Studies Required for Licentiate's Degree

Curricula for Doctoral Programmes  |  Licentiate's Degree  |  Licentiate's Thesis  |  Examination  |  Printing and grading  |  Practical information 

Curricula for Doctoral Programmes

Postgraduate studies consist of the Licentiate's thesis or Doctoral dissertation, and a minimum of 60 ECTS credits of studies defined in the individual study plan of the student.

Licentiate's Degree

According to the decree concerning postgraduate degrees, the aims of postgraduate studies are, that the student 

1) Becomes thoroughly acquainted with the discipline of the major subject and its social meaning, and achieves the ability to apply independently and critically methods of scientific research and the ability to create new scientific knowledge; 

2) Becomes acquainted with the development, basic problems and research methods of the discipline of the major subject; 

3) Acquires such a general knowledge of the theory of science and the disciplines related to the student’s major subject, which makes it possible to follow their development.

The School of Social Sciences and Humanities requires the following studies for the Licentiate’s degree:

a) Approximately 60 ECTS credits of postgraduate studies, which contribute either to the research work or to professional capabilities. 

Joint postgraduate studies 20-30 ECTS credits:  

These studies develop general theoretical and methodological skills, prepare for work in a multidisciplinary research community, develop general facilities in scientific expertise and in ethics and general skills for working life. These studies should be pursued according to the curricula of each doctoral programme and according to the personal study plan.

Knowledge of student’s own discipline and research area 30-40 ECTS credits: 

These studies develop the knowledge of the student’s own discipline, on the one hand more broadly than the thesis and on the other hand by deepening the student’s knowledge of the special issues of the discipline. These studies should be pursued at the postgraduate courses offered by the student’s major subject or by the other disciplines of the School. 

The specific requirements of the amplitude, the contents and the ways to conduct the studies are in the curricula for the doctoral programmes.

b) Licentiate’s thesis, which will be assessed by the Board after a public examination seminar. The normative extent of the thesis is 90 ECTS credits.  

Licentiate's Thesis

Research Plan

A detailed research plan for the Licentiate's thesis is required from the student.  The student presents the research plan in a seminar, where it is discussed and evaluated.

Monograph or an Article-based thesis

The Licentiate's thesis is required to show the student's theoretical knowledge in the major subject, and in addition, the student's ability to apply scientific research methods independently and critically.

An accepted Licentiate's thesis can be a) a coherent dissertation (a monograph) b) a thesis comprising of at least two scientific publications or manuscripts approved to be published, dealing with an integrated set of problems, together with a summary (an article-based thesis). In the summary the aims, the methods used and the results of the study are to be presented. The publications may also include collective publications if an independent contribution of the Licentiate candidate can be shown in them. The candidate must present a written clarification on his/her contribution to the collective research as his/her Licentiate's thesis is handed in for the examination. This document should be confirmed with the signatures of all writers. Also a list of the articles with information on where they have been published/ have been accepted to be published must be enclosed to the thesis. 

At the candidate's request, a manuscript for a doctoral dissertation which has been granted the permission to be published can also be accepted as a Licentiate's thesis.

Examination

The Licentiate thesis is submitted to the School Office in three paper copies in folders. Before submitting the thesis, the student should consult the professor of the major subject to get a permission to hand in the thesis for examination. This is important also because it is the professor of the major subject who makes the proposal for the examiners of the thesis. The thesis must be fully completed and all the final revisions made, because after submitting the thesis for examination it is not allowed to revise the thesis any more. Practical information on the examination process can be found here .

When the student is submitting the thesis to the School for examination, it is also checked that the accepted personal study plan has been handed in to the School. In addition to that, a transcript of study record indicating that all the other studies required for Licentiate’s Degree (60 ECTS credits) and an overall grade of them have been registered.

At least two examiners are appointed for the examination of the Licentiate's thesis. Before the selection of the examiners, the author of the thesis is given an opportunity to comment on the potential unacceptability of the prospective examiners if a doubt of being biased exists. The examiners are to give a well grounded written statement on the thesis and a proposal for the grade.

A public examination seminar for the thesis is organized by the office of the major subject. At least one of the examiners should be present at the examination seminar. The office of the major subject agrees upon the date and other practicalities of the examination with the student and the examiners.

The chairperson of the seminar writes a report, which includes the time and the place of the seminar, the amount of the participants, the names of the people who take the floor and the general progression of the seminar. The report is delivered to the members of the Board with the statements of the examiners.

The statements of the examiners will be delivered to the author as soon as they have been submitted to the School Office, but at the latest 14 days before the Board's meeting so that the postgraduate committee has time to consider the matter in their meeting. 

Printing and grading  

When the public examination seminar has been held the Licentiate candidate sends the thesis to be printed, as a pdf document, according to the guidelines of the Tampere University Library:  (http://www.uta.fi/kirjasto/en/publishing/thesis.html). 

The Licentiate's thesis can be taken to the Board's agenda only after the School Office has received one copy in print or other paper version. Within four days of receiving the documents mentioned in the library guidelines the printing house (Juvenes Print) delivers one copy of the thesis to the School Office and another to the Tampere University Library to be filed. The library publishes the thesis and its summary online (http://tutkielmat.uta.fi/index_en.php ), if the student has authorized this.

The Licentiate thesis is evaluated and graded by the Board on the basis of the statement given by the examiners. Before that, the postgraduate committee considers the matter. The examiners propose a grade for the Licentiate's thesis. The student is given a chance to comment the statements. After having the second examiner's statement, the student is given the guidelines on how to do this. The student may ask for postponement of the assessment of the thesis to the Board's next meeting in order to prepare his/her reply. The student may ask the Board for an amendment to the assessment of the thesis, within 14 days of receiving the decision.

When assessing a Licentiate's thesis the following scale is used: not accepted, accepted, accepted with honours.

Practical information concerning the examination process of licentiate's thesis.