Guidance and advice for studies

General advice

Our general Studies pages summarise all major information concerning the start and completion of your studies and graduation. Please read the instructions carefully, and, should you fail to find an answer to your question, contact the Student Services.

Personal guidance

Your teacher tutor introduces you to target-oriented studying and the study process of your subject, and gives you advice on how to plan your studies.
The secretary of study affairs helps you with teaching schedules, registering for exams, transcripts of academic records and other practical issues.
The head of study affairs is responsible for the general academic affairs, such as the degree structure, selection of minor subjects, recognition of prior learning and graduation.
Amanuenses counsel you on the studies in your degree programme, as well as schedules and other teaching arrangements.
Professors, lecturers and assistants offer you subject-specific guidance.

General examination dates

Teaching periods of academic year 2020-2021

Academic year 2020-2021

1. period 10.8.-17.10.2020 (10 weeks)
2. period 19.10.-19.12.2020 (9 weeks)
3. period: 07.01.-06.03.2021 (8,5 weeks)
4. period: 15.03.-12.06.2021 (13 weeks)

Facilities

Using the F-wing facilities in the evening

You can work in the F-wing without a separate key Mon–Fri 7.30–21.00 and Sat 8.30–16.00.
If you have an electronic key, you may access the facilities also after these times. You can enter the F-wing through the F5 entrance every day between 7.00 and 11.59. If you come after 21.00, you must use the F5 entrance and have a key.

You may request an electronic key at the information desk in the main lobby,
Mon⁠–⁠Fri mainly 8.00–16.00.

Safety instructions

Before you start working in our facilities, familiarise yourself with our common ways of working and safety guidelines in our safety guidebook.

General writing instructions

Writing and assessing academic texts plays a significant role in higher education. Please familiarise yourself with our general writing instructions concerning e.g. academic text types, layout and referencing.

Lecture log

You can earn credits by attending our guest lectures, seminars and public defences related to art and design, marking them on your lecture log and producing a lecture journal. Lectures organised outside of our university must be pre-approved by a professor in your degree programme.

Copyrights of project and thesis work

Familiarise yourself with the copyrights of the students' project and thesis work.

Please print out and sign the agreement on the rights of your project work and theses.

Graduation

Thesis and graduation

Under the Thesis and Graduation section on our general Studies pages you will find the steps of completing a bachelor's and master's thesis, as well as instructions on research ethics, the reassessment procedure, maturity test and applying for a degree certificate.

Thesis evaluation instructions

Evaluation instructions for master's thesis >

Confidential data

Does your thesis include data that is considered confidential? Read our instructions on concealment of confidential data and sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Confidentiality of a master thesis.pdf
Application form for declaring a pro gradu thesis partly confidential.pdf

Permission to provide covers for a thesis

The students in our faculty are required to fill in a form for permission to provide covers for a thesis.

Apply for doctoral studies

Contact the professor of your academic field

We recommend that you contact the professor of your academic field already when planning to apply for doctoral studies. Discussion with the relevant professor on your research topic, research plan and studies will give you a better understanding of the doctoral path.

If you do not know who the professor you should contact at these early stages is, you can search for professors in our research portal. You can also get in touch with the administrative manager or head of study affairs in the relevant faculty or the coordinator of the Graduate School to find out potential supervisors. We need a preliminary research plan to be able to connect you with a professor; please provide this information already when contacting us. It can be a good idea to read the professor's most prominent research publications before discussion.

Contact head of study affairs in the Faculty of Art and Design >

Contact head of study affairs in the Faculty of Education >

Contact administrative manager in the Faculty of Law >

Contact administrative manager in the Faculty of Social Sciences >

Contact coordinator of the Doctoral School

Write your research plan

To apply for the right to pursue doctoral studies, you need a research plan. The research plan must include a schedule and information on funding. We have developed a research plan template based on the Academy of Finland's research plan structure. If you wish, you can also use a different template, but please make sure that your research plan contains all the information provided in a potential job advertisement for a salaried PhD position.

In your application, much value is placed on the quality of your research plan. Therefore, it is wise to discuss your plan – and refine it based on feedback – beforehand with a potential supervisor. It is also rather clear that it is advisable to read the supervisor's scholarly work as well.

Research plans are requested primarily in English, as international experts can participate in the evaluation of applications. You may also submit a research plan in Finnish or Swedish.

Research plan template >

Make your personal study plan

Your application should be appended with a personal study plan. When making your plan, comply with the requirements of the doctoral programme under consideration. In each programme, you can take courses from the Graduate School's offer and from other programmes.

If you have already agreed on supervising, complete the supervising agreement.

Apply online

Application periods in year 2023:

7–28 February 2023 by 15:00 (local Finnish time)
3–24 October 2023 by 15:00 (local Finnish time).

The dates and times are local Finnish time. If your application is successful, your study right begins either on 1 January or 1 August, depending on whether you applied in autumn or spring. It is possible to grant the study right at other times, but we require strong grounds – such as significant research funding requiring a doctoral study right – for making such an exception. Your study right application is addressed to the faculty relevant to your research.

To the online application system

Structure of a doctoral degree

The doctoral degree contains 240 study credits (ECTS). This considerable amount of work is divided into sections: the doctoral dissertation constitutes 180 credits, and studies constitute altogether 60 credits.

Structure of a doctoral degree in the thematic doctoral programme. In the discipline-specific doctoral programme, the structure can differ from this because of discipline-specific requirements.