Eligibility criteria
These admission criteria are valid for student selections made in 2025–2028. However, the faculty reserves the right to make changes to the criteria, if necessary, between admissions rounds. The number of study seats is decided on an annual basis and will be published on Studyinfo.fi before each application round.
ELIGIBILITY
To be eligible for the master’s degree programme, you must have a suitable higher education degree and demonstrate adequate English proficiency in one of the methods described below.
1. A higher education degree that fulfils the following requirements:
The degree must give eligibility for master’s-level degree studies in the awarding country. If your degree qualifies you for doctoral-level studies, you should primarily seek admission to a doctoral programme instead.
Suitable fields for the degree include:
Recent graduation with multidisciplinary degree is appreciated. Successful candidates should have proven interest in science.
Primarily:
B.Sc. degree in nanoscience
OR
B.Sc. degree with major in physics, chemistry or molecular bioscience + university level basic knowledge of at least one another subject of these three disciplines
Secondarily:
B.Sc. degree in materials science or in other field related to the primary fields + university level basic knowledge of at least one subject of three major disciplines (physics, chemistry, molecular bioscience)
The following courses should be included in the previous curriculum:
- For applicants for the major in physics: intermediate university level quantum mechanics
- For applicants for the major in chemistry: intermediate university level physical chemistry, inorganic chemistry or organic chemistry, and practical laboratory work
- For applicants for the major in cell and molecular biology: intermediate university level cell and molecular biology, and practical laboratory work
- For all applicants: minimum requirement for studies in mathematics in all majors is basic university level studies or equivalent
Separate higher education studies that are not part of a degree may be considered when evaluating the compatibility of your previous field/calculating your admissions score.
The higher education institution awarding the degree must be officially recognised in the national education system, i.e., listed as a degree-granting higher education institution by the country where it is located or by a relevant international organisation (such as UNESCO).
If the degree used to prove eligibility is incomplete at the time of application, you may be admitted on a conditional basis. In this case, you must graduate and submit officially certified copies of the final educational documents so that they are received by the University by the specified deadline. The deadline will be posted on the University’s website before the application period starts.
If you currently hold a study right in this same master’s programme at the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥, you cannot be admitted.
2. English proficiency demonstrated as follows:
The Centre for Multilingual Academic Communication (Movi) of the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥ will assess your language proficiency and academic readiness using the Academic Readiness Screening (ACRES). ACRES is integrated as a natural part of the admission process and consists of a written pre-task and an online interview. Your language proficiency will be assessed only if your educational background meets the eligibility criteria, and you submitted all the required application attachments in time to meet the given deadline(s).
To be considered for admission, you must achieve B2 or higher level in each of the four components: oral interaction, spoken production, academic reading, and academic writing. Please see Movi’s website for the Assessment Guidelines.
When applying for this programme, you can prove your English skills only by participating in ACRES. The University does not grant waivers for the language requirement.
Admissions procedure
Online application, required attachments, interview and ACRES
| Minimum number of points | Maximum number of points |
|---|
| 32 | 70 |
The admissions process is divided into three parts: 1) submitting the application and all required attachments, 2) submitting the written pre-task, and 3) participating in an interview (if applicable).
NB: If you use generative artificial intelligence (AI) to aid your application, you must indicate which model (e.g., ChatGPT, Bing Chat) you have used and in what way through proper citations (written assignments) or oral communication (video assignments). However, citations are not necessary if you use AI solely for ideation, proofreading, stylisation or similar purposes.
Claiming AI-generated content as your own without acknowledging it is considered plagiarism. If we detect that a supporting document or assignment has been generated by AI, either wholly or in part, without proper acknowledgement, it will be given zero points.
