Electrical Engineering, Wireless Communications and RF Systems
Wireless communications – connecting people and things
Digitalisation is here to stay. The ongoing digitalisation builds on an efficient communications infrastructure.
Communication is not only for humans anymore: the Internet of Things and the Industrial Internet are the forerunners of a connected and programmable world where things are also able to communicate. Digitalisation will have an impact on a wide range of industries, such as energy, transportation, logistics and manufacturing.
Another prevailing trend in society and industry is robotisation. Modern inventions, such as self-driving cars and drones, strongly rely on highly efficient and reliable wireless communications while also utilising radio-based positioning and sensing/radar technologies. Wireless communications and radio frequency (RF) technologies enable the making of a wide variety of applications ranging from everyday consumer products to high-end industrial machines, robots and space science. The Internet of Things (IoT), 5G mobile communication networks and sensing/radar systems are the three most important application domains.
Tampere University offers a unique learning environment for Wireless Communications. Please see additional information on Wireless Research.
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The studies in Wireless Communications and RF Systems deal with fundamental wireless communications and RF technologies, which are crucial in enabling the future programmable and connected world, including a wide variety of applications ranging from everyday consumer products to high-end industrial machines and robots as well as space science. The Internet of Things (IoT), 5G mobile communication networks and sensing/radar systems are the three most important application domains. After completing the degree, students will have extensive competencies and the required fundamental understanding and practical skills to work as an R&D engineer, designer or take on other demanding expert and engineering positions in wireless communications, RF systems, and related industries.
The official language of the programme is English, meaning that all the courses, exams and student services are arranged in English. Consequently, proficiency in both written and spoken English is an absolute prerequisite. Students are required to submit an approved certificate of their language proficiency when applying for admission. In addition, students are required to complete a courses in the Finnish language. The course provides them with an introduction to everyday Finnish and Finnish culture.
The Master's Degree Programme in Wireless Communications and RF Systems includes courses with a strong emphasis on the underlying fundamental concepts, practical problem-solving, hands-on projects, and state-of-the-art simulation, design and measurement tools used in industry. Depending on your choice of spesialisation, you will gain in-depth knowledge of wireless communications systems, high-frequency/RF circuits and techniques or navigation and positioning as follows:
- The spesilisation in Wireless Systems provides you with a comprehensive understanding of fundamental digital communication techniques and the operating principles of all modern and emerging wireless systems as well as associated transmitter and receiver modules and signal processing methods. The studies may be further tailored and deepened towards profound communication theoretic aspects and methods (modulation, coding and detection schemes, radio interface design), mobile cellular systems and associated planning and optimisation solutions, analog and digital signal processing in radio communications devices, radio transceiver solutions, or digital computing platforms.
- The spesialisation in Navigation and Positioning provides you with a thorough understanding of and competencies related to positioning systems and devices, including not only satellite based positioning but also other modern positioning techniques. Performance optimisation, device-level signal processing, computing platforms and circuit structures, and navigation calculus are some of the central elements of this spesialisation.
- The spesialisation in Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits provides you with in-depth knowledge of radio transceiver circuits and systems and, in particular, radio frequency application specific integrated circuits (RF-ASICs) in wireless communications devices. Special emphasis is placed on modern computer aided design, analysis and measurement tools and silicon processes.
- The spesialisation in High Frequency Techniques provides students with a comprehensive understanding of high frequency electronics, circuits and techniques and has a strong focus on relevant electromagnetic phenomena and characteristics. Central elements include high frequency circuit and antenna design and the fundamentals of radio frequency measurements.
You can also tailor your degree to suit your interests by selecting two or more spesialisations.
Tampere University offers students the opportunity for a broad, cross-disciplinary education. A rich variety of minor studies and supplementary courses are available as well as the opportunity to concentrate purely on major studies.
The tuition fee of the programme is 12 000 euros per academic year for non-EU/EEA students with a scholarship system for fee-paying students. For more information, please see Tuition Fees and Scholarships.
