Maturity test and demonstration of language skills in degrees

In the maturity test, students demonstrate their familiarity with the field of their thesis as well as their scientific and professional maturity needed in expert positions in their field of study.

The maturity test is a study attainment mandated by the Government Decree on University Degrees (794/2004) with which students demonstrate both their familiarity with the field of their thesis and their command of their language of education (Finnish or Swedish). If a student has demonstrated his, her or their proficiency in the language of school education at the bachelor’s degree level, it is sufficient to demonstrate just familiarity with the field of the thesis at the master’s level. Only the language of the maturity test written in Finnish or Swedish is checked if necessary. Until 31 August 2024, the abstract of the thesis will serve as the maturity test in both bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Guideline for students until 31 August 2024:

• The student writes the abstract as part of his, her or their thesis, which is then submitted to the Library’s Trepo publication database. If the Finnish language of the maturity test is also checked, the student submits the Finnish-language abstract to Language Centre’s maturity test-Moodle and reminds the supervisor about the language checking. If the Swedish language of a maturity test should be checked, the student sends an email to kielikeskus.tau [at] tuni.fi (kielikeskus[dot]tau[at]tuni[dot]fi). If necessary, the student writes two versions of the abstract of the thesis: one in the language of the thesis and another in Finnish and Swedish according to his, her or their language of education.
• If demonstration of knowledge of Finnish or Swedish is not required from students completing a bachelor’s or master’s degree, they will take the maturity test in the same language as in which they write their thesis.
• From 1 August 2024, students who have not completed the maturity test should swap their maturity test course unit for the 2024—2027 curriculum period version.

• The student registers for the correct maturity test course via Sisu. The implementations of maturity tests included in bachelor’s degrees are specific to each academic year and faculty. The maturity tests included in master’s degrees are implemented based on the academic year.

   

Guidelines for thesis supervisors and language revisers until 31 August 2024:

• The thesis supervisor assesses the abstract that serves as the maturity test at the same time as he, she or they assess the entire thesis. If the maturity test also includes language checking, the language reviser assesses the language of the maturity test submitted to Moodle and lets the supervisor know about grading. After this, the supervisor records the approved maturity test in Sisu.
• If the attainment is not approved at first, the student should do the required revisions to the abstract after which the attainment is reassessed.

For more information contact your own faculty or specialist hanna.nurmi [at] tuni.fi (Hanna Nurmi).

The guidelines, which come into effect at the beginning of September, will be updated on the website during August 2024.