Phase 1: Application and required attachments
First, you must submit your application on Studyinfo.fi along with the necessary attachments by the given deadlines. Applicants whose educational background meets the given requirements and who have submitted all the required attachments are evaluated using the criteria listed below. Ineligible applications will not be processed further after they have been found not to meet the eligibility criteria/documentary requirements.
| Category | Points |
|---|
| Academic background: total number of credits (or other ways of measuring the amount of studies) in chemistry, physics, and molecular bioscience in the previous degree | 0–15 |
| Academic background: study performance in chemistry, physics, and molecular bioscience | 0-10 |
| Academic background: field of degree (nanoscience primary, physics, chemistry, molecular bioscience secondary, others tertiary) | 0–5 |
| Motivation letter: reasons for applying to the programme, strengths as a prospective student, career plans | 0-5 |
| Total maximum points | 35 |
A minimum of 7 points (out of 15) is required from Academic background: total number of credits in chemistry, physics, and molecular bioscience in the previous degree. Otherwise, the rest of the application will not be evaluated.
Phase 2: Written pre-task
Applicants whose previous degree provides eligibility for the programme and who have submitted all the required attachments and have scores a minimum of 20 points in Phase 1, are considered for Phase 2. The highest scoring applicants, 50 at most, are invited to submit a written pre-task.
The task will be carried out online in a given time frame. You are responsible for providing yourself with the space, time, and equipment to enable participation in the pre-task. More detailed instructions will be provided in the pre-task invitation.
The goal of the pre-task is to assess your reading strategies, writing strategies, critical thinking skills, and dialogic academic discussion through a written text format. The pre-task constitutes the reading and writing part of the academic readiness and language proficiency screening. Based on the pre-task, Movi will evaluate your academic skill levels for reading and writing in English. If the skill levels for both reading and writing are B2 or higher according to the assessment criteria, you will be invited to an interview.If your English language proficiency in academic reading or writing is below B2, your application is considered ineligible and will not be processed further.
The academic staff of the programme will evaluate the pre-task according to the following criteria.
| Category | Points |
|---|
| Academic proficiency: The delivered article was correctly understood. Scientific correctness of the answer, possible additional information. | 0-15 |
To be invited for an interview, applicants must receive at least 5 points from the academic proficiency of the pre-task and fulfill the above criteria of Movi (Minimum B2 level in reading and writing). The highest scoring applicants, 25 at most, will be invited to the phase 3, online interview.
Phase 3: Online interview
The online interview constitutes the oral part of the academic readiness and language proficiency screening. The structured interview will be recorded, and the recordings will be used for student selection purposes only. You are responsible for providing yourself with the space, time, and equipment to enable participation in the interview. More detailed instructions will be provided in the interview invitation.
Based on the recorded interview, Movi will evaluate your oral academic skill levels for listening, speaking and interacting in English. To be considered for admission, you must achieve oral skill levels B2 or higher according to the assessment criteria. If your oral skill levels are below B2, your application is considered ineligible and will not be processed further.
The academic staff of the programme will evaluate the interview according to the following criteria.
| Category | Points |
|---|
| Motivation: reasons for applying to the programme, strengths as a prospective student, career plans | 0-4 |
| Communication: Can clearly express him/herself and explain scientific questions | 0-3 |
| Proficiency in major discipline: Knowledge on the questions on the major discipline of the applicant | 0-7 |
| Proficiency in minor disciplines: Knowledge on the questions on the other two (minor) disciplines | 0-6 |
| Total maximum points | 20 |
An applicant must score at least 7 points in the interview to be accepted into the programme.
Final selection
Your scores from all the phases are added together to form your final admission score. The final admission score utilized in selection will be still weighed by the Centre for Multilingual Academic Communication (Movi) of JYU screening. Applicants will be ranked according to their admission scores, and the highest-scoring applicants, in accordance with the number of available study seats, will be admitted. If two or more applicants are tied for the last study place, all of them will be accepted. The faculty may also, at their discretion, admit more applicants than there are study places to ensure there will be enough students to start their studies in the programme. There are no arrangements for clearing, i.e., unaccepted study seats will not be reallocated.
All applicants will be notified of the results by email by the date given on the University’s website. Unsuccessful applicants will be informed of the policy and deadline for appealing against the admission decision.
