STEP Education

Vocational Program Application

✨Congratulations✨ on finishing your Finnish Language Program. In this article, we will show you how to:

Apply for your dream school
Prepare and submit the required documents

Where are you on the journey?

After qualifying for the Finnish Certification, now it’s time to choose your study program and apply for your dream schools before getting the verification from the school’s principal.

School Application Timeline

Most Vocational Schools will have their own application period. After you've achieved your suitable certification (B1.1 or B1.2 depending on the programs), please inform your partner for further support at this stage.

Access to Wilma

Here’s where you will access Wilma, a Finland national vocational schools application platform, to fill in your information and program choice.

Please be noted that you can only apply once you reach the required Finnish Level Certification. If you need further information on the criteria and requirements of each program, please find it HERE.

Step 1. Access the Wilma application system

Your partner will provide you with the suitable application link for your school.

Step 2. Website translation and navigation

From here, you can utilize Google Translate function on your laptop/PC browser to translate to your language for easier navigation. There are 2 ways to do this, by either clicking on the translate button on the right of your address bar or right-clicking anywhere on the website and clicking on 'Translate to...'. An example can be seen in the below video. Even though the Google Translation tool is not 100% accurate, it will help you to navigate the website.

(if the video does not autoplay, please click on it)

Translating the website

We advise you NOT TO click on the below button to change the language to English, as sometimes the Wilma portal does not fully support English for the application.

✨ Or you can follow our instructions below ✨

Applying to Wilma

Now that you know how to access and navigate the Wilma website, it's time to start the application process.

Again, please be noted that you can only apply once you reach the required Finnish Level Certification. If you need further information on the criteria and requirements of each program, please find it HERE.

Step 1. Terms & Conditions

On the very first page, you will encounter the Terms step. Simply click ' Hyväksyn, jatka ' on the bottom right to continue to the form.

Step 2. Personal Information

Here, you will fill in your application details and information, including your name, program choice, email, address, etc.

First, fill in your surname, given name, and preferred name (can be the same as given name). For Degree/Education, please click on the box, and scroll down to the 'Sosiaali- ja terveysalan perustutkinto' option as shown below.

Note: if you are using Google Translation tool, 'Sosiaali- ja terveysalan perustutkinto' might be translated to 'Bachelor's Degree in Social and Healthcare'. This is a mistranslation, it's actually 'Vocational Program in Social & Healthcare' so don't worry.

Step 3. Personal Information (continue)

Moving on to the next part, you can fill in the information such as ID number, Sex, Municipality of residence, etc.

Social Security: since you don't have a Finnish Social Security number, please follow this format:

The first 6 numbers will be your birth day/ birth month/last 2 numbers of birth year in ddmmyy format

After this,

If your year of birth is before 2000, add '-XXXX'. For example: if your birthday is 1st November 1998, then you should fill in 011198-XXXX

If your year of birth is 2000 or later, add AXXXX, for example, if your birthday is 31st January 2002, then you should fill in 310102AXXXX

Sex: by clicking on the button with the blue circle, you can choose either 'Nainen'/'Female' or 'Mies'/'Male'.
Municipality of residence: after clicking on the blue circle button, click on the first option, which is a dash '-'.
Mother Tongue: please browse the list by clicking on the button, if you cannot find your language, you can simply choose 'englanti'/'english'.
Citizenship: please browse the list by clicking on the button and look for your country's name.
Street/Address: please fill in your home address in your country.

Step 4. Means of Communication

Here you will need to fill in some further personal information, such as:

Postal Number: if you have a postal number, please fill it in. If not, please fill in the same address as your home address above.
Mobile Phone: enter your mobile phone number including your country code.
Email Address: please make sure your email address is correct, as school will use this to send announcements and further instructions.

DO NOT tick the box for 'Olen tällä hetkellä kirjoilla jossakin toisessa oppilaitoksessa' or 'I am currently enrolled in another educational institution'.

Step 5. Previous Education

With Previous Education, you will have to input your degree here.

For the highest degree you have completed, or 'Korkein suorittamasi tutkinto", always choose 'Ulkomainen todistus', which can be found at the bottom of the list when you click on the option button.

Then you can input the name of your degree, whether it is Bachelor's, High School, or Lower Secondary School Degree and Time of study in mm.yyyy - mm.yyyy format.

Remember you can input your Finest Future Finnish Language Certificate as shown below and specify whether it is B1.1 or B1.2

Step 6. Working Experience

For this section, you will fill in your relevant working experience to your chosen program. For example, if you are choosing Practical Nurse program, you can fill in experiences working as a nurse or in relevant hospitals, etc.

Step 7. Background & Motivation

In this section, you will write a brief paragraph answering the questions stated. For the first question, you can state extra-curricular or volunteering activities that you participated in/hosted;

For the second one, similar to a short motivation letter, you can write why you want to come to Finland to study for the specific program, and your future plan.

You can mention that you studied Finnish in Finest Future before applying to the school.

Step 8. Apprenticeship For Another Company

You can leave this section blank.

Step 9. Health Requirements

For this final part, if you are applying for the Practical Nurse Program, please read through the health requirements of the program in the provided link (please use Google Translate).

In short, the requirements are about:

Mental or physical illness or disability that prevents participation in work tasks, such as psychotic-level symptoms or depression that severely decreases functional capacity, anxiety or fear of social situations, or an illness or disability that prevents communication and signposting.
Any other illness or injury that endangers the health or safety of the student, the client, or others participating in or working in the field.
Problem substance use or substance dependence.
Criminal records.

Tick the first box 'Olen tutustunut valtakunnallisissa tutkinnon perusteissa määriteltyihin alan terveydentilavaatimuksiin.' after you have read the requirements.

For 'Arvioi omaa soveltuvuuttasi alan terveydentilavaatimusten osalta', you will need to explain briefly why you meet these health criteria, do you have any illness that may affect your study/work, etc.

Please do not tick the 'Minulla on aiempi opiskeluoikeuden peruuttamispäätös.' box if you did not get canceled the right to study by an educational institution after being accepted.

Step 10. Almost There

After you have filled in all the information, click on Seuraava to enter the final step.

Reviewing Your Application

Here, you will have the chance to review all your information.

Please make sure that you have attached and filled in all the required information. And double check your email and personal info.

After you are done with reviewing, simply click on 'Tallenna' to bubmit.