Instructions for applicants to teaching and research positions

The person performing the university's teaching and research position is required to master the language in which he or she must provide teaching. The job advertisement specifies the language proficiency required for the position.

Proficiency in the national languages

As a rule, teaching and research positions are advertised through open international recruitment processes. This supports the university’s goal of attracting talent from diverse backgrounds and strengthening the internationalisation of our community. 

In some positions, successful performance requires strong proficiency in one or both of Finland’s national languages, Finnish and Swedish. In such cases, recruitment may be targeted to applicants with skills in these languages.

Knowledge of national language(s) may be justifiably required in recruitment in the following cases:

• It is essential to require a certain level of proficiency in Finnish and/or Swedish to ensure the execution of teaching, guidance, service, or other responsibilities in the position, faculty, or unit.
• The selected individual must use Finnish and/or Swedish in collaboration with authorities, funders, or other stakeholders.

Specific language proficiency requirements apply to Swedish-language positions; see below.

We encourage our international employees to learn a national language, as research shows that language learning supports integration and fosters a sense of belonging in Finnish society. We provide a range of support services and opportunities for language learning.

Specific features of Swedish-language positions

The official languages of instruction and degrees at the University of Helsinki are Finnish and Swedish. We provide Swedish-language education in several fields and train Swedish-speaking professionals to meet the needs of society. For this reason, certain positions require very good or excellent proficiency in Swedish.

The language proficiency requirements described below apply to all Swedish-language positions.

When the language of instruction is Swedish, the language proficiency recommended for successfully attending to the duties of the position corresponds with level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. At the faculty’s discretion, level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages may be accepted as a minimum Swedish language proficiency requirement.

During the recruitment process, language proficiency is demonstrated with documents, an interview and a teaching demonstration. If needed, applicants may be requested to provide further clarification of their language proficiency.

In Swedish-language positions, language proficiency can be verified in the following ways

• A Civil Service Language Proficiency Certificate, a National Certificate of Language Proficiency or Swedish language proficiency demonstrated through studies can be used as part of demonstrating Swedish language proficiency in the following manner:
• Civil Service Language Proficiency Certificate: excellent oral and written skills (C 2), good oral and written skills (C 1)
• National Certificate of Language Proficiency:
• Studies:
  • Education completed in Swedish and a maturity test completed at a higher education institution in Swedish/a matriculation examination with at least magna cum laude approbatur in Swedish as a native language/a matriculation examination with at least eximia cum laude approbatur in Swedish as a second language (C 2)
  • Education completed in Swedish/a maturity test completed at a higher education institution in Swedish/a matriculation examination with a passing grade in Swedish as a native language/a matriculation examination with at least magna cum laude approbatur in Swedish as a second language (C 1)

Instead of or alongside a certificate, Swedish language proficiency can also be demonstrated in other ways. In assessing applicants, language proficiency will be taken into account both when assessing applicants’ qualifications for appointment to the position in question and their mutual ranking.

English

In practice, teaching and research tasks require good English language skills.

The assessment of teaching skills plays a key role in the overall assessment of applicants in recruitment processes. Applicants’ teaching skills are assessed if they apply for a teaching or research position or for the title of docent. Each faculty has a committee for the assessment of teaching skills, set up by the dean.



The Teaching demonstration

The teaching skills committee conducts a reasoned overall assessment of applicants’ teaching skills.



A demonstration of teaching skills is a public teaching session in the field of the position or docentship applied for, and plays a key role in the overall assessment of teaching skills. The areas to be assessed in addition to the teaching demonstration are defined in the relevant matrix for the assessment of teaching skills. 



The purpose of a teaching demonstration is to verify the applicant’s teaching skills in practice.

The teaching demonstration must be seen as a learning situation and in the teaching demonstration, the applicant teaches as in a genuine teaching situation. The teaching demonstration is not a scientific presentation.  When assessing the teaching demonstration, priority will be paid to how the applicant is able to guide and promote the learning of participants. 

