Foreign Medical Students, Doctors and Postgraduates

Internships for Medical Students

Medical students studying at foreign universities can apply for internships at Tampere University Hospital. As a rule, interns are admitted to work outside university holidays, as during the summer and Christmas holidays internships are primarily reserved for students at Tampere University Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology. Please check with your faculty to see if it accepts an internship during the semester.

Requirements for internship

Sufficient oral and written Finnish language skills are required for the internships, at least an intermediate level (B1) in European Framework (CEFR). This ensures that training is beneficial to the trainee and does not compromise patient safety.

A prerequisite for the internship is the right to study at a medical faculty, which must be proven with a certificate of study issued by your own university. At Tampere University Hospital, medical students are required to have completed three years of studies before practicing in clinical fields. In certain situations, students who have studied for less than three years may also be admitted to some diagnostic fields (e.g. pathology), provided that the relevant courses have been completed.

How to apply

Applications for internships outside university holidays can be submitted at any time. Please state clearly in the application when you would like the internship to take place.

The application should be in Finnish and may be free-form. It should be accompanied by a certificate of study from your own faculty and a CV showing the courses completed up to that point and your previous experience in health care. If necessary, you can use the student's CV template found on the Tampere  University website.

You can send your application directly to the person in charge of the medical specialty of your choice. Contact information for the responsible persons can be found in connection with the training programs on each specialty.

The application can be sent by post (see address below) or email. However, it is worth noting that emails sent from gmail, hotmail, and other similar email addresses are easily redirected to recipient’s spam folder if they have attachments or links. If you have got a university email address, please use it to send an application.

Postal address for applications:

Pirkanmaan hyvinvointialue / Kirjaamo
PL 272
FI - 33101 Tampere

Please state the name of the recipient and the medical specialty at the beginning of the application.

Student Exchange

A medical student can get acquainted with Finnish specialized medical care through student exchange programs (e.g. Erasmus+, Nordplus). Finnish language skills are not required.

Requirements for internship

In general, a student exchange requires your university or other organization to be involved. Applicants must have sufficient knowledge of English, at least level B2 in European Framework (CEFR).

How to apply

Applications for student exchange are made in accordance with the timetables and instructions of each exchange program.

The application should be written in English. It may be free-form, but it should include:

• CV
• a motivation letter
• an academic transcript of your university records issued by your home university which covers the full length of your studies
• proof of knowledge in English (B2)

Medical Doctors Trained Outside of the EU/EEA 

Physicians trained outside of EU/EEA can only perform duties of Medical Doctors when they are duly legalized by the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health (Valvira). One part of the legalization process is a six-month medical internship at a Finnish health care operating unit before the first examination. The internship must be consistent with the internship requirements for Finnish medical students. During internship, the intern is not considered a health care professional and is not allowed to treat patients independently. Internships must be completed in either of Finland’s official languages, Finnish or Swedish.

Steps in the legalization process are shown in the picture below. More information about the process and each required step can be found on Valvira's website.

Requirements for internship

In order to be eligible for an internship in the Wellbeing Services County of Pirkanmaa, the applicant must have a certificate of recognition of medical degree by Valvira, sufficient oral and written skills in the Finnish language (B1 in European Framework CEFR) and a right to work in Finland which usually requires a residence permit.

More information on demonstrating language skills can be found on Valvira's website. More information on the residence permit can be found on the website of the Finnish Immigration Service.

How to apply

Applications for the internship are submitted through the Kuntarekry system. Applications are written in Finnish. Only those applications that include all requested attachments will be processed. Instructions are also available by email at laakariksi@pirha.fi.