Admission criteria for Digital Systems and Service Development

Read more about the programme at Master's programme in Digital Systems and Service Development.

• Bachelor of Science in Technology

  Completed in a University
  Tekniikan kandidaatti

• Bachelor of Engineering

  Completed in a University of Applied Sciences
  Insinööri (AMK)

• Bachelor of Business Administration, Business Information Technology

  Completed in a University of Applied Sciences
  Tradenomi (AMK), Tietojenkäsittely

• Bachelor's Degree in another field of study

  Completed in a University or in a University of Applied Sciences

Regarding all the degrees mentioned above

• Having completed a Master's Degree still makes you eligible to apply, but only when applying with your Bachelor's Degree.
  For example: diplomi-insinööri, maisteri, ylempi AMK-tutkinto
   
  • Exception 1:
    You are not eligible to apply, if having completed a degree diplomi-insinööri  in a degree programme on the same field of study compared to the programme you are applying to.
     
  • Exception 2:
    Degree diplomi-insinööri  is accepted for applying, if completed before 2008 when there was no separate Bachelor's Degree awarded.

Applicants who have completed a Master's Degree in a University of Applied Sciences with no prior Bachelor's Degree while the prior degree having been completed on a higher secondary or secondary level are not eligible to apply. 

The Admissions Committee for the programme always reserves a right to decide whether the degree and the completed studies provide the applicant with eligibility to apply to the programme.

• Bachelor of Science in Technology OR closely related to Technology
  Completed in a University - All countries
• Bachelor of Science in Business Informatics
  Completed in a University - All countries
• Bachelor of Science in Business Information Technology
  Completed in a University - All countries
• Bachelor of Engineering in Software Engineering or in Computer Science or in Information Technology
  Completed in a University of Applied Sciences - All countries
• Bachelor of Business in Business Informatics or in Business Information Technology
  Completed in a University of Applied Sciences - All countries
• Bachelor of Engineering
  Completed in a University of Applied Sciences - EU/EEA countries and Switzerland

   

Applicants having completed a Master's Degree are eligible to apply but only with the Bachelor's Degree. If you have completed or are completing a Master's Degree in Software Engineering in a university in Finland (tietotekniikan diplomi-insinööri) before starting LUT studies, you are not eligible to apply.

You can only apply with a Master's degree if you have a higher university degree that does not include a lower university degree (no separate Bachelor's degree awarded).

Applying with a combination of a 2-year Bachelor's + 2-year Master's Degree completed in certain countries is accepted when the combination of these two degrees is equivalent only to a Finnish Bachelor's Degree. 

Having completed a Master's Degree still makes you eligible to apply but only when applying with the Bachelor's Degree.

Exception to the rule: A combination of Bachelor's + Master's Degree with no separate Bachelor's Degree accepted for applying.

Applicants who have completed a Master's Degree in a University of Applied Sciences with no prior Bachelor's Degree while the prior degree having been completed on a higher secondary or secondary level are not eligible to apply. 

Overall requirements for the Bachelor's Degree

• An equivalent degree to a corresponding Finnish Bachelor's Degree by the number of academic years and ECTS credits.
• Degree providing you with eligibility to apply to university level Master's studies in the country where the degree was awarded in.

Requirements for the degree-awarding university

The university having awarded you the degree you are applying with must be

• An official and recognized part of the national education system
• Listed on the World Higher Education Database WHED by International Association of Universities
   

The Admissions Committee for the programme always reserves a right to decide whether the degree and the completed studies provide the applicant with eligibility to apply to the programme.

To be eligible to apply to the programme, you must have completed a minimum of 24 ECTS credits of programme-specific studies in 

• Software Engineering
• Software Production
• Computer Science
• Information Technology
• Information Systems, Information Systems Science
• Business Informatics, Business Information Systems
• Data Processing Technology
• Business Systems and Analytics, Business Systems Design
• Programming
• Databases 
• Data Science

by the application deadline.

