University of Helsinki

Quality and assessment

The Faculty of Theology provides its students, teachers and scholars with an excellent learning and research environment of the highest international standards. Quality assessment, innovative research and modern pedagogical solutions and practices serve as the basis for all Faculty operations.

As one of the leading European research universities, the University of Helsinki ranks prominently in international evaluations. Accordingly, the Faculty of Theology has attained excellent marks in several international research and teaching evaluations.

High-quality research

Theological research at the University of Helsinki received high marks in the international evaluations carried out in 1999 and 2005. Overall, Faculty research was favourably assessed in both evaluations: the Faculty’s overall score was the highest at the University in the 1999 evaluation and the third highest in the 2005 evaluation.

See also Centres of Exellence in research.

Top-level teaching

The Faculty offers its students top-level teaching. The Faculty was selected as a national centre of excellence in education from 2007 to 2009 and from 1999 to 2000. The Faculty has also received the University of Helsinki award for high-quality teaching in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

The Faculty operates a pedagogical unit which further develops teaching and promotes the pedagogical competence of teachers. The unit also studies learning and teaching and offers related specialist services.

Ensuring high standards with a quality assurance system
the Faculty of Theology maintains and further develops a quality assurance system which supports and helps to structure Faculty operations and contributes to the Faculty’s further development.

The quality assurance system and related responsibilities are described in the Faculty’s operations manual. The Faculty’s quality assurance system is part of the University’s corresponding system.

Evaluations from 2001 to 2008

• The audit of the quality assurance system 2007
• The research assessment exercise 2005.
  The Faculty of Theology final report in English
• The evaluation of education 2001–2002,
  the Faculty of Theology final report (PDF) and
  the subject-teacher education final report (PDF)
• The assessment of administrative and support services at the University of Helsinki 2004–2005, in which the Faculty of Theology participated: final report of the assessment group (in Finnish) (PDF)
• Learning by comparing. The benchmarking of administration at the University of Helsinki

Upcoming evaluations 

• The international evaluation of education and degrees 2007–2008

Awards

• Academy Professor Simo Knuuttila received the Nordic Gad Rausing Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities in 2008.
• Academy Professor Heikki Räisänen received the Nordic Gad Rausing Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities in 2006
• Dr Juha Pakkala, a scholar at the Department of Biblical Studies, received the European Young Investigator Award (EURYI) from the European Science Foundation in 2006.