The programme is comprised of 120 ECTS. Courses are worth 90 ECTS and the remaining 30 ECTS are awarded for successfully completing a Master's thesis. Each ECTS is equal to an average workload of 27 hours, including lectures, exercises, assignments, independent study and an examination. The duration of the programme is two years. Students spend three semesters completing courses and one semester preparing the final project (Master's thesis). They start their studies in late August, and the academic year ends in late May.
For more information, please see the Curriculum.
Our graduates are typically employed by mobile communication network operators, R&D houses, wireless chipset, device and network vendors, consulting companies and research institutes. Overall, the global mobile communications industry is a massive employer with an annual volume of close to 900 billion USD. The field offers excellent career prospects worldwide. With the utilisation of the communications infrastructure penetrating into all industry sectors as a result of digitalisation, experts in communications engineering also have a broad range of career prospects, for example, in the smart energy, transportation and automotive industries as well as in different production and manufacturing industries which are outside the basic ICT field. Following the successful completion of the programme, our graduates also eligible to apply for admission to doctoral programmes in Finland or abroad.
In addition to studies in one’s own degree programme, students may take full advantage of the teaching offered by the Tampere higher education community ranging from technical to vocational studies in various fields.
Carefully read through the general eligibility criteria and the programme-specific eligibility criteria and see whether you meet them. For additional questions on applying, application documents and application process, please contact our Admissions office. For questions regarding the content of the programme, please contact ee.studies@tuni.fi.
Eligibility criteria in the Master's degree programmes consist of two parts: Tampere University's general eligibility criteria, and programme-specific eligibility criteria, which specify and/or add information to the general criteria. You must meet both to be considered eligible. Applicants who do not meet both the general eligibility and the programme-specific eligibility criteria will not be selected as students in Tampere University.
General eligibility
To be eligible to apply to a Master’s degree programme at Tampere University, you must have
- Bachelor’s degree - nationally recognized first cycle degree
- which corresponds to at least 180 ECTS (European credits) or to three years of full-time study
- from relevant field for the Master’s degree programme that you’re applying to
- from an accredited institution of higher education
- AND a good command of the English language for academic purposes. For more information, please see Language requirements.
A Bachelor’s degree completed in a university outside Finland must provide eligibility for university-level master’s degree studies in the country in which it was awarded.
Applicants in their final final year of the Bachelor’s degree are eligible to apply if the degree will be completed by 31 July 2020. In this case, they may be accepted conditionally. Please see special instructions for applicants in the final year of the Bachelor's degree.
Applicants with a Master’s degree may be admitted only well-founded reasons and only if they are able to show that the new degree at Tampere University provides the applicant with significant new knowledge and skills.
Programme specific eligibility criteria
The previous degree should be from a field closely related to the Master's programme you are applying to. In the Master’s programme in Electrical Engineering the previous degree has to be in one of the following (or highly related) fields:
- electrical engineering or other applicable field with proficiency in mathematics, physics and elementary programming skills
Applicants who have completed their degree in Finland must meet the minimum cumulative GPA set by the programme to be eligible. The minimum is the same as in the admission to the same Master’s degree programme offered in Finnish.
| Minimum GPA for bachelor's degree completed in a Finnish University of Applied Sciences (AMK) | Minimum GPA for bachelor's degrees completed in a Finnish university (yliopisto) |
| 3,20/5 | 2,80/5 |
When counting the cumulative GPA weighted by ECTS only the courses (incl. thesis) with numeric grade value are taken into account. Applicants in their final year of Bachelor’s degree must meet the minimum cumulative GPA when applying and after graduation.
All applicants must submit evidence on a good command of English for academic purposes. There are two ways of indicating English language proficiency: language tests and previous studies.
Additional information on language requirements and how to submit the language test results.
