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Faculty of Arts
Information:Contact information:Faculty office: Phone: +358-(0)9-1911 (exchange) |
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Research and Postgraduate StudiesFinancing of postgraduate studiesFinnish universities do not collect tuition fees, nor do they grant many scholarships. Obtaining the right to pursue postgraduate studies does not guarantee funding; students are responsible for finding funding on their own. The competition for funding for full-time research is tough, especially in the humanities, and often even good dissertation projects go without funding. Furthermore, even those who manage to obtain funding often receive it at short intervals from various foundations. Many doctoral students write their dissertations while working or fill the gaps between scholarships with government-provided financial aid to students. Deadlines for applications are important dates in the calendar of a postgraduate student. It is worthwhile to read very carefully the instructions for applicants for various foundations as the required application documents vary widely, as do the fields of research that take priority in the distribution of funding. Funding may be in the form of a salary or grant. Students receiving a salary enjoy benefits, such as health care and pension, that grant holders do not. Students in the doctoral programmes/graduate schools funded by the Ministry of Education are the most financially secure postgraduate students. The programmes last four years, and during this time, students receive a salary. Further information on doctoral programmes The teaching and supervision services offered by doctoral programmes are often also available to postgraduate students who receive funding from other sources. If no graduate schools/doctoral programmes exist in your field, you may apply for entry into a research programme run by a senior scholar. You may apply for such funding to the Academy of Finland or to the University, which distributes three-year grants for research projects. The application must be submitted by the director of the project, usually a professor or a docent. Therefore, postgraduate students or prospective postgraduate students should discuss potential research projects with their teachers and senior scholars. It will be an asset for the applications if the project includes researcher education – in other words, postgraduate students. The Faculty of Arts administers two scholarship funds. The Kaarlo ja Irma Koskimiehen rahasto foundation supports research on Finnish history within different disciplines, and the Erkki Hannikaisen rahasto foundation supports postgraduate studies on the French language completed in France. Applications for these scholarships are invited every year in November. Many postgraduate students in the Faculty of Arts have obtained grants from various foundations and organisations. The dissertation supervisors and other teachers in the field are the best sources of information on which foundations and organisations are the best sources of funding. Research in the arts is funded by:
Funding is usually granted for one year at a time, but often (especially the larger foundations) extend the grant for another, or even a third year if the work progresses smoothly. There are also a number of smaller foundations for which information is available at www.saatiopalvelu.fi (in Finnish only). Up-to-date information on research funding can be found in the database maintained by the University of Turku. Information on scholarships is also available from the University’s Student Affairs Office as well as from departmental and faculty notice boards. Announcements of scholarships are also posted on the postgraduate studies notice board in the Faculty Office. The University invites applications for certain grants, such as the Matti Klinge Research Grant, and others awarded by the University of Helsinki Research Foundation. The University’s Arts and Social Sciences Fund awards small grants to postgraduate students for travelling expenses: www.helsinki.fi/rahastot/english/funds. Funding for the University’s own researcher training programmes is allocated to certain fields on the basis of applications from faculties and independent institutes, and thus these grants are not available to all applicants on a yearly basis. Grants towards the completion of doctoral dissertations are available to postgraduate students in the final stages of their dissertation work. The University awards these grants for periods of one to three months, during which time doctoral candidates are expected to complete the dissertation so that it can be submitted for preliminary examination. The supervisor’s statement is of crucial importance in obtaining this grant, but almost all doctoral candidates in need of this funding have received it: www.helsinki.fi/kehittamisosasto/tutkimusasiat. Doctoral candidates may apply to the University for financial support (max. 1000€) to cover the expenses of the copies submitted to the University for free. The application form can be downloaded from here. The previously common practice of employing postgraduate students to the post of departmental assistant is today rare, as many departments have converted their assistantships into senior-category teaching posts. The Faculty of Arts has only a few postgraduate assistantships left. In most cases, foreign nationals obtain funding from their native countries. Information on bilateral exchange agreements between Finland and other countries is available from the Centre for International Mobility, CIMO:
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