Protection of students’ rights and review procedures

You have the right to view your examination answers or other work completed in written or otherwise recorded form. Furthermore, you are entitled to know how grading criteria have been applied to you.

If you have applied for the recognition of studies or other learning, and your application is rejected or only partially accepted, the decision you receive will indicate its grounds.

If you are dissatisfied with a decision on assessment - also with the assessment of your Bachelor's thesis - or the recognition of studies or learning, please do as follows:

• Submit a request for review, orally or in writing (e.g., by email), to the teacher responsible for the assessment in the 14 days after receiving information on the assessment results and the application of grading criteria to your performance. Likewise, you must submit a request for the review of the recognition of prior learning to the decision-maker, orally or in writing (e.g., by email), in the 14 days after receiving the decision and its grounds. A request for review means that you request the decision be changed, that is, the result of the assessment or recognition be changed. Making only an inquiry or expressing dissatisfaction is not a request for review.
• You must be provided with a reasoned decision on your request for review within a reasonable period of time. If you indicate your dissatisfaction with the decision on your request for review, you must receive the decision in writing. You can submit a request for administrative review of this decision to the University’s Academic Appeals Board in the 14 days after receiving information on the decision. The date on which you had access to the decision is not included in the 14 days given to submit a review request. Unless otherwise proven, you are deemed to have received the decision on the seventh day after the letter was sent and the third day after the email containing the decision was sent, excluding the day of sending.

Consider these matters before submitting a request for administrative review:

• The Academic Appeals Board reviews whether an assessment has been made erroneously or has exceeded discretionary power but does not reassess completed studies. Compare the grading criteria with your own answers and consider whether any of the criteria have been overlooked or erroneously interpreted in the assessment. If you feel this has been the case, you should submit a request for administrative review. Simple dissatisfaction with your grade is not sufficient grounds for a review.
• The Academic Appeals Board does not process requests for administrative review if a review request has not first been submitted to the teacher or other decision-maker who made the original decision (NB! Does not apply to review requests pertaining to master’s theses).

Content and appendices of review requests to the Academic Appeals Board

Requests for administrative review must be submitted to the Academic Appeals Board in writing and must indicate the following:

1. Decision whose review is requested
2. Rectification requested
3. Grounds for the request
4. Date and time of receipt of the decision
5. Name and contact details of the person submitting the request

Documents to be attached to review requests:

1. Decision made on your request for administrative review of an assessment decision or a decision on the recognition of studies or other learning
2. Account of the date of receipt of the decision. If the decision-maker sent the decision by email, the original message must be submitted to the Academic Appeals Board in a form that indicates the relevant parties and the date and time of its sending.
3. In the case of review requests pertaining to the assessment of examinations or learning assignments, attach to the request your answers or learning assignment as well as the grading criteria for the examination or learning assignment and model answers, if available.
4. In the case of review requests pertaining to the recognition of studies or other learning, attach to your request all documents enclosed with the original recognition application, including content descriptions of the studies to be recognised.

If you are dissatisfied with the grade proposal for a thesis included in your second-cycle degree, you can request, in writing (e.g., by email), that the assessment of your thesis be suspended before the Dean decides on the matter. You must submit the request no later than the day before the Dean’s decision at 12 noon. In this case, the assessment will lapse and you can still make changes to your thesis. At this stage, you should read carefully the instructions given to you by the examiners when writing the evaluation. 

If you are dissatisfied with the Dean's decision on the grade of the thesis, you can submit a request for administrative review of this decision to the Academic Appeals Board. However, please note that the Academic Appeals Board does not handle requests concerning:

• A student's dissatisfaction with possible shortcomings in the supervision of the thesis.
• A student's dissatisfaction with the reasoning of the assessment decision, but not the grade itself.

The Academic Appeals Board does not process review requests pertaining to students’ dissatisfaction with deficiencies in thesis supervision, if any, or the grounds given in grading decisions. Consequently, the Academic Appeals Board does not process review requests seeking to rectify the written grading statement and proposal of the thesis examiners only.

Theses included in second-cycle degrees are written independently by students. Ultimately, students decide on the form and content of their theses, and students alone are responsible for their theses. Theses are assessed as is on the basis of the relevant grading criteria. Deficiencies in supervision, if any, or the workload students have undertaken in connection with their theses does not, as such, constitute grounds for a better grade than that based on the content of the thesis. Correspondingly, amendments made on the basis of supervisors’ comments do not automatically justify a better grade.

You can submit a request for administrative review of the assessment of your master’s thesis to the Academic Appeals Board in the 14 days after receiving the assessment decision. The date on which you received the decision is not included in the 14 days given to submit a review request. Unless otherwise proven, you are deemed to have received the decision on the seventh day after the letter was sent and the third day after the email containing the decision was sent, excluding the day of sending.

The Academic Appeals Board processes review requests pertaining to theses by first providing the body responsible for the assessment with the opportunity to submit a response to the review request. Before making a decision, the board can also obtain a statement from an expert not affiliated with the University of Helsinki. Persons submitting a review request are provided the opportunity to be heard on any material obtained relevant to the matter before the Academic Appeals Board makes its decision.

You can graduate from the University before the processing of a review request pertaining to the assessment of your thesis is completed. You must notify the Academic Appeals Board of your up-to-date contact details, such as an active email address. If the grade of a thesis is changed as a result of the review request process, you will be provided with a new degree certificate.

