Leadership for Change - Sustainable Business Management
Dealing with change in complex societies
By interacting with staff members from various disciplines – business, governance, politics and international relations – as well as with different societal stakeholders, students will learn to foster new forms of engagement across sectors of the economy and society.
The programme prepares the graduates to work in private, public or the third sector in tasks that involve analysing, planning and steering complex change processes. The business specialisation provides students with an in-depth understanding of leading and managing change in contemporary business environments.
Students explore how societal and technological changes redefine the boundaries of and possibilities for sustainable business value creation and innovations. The focus is on understanding the challenges and opportunities business organisations face when creating innovative and sustainable solutions for future businesses. Students learn to analyse and develop business concepts which will benefit stakeholders and society at large.
The studies consists of cross-disciplinary joint programme studies (30 ECTS), specialisation-specific advanced studies (25 ECTS), elective studies (25 ECTS) and the master’s thesis (40 ECTS). When applying to the programme, you may choose from the following options: Sustainable Business Management, European and Global Politics, and Governance for Sustainable Change.
Leadership for Change
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After completing the Master’s Degree Programme in Leadership for Change you will have:
- an advanced understanding of the role of leadership in solving contemporary challenges at local, national, regional and global levels
- learned to examine global trends such as digitisation, urbanisation, climate change, aging, polarisation, democratisation and integration from a multidisciplinary perspective
- the skills to foster new forms of engagement across sectors of the economy and society, learned in interaction with staff members from various disciplines – business, governance, politics and international relations – as well as with different societal stakeholders
- the theoretical and methodological skills needed to formulate relevant research problems and to undertake independent scientific work
- the skills to analyse and debate the challenges that leadership faces today and to communicate your views to multiple audiences using different channels of communication.
The language of instruction is English.
1) Governance for Sustainable Change
This specialisation in administrative sciences provides students with sound academic skills for anticipating, analysing and responding to the complex, dynamic challenges facing contemporary public sector organisations and institutions. Key topics covered by the specialisation include governance in the context of public sector reforms, changing modes of public service delivery, and evidence-based policy making. A cross-cutting theme of the specialisation is the role of public governance in fostering socially, ecologically and economically sustainable societies.
The specialisation considers governance challenges at local, regional, national and international levels and offers students the opportunity to specialise in issues best responding to their particular interests. The teaching faculty comprise distinguished experts in the fields of public administration and management as well as environmental and regional policy.
Students graduating from this specialisation will be awarded a Master of Administrative Sciences degree.
2) European and Global Politics
The specialisation in politics gives students a solid academic basis to understand the interaction of political processes at local, national, regional, international and global levels. The focus is on analysing and leading change with regard to political participation and decision-making, dynamics of integration and disintegration, international security issues as well as questions of political economy and governance.
Students of the politics specialisation have the opportunity to specialise in these questions in the context of EU and European politics, EU-Russian relations as well as the political dynamics of Northern Europe and Wider Europe. The teaching staff of the politics specialisation comprises several internationally esteemed experts in the field of European and Russian politics.
Students graduating from this specialisation will be awarded a Master of Social Sciences degree.
3) Sustainable Business Management
The specialisation in business provides students with an in-depth understanding of managing change in the contemporary business landscape. Students will explore how societal and technological changes redefine the boundaries of and possibilities for the sustainable renewal of business value creation and innovations. Focus will be placed on understanding the challenges and opportunities business organisations face when trying to create sustainable solutions for future businesses. Students will learn to develop current and to create future business concepts in a sustainable way for the benefit of customers, employees and owners as well as other stakeholders and society at large.
The business specialisation consists of studies in management and organisations, economics and risk management, customer oriented marketing and management accounting, as well as in responsible business. The teaching faculty comprise leading Finnish and international scholars in corresponding fields.
Students graduating from this specialisation will be awarded a Master of Science (Economics and Business Administration) degree.
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 (120 ECTS credits) consists of four elements:
- Joint programme studies (30 ECTS) form the core of the master’s degree programme. The focus is on cross-disciplinary perspectives on leadership in complex societal processes. This module also focuses on a variety of important academic skills, which are also beneficial for future employment (e.g. research methods, academic writing and presentation skills).
- The advanced studies module (25 ECTS) enables the students to acquire in-depth theoretical, methodological and conceptual knowledge in their chosen specialisation: business, politics or public administration.
- Through elective studies (25 ECTS), students can develop a unique study profile based on their interests.
- Master’s thesis (40 ECTS) is an individual research project that enables the student to demonstrate his/her in-depth knowledge in the chosen specialisation.
For more information, please see the Curriculum.