The minimum English language test result requirements
| Test name | Minimum test result |
| TOEFL iBT | 92 overall, with no section below 20 |
| IELTS (academic) | 6.5 overall, with no section below 5.5 |
| PTE (academic) | 62 overall, with no section below 42 |
| C1 Advanced | C |
| C2 Proficiency | C1 |
| Finnish National Certificate of Language Proficiency (English) | Proficiency level 5 |
*The previous CAE and CPE have been renamed as C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency
Previous studies
It is possible to be exempted from submitting a language test score if you have completed particular studies listed by Tampere University. Only these studies are accepted. If you apply without a valid language test result, carefully examine the exemptions.
A maximum of 30 students are admitted into the Electrical Engineering programme.
The Electrical Engineering programme includes the following specialisations:
Smart Grids and Wireless Communications and RF Systems.
Students are selected to the programme from those applicants who submit a complete application (application and application documents by the deadline) and fulfil the official eligibility criteria.
The student selection is made by an admissions committee based on the academic qualifications and merits shown in the application documents. Please note that not all applicants fulfilling the requirements can be admitted.
Students admitted to a Master’s degree programme may be required to complement their earlier degree with complementary studies.
All students with a degree form a Finnish University of Applied Sciences (AMK) are required to complete a study package which generally includes courses in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry depending on the student's background. Admitted students will be informed on these studies in detail when the studies start in the autumn 2020.
The number of eligible applicants annually exceeds the number of students that can be accepted. The student selection is made by an admissions committee on the basis of the academic qualifications and merits shown in the application documents.
In this programme, applicants are ranked based on the admission points they receive for previous qualifications, English language skills and other relevant factors that support the application.
Admission points (maximum 100 points) are given in the following categories:
- Previous qualifications maximum 60 points
- English language skills maximum 10 points:
- 5 points: e.g. TOEFL 92 / IELTS 6,5 and if proven by previous studies accepted by Tampere University
- 10 points: e.g. TOEFL 103 or higher / IELTS 7,5 or higher
- Other relevant factors that support the application maximum 30 points
- CV/Résumé and the motivation letter submitted with the application constitute the basis of admission points given in this category.
Application step-by-step checklist
- Check the general eligibility and programme-specific eligibility criteria of the programme/s you wish to apply. You are allowed to apply three programmes at the same time.
- Read through the instructions on how to apply and start preparing your application documents as early as possible!
- Take a language test if required, please see the language requirements.
- When the application period opens, fill in the online application at Studyinfo.fi during the application period and upload required enclosures for the application. Application period 4 December 2019 at 8.00 GMT+2 - 15 January 2020 at 15.00 GMT+2.
- Upload all required enclosures and send the educational documents by post, according to the country-specific requirements if applicable. Documents must reach Tampere University Admissions Office by 31 January 2020 at 15.00 GMT+2. The documents must reach the University by the given deadline.
- Wait for the admission results to be announced at the end of March 2020.
- If you are offered a study place, remember to accept it by the given deadline.
- Pay the tuition fee, if required. Start preparing your arrival in Finland.
- Register as a student and join the Tampere University community!
Additional information on application process in detail
Online application form
The online application form will be available during the application period only at Studyinfo.fi. The application period starts on 4 December 2019 at 8.00 am (GMT+2) and ends on 15 January 2020 at 15.00 (GMT+2).
You will need to upload copies of all required documents as enclosures on the application form. In addition to the general application enclosures, some programmes have listed additional programme-specific enclosures that are needed when applying to these programmes.
You will need to upload all required enclosures on your application form online at Studyinfo.fi. In addition to uploading, you must submit officially certified copies of your educational documents to Tampere University Admissions Office by post. Applicants whose degrees have been awarded in certain countries need to pay special attention to the documentation and documents from these countries must be submitted in a particular way. These country-specific requirements must always be followed first and foremost, prior to the regular requirements.
Applicants must post the educational documents to Tampere University Admissions Office so that they arrive by 31 January 2020.
You can find the list of the required general application enclosures and further instructions on the Application documents webpage.
There are no programme-specific enclosures when applying to this programme.
Admissions results will be announced at the end of March 2020. All applicants will be informed about the admissions results.
Please see additional information regarding the results of student selection and Tampere University's rectification procedure.