Interpreter (Bachelor’s Degree), the interpreting and AAC Instruction degree programme provides the skills needed to act as an interpreter for the speech impaired, an AAC instructor and a linguistic accessibility professional. You will help everyone have their voice heard and understood.

The studies are blended: Most of the studies can be performed remotely from your home, and the contact teaching sessions are arranged at Kuopio or Tampere according to the study programme of your choice. In the exercises, you will get straight into the heart of communication – you will develop your skills in genuine practical situations and develop a strong basis for your future career.

Who is the programme for?

People interested in promoting equality

You want to promote people’s inclusiveness and ensure that they become understood. You might not yet know sign language or visual communication with symbols, but you are interested in various ways of communicating. As a professional of linguistic accessibility, you can ensure that communication works by making communication equal and meaningful! 

Enablers of an inclusive everyday life

You wish to work with people and perform concrete work to ease their everyday life. You are interested in intralingual interpreting as well as guiding and supporting customers. Your clients can be people of all ages with language challenges due to, for example, aphasia, CP injury, developmental injury, language development disorder, autism or memory disorder.

Your working environment varies from daycare centres and schools to health services, hobbies and working life. Every encounter is an opportunity to act as a bridge builder and build connections that really matter!

People seeking and supplementing their career path

Are you looking for a new direction in your career and a place where you can take advantage of the diversity of linguistic communication? For example, are you already working with people facing linguistic challenges? You can develop a new kind of career path based on your interests and previous skills in, for example, NGOs, the public sector or business. If you are not sure whether you want to become an interpreter for people with a speech impairment, but you want to make a difference and promote equality in society, this education is a great stepping stone to working life. You get to promote the rights and accessibility of those who need support in their communication!

Programme content

The degree programme consists of common studies at the university of applied sciences, communication method studies, interpretation and AAC instruction studies, internships and advanced studies.

The Interpreter (bachelor’s degree), Interpreting and AAC Instruction degree programme includes 240 credits, and it usually takes 4 years to complete. You can reduce the time to study through the recognition of prior learning (RPL) procedure, where your prior education, work experience or communication method skills are recognised.

Common studies provide you with the readiness to study, perform well in working life and develop your skills in a proactive manner. Ethics, internationality and cultural diversity create the basis for interpretation and AAC instruction and for the development of your own expertise.

In the basic studies of interpreting and AAC instructions, you learn about the basics of interpreting and linguistic accessibility. The studies include sign language studies and practices and methods of augmenting communication. AAC instruction methods, i.e. methods that augment and serve as an alternative for speech, include visual communication with symbols, items or drawings. Sign language can also be utilised as part of communication. You study communication methods together with your classmates under the instructions of senior lecturers.

You study interpreting and AAC instructions as part of specialization studies. The studies include the following units: Practices and methods augmenting communication, speech interpretation and AAC instruction.

You get to delve in your future career, its background and theories and practice interpreting and AAC instruction in practice. Senior lecturers will guide you in groups as well as personally. Step by step, you go from learner to expert and deepen your skills not only during lessons but also in real interactive situations.

In the Interpreting and AAC instruction studies, you deepen your professional expertise with a topic that interests you with a scope of at least 15 credits. You can choose one of the following as your advanced studies: Interpreting for the Deaf-Blind, Speech-to-Text Interpreting, Developing Linguistic Accessibility or Developing Pedagogical Skills. In addition to advanced studies, there are also optional courses, with which you can tailor your studies according to your goals and interests.

Throughout your studies, you will complete an internship of 30 credits, which will take you to a truly diverse community of people with a speech impairment and to different tasks where you will promote linguistic accessibility. In the initial phase, you will become familiar with the field and the community of interpretation and AAC instruction for people with a speech impairment.

In later internships, you will be able to apply the communication methods you have learned in real interactions. The internships can be completed across Finland, such as in Kuopio, Tampere or your own municipality.

In the internships, you get to network with working life during your studies and create valuable contacts with industry players. The networks and accumulated work experience gained from the internships often play an important role in getting employed.

At Humak, the RPL, i.e. Recognition of Prior Learning procedure, means in practice that a student can make use of their prior expertise to advance their studies. This expertise can come from work experience, prior studies or, for example, hobbies and volunteer work, if they are related to the goals of the studies. Approved skills are entered into the study register, which can compensate for a course partially or entirely. Your personal coach is responsible for the RPL procedure.

We also offer you the opportunity to complete courses as summer studies.

More information about RPL

Programme curriculum details

Who are the blended studies suitable for?

Kuopio Tampere

Blended studies are perfect for you if…

You want to study in a communal and flexible manner

Blended studies are for you if you want to combine the community of campuses with the flexibility of networks. You will be supported by coaching, encouraging support from a student group as well as a clear, jointly progressing study path. Online studies will add flexibility to your studies.

Studies at an institute of higher education are a new beginning for you

Blended studies are an excellent choice for you especially if you are applying for your first academic degree or it has been some time since your previous studies. You value community learning and encounters both on campus and online.

You want a clear routine for your studies

In blended studies, you get a clear study routine, thanks to alternating studies between the campus and online. As the studies progress, teaching online and on campus decreases, and the proportion of independent work increases.

Apply via StudyInfo

In the joint application for spring 2026, you can choose either Kuopio or Tampere as the location. The contact teaching days will be organized in the location that you choose.

What skills will you have upon graduation?

Our goal is, that upon graduation, you know how to…

Make use of various communication methods

You can utilise AAC methods, i.e. methods augmenting and offering an alternative for speech, in various situations and environments in a versatile manner. You are able to choose the suitable methods for each situation.

Finnish sign language

You know the basics of sign language and can use it in everyday situations. You can make use of sign supported speech in your work.