The University’s societal engagement is closely integrated with its core missions of research and teaching. Its purpose is to strengthen the impact of research and education while fostering reciprocal collaboration and dialogue between the University and various actors in society.

Merits related to societal engagement constitute one area in the evaluation of researchers’ academic achievements. The emphasis placed on these merits varies according to the researcher’s career stage, academic discipline, and role. Societal engagement may encompass a wide range of activities based on research and teaching through which the University interacts with and contributes to society.

When applying for academic positions, it is important to highlight merits related to societal engagement in application documents, for example by using the TENK CV template.

Examples of societal engagement merits include:

• National and international development and expert assignments in the public, non-governmental, and private sectors, including:
  • Collaboration with public authorities (e.g. expert hearings, legislative drafting, steering groups, evaluation panels and working groups)
  • Collaboration with companies and non-governmental organisations
• Positions of trust, expert roles and commissioned assignments serving society
• Other forms of collaboration with users and beneficiaries of research-based knowledge
• Participation in public discussion and visibility beyond the scientific community
• Promoting public understanding, visibility and accessibility of research and the discipline, for example through science education and science communication
• Promoting the commercialisation of research and research results
• Industry collaboration, innovation activities and the promotion of entrepreneurship
• Intersectoral mobility, experience gained outside the research community and achievements beyond academia
• Training teachers and other professionals, as well as contributing to lifelong learning and public education
• Providing research-based teaching or training outside the higher education community
• Action research or developmental interaction with, or related to, the subject of research
• Advancing sustainability and responsibility
• Partnerships and donor relations
   

The academic portfolio can be used to assess academic competence. The portfolio is a way to record and document one's core competence and to cover aspects of academic work (research, teaching, societal interaction and administration) as a whole. The aim is to create an organised documentation of one’s professional skills and strengths and to give a concise portrayal of one’s professional growth.

An ex­ample of the struc­ture of an aca­demic port­fo­lio

1. Ba­sic infor­mation

•   First names and family name (also previous family names)
•  Education and degrees
•  Other necessary background information (no private personal details needed, relevant contact information is given in application form)

2. Research and sci­entific activ­it­ies

•   Experience in research and other scientific activities
•  Research philosophy and ethics, primary fields of research
•  Significant publications
•  Research assessments and awards
•  Activities in the academic community
•  Visions and personal development plans
•  Other scientific merits.

3. Teach­ing and su­per­vi­sion

•   Experience in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and supervision
•  Pedagogical approach and training
•  Published study materials and use of educational technology
•  Development of teaching and awards for teaching
•  Participation in the assessment and development of teaching
•  Strengths, development challenges and visions of one's teaching
•  Other teaching-related qualifications.

4. Ad­min­is­tra­tion and other activ­it­ies

•   Administrative and management duties
•  Duties in one's field outside the University
•  Active role in society and positions of trust
•  Publications, presentations and dissemination of scientific knowledge through other means
•  Other significant merits and duties.

The recommended length for an academic portfolio is 4-7 pages plus the enclosures. Individual faculties and units may have the specific guidelines and recommendations of their own regarding the structure, extent and requisite enclosures. When applying for a teaching or research post at the university, one should always make sure whether the faculty or unit has given their own instructions on how to create one’s academic portfolio. The portfolio is also a tool for enhancing one’s competence and development.

A curriculum vitae (CV) is an overview of an individual’s studies, professional career, academic merits and other achievements. The aim of the template is to provide guidelines for the writer of a CV so that the individual’s merits are presented as comprehensively, truthfully and comparably as possible. 

The University of Helsinki recommends applicants use the cv model created by The Finnish National Board on Research Integrity (TENK). There is no need to include personal details irrelevant for academic merits, like for example date of birth or home address. 

The Ministry of Education and Culture has drawn up a classification of publication types.

 

It can be utilised or its use may be required in the recruitment of the University of Helsinki.