The earlier you initiate communication on the individual arrangements you need before the relevant courses or examinations, the better. To obtain the right to individual arrangements, you need a certificate from a doctor or relevant specialist, such as a psychologist, speech therapist or physiotherapist. Certificates on difficulties in reading or writing can also be provided by special needs teachers. If your documents are not in Finnish, Swedish or English, you must provide official translations into one of these languages. You must submit both translations and copies of the original documents in the original language as an attachment to your application. For exchange students, we accept as documentation a certificate from the home university stating the individual arrangements granted at the home university (in Finnish, English or Swedish), together with the original specialist certificate. If the specialist certificate is in a language other than Finnish, Swedish or English, the student must also submit their own brief explanation of the reasons for the need for arrangements.
Specialist certificates must indicate the following:
- Person to whom the certificate applies (your name and personal identity code)
- Grounds for individual arrangements: the illness, disability or impediment in question and its effect on your studies
- Specialist certificates should also indicate the concrete arrangements you could benefit from.
If you need individual arrangements for a specific course, you can agree on the matter directly with the teacher. Please reach out to the teacher well in advance before the beginning of the course. Teachers have the right to request a specialist certificate or a recommendation provided to you by the University, indicating the need for individual arrangements. Teachers cannot take copies of your specialist certificates. If you need individual arrangements on a recurring basis, or don’t want to show your specialist certificates directly to the teacher, please apply for a recommendation for individual arrangements in accordance with the instructions in the following section.
In any questions you can contact the University’s accessibility contact people in: specialneeds@helsinki.fi.s. Please note that messages can only be sent from a helsinki.fi address to an address ending in .s. If you don’t have a helsinki.fi email address, you can send the protected email through the Securemail service.
The accessibility contact person can also direct you to study advising to get help in drawing up a study plan that lays down a study pace as well as course completion methods and an order of completion appropriate to your circumstances. Individual arrangements do not allow course completion in an exceptional order if the learning outcomes of your degree require completion in a specific order.
Individual arrangements can also be made for examinations. In the case of examinations organised in connection with teaching, you can agree on any arrangements with the teacher. In such cases too, the need for individual arrangements must be demonstrated with a specialist certificate. In the case of examinations not organised by the teacher, support for individual arrangements is provided by the University’s Examination Services. For more details, read about individual arrangements for examinations.
If you need aids provided by the healthcare services, a personal assistant or a guide dog, you can use them in teaching situations without a separate recommendation or certificate. However, such a certificate is required if you need a small group space or a separate examination room and use the equipment or have a personal assistant or guide dog present. In such cases, please write to specialneeds@helsinki.fi.s.