Enrolment, payment and start of studies

For the studies of the academic year 2024–2025 enrolment begins on 13 August 2024 at 10 am. Enrolment takes place for course implementations (no longer for study modules or courses). Enrolment is always binding and the study fee must be paid within one day of receiving the enrolment.

All course implementations have a limited number of places and a certain enrolment period, but most implementations have plenty of places.

If the course implementation has already started, check with the Open University student services (avoinyo(at)uwasa.fi) whether you can still join. With some courses, the student's attendance is required from the start.

How to enrol:

1. Get to know our course selection.

2.  After you have found the course implementation you want, take a look at the course description in Studyinfo, where you will find all the relevant information of the course, e.g. price, schedules and implementation methods. In the course description, you can also find a Register for studies button, that leads directly to the enrolment of the course implementation. So please, firstly examine the course description and only after that proceed to enrolment.

3. By clicking the enrolment link, the Enrolment service opens, and the course implementation for which you are enrolling in has been added. 

> Click "Sign up".

4. You move on to identify yourself in the suomi.fi identification service. The strong identification is done with Finnish online banking codes or a mobile certificate. If you don't have them, please contact the Open University student services, avoinyo(at)uwasa.fi or 029 449 8004.

5. After the identification, you move on to the enrolment form.

> Select the enrolment type and fill in your basic and contact information on the form (mandatory fields are marked with a star *), accept the payment and cancellation terms and conditions, and give permission to process the data and press the Enrol button.

Enrolment type selection

• If you are enrolling in the Open University’s own course implementations, select the enrolment type "Enrolment in open university studies (Open university courses in Vaasa)” in the enrolment form.
• If you have agreed with your employer about paying the study fee, go to the section "The employer pays the study fee" and continue enrolling according to those instructions.
• If you participate in the course implementation organised at our partner institution and you are doing the second part of enrolment for the University of Vaasa Open University, read the instruction "Enrolment for partner institutions' course implementations" before selecting the enrolment type and continuing the enrolment.

6. Enrolment is done.

Binding enrolment

Enrolment is always binding, but in the case of a course implementation subject to a fee, the enrolment is conditional until the study fee has been paid. This means that if we do not receive payment from you within the deadline (payment period of one day), we have the right to reject your enrolment and offer the place to the next alternate waiting. Read more about paying the study fee under ‘Payment of the study fee’.

Email confirmations

After enrolling, you will first receive a confirmation of receiving the enrolment. If the course implementation has places available, you will receive a separate message about the acceptance of the enrolment. If, on the other hand, all the places have already been filled, you will receive a notification about getting on the waiting list or rejection of the enrolment.

NB! All messages from the Enrolment service come from the address snd(at)postittaja.fi (the sender is the University of Vaasa Open University Enrolment service). The messages are automatic messages, so you cannot reply to them.

Partner institutions organize some of our studies. When enrolling in partner institutions, the respective institution's own enrolment practices are followed, and enrolment always takes place first for the partner institution. More detailed instructions on enrolment can be found in the description of each course implementation on the website of the partner institution. You can find the course selection by partner institutions most easily through our course selection search (see picture below) by filtering the search results according to e.g. the organizing institution and the starting semester.

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Enrolment for the studies of partner institutions happens in two parts. Firstly, enrolment is always done for the partner institution, and secondly, enrolment for the University of Vaasa Open University is done before the start of the studies via the direct enrolment link sent from the partner institution.

Enrolments made through the University of Vaasa Open University Enrolment service for partner institutions’ course implementations are always first checked from the partner institution before approval, and if no enrolment is found, the enrolment made to the Open University Enrolment service is rejected.

The study fee is also paid in two parts. The actual course fee is paid to the partner institution and the service fee is paid to the University of Vaasa Open University in connection with the second part enrolment via the payment link sent from the Enrolment service. You can find price information in the partner institution’s course description.

Instructions for enrolling in course implementations at partner institutions:

1. Get to know the course selection of partner institutions either through our course selection search (see image above) or directly on our partner institutions' own websites. Familiarize yourself with course descriptions, where you can find e.g. schedule and price information as well as implementation methods and first part enrolment as instructed by the partner institution.

