Professional Horticulture
Field of studies
- Horticulture
- Natural Resources and Biotechnology
Degree title
- Bachelor of Natural Resources
Registration periods
- Direct Application 2025, Bachelor's
- Finnish Joint Application 2025
Teaching language
- English
Type of education
- Bachelor’s Degree
Academic level
- Bachelor Level Studies - EQF 6
Campus
- Lepaa
Teaching format
- Contact Lessons
Cultivate your career towards a more fruitful future!
HAMK is the only higher education provider in Finland from the field of horticulture. Horticulture is cultivation, selling and marketing of plants, vegetables, fruits and mushrooms. You can study horticulture in Lepaa campus, located in a beautiful manor park with beautiful scenery, gardens, and parks, not to mention our very own greenhouse. There are great employment opportunities in the field of horticulture both in Finland and abroad.
Objective
You will learn good biological and technical skills for commercial plant production and to work with entrepreneurial thinking. You will also learn how to develop business’ responsibility and sustainable development aspects by utilising digitalisation, innovations and international networks.
Qualification provided by education
After graduation you can find employment as an expert in commerce, counselling, education and administration. Typical employers are companies, cities and associations. The branch is very international which offers great opportunities for career development.
Structure of studies
During your studies, you will gather a wide knowledge about horticulture both from technical and biological point of view. Studies include also subjects from business, such as cost calculations, entrepreneurial working, marketing, and developing businesses and commerce in the field. You will also learn how to innovate new products and services.
From the biological perspective, different cultivars will become familiar to you as well as different cultivation systems suitable for your purpose. You will study how to time your crop, direct its quality and quantity and how to handle the crop correctly. You will learn different actions to store your crop and how this might affect the end result.
Lepaa campus has its own greenhouse, which produces tomatoes for commercial purposes every year. There are also several research studies conducted in the greenhouse. The greenhouse is utilized during the studies, and it give a great practical approach to horticulture. The campus has also various parks and gardens, that are also used for this purpose.
Responsibility is one of the main elements of Finnish production, and it is, together with sustainable development, underlined in this degree programme as well.
Apply to study
Joint and Rolling Application
Bachelor of Natural Resources, Professional Horticulture, full-time studies, Joint application
- Application begins:
- Application ends:
- Studies begin:Autumn 2025
- Places of Study:15
Bachelor of Natural Resources, Professional Horticulture, full-time studies, HAMK Direct application intake 2025
- Application begins:
- Application ends:
- Studies begin:Autumn 2025
- Places of Study:15
For Students Living in Finland
Study Paths – Open Studies Leading to a Degree
In our Study Paths, you will complete studies that are part of a degree program as a student of the Open University of Applied Sciences, alongside degree students. Once you have completed the required amount of studies with the necessary grades, you can apply to become a degree student and continue your studies to completion as usual. Check more information:
Students outside of Finland: As Open University Studies are not leading to a degree it is not possible to get a residence permit only for that purpose.
3 Reasons to Study Professional Horticulture!
You get to study in a fully equipped greenhouse on campus.
Horticulture offers great employment opportunities in Finland and abroad.
You’ll get to experience your studies in the heart of Finnish horticulture, Lepaa campus.
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The degree programme in Professional Horticulture combines advanced technology and knowledge of biology with plant production. Food production in particular is a significant business, where efficiency and sustainable production methods are of primary importance.
Studying in Lepaa is communal, the teachers are motivated and the teaching methods are modern. Also, our learning environments are of high quality, such as the greenhouse on campus!
Heikki Peltoniemi
Head of Degree Programme
Professional Horticulture
Opiskelijoiden projektiesimerkkejä
In the autumn, we went on a study trip with the Professional Horticulture students to Viksten nursery & gardening in Tammela and Wennborg farm in Hyvinkää. The purpose of the visits was to see and get acquainted with the work environments in our field, in this case, a nursery and a berry farm. The company representatives talked about their operations and job tasks, and the students had the opportunity to ask questions about topics that interested them.
Usually, our trips are related to some kind of practical work or connected to the module contents. With first-year students, we make a general trip like this at the beginning of their studies. It is useful for most, as not everyone has worked or visited such places before.
Arto Paappanen
Teaching Assistant
Professional Horticulture
Studying in Finland
Finland is a great place to study! Here are some information for international applicants:
Study Methods
Full-time Studies, Contact Lessons
Campus
As a student of Professional Hoticulture programme, your home campus will be Lepaa.
Lepaa Campus, Hattula
At our Lepaa campus, you’ll get to experience the field of horticulture up close. The campus has a long history, educating horticultural professionals for over a hundred years, since 1910. HAMK’s horticulture programs are unique in Finland, complemented by several vocational programs from Häme Vocational Institute at the campus. Lepaa also hosts the Built Environment Research Group under the Bioeconomy Research Unit, focusing on current developmental challenges emerging at the interfaces of social, vegetative, and built environments.
