Writing a dissertation is a full-time job
Finnish universities offer postgraduate students working on their dissertations a chance to focus on full-time study.
In 1995, a postgraduate education system was started at all Finnish universities with the premise of offering postgraduate students working on their dissertations a chance to focus on full-time study.
The system, funded by the Ministry of Education, the Academy of Finland and the universities themselves, originally had the aim of making postgraduate education more systematic and improve its standard.
The system has proved efficient, as studies conducted by the Ministry of Education show that students at these graduate schools complete their dissertations in less time than the average and they attain a doctoral degree at a younger age than average.
At the beginning of 2006, there were 4,000 students at the graduate schools, working full time on their dissertations. About 1000 new postgraduate students are admitted to the graduate schools each year.
In practice, the graduate schools are research groups where older and younger researchers work together with postgraduate students. The groups are often networked joint research projects between different universities.
Graduate schools in the Helsinki metropolitan area:
University of Helsinki Helsinki School of Economics Helsinki University of Technology Sibelius Academy University of Art and Design Helsinki
Text: Simo Salmela
Photo: Veikko Somerpuro
