Welcome the Institute of Adult Education in Helsinki, a center of learning and wellbeing, open for all! We organize over 1,000 courses annually. We offer courses on languages, sports and dance, music, handicrafts, art and life skills. You can also find Open university studies and several Finnish courses.

Course registration

• You can register online https://www.helao.fi/en/home/, by email toimisto@helao.fi or at the office. If you register by email, we'd need following information: name and surname, date of birth, address, email and phone number. It is not possible to register by phone.
• When registering online, you will be asked the code of the course and your personal details, including the latter part of your Finnish social security number. If you do not have an existing Finnish social security number, please come to the office to register.
• You will receive a confirmation of the registration both on the display and by e-mail. If you do not have an e-mail address, print out the last page or write down the details. If you do not receive a confirmation e-mail even though you have given your e-mail address, there may have been a mistake in your e-mail address. Your registration is nevertheless valid.

Course payment

Tuition fees must be paid immediately after registering. If you cannot pay the course fee immediately, please contact the office to set a new due date. 

• Paying online: your own online bank, credit card, Smartum’s Saldo charge card, MobilePay, Eazybreak, Sports or Cultural Pass. If you have Sports or Cultural Pass (ePassi), you can also pay by calling the Institute’s office (09 41 500 300).
• Paying in the office: bank or credit card (VISA, Eurocard, Mastercard, VISA Electron, Maestro, Diners Club International, Discover), physical or electronic vouchers such as SporttiPassi (Sports Pass), Smartum, Tyky and Edenred.
• If your employer is paying for your course, please email toimisto@helao.fi the billing details as soon as you have registered. A billing fee of 5 Euros will be charged.

Starting a course

• The Institute does not send separate confirmations before the course starts.
• In general, the language of instruction is Finnish. In several courses the teacher is also able to instruct in English or some other language. Please contact Study guidance to find out the main language of instruction.
• Course counselling is provided by head teachers responsible for specific areas of study. Please check Study guidance when the head teacher for your area of interest is available for consultation.
• The length of each lesson (t) is 45 minutes.
• Lessons are not held on public holidays.
• Lessons are held on the Institute´s premises unless the group has been told that they will meet in a different location. 
• The classroom can be seen on the TV monitor in the lobby on the ground floor. Students are advised to check the monitor each time they come to class because changes in room assignment are possible.
• To facilitate room allocation, students with physical handicaps are requested to contact the caretaker.
• The Institute does not purchase insurance on behalf of the students.
• The Institute does not provide locked or guarded areas for clothing or property.
• There are no free parking places for students at the Institute.

Course cancellation

Course registration is binding. Not paying a course fee does not count as cancellation. If you want to cancel a course, please contact the office toimisto@helao.fi without delay. 

• You can cancel your course free of charge 7 days before the course is due to start. If you have already paid the course, we shall refund you the whole course fee.
• Course fee is charged in full, if you do not cancel the course, if you cancel it less than 7 days before the course is due to start or you do not show up.
• Course fee will be returned in full if the Institute cancels a course before it starts. The course will start if a minimum of participants have registered 5 working days before the course is due to start.
• If the Institute is forced to suspend contact teaching due to uncontrollable events (such as government order related to Covid-19), courses will continue using distance teaching methods. If distance teaching is not possible, courses will be moved to another occasion or terminated. If the courses will be terminated, the Institute will not return course payments, but instead, the students will be granted gift cards to be used for course payments.

Refund will be made according to our cancellation policy. If you have not paid the course fee or cancelled your participation in a course, we will charge you according to our cancellation policy. Course fees are collectible.

Course fee paid by culture and sports vouchers Smartum, Tyky or Edenred, cannot be returned, but the sum can be used to pay for another course. Please contact the office to find out more about the terms on culture and sport vouchers.

The cancellation policy does not fully apply to the Open university courses. Read more. 

Certificates

Students may request a certificate of attendance from the Institute’s office. The fee for this certificate is 5 € per paper. If the course has ended more than a year before a certificate is requested, the fee is 10 €. Certificates will be sent to students by post.

Proficiency level grades are given at the end of the course to those students whose course has been accepted by the Employment and Economic Development office as self-motivated study that is part of their integration programme. Other students can receive a certificate of participation. The certificates can be ordered from the office and they cost 5 €.

Contact information

Tel (09) 41 500 300 | toimisto@helao.fi

Institute address: Runeberginkatu 22-24, 00100 Helsinki

Office: Open Mon-Thu at 10 am-4 pm, Fri closed, check helao.fi for exceptions.