2. Before the start of the studies, the partner institution sends you an enrolment link, which allows you to enrol for the second part on the University of Vaasa Open University Enrolment service. By clicking the link, the front page of the Enrolment service opens and the course implementation you are enrolling in has been pre-selected. Check that the name of the implementation has the name of the partner institution. 

> Click "Sign up".

3. You move on to identify yourself in the suomi.fi identification service. The strong identification is done with Finnish online banking codes or a mobile certificate. If you don't have them, please contact the Open University student services, avoinyo(at)uwasa.fi or 029 449 8004.

4. After the identification, you move on to the enrolment form.

> Select the enrolment type and fill in your basic and contact information on the form (mandatory fields are marked with a star *), accept the payment and cancellation terms and conditions, and give permission to process the data and press the Enrol button.

Enrolment type selection

• If you are enrolling in the second part for a paid or free implementation of a partner institution and, according to the instructions, you pay the study/service fee yourself, select the enrolment type "Student in partner institution of open university” in the enrolment form. 
• If you have agreed with your employer about paying the study fee, go to the section "The employer pays the study fee" and continue enrolling according to those instructions.
• If an agreement has been made with your partner institution on invoicing the service fee (in some cases also the study fee) from the partner institution (applies only to South Ostrobothnia Folk High School and The Summer University of Tampere high school courses), select the enrolment type "The employer / The partner institution pays the study/service fee". In that case, you will not be charged a service fee in connection with the second part enrolment, but the fee will be charged from the partner institution.

5. Enrolment is done.

Binding enrolment

Enrolment is always binding, but in the case of a course implementation subject to a fee, the enrolment is conditional until the study fee has been paid. The study right can be granted and the assessment registered in the student information system only after the service fee has been paid.

Email confirmations

After completing the second part of enrolment in the Open University Enrolment service, you will first receive an email confirmation of receiving the enrolment. However, your enrolment is conditional until we have checked it from the partner institution. If your enrolment is in order, you will then receive a separate message about the acceptance of enrolment. If your enrolment for the partner institution is not found, you will receive a message that the enrolment has been rejected.

NB! All messages from the Enrolment service come from the address snd(at)postittaja.fi (the sender is the University of Vaasa Open University Enrolment service). The messages are automatic messages, so you cannot reply to them.

Automatic acceptance (Open university's own courses)

If you enrolled in a course implementation subject to a fee, for which acceptance takes place automatically in the order of enrolment, you can pay the study fee immediately after enrolment in Paytrail by pressing the ‘Proceed to pay’ button in the next opening confirmation view. If you do not want to pay immediately, you will find a payment link in an automated ‘Enrolment approved’ message sent to your email. The payment period is one (1) day. 

If you pay the study fee already at this stage, the payment link included in the message will no longer work, i.e. there is no risk of the fee being charged from you twice. Once you have paid the fee, you will receive an automatic e-mail of the received payment.

Manual acceptance (e.g. courses of partner institutions)

If your enrolment is, instead, manually accepted by an official, you will only be able to pay the study fee when the official has granted you a place on the course. You will then receive an e-mail with the ‘Enrolment approved’ automatic message, where you will find a payment link through which you can pay the study fee for the course in Paytrail. The payment period is one (1) day.

If the fee is paid by someone else

If your company/employer pays your study/service fee, read the instructions under "The employer as the payer of studies".

Confirmation of payment and transfer to Paytrail 

When you proceed to pay the study fee via the ‘Proceed to pay’ button or the payment link in the email, you will first come to a form asking you to confirm the study fee to be paid and to add the mandatory information, i.e. at least your first and last name (automatically filled in) and your email address. You then go to Paytrail, where you can complete the payment.

The payment service provider of EduPlan is Paytraili Oyj (2122839-7). More information about payment, such as the different payment options, can be found on the Paytrail website (opens in a new tab).

Receipt of the paid study fee

After completing the payment, you will receive a separate message of the payment received to your e-mail. The ‘Payment Received’ message also contains a link through which you can order a password to access your own enrolments and download receipts approved by the Finnish Tax Administration (Verohallinto) for payments you have made. More detailed instructions can be found in the section “How to view own enrolments and download a receipt in the enrolment service Eduplan”.

