Apply to Emergency Care Systems Development and Leadership

Here you will find important information on how to apply to the Emergency Care Systems Development and Leadership programme.

The degree programme in Emergency Care Systems Development and Leadership is a collaboration between Arcada University of Applied Sciences and LAB University of Applied Sciences.  Application to the programme at both universities of applied sciences will be part of the joint application, taking place 8-22.1.2025.

Application is to be submitted through the national application portal studyinfo.fi. The applicant can apply to either programme or to both. If applying to both programmes, applicant will not need to place these in order of priority and can also, in case score is sufficient, receive an admissions offer from both universities of applied sciences. An admitted applicant can however accept only one study place at a programme leading to a degree at a higher education institution. 

Educational background 
 

Before starting your master's application process to respective university of applied sciences, please make sure that you are an eligible applicant, i.e. that you have a suitable educational background, two years of work experience and that you also meet the English language proficiency requirement.

To be eligible to apply to Emergency Care Systems Development and Leadership, the applicant must have a suitable bachelor's degree in emergency care, nursing, public health nursing, physiotherapy, or social care. 
 

Two years of work experience

All applicants must, in addition to the requirements listed above, have a minimum of two years (24 months) of relevant work experience gained after the completion of the bachelor's degree in order to meet the eligibility criteria.
Work experience is only counted after the bachelor's degree has been awarded, and needs to be proven by a work certificate. CV are not accepted on their own. Work experience gained before or during your bachelor studies cannot be counted towards the work experience minimum requirement. An exception is only made for applicants who have completed a Finnish vocational college diploma or higher vocational diploma (opisto- tai ammatillisen korkea-asteen tutkinto) before the completion of their higher education degree, as they may also take into account work experience gained before the higher education degree. Work experience can be counted up to 31st July 2025. 

Part-time work is converted to full-time work so that 150 hours or 20 full-time working days (a minimum of seven hours per day) are equal to a month. The work experience does not have to be continuous or from the same employer. Practical training or on-the-job learning is not counted as work experience if it forms a part of the degree used for applying. 

English proficiency requirement

To demonstrate proficiency in English, one of the following language test results, meeting the minimum score requirement, is required from the applicant. The language test results are valid for two years from the date of taking the test and your test result must be valid on the first day of the application period. 

  • Cambridge B2 First: Minimum score 170 
  • Cambridge International IGCSE: First language English, Syllabus 0500 and 0990 
  • Cambridge C1 Advanced: Minimum Score level C
  • Cambridge C2 Proficiency: Minimum Score level C 
  • TOEFL iBT/ TOEFL iBt Home Edition/ TOEFL iBT Paper edition/ TOEFL iBT Enhancements: Minimum score 80   (writing score min. 20)  
  • IELTS  Academic/ IELTS Indicator / IELTS Online: Minimum score 6.0 (writing score minimum 5.5)
  • Pearson/PTE Academic/ PTE Academic Online: Minimum score 58
  • SAT test Evidence-Based Reading and Writing: Minimum score 600

     

Arcada/LAB strives to accept electronic copies of language certificates submitted directly from the testing organisation. Please request your score report to be submitted to Arcada/LAB UAS when you register for the Cambridge, Pearson or TOEFL tests. Also, IELTS test takers can request the result to be sent to Arcada/LAB directly but as results can be verified online, a copy of the test result attached to the application form is accepted.
An applicant applying both to Arcada and to LAB UAS must ensure that the language certificate is delivered to both uases. If you have taken the SAT test it is sufficient if you send your score to either of the UAS that you have applied to.

Send your SAT to Arcada using the code 7151, and to LAB using the code 7191.

Language certificates must be the UAS at hand and verifiable in the respective language test database by 29th January 2025. 

Other ways to prove proficiency in English
A language test is not required when you have completed an upper secondary degree or a higher education degree i.e. at least a Bachelor's degree level degree in English at an institution located in the following countries: an EU or EEA country, Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, South Africa or the United States, excluding online degrees and offshore campuses.

A language test is also not required when you have completed a higher education degree i.e. at least a Bachelor's degree completed at a university or university of applied sciences in one of the Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark or Iceland).   



Student selection through entrance exam course

Students to this master programme are selected trough an entrance exam course, carried out as a collaboration between Arcada and LAB UAS.

All applicants must complete the course Designing and Evaluating Patient-Centered Emergency Care 5 ECTS, in order to be considered for admission. A successfully completed course will be accredited toward the degree for an applicant who is admitted to either UAS. There is no fee for the entrance exam course.

The entrance exam course consists of three parts, max points 120: 

  • Video (10 p): Presentation and quality in emergency care context. Maximum 10 points
  • Lectures (5+5p): Participation in lecture 1: 5 points, participation in lecture 2: 5 points. Maximum 10 points
  • Essay 1 (50p): Opportunities and challenges related to measuring effects and effectiveness in emergency care context. Maximum 50 points.
  • Essay 2 (50p): Patient-centeredness in emergency care context. Maximum 50 points. Essays will be checked for plagiarism
     

An invitation to the entrance exam course containing all relevant information about the course will be sent to applicants after application has closed. The entrance exam course will be open between 3 Feb 2025 - 16 March 2025 and will be online.

The timetable of the course and assignments for each section is the following:
 

  • Assignment 1, video:  3-16.2.2025
  • Assignment 2, essay 1: 3.2-2.3.2025
  • Assignment 3, essay 2: 17.2-16.3.2025  


There will also be two live sessions in the form of lectures in which the applicant is to actively participate. The dates of the lectures will be published later. 

Eligibility is checked only for an applicant who is admitted to the programme. 

The student selection is based on the points of the entrance exam course. The maximum number of points is 120. To be eligible to the program at either university of applied sciences the applicant must achieve at least 50 points, 20 from each essay and a total of 10 from video and lectures. In case several applicants score the same points, all such applicants will be admitted. Evaluation of the course is based on Universities of Applied Sciences evaluation frame, presented in the MOOC platform.