The programme prepares the graduates to work in private, public or the third sector in tasks that involve analysing, planning and steering complex change processes, which unfold at local, national, international and global levels. Students learn to carry out academic research on these phenomena and acquire skills required for a potential academic career.
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.
The programme gives eligibility for postgraduate studies in administrative sciences, social sciences (international relations, political science) and business studies, for example in the doctoral programmes offered by Tampere University.
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 mab.studies.tau [at] tuni.fi.
Click to see the admission criteria
Tampere University master's programme application period 2021
9 December 2020 - 13 January 2021 3:00 p.m. (GMT+2)
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 a relevant field for the Master’s degree programme that you’re applying to
- from an recognised institution of higher education
- The 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.
- AND a good command of the English language for academic purposes. For more information, please see Language requirements.
*Please see detailed information on the General eligibility criteria web page.
Applicants in their final year of the Bachelor’s degree are eligible to apply if the degree will be completed by 31 July 2021. In this case, they would be accepted conditionally. Please see special instructions for applicants in the final year of the Bachelor's degree.
Admission to studies leading directly to a master's degree will be based on the applicant’s bachelor's degree conferred by a university or a university of applied sciences. Depending on programme-specific admission requirements, the programme may take into account skills previously acquired by applicants when considering applications.
A previously completed master’s degree will not make applicants ineligible for admission. However, applicants who are applying for admission to pursue a second master’s degree will only be admitted for particularly weighty reasons.
Programme specific eligibility criteria
To be eligible to apply to the Master’s degree programme in Leadership for Change (LFC) you must have
- a completed university level Bachelor's degree or equivalent in the field of Administrative Sciences, Business Administration or Political Science/International Relations (according to your desired specialisation(s) within LFC) or other relevant field.
- Specialisation in Governance for Sustainable Change: field of Administrative Sciences or other relevant field
- Specialisation in European and Global Politics: field of Political Science/International Relations or other relevant field
- Specialisation in Sustainable Business Management: field of Business Administration or other relevant field
Applicants from Finnish universities of applied sciences (AMK, e.g. tradenomi) should notice that the overall grade of the AMK studies must be very good (4-5), and the grade of the Bachelor's thesis must be very good (4-5). 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.
When applying to a Master’s programme at Tampere University, you must submit evidence of your good command of the English language for academic purposes. You have two options of demonstrating your English language proficiency: language tests or previous studies.
In both cases you must submit a document as a proof of language skills. Please see detailed instructions and additional information on the language requirements web page.
English language tests and the minimum result requirements
| Test name | Minimum test result |
| TOEFL iBT / TOEFL iBT Special Home Edition |
92 overall with no section below 20 |
| IELTS (academic) / IELTS Indicator |
6.5 overall with no section below 5.5 |
| PTE (academic) | 62 overall with no section in Communicative Skills 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 that demonstrate your good command of English for academic purposes. Only studies that fulfill the criteria will be accepted so if you apply without a valid language test result, carefully examine the exemptions listed by Tampere University and how to submit documents.
30 students are admitted into the Leadership for Change programme. The programme includes the following specialisations: 1) European and Global Politics, 2) Governance for Sustainable Change and 3) Sustainable Business Management. The maximum intake number is divided by the three specialisations of the programme. The intake per specialisation will be 8-12 students.
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. The complementary studies will be decided at the faculty case by case, maximum 60 ECTS credits).
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 particular, international experience, e.g. exchange studies and living/working abroad or other types of global engagement, is considered as an asset.
Admissions 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 to 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 to the application. The application period is 9 December 2020 at 8.00 GMT+2 - 13 January 2021 at 15.00 GMT+2.
- Upload all required enclosures and send the educational documents by post to Tampere University Admissions Office within two weeks, by 27 January 2021 at 15.00 GMT+2. The documents must reach the University by the given deadline and they must be delivered according to the country-specific requirements, if applicable.
- You can apply for a scholarship on the application form, if applicable.
- Wait for the admission results to be announced at the end of March 2021.
- If you are offered a study place, remember to accept it by the given deadline. Pay the tuition fee if required.
- Start preparing for your arrival in Finland well in advance.
- Register as a student and join the Tampere University community when the studies start in August 2021!
Additional information on application process in detail.
Online application form
The online application form will be available only during the application period only at Studyinfo.fi. The application period starts on 9 December 2020 at 8 am (GMT+2) and ends on 13 January 2021 at 3 pm (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 27 January 2021 at 15.00 GMT+2. 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.
However there are programme-specific questions on the application form and you will be asked to provide:
- contact information for two academic/professional persons who can provide recommendations for you. Please give the name, organisation, position and contact information including an e-mail address that if needed, we may contact them.
- Skype contact information. Please note that only a selection of applicants may be interviewed.
Admissions results will be announced at the end of March 2021. 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.