Have you previously studied at Arcada and want to resume your studies? Here you can find information on the available options.

There are three options depending on when your right to study started and why it ended. Everyone may apply for a new right to study through our regular application that is open for everyone. You will then get the same right to study as a person who commences his/her studies at the programme for the first time. The other options are applying for a renewed right to study or a new right to study through a separate application. These two options are available only if Arcada still offers the same programme that you were enrolled on before or an equivalent programme. In these cases the right to study is limited to a maximum of 1.5 years.

Start by contacting us

If you want to resume your studies, start by contacting Arcada’s study coordinators by e-mailing studentaffairs@arcada.fi. We will investigate which of the three options will suit you best. If you are advised to apply for either a renewed right to study or a new right to study through our separate application, please contact the study counsellor of your degree programme. They will inform you which courses you should complete in order to apply for a right to study and subsequently graduate.

1. New right to study through our regular application

Anyone may apply for a new right to study through our regular application that takes place in winter. If you are admitted, your right to study will be just as long as everyone else’s that started the programme.

2. Renewed right to study

Renewed right to study means that your previous right to study is reactivated. You may apply for renewed right to study if you meet the following two criteria:

  1. Your original right to study started on 1 August 2015 or later.
  2. Your right to study was terminated because
    • you did not register for the academic year,
    • your regular study time ended or
    • the extra study time you were granted ended.

You shall, as a general rule, take all the remaining courses through Open Studies. After completion, you can apply for a renewed right to study to complete the practical training, the methodology course and thesis.

Renewed right to study may be granted if you present a realistic plan for the completion of the remaining studies; length of the granted renewed study right is dependent on the study plan and amount of studies that are left. The studies should be completed in no longer than 1.5 years. The study plan must be approved by the programme director.

Regarding the individual study plan, please consider the following:

  • Studies with a completion date that is older than 7 years shall be separately approved by programme director. If the content of these studies is out-of-date and/or the competencies you have gained do not correspond to the competencies that a degree conferred by Arcada shall currently give, you may have to either retake or supplement studies or in some other way prove that you have the required competencies.
  • The individual study plan is valid for a limited time, which means that Arcada guarantees that you can graduate using your previous studies and the studies in your individual study plan only if you finish your studies according to the plan. For example, further studies may become out-of-date if your studies are prolonged (see above).
  • Students at the Degree Programme in Nursing:
    If it has been over two years since one or more of the required prerequisite courses have been completed, the student should demonstrate sufficient knowledge before participating in the practical training. The student should achieve approved results in the course or its practical exercises. Students may also be required to demonstrate that they have sufficient language skills (Finnish or Swedish).

Renewed right to study may be granted only once; exceptions can be made only for exceptional situations in life that can be proven by medical certificates. Students who have been granted renewed right to study may not apply for extended right to study, nor register as absent.

There is a 50 € fee for applying for renewed right to study.


3. New right to study through our separate application

This option means that you will get a new right to study in order to complete your degree, but this right to study will be shorter than the one obtained through our regular application.

You may apply for a new right to study through our separate application if either of the below applies to you:

  1. your original right to study started on 1 August 2015 or later, and you cancelled your enrolment yourself (as opposed to your study time ending or failing to register for the academic year), or
  2. your original right to study started before 1 August 2015 and your right to study ended for any reason. Please note that if you have been granted renewed right to study previously, you cannot apply for a new right to study. These two ways of resuming your studies are mutually exclusive.

You shall, as a general rule, take all the remaining courses through Open Studies, and only then apply for a new right to study before doing the practical training, the methodology course and thesis. A new right to study may be granted if you present a realistic plan for the completion of the remaining studies. The studies should be completed in no longer than 1.5 years. The plan must be approved by the programme director.

Regarding the individual study plan, please consider the following:

  • If you are granted a new right to study you shall, as a rule, follow the study plan that is valid when your new right to study begins.
  • Studies with a completion date that is older than 7 years shall be separately approved by programme director. If the content of these studies is out-of-date and/or the competencies you have gained do not correspond to the competencies that a degree conferred by Arcada shall currently give, you may have to either retake or supplement studies or in some other way prove that you have the required competencies.
  • The individual study plan is valid for a limited time, which means that Arcada guarantees that you can graduate using your previous studies and the studies in your individual study plan only if you finish your studies according to the plan. For example, further studies may become out-of-date if your studies are prolonged (see above).
  • Students at the Degree Programme in Nursing:
    If it has been over two years since one or more of the required prerequisite courses have been completed, the student should demonstrate sufficient knowledge before participating in the practical training. The student should achieve approved results in the course or its practical exercises. Students may also be required to demonstrate that they have sufficient language skills (Finnish or Swedish).

A new right to study can be granted only once; exceptions can be made only for situations in life that can be proven by medical certificates. Students who have been granted renewed right to study may not apply for extended right to study, nor register as absent.