If you have not listed the required studies as requested on your application form, your application will remain an incomplete one and will not be forwarded to academic evaluation.
 

These studies must be completed in one or two of the following groups of universities:

• a University, all countries
• a University of Applied Sciences, all countries

The Admissions Committee for the programme reserves a right to decide whether the completed studies provide the applicant with eligibility to apply to the programme.

Requirements for the programme-related studies

To be eligible to apply, the arithmetic GPA of the degree you have to apply with must be

• a minimum of 3.00 on the scale of 1.00 - 5.00.

The arithmetic GPA will be first checked and verified by LUT University. In case the original grading scale not being on a scale of 1.00 - 5.00, the arithmetic GPA will be converted by LUT University on this scale during the evaluation process. Finally, the arithmetic GPA with two decimals will be evaluated.

The grading scale must include at least two different grades for passing that together form a clear range of passing grades so that an arithmetic GPA can be calculated.

If the completed courses having been evaluated by using verbal or letter-based grades, these grades will be converted on a numerical scale of 1.00-5.00 by using linear conversion.

The arithmetic GPA evaluated in the LUT selection process is

• an arithmetic average of grades for all the individual courses and for the grade for the Final Thesis included in the degree you have to apply with 
  • that have been completed at the time of applying
  • that are listed on an official Transcript of Records

What is excluded from the arithmetic GPA?

• Courses evaluated with 'pass' or 'fail' 
• Courses evaluated with a grade corresponding to a failed grade
• Courses without a related study unit such as ECTS credit, credit, credit hour etc. 
• Combined modules including only a single grade for all the courses included in the module unless the individual courses having been evaluated separately
• Courses not included in the degree you have to apply with
• Courses not included in the degree you have to apply with that have been credited or compensated unless the degree-awarding university having evaluated them on a numerical, verbal or on a letter-based grading scale

You must prove your proficiency in English with one of the following:

• one of the accepted language tests
• a degree in higher education completed in English in an EU/EEA country or in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland, United Kingdom or the United States of America
• a degree in higher education completed in Finnish or in Swedish in Finland

More information: How to prove your proficiency in English

Before starting your application process, have a look at the basics on applying at

• Applying to Master's Programmes through Regular Admission
  
  >> Application process

where all the important information regarding to applying in general is given.

When filling in your application form

While filling in your application form, you must indicate the cumulative number of original study units completed for the Bachelor's Degree you are applying with. 

If applying with an unfinished Bachelor's Degree, you must indicate the cumulative number of original study units expected to be completed for being able to graduate. 

If having completed a combination of degrees that together correspond to a Bachelor's Degree, you must indicate the cumulative number of original study units for all the related degrees.

Requirements for the Transcript of Records 

The Transcript of Records for the Bachelor's Degree you are applying with must include the cumulative number of original study units (credits, credit hours etc.).

If the cumulative original study units not included on the Transcript of Records, an official statement on them issued in English by the related university must be uploaded. You may also upload an official brochure for the programme issued by the university instead of the official statement if the cumulative original study units indicated in the brochure. 

You must list the programme-related studies for this programme on your application form in ECTS credits by each course under the related field of study and indicate the total ECTS credits for all the courses listed.

Studies not originally in ECTS credits >> Conversion needed 

In case of the completed courses not originally listed in ECTS credits on your Transcript of Records, you are responsible for converting the original study units (credits, credit hours etc.) to ECTS credits according to the following conversions.

What elements are required for ECTS conversions?

To be able to make the necessary conversions for ECTS credits, the following elements must be included on your Transcript/s of Records: 

• Original study units for each course (credits, credit hours etc.)
• Original cumulative study units for the degree (credits, credit hours etc.)

What to do if the required elements are missing?

If either one or both of these required elements are missing on your Transcript of Records, you must upload an additional, official statement in English provided by the related university, indicating the missing elements. 

