Admission criteria for International Business and Entrepreneurship

Read more about the programme at Master's programme in International Business and Entrepreneurship.

• Bachelor of Science in Economics and Business Administration 
  Completed in a University
  Kauppatieteiden kandidaatti  

Having completed a Master of Science Degree in Economics and/or Business Administration or equivalent at the time of applying or, completing it before starting the LUT Master's studies makes you ineligible to apply.
 

• Bachelor of Business Administration 
  Completed in a University of Applied Sciences
  Tradenomi (AMK)  

Having completed a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (Tradenomi YAMK) still makes you eligible to apply but only when applying with the Bachelor's Degree.  
 

• Bachelor's Degree in a field other than Business Administration or Economics 
  Completed in a University  

Having completed a Master's Degree in a field other than Economics and Business Administration still makes you eligible to apply but only when applying with the Bachelor's Degree. 

A minimum of 24 ECTS credits of studies completed in Business Administration required.
 

• Bachelor's Degree in a field other than Business Administration 
  Completed in a University of Applied Sciences  

Having completed a Master's Degree in a field other than Economics and Business Administration still makes you eligible to apply but only when applying with the Bachelor's Degree. 

A minimum of 24 ECTS credits of studies completed in Business Administration required. 
 

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. 

An accepted GMAT Exam or GRE General Test result required. 

The required GMAT Exam or GRE General result can be compensated by one of the following: 

• you have been awarded a Bachelor's or Master's Degree in Business Administration by a Finnish University of Applied Sciences 
• you have been awarded a Bachelor's Degree in any field of study by a Finnish University 
• you have been awarded a Master's Degree in a field other than Economics or Business Administration by a Finnish University 
• The related degree must have been awarded by the end of the application period.

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 Economics and/or Business Administration 
  Completed in a university - all countries

Having completed a Master's Degree in Economics and/or Business Administration or equivalent at the time of applying or, completing it before starting the LUT studies makes you ineligible to apply. 

A minimum of 80 ECTS credits of studies within at least three different fields listed for Business Administration must be included in the degree. 

Equivalent degrees with different titles also accepted as long as the required studies are included. 

• Bachelor of Business Administration 
  Completed in a University of Applied Sciences - EU/EEA countries or Switzerland

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

A minimum of 80 ECTS credits of studies within at least three different fields listed for Business Administration must be included in the degree. 

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. 
 

• Bachelor's Degree in a field other than Business Administration or Economics 
  Completed in a University - All countries  

Having completed a Master's Degree in a field other than Business Administration or Economics still makes you eligible to apply but only when applying with the Bachelor's Degree. 

A minimum of 24 ECTS credits of studies completed in Business Administration required.

An accepted GMAT Exam or GRE General Test result required. 

The required GMAT Exam or GRE General result can be compensated by one of the following: 

• you have been awarded a Bachelor's or Master's Degree in Business Administration by a Finnish University of Applied Sciences 
• you have been awarded a Bachelor's Degree in any field of study by a Finnish University 
• you have been awarded a Master's Degree in a field other than Economics or Business Administration by a Finnish University 
• The related degree must have been awarded by the end of the application period.

  
   

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 studies in International Business, International Marketing, Entrepreneurship or International Management

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, EU/EEA countries and Switzerland

You must list your courses in English in ECTS credits on your application form - also when they have been completed in Finnish - plus, upload an official Transcript of Records in English for your studies.

The names of the courses you list in English on the application form must be identical with the names of the courses on the Transcript of Records in English.

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

• Degree Certificate for the Bachelor's Degree
  + an official translation when required
  Upload a scan for the original/s.
• Transcript of Records for the Bachelor's Degree
  + an official translation when required

  Upload a scan for the original. 
  If your Bachelor's Degree is a combination of two or more different degrees, upload one combined scan/document in which you have included all the original Transcripts of Records. 
  The following elements must be included in the Transcript/s of Records: 
  * Original study units for each course
  * Original cumulative study units for the degree
  * Grades for each course
  If one or many of these required elements are missing, you must upload an additional, official statement provided by the university in English, indicating the missing elements. 
  The original study units for each course as well as the cumulative ones for the degree can also be provided by uploading an official brochure for the programme if these elements are indicated in the brochure. 
  The additional document/s must be combined together and uploaded to the same section with the Transcript of Records. 

