Planning of Studies and Course Completion

Personal Study Plan HOPS

In all the degree programmes, students draw a personal study plan HOPS with a mentor at the beginning of their studies. Recommended year of completion for a course unit is usually given in the curricula guides in order to facilitate students in planning their studies. The student updates and reflects on her/his personal study plan throughout her/his studies. The study plan supports students plan on how to proceed in her/his studies, to make choices to do with studies and studying, and to develop and grow into and as an academic professional. Furthermore, the study plans help the degree programmes, Schools and the University gain important feedback from students and to direct means of study guidance and counseling, and to develop their services. The personal study plans are drawn up and maintained within the web tool NettiOpsu.

Planning the Study Schedule

The Finnish system of academic education gives students a lot of freedom to plan and schedule their studies. This also means that planning the schedule for the academic year, i.e. choosing the subjects and course units, matching the times of lectures and keeping the schedule intensive throughout the studies, requires a lot of activity and responsibility on the part of the student. Students plan their studies using the Curricula Guides and Teaching Schedules.

Curricula Guides
The curricula of degree programmes include learning outcomes, contents, teaching methods, information on evaluation and lists of study materials. The part of the curriculum called “Modes of study” defines the methods for fulfilling the unit in question. The curricula guides also include a recommended year of completion for a course unit. There is access to the teaching schedule from the course descriptions. Curricula Guides also include translations in English of some Finnish degree programmes.

Curricula Guides

Teaching Schedules
The teaching schedules are published annually in mid-May and updated thereafter if more courses will be offered during the academic year. If you cannot find the desired course information, please contact the international advisers of the units for information on courses available.

Teaching Schedules

Course Enrolment

At the University of Tampere, students usually do not need to sign up for lecture type classes in advance. For seminars and small group teaching, however, signing up is usually required. Depending on the course unit, students sign up using a course enrolment service through NettiOpsu or by signing up on a list at the relevant unit’s notice board. For instructions on signing up for a particular course unit, please see the teaching schedule. If you cannot find the requested information, please contact your international adviser to find out about your possibilities to complete course units in your subject. 

Many taught classes can only accept a certain number of students, and the order in which students are admitted is determined by queuing regulations. These regulations may vary from one school to another, but generally admission is determined by issues such as the number of credits the student has accrued during his/her studies and whether or not he/she is a degree student of the programme.

Exchange/visiting students can choose course units from different schools according to their own interests, provided that they meet the unit requirements (previous or equivalent courses taken, knowledge of the language of instruction) and if there are still places left. For some course units the attendance of exchange and visiting students is restricted.

How to Complete Course Units?

Attending classes and seminars is not the only way to proceed in your studies. The requirements on completion of course units are included in the curricula. Here are some examples of requirements on completion of course units and methods of assessment:

• participation in classroom work and an examination consisting of e.g. a written paper and/or an oral test
• participation in classroom work, reading of set text books and a written examination at the end of the course or on a general examination day
• participation in classroom work and work assignments, e.g. a reflective course diary or an essay on the topic(s) defined by the lecturer
• written exam or Essay based on independent study.

If you have any doubts concerning the fulfilment of requirements of course units, please do not hesitate to contact the teacher in question. For some course units instructed only in Finnish there may be a possibility to complete them through independent study by writing an essay or taking an examination on set books (see Taking exams).