Content and appendices of requests for administrative review of a master’s thesis grade

Requests for administrative review must be submitted to the Academic Appeals Board in writing and must indicate the following:

1. Decision whose review is requested
2. Rectification requested
3. Grounds for the request
4. Date and time of receipt of the decision
5. Name and contact details of the person submitting the request

Documents to be attached to review requests:

1. Master’s thesis
2. Thesis assessment form
3. Excerpt from the Dean's decision (If the thesis was evaluated before 1 August 2024, extract from the minutes of the faculty council or steering group meeting. You can request the extract from your faculty’s head of academic affairs.)

Alternatively, you can submit the original email message notifying you of the approval and registration of your thesis, provided that the message indicates the grade given for the thesis and the date of the Dean's decision. If information on the grade has been given by email, the original email message must be submitted to the Academic Appeals Board.

If you are dissatisfied with the assessment of your licentiate or doctoral thesis, you can submit a request for administrative review to the Academic Appeals Board. You can submit a review request to the Academic Appeals Board only on the basis of the final grading decision.

Please note that, before your licentiate thesis is assessed, you can request in writing that the assessment be suspended. In this case, the assessment will be cancelled.

You can submit a request for administrative review of the assessment of your licentiate or doctoral thesis to the Academic Appeals Board in the 14 days after receiving the assessment decision. The date on which you received the decision is not included in the 14 days given to submit a review request. Unless otherwise proven, you are deemed to have received the decision on the seventh day after the letter was sent and the third day after the email containing the decision was sent, excluding the day of sending.

Content and appendices of requests for administrative review of the assessment of a licentiate or doctoral thesis

Requests for administrative review must be submitted to the Academic Appeals Board in writing and must indicate the following:

1. Decision whose review is requested
2. Rectification requested
3. Grounds for the request
4. Date and time of receipt of the decision
5. Name and contact details of the person submitting the review request

Documents to be attached to review requests:

1. Licentiate or doctoral thesis
2. Decisions by the faculty council
3. Statements by the examiner or preliminary examiners
4. Responses by the author of the thesis, if any (on the statements of the examiner or preliminary examiners and the opponent, as well as the appointment of the preliminary examiners and opponent)
5. Date of receipt of the information. If information on the final grade of the thesis was sent by email, the original message must be submitted to the Academic Appeals Board in a form that indicates the relevant parties and the date and time of its sending.

Based on section 23 of the Administrative Procedure Act (434/2003), the Academic Appeals Board is obliged to consider requests for administrative review without undue delay. The law or the University’s internal regulations do not provide any more detailed timeframes for the processing of review requests. Students should be prepared for the processing of review requests pertaining to theses in particular to take at least a few months, as the processing involves requests for clarification, responses and, possibly, a statement from an expert not affiliated with the University of Helsinki.

The Academic Appeals Board processes the review requests submitted to it in the order of their receipt. The duration of the process is calculated from the date all documents required to process the request have been received. After submitting your request, you will receive an automated reply from the Registry of the University of Helsinki. The official responsible for your request will contact you when your request is being processed and if you need to supplement your request. Please make sure you have provided the Academic Appeals Board with your up-to-date contact details.

After the processing of your request has begun and when you are submitting requested documents or wish to enquire about the status of the processing, please write to the official processing your request and to the University Registry (registry@helsinki.fi). Also include in the subject field the number (beginning with the letters HY) associated with your review request if you have received such a number in connection with a request to supplement your review request or another message sent by the Academic Appeals Board.

The duties of the Academic Appeals Board include:

• Handling requests for administrative review concerning the assessment and recognition of studies, and the assessment of Master's theses, licentiate theses and doctoral theses
• Monitoring the resolutions of review requests regarding revoked rights to study in the faculties in order to ensure the equal treatment of students
• Making proposals for the development of the protection of students’ rights
• Issuing statements on matters concerning the protection of students’ rights
• Dealing with issues concerning the protection of students’ rights that are not, under the Universities Act or the Regulations of the University of Helsinki, assigned to any other administrative body of the University

Requests for administrative review are submitted to the Academic Appeals Board of the University of Helsinki:

Postal address: Archives and Registry, PO Box 3, 00014 University of Helsinki

Email: registry@helsinki.fi

The heads of academic affairs are responsible for matters involving the protection of students’ rights. Contact details of the heads of academic affairs.

In addition, the Student Union of the University of Helsinki (HYY) has its own specialist in education policy who can advise students in matters related to the protection of students’ rights. Contact details of HYY staff

As a student, you can receive legal advice on other issues from the following:

• The Committee for Legal Help under the Pykälä association of law students
• The Legal aid website of the Ministry of Justice
• The Non-Discrimination Ombudsman

Matters related to the protection of students’ rights in studies are addressed, for example, in the following:

• Universities Act
• Regulations on Degrees and the Protection of Students’ Rights at the University of Helsinki (requires login)
• Regulations on Degrees and the Protection of Students’ Rights at the Swedish School of Social Science (in Swedish, requires login)
• Guidelines for degrees and studies (requires login)

You can find all provisions and decisions related to teaching at the University of Helsinki on Flamma (requires login).

The University needs your personal data for purposes such as organising teaching, making decisions related to your studies and providing you with advice and guidance. Students’ rights also include the right to be informed about how and why your data is processed and stored. The University's data protection statement (helsinki.fi) provides comprehensive information on the processing of students' personal data and your rights related to the processing of your data.