Grading the doctoral thesis

• The doctoral thesis grading scale will change. Starting 1 August 2025 theses will be graded as failed / pass. However, doctoral theses whose preliminary examination has started no later than at the Faculty Council meeting in June 2025 will receive permission to defend from the Faculty Council and will be graded according to the current grading scale failed / pass / pass with distinction.
• At some faculties (Agriculture and Forestry, Biological and Environmental Sciences, Law, Medicine, Pharmacy, Science, and Veterinary Medicine) doctoral theses are approved and graded by the decision of the Dean. At the other faculties (Arts, Educational Sciences, Theology, and Social Sciences) faculty council approves and grades doctoral theses.

Thesis grading statements comprise a statement by the opponent and a grade proposal made by the grading committee. Both the opponent’s statement and the grade proposal must comply with the assessment criteria for doctoral thesis provided by your home faculty. The statements must assess both the quality of the thesis and your success in defending it at the public examination. Before the public examination, the opponent and members of the grading committee will receive the preliminary examiners’ statements, which they will also take into consideration when assessing the thesis.

The opponent and the grading committee must submit their statements to the doctoral student services of your home faculty no later than one week after the public examination. Faculty's doctoral student services will send the statements to you for your information. You have the right to submit written objections to the statements before the Faculty makes a decision on the grade of your thesis. The doctoral student services automatically take the thesis to the next possible decision by the Dean or the Faculty Council for approval, you do not need to separately request the handling of the matter.

The Faculty will base its decision on the grading statements, but the decision is made independently from the submitted grade proposal. As a rule, doctoral thesis approved at the University of Helsinki receive the grade pass. In the case of theses that are exceptionally meritorious and ambitious in light of all of the assessment criteria, the grade may be pass with distinction. Note, the grade of pass with distinction will be abolished from 1 August 2025. However, if preliminary examination has started before that date the thesis will be graded according the previous scale, and thus the grade pass with distinction is possible after 1 August 2025.

You will receive notification of the Faculty Council’s decision after the meeting.

If you are dissatisfied with the grading of your doctoral dissertation, you have the right to appeal in writing to the Academic Appeals Board within 14 days of the receipt of the grading decision (Section 64 of the Regulations on Degrees and the Protection of Students’ Rights at the University of Helsinki).

The thesis will be registered in Sisu within a few days of the Faculty Council meeting. You can submit a graduation request in Sisu when your approved doctoral thesis and the study modules required for a doctoral degree are indicated as completed in your study plan.

Read more about graduation. 

The University annually acknowledges doctoral theses of outstanding merit. In addition to scientific merit, the award grounds take into account the impact of the work in the relevant scientific field, as well as its social impact. The awards are each worth 4000 euros. Read more about previous recipients of the awards on the university's external website.

Instructions and guidelines concerning the examination and grading of doctoral theses are based on Rector’s Decision 19700/2024 (Rector’s decision on examination and approval of doctoral theses at the University of Helsinki).