsible for the evaluation and development of his/her own professional competence, a nurse is responsible for the development of individual persons and groups. A nurse has readiness for lifelong learning. A nurse acts with different people in work and study surroundings as well as in other groups and networks by paying attention to communal and ethical viewpoints.

A nurse knows how to communicate orally and in writing both for his/her own and for external community in their mother tongue. A nurse communicates and interacts in the second national language and is capable of international communication and interaction in his/her own field at least in one foreign language.

You can read more about the studies in the programme in the curriculum.

Nurses have several possibilities for career advancement. You can study to become a nurse in Finnish and English degree programmes. In the Finnish degree programme you can choose courses also from the English degree programme. In the English degree programme you can choose courses from the Finnish degree programme as well. Graduate students have given good feedback on the quality of teaching, teaching arrangements and the professional skills of the teachers in the degree programme in nursing.

The decision on the tuition fees is based on the change of law on universities of applied sciences, which obligates the universities of applied sciences to collect a fee from the degree students who come from outside the EU/ETA area. The tuition fee for an academic year will be 9500 euros for students who come from outside the EU/ETA area. More information of the tuition fee and scholarships in Satakunta University of Applied Sciences, you will find on our webpage.

If the student´s mother tongue is not Finnish, the student will study Finnish in accordance with the curriculum in order to achieve the Finnish language skills needed to pursue profession. In addition, the student is offered Finnish as elective studies. In these cases, the language proficiency skills under the Degree can be demonstrated by separate language proficiency tests arranged by the state administration or by general language proficiency tests.

In Finland Finnish language shall be used in clinical practices.

Studies take place on campus 

Studies are conducted during daytime generally Monday-Friday as contact teaching on SAMK campus in Pori. Studying requires full-time studying and presence on our campus.

Health requirements

Those applying to study in the field of Health Care and Social Services must have a sufficient good health status and functional capacity to be capable of completing practical assignments and work placement periods as part of the studies. Information about health and vaccination requirements in this field is available on UAS website.

Those applying to the field should bear in mind that:

• studying and working in a profession of this field require good mental balance;
• the field is not suitable for illegal drug users or for alcohol or legal drug abusers;
• conditions such as musculoskeletal diseases, chronic skin diseases, allergies and mental health disorders may lead to health issues during studies or later in working life;
• several operational units of social and health care treat patients that are exposed to infections, and work in those units requires that the staff’s immunisation is in order.

Satakunta University of Applied Sciences may cancel admission for the following reasons:

• an applicant fails to submit certificates by the deadline specified by the university of applied sciences
• an applicant has provided false information about his or her grades
• it is obvious that the student, in terms of their health status and functional capacity, does not meet the admissions criteria (Polytechnics Act 932/2014)
• an applicant has concealed the cancellation of their prior study entitlement (Polytechnics Act 932/2014).