Welcome to Kuopion Kansalaisopisto – Kuopio’s Adult Education Centre!
The theme of the 2022-2023 academic year is Rohkaise hurja luontosi – Encourage Your Wild Nature.
We offer over two thousand courses each year where students can learn new skills or continue to study subjects that they enjoy. Anyone who wishes to come may sign up for our courses. We do not require tests to take our courses. Attendance is always voluntary.
We have courses for adults and also for children, teens, and seniors in many different subjects such as languages (including Finnish), handicrafts, art, music, cooking, computing, dance and exercise. We even offer some courses that children can take with their parents! Most of our courses meet for twelve sessions each semester. Our courses are offered year-round, and classes are held in the daytime, evening and even on the weekends.
There are over 150 different sites where we hold classes in the city of Kuopio and its surrounding towns.
Our main building, Puistokartano, is located downtown Kuopio (Puistokatu 20) and has modern classrooms and equipment. We have a fully equipped kitchen for our cooking courses, looms for our weaving courses, a gymnasium for our dance and exercise courses, large studios for our art classes, a language lab for our language courses and more.
Study in Kuopio’s Adult Education Centre
- People, Environment and Society (Ihminen, ympäristö ja yhteiskunta)
- Communication Skills, Drama and Literature (Ilmaisutaito ja kirjallisuus)
- Languages (Kielet)
- Visual Arts (Kuvataide)
- Cooking and Home Economics (Kotitalous)
- Handicrafts (Kädentaidot)
- Children and Teens (Lapset ja nuoret) -> Värikäs Art School (Kuvataidekoulu Värikäs) and Taituri Handicraft School (Käsityökoulu Taituri)
- Physical Exercise (Liikunta)
- Music (Musiikki)
- Dance (Tanssi)
- Health and Wellbeing (Terveys ja hyvinvointi)
- Information Technology (Tietotekniikka)
- Events and Exhibitions (Tapahtumat ja näyttelyt)
- Online courses (Verkkokurssit)
- Public Lectures (Yleisöluennot)
You can register in our new online store. Online registration is only available in Finnish. However, Kansalaisopisto’s Customer Service can be contacted by phone and email in English. English can also be used at the customer service desk located on the first floor of the school in Puistokartano.
Registration
Registration video for courses at Kuopio’s Adult Education Centre
On this video you can orientate yourself with registration and cancellation for courses.
- You can register for both autumn and spring courses at the same time.
- If you need help finding the right course or course level, course planners can be contacted in English.
- If the course is full, you can register to be put on a waiting list.
- When registering by phone or at the school’s customer service desk, you can choose whether to pay for the course with a paper invoice or via an e-mail link.
- Students must register for a course themselves; teachers cannot register students for a course.
Course Fees
Online Payment
- Online registration does not require immediate online payment. If you choose to be billed later, your registration is still valid.
- When registering online, you can pay the course fee through an online bank, MobilePay or with Smartum and ePass online payments. The courses selected in the shopping cart can be paid online with only one payment method, however.
- Do not pay online if you are entitled to a discount, a study voucher or if you will be paying with one of the employee benefits listed in section 3. Discounts cannot be given after the course has been paid.
Bills
- If you skip the online payment when registering online, we will send a paper invoice after the course starts.
- When you register through Customer Service, you will receive a payment link in your email, through which you can pay the course fee using online payment methods.
Other payment methods
Courses that do not include material fees can be paid with the following employee benefits. It is possible to use your employee benefits to pay for both autumn and spring courses at the same time.
- SmartumPay mobile
- ePassi mobile
- ePassi (payment identified by phone number)
- Eazybreak mobile
- Edenred mobile and card
- Smartum, Virike and Tyky vouchers
When paying with employee benefits, students must contact Customer Service no later than September 20, 2022, for the autumn semester and January 20, 2023, for the spring semester. For courses that start before those dates, the payment must be made at the latest on the day the course starts. SmartumPay, ePassi, Edenred and Eazybreak mobile payments are accepted by phone. The Kansalaisopisto has no obligation to accept and/or refund payments made in violation of the payment instructions.
Course Discounts
The right to a discount must be approved by contacting Customer Service no later than September 20, 2022, for the autumn semester and January 20, 2023, for the spring semester. For courses that start after those dates, the discount must be approved at the latest on the day the course starts. After this, no discounts are granted.
Cancelling a Course
Students must cancel their place in a course themselves; teachers cannot cancel a course for a student.
Free Cancellation
To cancel the course without payment students must cancel at least 6 working days before the start date of the course unless otherwise stated in the course information. If the last free cancellation day of the course is on Friday – Monday or a public holiday, the cancellation must be done through Customer Service on the previous business day.
Free cancellation is possible if the place or time of the course changes significantly.
Cancellation with a Fee
After the free cancellation period, the student must pay the course fee in full, whether the student attends the course or not.
Free cancellation will not be given due to the change or substitution of a course’s teacher. Nor will free cancellation be given to a student who has enrolled in a course at the wrong skill level.
Cancellation of Courses Due to Health Reasons
After the free cancellation period, cancelling a course place for health reasons requires contacting Customer Service. For semester-long courses, a partial payment for classes held up to the time of cancellation and an office fee of 15 € will be charged.
If 50% or more of the course hours have been taken, the course fee will be charged in full.
Cancellation of a short course for health reasons must be done no later than the next weekday after the start of the course. If the course includes a material fee it will be charged at the time of cancellation.
Courses Paid Online
If the course has been pre-paid online and is cancelled during the free cancellation period, please contact Customer Service about the return/reimbursement of your online payment or employee benefit payments. To return the course fee paid via an online bank, you must provide your bank account number.
If the course is cancelled by the Kansalaisopisto, we will contact you about the return/reimbursement of your online payment or employee benefit payments.
How To Cancel
Online
A course that has been registered online can be cancelled online during the free cancellation period. To cancel online, the following information is required: course number, phone number or email address and the registration ID you received when registering.
Course cancellations can be done in English by e-mailing kansalaisopisto.asiakaspalvelu@kuopio.fi
The e-mail must include the student’s name and phone number as well as the name and course number of the cancelled course. Please note: in order to cancel the course for free the message must arrive in the college’s email inbox by the free cancellation deadline.
Phone
Course cancellations can be done by phone in English at 017 184 711 during Customer Service’s opening hours.
Customer Service Desk
The course can be cancelled in English at the school’s customer service desk during its opening hours.
Read the complete Terms of Registration and Cancellation in English here.