Promote inclusivity

You are able to promote the implementation of equal rights in linguistic matters and can develop the industry on the basis of your skills. You can apply the interpreter’s code of ethics in practical situations and make ethically sustainable solutions. You understand the significance of confidentiality and neutrality.

Provide guidance and support

You can guide and support people with temporary or permanent challenges in producing and understanding language. You also make sure that they are understood

“The education broadens your understanding of interaction. You will begin to see your surroundings in new ways as the diversity of communication opens up to you.

Through our own actions, we can promote equal participation and interaction by using different ways of communicating.”

Hanna-Kaisa Turja, lecturer (Interpreter, Bachelor’s degree)

A diverse, inspiring and practical career path!

As an interpreter and AAC instructor for the speech impaired, you have a unique vantage point for all areas of life. Your work ranges from school to workplaces, from cultural events to healthcare and from organisational activities to everyday encounters. You will have the opportunity to see and influence how achievable communication connects people, breaks down barriers and builds bridges.

As an expert in linguistic accessibility, you can use your experience and educational background in many different fields, for example in the public sector, non-governmental organisations, companies, and the culture and media sector. Interpreting and AAC instruction education provides multifaceted capacities to influence and promote equality, making the world a more accessible place for everyone.

Frequently asked questions

In blended studies, the main focus is on independent work supplemented by contact teaching on campus, online studies and an extensive cooperation with working life during studies, such as through internships.

Combining studies with work required planning and goal orientation. Blended studies also include mandatory studies from which you cannot be absent. In blended studies, the student studies full time even if they worked at the same time.

No, you cannot. Blended studies include contact teaching and cooperation with working life that require your presence.

An interpreter for the speech impaired makes use of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) methods to supplement speech in their work. These include visual communication methods, various communication aids and applications, as well as sign-based means of communication, such as sign supported speech.

A sign language interpreter acts as an interpreter between spoken and sign language. These languages often involve Finnish and Finnish sign language.

In the Interpreter (Bachelor’s degree) programme, you complete a university of applied sciences degree.

The Interpreter (Bachelor’s) degree is a vocationally oriented Bachelor’s degree in the humanities and education. The scope of the degree is 240 credits. The degree corresponds to the criteria set by the The Finnish National Framework for Qualifications (FiNQF ) for a university of applied sciences degree, as well as the European and National Qualifications Framework (EQF, NQF) for degrees and other competencies (level 6).

The Interpreting for the Speech Impaired specialist degree (EAT) is a vocational degree with a scope of 180 credits. The degree corresponds to the criteria set by the The Finnish National Framework for Qualifications (FiNQF ) as well as the European and National Qualifications Framework (EQF, NQF) for degrees and other competencies (level 5).

A bachelor’s degree programme is a more comprehensive study unit, and it also provides access for further study. The Interpreter (bachelor’s) degree programme includes both practical and theoretical studies. In addition, the studies include research-based development studies, which involve the completion of a bachelor’s thesis.

If your prior education is at least a bachelor-level degree programme, you can make use of your prior education in certain cases through the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPI) procedure. You can also make use of prior learning in the completion of certain courses. Prior learning may also give the opportunity to apply information and skills learned through education in different ways.

No, interpreters are not aides. An interpreter is an impartial facilitator of communication whose role is to support the client’s autonomy and inclusion and linguistic accessibility.

In your work as an interpreter and AAC instructor for people with speech impairments, you will also encounter sign-based means of communication. In Finland, these signs are part of Finnish sign language. Their meaning, structure and use are based on Finnish sign language. In your studies, you will familiarise yourself with sign language in order to know how to use and guide their use correctly while respecting sign language.

Yes, you can. Humak offers the Sign Language Interpreting study unit (60 credits). This study unit is intended for people who have completed the Interpreter (bachelor’s) degree programme and the Interpretation for the Speech Impaired and AAC Instruction studies (240 credits).

The information is subject to change.

The Interpreter (Bachelor’s degree) programme allows you to apply for the Master’s degree programme in a university of applied sciences or other institution, depending on the suitability of the field. Master’s degree studies are available at universities at home and abroad. Students may apply for a master’s degree course in interpreting, called Interpreting Development (Interpreter, Master’s degree), organised jointly by the Humak University of Applied Sciences and the Diakonia University of Applied Sciences.

Students can also complete the European Master in Sign Language Interpreting (EUMASLI) degree programme, which is the international master’s degree in sign language at Humak. The education is organised in collaboration with the European universities Heriot-Watt and Magdeburg-Stendal, as part of the European Master in Sign Language Interpreting. In addition to bachelor’s degree in interpreting, the applicant must be fluent in sign language, have work experience and have a good command of English.

The information is subject to change.

Interpreting Development (Interpreter, Master’s Degree)

Sign Language Interpreting (European Master’s Degree)

Further information

Degree information on StudyInfo

Read more about admission criteria and upcoming application rounds.

Want to know more about Humak’s programmes?

Download our digital brochure (in Finnish) to find out more about studying at Humak.

Have questions?

Contact our Admissions services via email: admissions(a)humak.fi

Or by phone Mon-Thu from 13 to 15:
+358 20 7621 234

Kaksi henkilöä istuu pöydän ääressä sisätilassa ja keskustelee viittomakieltä käyttäen.

bachelor’s degree

Interpreter (Bachelor’s Degree), Sign language interpreting

Daytime studies (in Finnish)
Helsinki

master’s degree

Interpreter (Master’s degree), Interpretation Development

Online studies (in Finnish)

master’s degree

European Master in Sign Language Interpreting
(EUMASLI)

Blended studies (in English)
Helsinki, Scotland, Germany

Interpreting and AAC instruction

Joint Application for Finnish-taught degree programmes

Be inspired, get passionate and make an impact – come study interpreting and AAC instruction!