Welcome New Data Science Students

Congratulations! You have been admitted to the Master’s Programme in Data Science at the University of Helsinki. The University of Helsinki is among the top 1% of the world’s research universities, and we in the Master’s Programme in Data Science are very excited at the possibility of you joining our community.

This page gives you some information on studying in our programme. During the spring and summer, we'll also send you several letters with more information especially about the skills we assume that you have at the beginning of your studies. You will also receive more information from the Admission Services of the University of Helsinki regarding how to accept the study place and practical logistics of moving to Helsinki. In case you have any questions, feel free to send us an email at data-science-studies@helsinki.fi.

The University of Helsinki is a strongly research-oriented university, which shows in our teaching and the skills we require from our students. In addition to the basic skills of understanding and remembering, we expect you to be able to apply your skills and knowledge to different problems, as well as to analyse, evaluate, and create new information based on existing material.

We have a very active data science community at the University of Helsinki and a long-standing tradition of student engagement, peer support, and active collaboration between students and staff. We regularly organise joint activities and events for students, teachers, and other staff members, and if you have any ideas, questions, or problems, you have a chance to get help and get your voice heard.

We highly recommend you use the time in the summer to learn the Python programming language, in case you are not already familiar with it. It is commonly used by many data science tools, and it allows you to process data more efficiently than Java. The first courses in the programme also contain short Python tutorials for those not familiar with the language, but they are more useful for you, if you already have looked into Python before arriving here.

You can also take our online course Data Analysis with Python. The course assumes you know basic programming and teaches the basics of Python for data science. The course is available until 31 Aug 2024.

In mathematics, you should be familiar with the basic rules of linear algebra, understand and be able to apply differential and integral calculus in univariate settings and understand their extensions in higher dimensional problems. In probability theory, you need to understand and be able to apply basic sum and product rules of probabilities as well as marginal and conditional probabilities. If you need to brush up on these topics, please see for example the Mathematics for Machine Learning book.

The international students in the Master's Programme in Data Science can apply to the UNITalent Programme. It is designed to support international students in building professional networks in Finland and to gain insight into field specific working life. Students take part by attending monthly group meetings with hosting organisation for a period of three months. During the programme, the University Career Services also provides training in career management skills.

The teaching officially starts on 2 September 2024, but you should participate in the orientation activities for the new students already before classes begin (Orientation week 26 August – 1 September).

You will be assigned to a tutor group led by a student tutor. During the orientation activities and in the tutor group, you will learn more about studying in our programme, get support with administrative matters and get introduced to the university campuses and facilities. This will make it easier for you to start your studies and life in Helsinki.

The detailed information and schedule concerning your orientation and tutoring will be published in the summer. Make sure the right programme is selected in the dropdown menu in order to access the correct information.