Hello, I’m a US-Hungarian citizen applying to a Bachelor’s program in Finland. I’m trying to find out if there’s a difference between a BS in Technology and BS in Engineering
The program is in mechanical engineering, however the completion of the program leads to a Bachelor of Science in Technology.
From what I read the Finnish system calls all university engineering bachelor degrees Bachelor of Science in Technology . Could someone explain why this is? Is this just because of a different custom in Finland? Or is it really different from a BSEng?
Would it be recognised in the EU and US for admission to Masters and for work?
Finnish engineering degree
byu/Interesting_Hippo537 inFinland
Posted by Interesting_Hippo537
6 Comments
Bachelor of engineering is insinööri (AMK), which is a different degree from Bachelor of Sciences in Engineering (Tekniikan kanditaatti). The schools that award these are different. AMK is university of applied sciences, where as universities are just universities. Former is more practical, latter is theoretical.
Bachelor in Sciences alone is pretty much worthless as you are expected to go for the masters. Bachelor in Engineering is a proper stand-alone degree.
Universies of applied sciences often offer Bachelors in engineering where as universities offer bachelors of science in technology. With a BoS it is expected that you continue into a Masters, BoE can also apply for a masters degree but it works well as a standalone degree as well.
Bachelor of Science in Technology is a university degree. Bachelor of Engineering is a degree from university of applied sciences which is essentially a polytechnic.
The Finnish word for a engineering/technology BSc is ”tekniikan kandidaatti”, and for the MSc it’s ”diplomi-insinööri”. Tekniikan = technology, insinööri = engineer.
So there really is no practical difference, just a linguistic one.
Edit: As others have pointed out this applies for universities. Universities of applied sciences might offer bachelor degrees that are different from University bachelor’s degrees.
BSc (tech) is from a research university program in some field of technology. You can apply to a Master’s program with it.
BEng is from a polytechnic, and usually requires additional studies to be accepted in a Master’s program.
Additionally, some fields have a BPhil, which is more theoretical.
For example in mechanical engineering, someone with a BEng would be a foreman or expert, BSc (tech)… would probably go for MSc and then be an expert or R&D, and the BPhil would go for MPhil (material physics) and do R&D.
Master of Science (technology) is a relatively highly regarded degree in Finland called Diplomi Insinööri (DI). It’s a quite demanding degree and often leads to high paying positions in the technological industries. Bachelor of Science (tech.) is the bachelor version of that, but almost nobody stops there, it’s like a preliminary degree.
A master/bachelor of science in engineering is less academic and more practical (called Insinööri), and much easier to graduate from.
Many specialist and managerial positions are easier to get with the DI degree based on my experience.
If I were you I would get the B Sc tech degree and apply for a masters program.