Once the enrolment has been accepted and the necessary fees paid, the staff of the Open University Student Services will transfer your enrolment to the Peppi Student Information System of the University of Vaasa. Transfers are made daily during office hours, i.e. there may be a delay in transfers, especially if you make your enrolment e.g. in the evenings, on weekends or during holidays.

In connection with the transfer, you will be granted the study right in the Open University (all enrolments made in the enrolment service will go to the same study right and will be visible in the Personal Study Plan of the study right in question), in addition to which you will be added to the implementation of the course in question in Peppi. So you do not have to take care of the registration for the course implementation in Peppi yourself. It will be done on your behalf from the open university's student services.

After the study right has been granted, you can activate your University of Vaasa user account i.e. a username and a password (if you do not yet have a valid user account) in the IDP Identity Service at https://login.uwasa.fi. With your username and password, you can log in to the systems of the University of Vaasa, e.g. Peppi Student's desktop and Moodle). However, the open university students have limited user accounts, which do not include e.g. the university's email address or the Office365 package.

The user account can be activated after you have been granted the study right in the Peppi student information system. Please note that there may be a few days delay between the confirmation of the enrolment and granting of the study right.

More detailed instructions for activating the user account can be found on the page ‘Instructions for using the IT systems’.

NOTE! If this is your first enrolment and you do not enrol in the course starting until the following semester, you will be able to activate your user account only after the start of your study right (the study rights are always granted from the beginning of the semester in question, either from 1 August or 1 January).

The University of Vaasa's Open University's own courses

Follow actively the schedules of courses from the course descriptions of the Study Path, to which you can find direct links in our course selection search.

You will receive a course message to your email about 1-2 days before the course starts, where you will find more detailed instructions for starting your studies. With courses that use the online learning environment Moodle, the course message also includes an enrolment instruction, the name of the course platform and/or a direct link, as well as an enrolment key that allows you to enrol on the correct course platform.

Please remember to let us know if your email address changes. You can update your other contact information in the Peppi Student's desktop. We use email as our primary communication channel.

Courses of partner institutions

Actively follow the schedules of courses from the course descriptions of the partner institutions. Please remember to notify both the partner institution and us if your contact information, especially your e-mail address, changes. We use email as our primary communication channel.

You will receive a course message from the partner institution no later than the start date of the course, where you will find more detailed instructions on how to start your studies. With courses that use the online learning environment Moodle, the course message also includes an enrolment instruction, the name of the course platform and/or a direct link, as well as an enrolment key that allows you to register on the correct course platform.

The amount of the study fee for the academic year 2024–2025

We offer everyone who enrols in our studies an advantage of early enrolment! When you enrol in the University of Vaasa Open University's own courses between 13–31 August 2024, the course price is only € 10 /credit. From 1 September 2024, the cost of the course is € 12/credit. Check the price and course information of the partner institutions separately.

The partner institutions determine the amount of their course fees themselves and they are not paid to the Open University of the University of Vaasa. Only the part of the service fee included in the course fee is paid to the Open University of the University of Vaasa in connection with the enrolment for the second phase.

Acts and decrees pertaining to study fees

The study fees of the open university are based on the Universities Act (558/2009) and on the Government Decree on fees for university services (1082/2009) and its amendment (199/2024). Study fees are receivables under public law and are distrainable without separate measures (Universities Act 558/2009, §8).

In addition to this, a fee may be charged for possible learning materials according to the absorption cost. The fee regulation applies to the University of Vaasa Open University's own teaching in Vaasa. Partner institutions set the price of open university education on other grounds.

Enrolment for open university studies is always binding. Once you have paid the study fee, you will receive the study right for the course implementation you have applied for. The study fee is implementation-specific.

The study fee will be returned to the student in its entirety if the course implementation is cancelled by the open university or, in case of illness, against a sick leave certificate.

Terms of payment with the open university's own course implementations

The enrolment made is always binding. The study fee must be paid within one (1) day of enrolment. You can check the valid study fee and the grounds for the study fee in the section 'The amount and grounds of the study fee'.