The Lepaa Campus is located 20 kilometres away from City of Hämeenlinna, and the drive takes approximately 20 minutes by car. There is no public transportation between Hämeenlinna City and Lepaa Campus, so you will need your own car for convenient travel outside the campus.
Studies Tailored to You
Your degree consists of 240 credits and includes four core elements:
The core competence studies, or core competence modules as we call those, form the foundation of your degree and professional skills. These studies are designed to support your development as a professional in your field and provide a solid groundwork for future elective studies
You will learn the core knowledge and skills in horticulture, such as growth factors and their management, plant knowledge, entrepreneurship, and horticultural production methods using renewable resources in a responsible way.
Part of your degree consists of profiling competence modules, enabling you to build expertise in your chosen direction according to your own goals. These studies offer opportunities to broaden, deepen, and enhance professional skills and personal development.
In profiling studies, you will acquire the skills to plan and develop horticultural crop production, for example by using research and innovation methods. If you wish, you can choose studies from other degree programmes to diversify and support your horticultural skills.
Your work placements are divided into two periods, both 15 credits. The first one is a work placement period in a company in the field, and the second one is a work placement in a rural expert position.
Before the work placement, you will set a professional development goals to yourself in cooperation with the employer and us. You can work in different tasks in a practical working environment, either in Finland or in another country, to apply and advance your professional skills and identity. You’ll take an active, responsible role in the working community and develop your self-evaluation skills.
Your thesis is a development or research project you work on towards the end of your studies. It helps you get better at what you’ve learned and shows how you can use that knowledge. It’s worth 15 credits, and you get to pick a topic that interests you and fits your career plans. It aims at solving problems emerging from the workplace. We encourage you to choose a real problem to solve from a company, to put your skills into practice and create new solutions for your industy.
As a student at HAMK, you can tailor your degree to suit you. You have the option to choose various studies from us and around the world, and complete the required studies in different ways.
Explore more about the content of the program and learn about planning your studies at HAMK:
Innovative Study Options That We Offer
At HAMK, we develop new, innovative ways of study. Our goal is to provide you with versatile expertise that you can develop in various directions. We hope to inspire you to try something completely new!
Entrepreneurial university
Entrepreneurship is about recognizing opportunities, innovation capability, and the ability to create something new. In an entrepreneurial university, learning happens through collaboration and experimentation!
Design Factory
Design Factory is an operational and learning environment that brings together businesses, students, teachers, and researchers. Join projects where you develop new solutions together with students from various fields!
RUN EU -studies
HAMK is part of the RUN-Europe University, comprised of nine European universities. You can leverage the fantastic opportunities provided by RUN Europe University for accumulating international study experiences!
Exchange Studies
Exchange studies are a unique opportunity to explore the world. We encourage all our students to seize the chance and go abroad for an exchange. Will you go too?
HAMK’s Study Selection
We offer you a wide range of studies that you can choose as part of your degree. You can also select modules from other degrees at HAMK. Or why not utilize the expertise you’ve gained previously, for example, from scouting!
Cross-Institutional Studies
As a student at HAMK, you have the opportunity to take courses at other universities as well! It’s called cross-institutional studying, aiming to allow you to study comprehensive units that support your own goals.
Frequently Asked Questions
From here you can find answers to frequently asked questions from Professional Horticulture programme!
Professional Horticulture degree programme is designed to be taught on campus, face to face. We offer accommodation in our students’ dormitories on campus. You will have to apply for a room. More information can be found on Student Accommodation at Lepaa.
Teaching days are starting normally around nine o´clock and end in the afternoon. There is always a break for lunch time. Teaching might take place in the classroom or in the greenhouse. There might be one or two days without teaching during the week, but that means that normally those days are dedicated to teamwork and writing reports or performing different tasks for the upcoming week.
Being a student is a full time commitment and responsibility. However, depending on your status and/or residence permit, you might be able to work part-time. The priority should be your study progress and campus attendance. It has to be kept in mind that classes are usually starting between nine or half past nine until afternoon (including lunch break). There might be one or two days without teaching during the week, but that means that normally those days are dedicated to teamwork and writing reports or performing different tasks for the upcoming week.
Want to Ask More?
If you want to ask more about the content of the programme, please contact:
If you need more information about applying to this programme, please visit here:
Looking for Something Else?
Choosing the right education for yourself can sometimes be challenging, especially when there are plenty of good options available! We’ve gathered a few more alternatives in the same field for you, in case you’re interested in exploring our other programs as well. You can find our entire range through the search tool:
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