You may also upload an official brochure for the programme issued by the university instead of the official statement if the missing elements are indicated in the brochure.  

Conversion factors for ECTS credits

Studies on Bachelor's level 

• Divide 180 (=cumulative ECTS credits for a LUT Bachelor’s Degree) by the cumulative number of original study units (credits, credit hours etc.) you have completed for the Bachelor’s Degree you are applying with
• As a result you will get the conversion factor for Bachelor's studies
• Multiply the original number of study units for the listed courses by this factor
• As a result you will get the result in ECTS credits

Studies on Master's level

• Multiply the original number of study units for the listed courses by 1.5
  • 1.5 = a fixed factor for Master's studies
• As a result you will get the result in ECTS credits

Do not round up the result for the converted ECTS credits: If the result is 2.25367 ECTS credits, you must list the course with exactly 2.25367 ECTS credits. 

Examples: How to correctly convert and list the required studies in ECTS credits

Case examples

Bachelor's studies 

Example: 

The total study units completed for your Bachelor’s Degree are 160 credit hours and you need to convert a course with 2 credit hours to ECTS credits.

• Divide 180 by 160 >> the conversion factor is 1.125 
• Multiply 2 credit hours by 1.125 = 2.25 ECTS credits 

Master's studies

Example:

You have completed 60 credits of Master's level studies and you need to convert a course with 3 credits to ECTS credits.

• Multiply 3 credits by 1.5 = 4.5 ECTS credits

Example: 

You have completed 95 credits of Master's level studies and you need to convert a course with 2 credits to ECTS credits.

• Multiply 2 credits by 1.5 = 3 ECTS credits 
   

Bachelor's Degree is a combination of several degrees

Example: 2-year Bachelor's Degree + 2-year Master's Degree = Bachelor's Degree (16 years of education)

You have completed 

• a 2-year Bachelor's Degree (90 credits) and 
• a 2-year Master's Degree (80 credits) 

that together are equivalent to a Bachelor's Degree (170 credits in total) and you need to convert a course with 3 credits to ECTS credits.

Since the combination of both the degrees is equivalent to a Bachelor's Degree, the conversion factor follows the factor for Bachelor's studies.

• Divide 180 by 170 >> the conversion factor is 1.05882353 
• Multiply 3 credit hours by 1.05882353 = 3.17647059 ECTS credits

Example: National Degree + Higher National Degree + top up = Bachelor's Degree 

You have completed 

• a 2-year National Degree (85 credit hours) and
• a 1-year top up for a Higher Nationial Degree (50 credit hours) and 
• a 1-year top up for a Bachelor's Degree (30 credit hours) 

that together are equivalent to a Bachelor's Degree (165 credit hours in total) and you need to convert a course with 2 credits to ECTS credits.

Since the combination of all these degrees is equivalent to a Bachelor's Degree, the conversion factor follows the factor for Bachelor's studies.

• Divide 180 by 165 >> the conversion factor is 1.09090909 
• Multiply 2 credit hours by 1.09090909 = 2.18181818 ECTS credits

What is an unfinished Bachelor's Degree?

• You have not yet graduated = you have not been awarded your Degree Certificate or the Provisional Degree Certificate

Having completed all your studies does not mean that you have graduated unless not having been awarded the Degree Certificate or the Provisional Degree Certificate.

If not being able to upload your Degree Certificate or the Provisional Degree Certificate by the supplementary deadline, you must identify your status on the application form as "not yet graduated".

When applying

• Indicate the estimated date of graduation on your Application Form
  • No official statement for the date required from the home university
• Upload your latest Transcript of Records to your Online Application Form
  • plus the official translation (when required)
  • The Transcript of Records must include the name of the degree to be awarded.
    • If not included, an additional statement issued by the awarding university about the name of the degree must be uploaded to your Online Application Form.

