Bachelor of Health Care, Nursing

You can find the curriculum here.

The scope of the Bachelor’s degree programme in Nursing is 210 ECTS, and the studies last 3,5 years. Nursing studies consist of core studies, profiling studies, work placement and a bachelor’s thesis. The teaching takes place at our Talonpojankatu campus in Kokkola on weekdays. 

During nursing studies, you go through the basics of health care. You learn how the human body functions and how to advance the health and capability of the patient. You will also study ethics and learn customer service skills and communication skills. You get acquainted with the operational environment of the social and health sector, patient safety in different clinical environments and research and development operations. 

The studies of clinical nursing begin from the basics. During your studies, you will dive into internal medicine, pharmacology, surgical nursing and acute care. You will study the nursing of children and families, as well as mental health nursing. All the different sectors of clinical nursing will be covered during your studies.

The nurse’s work is becoming more and more international, which is why in addition to the occupational skills, language and communication skills are emphasised in the studies. At Centria, nursing studies include communication studies and Finnish language studies. In addition, you can choose more language studies as optional courses. You will also learn to utilise international research results in different written assignments and in your bachelor’s thesis. 

You can complete some of your studies abroad. Short, as well as longer, work placement periods can be spent in many different countries. Nursing students are offered options for exchange studies example in the Nordic countries, Belgium, Portugal, Poland, Italy, China, Kenya and Uganda and many other countries. All our students have the chance to study in a genuinely international environment and we recommend that you take full advantage of the possibilities Centria UAS offers.

At the end of your studies, you will carry out your own thesis project on a topic that interests you. The thesis is a bridge between studies and work life, and it will advance your transition to specialist positions. The objective of the thesis is to develop and demonstrate the student’s ability to apply the evidence-based knowledge and skills they have learned to practical specialist tasks. The scope of the thesis is 15 ECTS. 

On the online library Theseus www.theseus.fi  all the previously completed bachelor’s theses are available for everyone. 

Registered nurses who graduate from Centria University of Applied Sciences have excellent employment possibilities locally, as well as around Finland, but also internationally. Nurses who have graduated from Centria are currently working in hospitals, health centres, first aid, medical centres, home care, nursing homes, patient associations and other third sector organisations. In addition to these, some graduates work in different development and project positions. 

Some of our work-life partners are Central Ostrobothnia Federation on Municipalities for Social and Health Care Services Soite, the City of Kokkola, The Regional Council of Central Ostrobothnia, The Jakobstad Region, municipalities of the Ylivieska region, local associations, congregations and private sector companies of social and health care services. Centria University of Applied Sciences is involved in many national UAS networks. We are also active in international university cooperation. The title Registered Nurse (BHC) may only be used and practised by a registered nurse who has completed the degree of Bachelor of Health Care. The National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health (Valvira) grants, upon application, the right to practice as a licenced or authorised professional and authorises the use of the occupational title of “health care professional ” according to the Act on Health Care Professionals (559/949). The degree programme fulfils the European Union’s Directive (2013/55/EC) on the requirements for recognition of professional qualification.  

Additional Application Period 15.8.–28.8.2022

Eligibility criteria

following education will give applicants eligibility to apply for Bachelor´s programmes:

• the studies required for graduating from the Finnish upper secondary school or a Matriculation Ex-amination;
• an International Baccalaureate (IB) degree;
• a European Baccalaureate (EB) Diploma;
• a Reifeprüfung (RP) or Deutsche Internationale Abitur (DIA) degree;
• a Finnish vocational upper secondary qualification covering 120 credits or 180 competence points or a corresponding earlier Finnish vocational degree covering at least 80 credits;
• a Finnish post-secondary or higher vocational level diploma;
• a Finnish vocational upper secondary qualification or a further or specialist vocational qualification as a competence-based qualification, or a comparable previous qualification;
• a foreign qualification that provides eligibility for higher education studies in the country in question;
• Bachelor’s degree or Master’s degree.

Admission criteria

Students are selected on the basis of points received from the entrance examination and a final interview. The entrance exam is in form of an online test. The instructions, detailed content and the schedule of the online entrance exam are going to be sent to applicants by email. When filling the application form, applicants are advised to double-check if the given email address is functional. A functional email address is necessary in order to be able to contact applicants with essential guidelines.

Also applicants’ English language skills are going to be tested. The final interview takes place in the middle of September. A functional computer with a stable internet connection is required.

Admission procedure

Entrance exam and interview

Minimum amount of points: 20
Maximum number of points: 100

Threshold criteria

Entrance exam information:

Applicants will be informed about the next procedures via email which they submitted in their application. Online exam is scheduled for Wednesday 31 August 2022 between 2 – 4 pm Finnish time. The final interview takes place in the middle of September. Please notice that a functional computer with a stable internet connection is required.

Joint Application Period 5.1.–19.1.2022

Centria University of Applied Sciences uses the following student selection methods during the first joint application in 2022:  

International University of Applied Sciences (UAS) Exam

International UAS Exam is a joint digital entrance exam of Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS), used for selecting students to English-conducted study programmes leading to a Bachelor’s degree.

The entrance examination assesses the applicants’ abilities to study at UAS. The entrance examination does not contain any pre-reading materials or pre-tasks.

The entrance exam consists of two phases organized remotely online:

First phase: written examination

Second phase: group interview

Please read more information about the selection methods on the UASinfo website.

Certificate-based selection

Bachelor of Health Care, Nursing does not use certificate-based selection.