Apply to Machine Intelligence and Data Science (MIND)

The application to MIND is aimed at those who have

• a suitable educational background
• two years of work experience gained after a bachelor's degree
• sufficient English language skills.

The application is open from 7 January at 8 a.m. (UTC+2) to 21 January 2027 at 3 p.m. (UTC+2), and studies begin in August 2027. There are a total of 25 study places.

Use the quick links on this page to navigate smoothly between the different sections. Make sure you don't miss out on the checklist How to apply - master's level further down.

Learn more about the content of the programme on our MIND page. Note that students coming from outside the EU/EEA have to pay tuition fees and an application fee. Read more about fees and Arcada's early-bird offer on our Tuition fees page.

Eligibility

Before starting your master's application process to Arcada, please make sure that you are an eligible applicant, i.e. that you have a suitable educational background and two years of work experience. All applicants must also meet the English language proficiency requirement.

Educational background

To be eligible to apply to MIND, you must have a suitable bachelor's degree. Recommended degrees are in information technology, computer science, natural sciences or business (with a minor in IT or CS) or a similar field (for example electrical engineering) deemed to include sufficient technical skills and scientific rigour.

Applicants with a bachelor's degree in a field not mentioned above can apply, but assessment of eligibility will be made by programme representatives case by case.

Two years of work experience

All applicants must also have a minimum of two years (24 months) of relevant work experience gained after the completion of the bachelor's degree to meet the eligibility criteria.

Work experience is only counted from the date of the bachelor's degree diploma/certificate, and needs to be proven by a work certificate. CVs are not accepted on their own. Work experience gained before or during your bachelor studies cannot be counted towards the work experience minimum requirement. An exception is only made for applicants who have completed a Finnish vocational college diploma or higher vocational diploma (opistotutkinto tai ammatillisen korkea-asteen tutkinto) before the completion of their higher education degree, as they may also take into account work experience gained before the higher education degree. Work experience can be counted up to 31 July 2027.

Part-time work is converted to full-time work so that 150 hours or 20 full-time working days (a minimum of seven hours per day) are equal to a month. The work experience does not have to be continuous or from the same employer. Practical training or on-the-job learning is not counted as work experience if it forms a part of the degree used for applying.

Work certificates need to be attached to application by 28 January 2027 by 3 p.m. (UTC+2). 

English language proficiency

Proof of English is mandatory and an application can not be submitted without this. Please see the accepted ways below. Duolingo tests or medium of instruction certificates are not accepted.

English language proficiency can be proven with a completed an upper secondary degree or a higher education degree i.e. at least a bachelor's degree level degree in English at an institution located in the following countries: an EU or EEA country, Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, South Africa or the United States, excluding online degrees and offshore campuses.

English language proficiency can also be proven with a completed higher education degree i.e. at least a bachelor's degree completed at a university or university of applied sciences in the EU/EEA, or with a doctoral thesis written in English.

In all other cases you must demonstrate your proficiency in English through one of the language tests (including the minimum score requirements) mentioned below. The language test results are valid for two years from the test date if not otherwise specified and your test result must be valid on the first day of the application period. The general deadline for language certificates is 28 January 2027, 3 p.m. (UTC+2).

• Cambridge ESOL’s tests
  • B2 First
    • minimum score 170
  • C1 Advanced
    • minimum score level C
  • C2 Proficiency
    • minimum score level C
• Pearson Test of English Academic or Academic online:
  • minimum score 55
• IELTS  Academic or IELTS online :
  • one skill retake test is accepted
  • minimum overall band score 6.0 
• TOEFL iBT/iBT Home Edition
  • minimum score 67, or 3,5 if test is taken after January 2026.
• Oxford ELLT Global : from 1 July 2023 onwards: minimum score 6.0 (Test sections: Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking)
• Gre test
  • Analytical writing 4,0
  • Send your GRE test to Arcada using the code 2523.
• National Certificate of Language Proficiency (YKI) English: 
  Grade 4 or higher on all the subtests (speaking, listening comprehension, writing, and reading comprehension

Arcada strives to accept electronic copies of language certificates submitted directly from the testing organisation. Please request your score report to be submitted to/shared with Arcada when you register for the Cambridge, Pearson or TOEFL tests. Also, IELTS test takers can request the result to be sent to Arcada directly but as results can be verified online, a copy of the test result attached to the application form is accepted. 

Language certificates must be Arcada at hand and verifiable in the respective test database by 28 January 2027, 3 p.m. (UTC+2).

Student selection methods

Students will be selected through the following two selection methods:

• Queue 1: Admission through certificate-based selection for Finnish Bachelor's degree and assessment of previous education
• Queue 2: Admission based on assessment of previous education and video task

Assessment of educational background

An assessment and grading of the suitability of the applicant's previous education will be made for all applicants. Thus, 10 points can be awarded for an applicant with a minimum bachelor's level degree in information technology, computer science, natural sciences or business (with a minor in IT or CS) or a similar field and these applicants are considered eligible in terms of educational background.  

Applicants applying with a degree in another field will not be awarded points, but will be assessed for eligibility in terms of having an understanding of the field.

Queue 1: Certificate-based admission for applicants with a Finnish bachelor's degree

This selection queue is for applicants who have completed a bachelor’s degree at a university of applied sciences or at a university in Finland. 

Applicants will be considered for admission and ranked based on their weighted grade point average (GPA) and assessment of previous education. The applicant will need to enter their weighted GPA with two decimals on the application form and also include either links to the My studyinfo database or a diploma and transcript of records (TOR) from which the GPA can be verified. Arcada will check and verify the weighted GPA that the applicant has entered on the application form. If the applicant has not included a link to My Studyinfo and/or has not attached any certificate or TOR, or the degree can not be verified in any database, they can not be considered through the certificate-based admission.

Queue 2: Admission based on video task 

To be considered for admission, all applicants applying with a bachelor's degree completed at a university outside of Finland must submit a mandatory video task. 

If the applicant has completed a master’s degree in Finland but the bachelor’s degree is from outside of Finland, they can be considered for admission only based on the video task. Also, only applicants who meet the requirements of having a bachelor’s degree, two years of relevant work experience, English language proficiency, and who have submitted the mandatory video task will be processed and assessed for admission. If the video task or English language proficiency is missing, the application will not be processed further.

The video task is to be uploaded to the application in Studyinfo by 28 January 2027, 3 p.m. (UTC+2). 

If the applicant wants to share their video from a video-sharing platform, e.g. YouTube or similar, they must include a document with the link to their video in the application. Applicants should ensure that the video is set to private and that it can be viewed only with the link shared in the application. The video must be available for viewing throughout the whole application process.

The video task is awarded 0–90 points, and the minimum pass requirement is 40 points.

Applicants in this selection queue are ranked and admitted based on the total points for previous education and the video task.

Further instructions and the topics to answer in the video task will be published here a month before the application opens.

Results will be announced at the end of April 2027 at the earliest.