Master's Degree Programme in Information and Communication Technology: Software Engineering
Turku, Finland
DURATION
2 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
21 Jan 2026
EARLIEST START DATE
Aug 2026
TUITION FEES
EUR 12,000 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* free for citizens of EU/EEA countries or Switzerland, for citizens of non-EU/EEA countries €12,000/academic year
Introduction
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Meet the growing demand for skilled developers
The Master’s Degree Programme in Information and Communication Technology provides versatile and high-quality education in selected fields of ICT, with an established reputation in innovative, interdisciplinary, and international education.
The Software Engineering specialization track trains experts for designing and implementing demanding software systems. It covers the entire life-cycle of software project, providing you with solid programming skills and comprehensive knowledge about:
- software design and architecture,
- agile methodologies in software development,
- software testing, quality assurance, and usability,
- advanced programming techniques and paradigms,
- privacy and security as a part of software implementations.
The curriculum is a combination of academic software engineering theory and practices used in modern software development. Central in the curriculum is applying theory to practice via hands-on project assignments. The worldwide demand for digital solutions is huge, and software engineering graduates are in short supply. Students find many employment opportunities regionally, nationally, and internationally in design, implementation, and management positions in software companies and IT departments of industrial organizations and other institutions.
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Academic Excellence & Experience
The Software Engineering specialization track focuses on software development practices, software system architectures, advanced programming techniques, and software security.
The teaching in this EUR-ACE® accredited program is based on the latest software engineering research and relevant technological frameworks used in the software industry. You will obtain profound theoretical knowledge and pragmatic skills in the field of software engineering and software systems; our instructors have varied backgrounds in both Academia and the software industry.
The multidisciplinary university provides you with many learning paths to choose from and the freedom to focus either on acquiring deep technological expertise or a wider multidisciplinary skill set by, e.g., including multiple business courses to the degree.
Specialization Tracks
The specialization in Software Engineering is one of five tracks in the Master’s Degree Programme in Information and Communication Technology. The program has an international double-degree collaboration with the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Master School and offers four other specialization tracks:
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Admissions
Curriculum
Program Structure
- Advanced-level studies in the major subject 50 ECTS
- Thematic module or minor subject 20-25 ECTS
- Elective studies 15-20 ECTS
- Master of Science in Technology Thesis 30 ECTS
- Thematic module or minor subject, 20-25 ECTS
- Elective studies, 15-20 ECTS
Master's Thesis & Topics
In the master's thesis, the student must prove their ability to do scientific work and mastery of research methods, knowledge of the research field, and skills in scientific writing. In writing the master’s thesis, the student needs to apply their technology skills, abilities, and expertise to identify an engineering problem, study its relevance to the field, propose and design a solution, test and analyze the solution and evaluate its usefulness.
The thesis is often commissioned by a company, which means that an efficient and capable student could be directly employed by the company that commissioned the thesis, giving a head start to a career in the industry. On the other hand, an academically-oriented student might choose a thesis topic related to research conducted by one of our research groups and apply for the position of doctoral candidate upon completion of an academically distinguished master’s thesis.
Topics of recently completed master’s theses include:
- Structuring a Modern Web Service for Users and Search Engines
- A Case Study on Cloud Migration and Improvement of Twelve-Factor App
- Connecting RPA Development and Business: A Tool for Process Definition, Agile RPA Development, and Maintenance
- AI-assisted Software Development Effort Estimation
- CUSTOM TOOLS as a general integration platform for SOLIDWORKS - ERP data exchange
- Monitoring of a Cloud-Based IT Infrastructure
- Utilizing web analytics in the agile development of e-commerce sites: a software developer’s perspective
- Secrets Management in a Multi-Cloud Kubernetes Environment
- Migrating microservices to graph database
- Cloud migration
- Framework change for modernization of web service
- Implementing web accessibility to an existing web application
Program Outcome
Competence Description
Upon completion of the Software Engineering specialization track, you will obtain:
- solid education and expertise in the software engineering field in today’s digitalized society;
- good understanding of modern software development methodologies, an ability to practice agile software development methods and lean software development principles;
- understanding of software quality as a concept, practical knowledge of software testing methods, tools, and test automation at all levels of software testing;
- understanding of good software design principles, knowledge of important software design and architectural patterns, and an ability to apply them in practice. Skills to document and communicate designs;
- basic understanding of software business, lean start-up principles, and software product development;
- an ability to apply the principles of usability in user interface design, and to analyze and improve the user experience of software systems, practicing the methodologies of user-centric design;
- understanding of the implications of software development methods, tools, and languages to the security and privacy of software systems, and conversely the influence that software systems have on the privacy and security of organizations and individuals;
- advanced programming skills, and a good command of dominant programming languages;
- an ability to work in a multidisciplinary team designing complex software systems, basic skills in managing and leading such teams;
- an ability to independently search for information about the latest software engineering solutions from professional and academic literature;
- ability to understand how the software systems affect the carbon footprint, users’ and system developers’ equality, and other sustainable development goals.
In addition to technical and domain-specific content, the degree content also pays attention to general working life skills needed for example in a career as an expert, an entrepreneur, or a researcher.
Scholarships and Funding
The University of Turku supports merited and motivated students with generous scholarships. The university offers these scholarships to students pursuing Master's level studies who are subject to tuition fees.
Scholarships are awarded based on academic excellence, and you can apply for a scholarship by simply answering “yes” to the corresponding question in the online application form when you apply for the program.
One type of scholarship covers whole tuition fees for two years for Master’s degree programmes. In addition to that, there is a scholarship for the best applicants that covers tuition fees and includes an additional grant of €5,000.
Approximately 30 % of the admitted students are awarded a scholarship by the University of Turku.
Gallery
Career Opportunities
Job options
The information-intensive industry has become one of the most important business sectors in Finland, and information has become one of the most relevant products. In Europe, ICT has a critical role in improving the profitability of the business sector and in responding to the needs of society.
The expertise profile you receive in this programme may lead to a career title of, e.g.:
- Software Engineer
- Software Developer
- Lead Developer
- Software Architect
- ICT Consultant
- Software Team Lead or
- Software Project Manager
In addition to pursuing careers in the IT industry as software engineering specialists, graduates of the Programme are also eligible to apply for PhD studies.
Career in research
Master's Degree (Technology) provides eligibility for scientific postgraduate degree studies. Postgraduate degrees are doctoral and licentiate degrees. Degrees can be completed within the University of Turku Graduate School.
Student Testimonials
Program Admission Requirements
Demonstrate your commitment and readiness to succeed in business school by taking the GMAT exam – the most widely used exam for admissions that measures your critical thinking and reasoning skills.
Download the GMAT mini quiz to get a flavour of the questions you’ll find in the exam.