Guidelines for licenciate thesis

If you have received the right to study for a doctoral degree, you may earn the licentiate degree in the interim. However, doctoral students mostly work on the doctoral dissertation directly.

The licentiate degree is completed in a doctoral programme. The licentiate degree comprises the licentiate thesis and 30–60 credits depending on the curriculum of the doctoral programme.

The licentiate thesis may be a consistent single work (monograph) written by the author. It may also be a sufficient number of scientific or artistic publications, or manuscripts accepted for publication as well as a summary thereof, which must all be approved by the faculty. The licentiate thesis may also be another kind of study that meets the same criteria for scientific or artistic knowledge. The publications may also include co-authored works provided that the independent contribution of the author can be demonstrated.

The licentiate thesis is typically about half the size of a doctoral dissertation and a monograph ie a single previously unpublished study. The licentiate thesis must present in sufficient detail the theoretical background, objectives, methods, results, reflection and conclusions of the study. The author is responsible for the possible language revision and printing costs of the licentiate thesis.

With the adoption of the Government Decree (1498/2014), the position of professional specialisation education changed so that those studies no longer lead to a licentiate degree. Students admitted to an education leading to a licentiate's degree before the adoption of this Government Decree have the right to complete their degree within a transitional period.

The general regulations governing the form of the doctoral dissertation are set out in the Government Decrees 794/2004 (Chapter 5, Section 22) and 1039/2013 (Sections 21, 22 and 26). Licentiate theses must also meet those criteria. Faculties may have more detailed instructions on the form of the thesis.