• Language Test result when required
  Upload a scan for the test result or a screenshot from your test account. 
  The result is always electronically verified from the test database.
• Letter of Motivation (max. 500 words)
  If having international experience, remember to explain it on your Letter of Motivation as international experience is part of the evaluation for the Letter of Motivation. 
  Remember to also upload documents to prove your experience.
• Additional educational documents when required
  + official translations when required
  Upload a scan for the original/s.
  When proving your proficiency in English with another degree apart from the one you are applying with.
  When having completed programme-specifically required university-level studies not included in the degree you are applying with.
• GMAT Exam or GRE General Test  when required
  When applying to this programme with a degree in a field other than Business Administration:
  Completed in a Finnish University of Applied Sciences
  Completed in a University outside of Finland
  Upload a scan for the test result or a screenshot from your test account. 
  The result is always electronically verified from the test database.
  Minimum required scores: 
  GMAT Exam (Focus Edition): 515
  GMAT Examm (10th Edition): 550
  GRE General Test: Verbal Reasoning 152 + Quantitative Reasoning 152 + Analytical Writing 3.0 
  We also accept GMAT Online Exam and GRE General Test at Home.
• Passport or ID card with nationality
  Upload a scan for the document or card. 
• Finnish Residence Permit Card
  Upload a scan for the card if having one.

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.

Admission Group 1

• Bachelor of Science in Economics and Business Administration
  Completed in a university in Finland (kauppatieteiden kandidaatti)
• Bachelor of Science Economics/Business Administration
  Completed in a university worldwide
• 45% of the admitted students come from this group

Admission Group 2

• Bachelor of Business Administration
  Completed in a university of applied sciences in Finland (tradenomi)
• Bachelor of Business Administration
  Completed in a university of applied sciences in an EU/EEA country or Switzerland
• 45% of the admitted students come from this group

Admission Group 3

• Bachelor's Degree in a field other than Business Administration
  Completed in a university in Finland
• Bachelor's Degree in a field other than Business Administration
  Completed in a university of applied sciences in Finland
• Bachelor's Degree in a field other than Business Administration
  Completed in a university worldwide
• 10% of the admitted students come from this group

If seats still available in any of the three Admission Groups after all eligible applicants having been considered for admission, the available seats can be completed with eligible applicants from the other Admission Groups.

Academic Success, max. 5 points

Arithmetic GPA for the degree you must apply with:

• 3.00 - 3.49 = 1 points
• 3.50 - 3.99 = 3 points 
• 4.00 - 5.00 = 5 points

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

Letter of Motivation, max. 10 points

Your motivation will be assessed based on a Letter of Motivation (max. 500 words).

If having international experience, remember to also explain it as international experience is part of the evaluation for the Letter of Motivation. Remember to also upload documents to prove your experience.

International experience = 0-3 points

• no experience  = 0 points
• 1-3 months      = 1 point
• 3-6 months      = 2 points
• 6 months -       = 3 points

Overall contents = 0-7 points

The applicant must follow the practices of scientific writing: documents related to the application process such as Letter of Motivation must be written by the applicant. It must not present other people's ideas, information, words or other material without a sufficient reference. Artificial intelligence is not a source of scientific text. The applicant must ensure that the source entries are correct.

Academic Success, max. 5 points

Arithmetic GPA for the degree you must apply with:

• 3.00 - 3.49 = 1 points
• 3.50 - 3.99 = 3 points 
• 4.00 - 5.00 = 5 points

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

Letter of Motivation, max. 10 points

Your motivation will be assessed based on a Letter of Motivation (max. 500 words).

If having international experience, remember to also explain it as international experience is part of the evaluation for the Letter of Motivation. Remember to also upload documents to prove your experience.

International experience = 0-3 points

• no experience  = 0 points
• 1-3 months      = 1 point
• 3-6 months      = 2 points
• 6 months -       = 3 points

Overall contents = 0-7 points

The applicant must follow the practices of scientific writing: documents related to the application process such as Letter of Motivation must be written by the applicant. It must not present other people's ideas, information, words or other material without a sufficient reference. Artificial intelligence is not a source of scientific text. The applicant must ensure that the source entries are correct.

Studies in Methodology, max. 1 point

• 1 point = a minimum of 6 ECTS credits of university level studies completed in Methodology

These studies must be completed in a university, while studies completed in a University of Applied Sciences are not accepted.

Studies in Methodology in a field other than Business Administration are accepted as well.

The studies must include both qualitative and quantitative studies.

The minimum grade for these studies must be at least 3 on a scale from 1 to 5.

A limited number of applicants from all three Admission Groups are invited to an interview in the order of the highest total points for stage 1.

The interview is evaluated as follows:

• Motivation and entrepreneurship = 0-7 points
• Practical communication skills in English = 0-7 points
• Case study = 0-6 points

Case Study for the Interview

Applicants invited to the interview will receive a case study related to International Business and Entrepreneurship by email approximately a week before the interview.

The completed case study will act as part of the evaluation for competence and practical communication skills in English.