Cancellation terms with the Open University's own implementations

If you do not start your studies, you must cancel your enrolment by sending an email to avoinyo(at)uwasa.fi no later than 7 days before the start of your studies. In this case, we will refund the part of the study fee that exceeds 50 euros.  If the cancellation is made later, nothing will be refunded. Nor can the study right be postponed to another date or its duration extended.

Please note that failure to pay the study fee does not mean cancellation of studies.

Cases of sickness

In exceptional cases, such as when a student becomes ill, the study fee can be refunded in full for studies that have started. The amount to be refunded is the study fee paid by the student to the University of Vaasa Open University. In cases of illness, the student must submit a written notice of cancellation or suspension of the course implementation to the student services of the Open University, avoinyo(at)uwasa.fi, with a sick leave certificate written by a doctor.

Cancellation of course implementation

Also in cases where the University of Vaasa Open University has to cancel the course implementation due to e.g. the small number of enrollees, the study fee will be refunded in full.

Payment and cancellation terms with course implementations of partner institutions

The course fee of the partner institution is paid in connection with the first part enrolment to the partner institution. The part of the service fee included in the course fee is paid to the University of Vaasa Open University in connection with the enrolment for the second part. Check the prices and the terms of payment of the partner institution from the partner institution in question.

If the employer pays your study/service fee

• make enrolment with the enrolment type 'Enrolment in open university studies (Open university courses in Vaasa)' and pay the study/service fee normally, download the receipt of the paid study fee from the enrolment service Eduplan (see the instructions under 'How to view own enrolments and download a receipt in the enrolment service Eduplan' and invoice the study fee afterwards according to the instructions you have received from your employer or

• make the enrolment normally, but choose 'The employer / The partner institution pays the study/service fee' as the enrolment type on the enrolment form. Also fill in the 'Employer's invoice information for open university study fees' form with your employer and add it as an attachment to the enrolment form. After the enrolment has been accepted, we will send an invoice for the study/service fee to your employer.

1. You can view your own enrolments and download a receipt of the study or service fee you have paid through the Your enrollments link you find at the upper right corner of the enrolment service in https://uwasa.ilmoittaudu.fi.

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2. In the text field, enter the email address you used to enrol and press Send.

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3. You will receive an automated email with an access code to view your enrolments. The message also contains a direct link through which you can access the same view without an access code.

4. The general view of the enrolments lists all the enrolments you have made with the e-mail address in question, arranged according to the enrolment time.

To view an individual enrolment, tap the ‘View registration’ link at the end of the enrolment line.

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5. In the individual enrolment view under ‘Courses’ you can see the name, code and credits of the course as well as the status of the enrolment. Under the Own information heading, you will find the information you entered into the enrolment form, as well as the additional information related to your enrolment under the Registration Information heading and the Additional Questions heading, including the information if the course is free or subject to a fee, the date of enrolment, the enrolment type, attachments, and the reason for possible rejection of the enrolment.

If the course is subject to a study/service fee and you have paid the fee, you can download an official receipt of your payment approved by the Finnish Tax Administration (Verohallinto) to your device. You’ll find the PDF receipt link under the Actions column.

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6. You can get back to the enrolment overview from the Back to overview link. Finally, remember to log out when you leave the view of your own enrolments.

Enrolment in free course implementations of degree students

You can find the enrolment instructions for the free course implementations intended for degree students of the University of Vaasa (students of administrative sciences, communication sciences and technology) in the student intranet Jolla (requires registration, opens in a new tab).

Enrolment for the separately mentioned free implementations takes place in Peppi Student's desktop.

Compensation of study fees for students of the University of Vaasa

Degree students of  the University of Vaasa can also enrol for other open university course implementations for a fee. Enrolment is done in the Open University's Eduplan enrolment service. 

Basic degree students of the University of Vaasa can apply compensation of study fees for open university courses (including summer universities and other educational institutions where studies of the University of Vaasa are offered as open university studies), except for the open university courses that are free of charge for degree students.

Compensation means that the university pays for the completed studies when the student includes them as part of the degree completed at the University of Vaasa. There are restrictions to receiving compensation. You can find more information and the compensation for study fees application form here. Please ask your own study counselor for more information about compensation.