If admitted

If admitted, you must be able to

• Graduate by 31 August 2025
• Provide us with the following documents by 31 August 2025 at 15:00 (UTC+3)
  • Scan for your original Degree Certificate
  • Scan for your original Transcript of Records
• Provide us with the following documents by 5 September 2025 at 15:00 (UTC+3)
  • Scans for the official translations in English for both the documents (when applicable)
  • Official translations required, if the original documents are not issued in English, Finnish or Swedish.

The documents must be provided according to the given instructions despite of the country the degree was awarded in.

If not being able to meet with both the requirements by the given deadlines, your right to study in the programme will automatically be cancelled and you will lose your place without a possibility to claim it back.

Before the academic evaluation begins, the admission committee checks the programme-specific requirements and the applicants meeting with the requirements will move forward to academic evaluation.

Applications will be evaluated according to the admission groups 1 and 2.

There is no interview included in the evaluation process as the final selection among the applicants is based on the total points of:

• Academic performance, work experience, publications etc.

If there are places left from another admission group they can be supplemented from the other admission group in the order of selection.

In case of there are applicants with same points, all applicants will be selected.

The evaluation is completed in two admission groups according to the country where you completed the degree that you have to apply with.

Admission Group 1 
Bachelor's Degree completed in an EU/EEA country or in Switzerland. 
50% of admitted students will be admitted from this admission group.

Admission Group 2 
Bachelor's Degree completed in a country other than an EU/EEA country or Switzerland. 
50% of admitted students will be admitted from this admission group.

Your application is given points as follows:

Field of study and relevance of the degree you must apply with 
Max. 5 points

Arithmetic GPA for the degree you must apply with
Max. 5 points

For further information on the arithmetic GPA, please see Arithmetic GPA evaluated in the process under Admission Criteria.

Work experience
Max. 5 points
Relevant work experience supportive for the programme and completed by the end of the application period will be evaluated.

**Note** 
Upload only ONE attachment where you have combined all original Work Certificates for work experience related to the programme. 

Note: In case of the documents not having been combined into ONE attachment the application will remain an incomplete one and will not be evaluated. 

The following elements must be included in the Work Certificate:

• Name of the company 
• Title for the position in the company 
• Duration of the employment 
• Start and end date for the employment; in case of the employment still continuing this must be mentioned as well. 
• Date for the work certificate having been awarded 
• Signature and name in writing for the person having awarded and signed the document 
• Contact details for the person and the company

Work experience mentioned only for example, on a CV or on a salary slip will not be considered.

Publications and extracurricular activities related to the field of study
Max. 10 points
Remember to upload the related documents to prove your publications and extracurricular activities.

**Note** 
Upload only ONE attachment where you have combined all the different documents for your publications and extracurricular activities related to the programme and completed by the end of the application period. 

Note: In case of the documents not having been combined into ONE attachment the application will remain an incomplete one and will not be evaluated. 

Ranking of the applicant's degree-awarding university, Max. 3 points

If the university having awarded or awarding you the degree you are applying with is ranked among the Top 500 universities on the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2025 - Overall Ranking List you will get 3 points. 

You must check your university's ranking on the THE 2025 Overall Ranking List linked above and indicate on the application form if it is in the Top 500 universities or not. If the university's ranking is included in the Top 500 you must also indicate the ranking position and a direct link to the THE 2025 Overall Ranking List results page. 

In case of having indicated the ranking position for the university, it will be verified from the ranking list during the academic evaluation. In case of having indicated the university not being included in the Top 500 there will be no further processing related to the ranking position during the academic evaluation.

If the degree you have to apply with is a combination of two different degrees, the ranking position for the university is to be considered from the university awarding you the top-up degree that provides you with the eligibility to apply. 

Previous studies by LUT Open University or by other LUT Pathway studies
Max. 5 points
A minimum of 18 ECTS credits of studies offered by the LUT Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree Programme in Software Engineering and completed through LUT Open University or other LUT pathway studies.
Only courses in Software Engineering with course numbers beginning with CT accepted.
The language of instruction for the courses must be either English or Finnish.