How to apply for exchange studies at the Sibelius Academy
Find out if you can apply and how is it done. Apply in January - February 2025 for the academic year 2025-2026.
Who can apply?
We accept exchange student applications from all Erasmus+ programme eligible institutions. In addition, students from institutions that have a Bilateral Exchange Agreement with the Sibelius Academy can apply. Please contact your home institution’s International Office to find out whether you can apply for an exchange study period at the Sibelius Academy.
Application schedule and semester dates
Application schedule
We have only one application round each year for the following academic year: fall semester, spring semester or full academic year.
The application round for the academic year 2024-2025 is closed. The next possibility to apply will be open in January – February 2025 for the academic year 2025-2026.
Academic calendar 2024–2025
- Fall semester August 19 – December 20, 2024
- Spring semester January 7 – May 31, 2025
Application guidelines
General conditions
The applicant has to be a higher education student at an Erasmus+ programme eligible institution, or a student at an institution that has a Bilateral Exchange Agreement with the Sibelius Academy.
Exchange students can apply to the Sibelius Academy either for the autumn semester, spring semester or the full academic year. Please note, if you have been accepted only for the fall semester, prolongation of the exchange period for the spring semester is not guaranteed. Therefore, if you wish to stay for the full academic year, apply for the entire period from the start.
You can apply to the Sibelius Academy only according to the above-mentioned semester dates, not according to the semester dates of your home institution.
The maximum length of exchange studies at the Sibelius Academy is two semesters within one study cycle (Bachelor/Master/Doctoral).
Exceptions:
- Music Education department accepts exchange students for the full academic year only.
- Arts Management, Society, and Creative Entrepreneurship department accepts Master level exchange students only.
- Orchestral conducting: at the moment no applications are accepted, only reciprocal student exchanges can be arranged in limited situations. However, exchange applications for Choral Conducting and Wind Orchestra Conducting are welcome.
Application in Easy Mobility Online
All applications have to be submitted through the EASY Mobility Online by the deadline March 1st (midnight Finnish time UTC+2). Do not to leave starting the application too close to the deadline: there are steps that you need to follow to be able to confirm the final submission.
After sending the application form, you will receive an email with a link to get access to application workflow, where you need to upload needed documents, links to your video recordings/portfolio, edit your study plan and answer some more questions. Follow the workflow step-by-step, and finally, confirm submission.
We will not accept any applications submitted after the deadline.
Required documents and videos
Before starting your online application, please prepare the following documents you need to add into your application:
- Letter of motivation
- Transcript of records and/or a certificate of previous studies
- CV
- Study Plan: As part of your application in the Easy Mobility Online, we ask you to fill in a Study Plan with the courses you wish to take during your exchange period at the Sibelius Academy. See further information on what to include in your Study Plan.
- Video recording or portfolio
- Classical music performance, Jazz, Folk music, Music education: Video recording
A video recording / recordings of your playing or singing is required. You may choose the works freely; 2-3 pieces in contrasting styles. The total length of the recordings should not be longer than 20 minutes. Add the videos as links to YouTube, Vimeo, or DropBox in your application in Mobility Online. - Conducting: Video recording
A video recording / recordings of your conducting and playing or singing is required. You may choose the works freely; 2-3 pieces in contrasting styles. The total length of the recordings should not be longer than 20 minutes. Add the videos as links to YouTube, Vimeo, or DropBox in your application in Mobility Online. - Composition: Scores and interview
Composition applicants must submit the score of one or two work(s) showing both technical and compositional skills. Applicants should be prepared for an online interview. - Music Theory: Portfolio
Music Theory applicants must submit a portfolio documenting their music theory work (e.g. analysis exercises). In addition, you can attach a video of yourself playing or singing, but this is not obligatory. - Music technology: Portfolio
Music technology applicants should include a portfolio of previous works to the application. - Arts Management, Society and Creative Entrepreneurship: Interview
Arts Management, Society and Creative Entrepreneurship applicants should be prepared for an online interview.
- Classical music performance, Jazz, Folk music, Music education: Video recording
All applicants should be prepared for an online interview. We will contact you if an interview is required.
Please note:
- We cannot guarantee 25-30 ECTS per semester.
- You may only have one main subject during exchange.
- If you wish to have a second instrument, you have to state it in the Study Plan – however, we cannot guarantee a second instrument.
- We will not consider applications with an empty Study Plan.
Language requirements
The Sibelius Academy does not have exact requirements for exchange students’ language skills. However, we expect CEFR level B2 on language proficiency in English (or Finnish / Swedish). You can use the CEFR self-assesment grid to evaluate your level of proficiency in English.
Evaluation and final decisions
Complete applications submitted through the online application system by the deadline will be sent for evaluation to the department in question. The Head of the Department makes the final decision based on the quality of the application and the availability of study places and suitable teachers.
We evaluate the applications in March–April. We will notify both the applicant and the coordinator of the sending institution about the result of the selection procedure in April–May. Accepted students will receive the decision and the Letter of Acceptance through the Easy online application system. The students who are placed on a waiting list, and the students that are not selected, will also be notified through Easy.
Contact
If you have questions about the application process, please send an email to siba.international@uniarts.fi.