Guidelines for student assessment
The assessment of study attainments is based on Tampere University’s Regulations on Degrees and Regulations on the Assessment of Studies, degree curricula and other documented decisions on assessment. This page describes the key principles and procedures of assessing studies.
Assessment criteria and grades
Assessment schedules and dates of recording study attainments
Assessing and grading study modules
Publicity of assessment documents
Retaking a study attainment and raising the grade
Appeals to rectify the grading of study attainments
Assessment criteria and grades
The assessment of learning is based on the learning outcomes described in the curriculum and assessment criteria. Implementations may further specify assessment criteria. Students should have an opportunity to review their assessed study attainment, and this opportunity must be provided after the assessment is complete and well before an opportunity to retake the attainment or improve the grade is arranged. The teacher must ensure that students can get feedback on their performance, information on how the assessment criteria have been applied to their learning as well as an opportunity to provide a response to the feedback.
The grading scales and criteria used in assessing the study attainments are described in the curriculum under implementation info. Study attainments included in bachelor’s and master’s degrees are graded as either passed (HYV) or failed (HYL). In numerical grading, a five-tiered scale is used. The grades are 1 (=sufficient), 2 (=satisfactory), 3 (=good), 4 (=very good) and 5 (=excellent).
Proficiency in the second national language is graded on the scale of good proficiency, satisfactory proficiency, or fail.
A licentiate’s thesis is graded as either passed or failed. Doctoral dissertations are graded on the scale of approved with distinction, approved, or failed.
To get a passing grade (passed or 1) the student must demonstrate sufficient learning that enables them to continue the studies according to the curriculum. Only for well-justified reasons may the curriculum specify that participation in a course requires a certain grade in a preceding mandatory course.
Assessment schedules and dates of recording study attainments
Study attainments must be assessed and grades recorded within 21 days of their submission or the final date by which they should have been submitted. For a well-justified reason, the Dean or Head of Unit may grant an exception to the assessment schedule. Students must be informed about the exceptions in advance.
The results of assessments done between 1 June and 31 July can be published over a longer time, but the assessments must be complete before the first teaching period begins in the autumn.
The results of assessments done between the second and third teaching periods may be published after the deadline specified above, but no later than 14 days after that time.
The assessment schedules of the bachelor’s thesis and the maturity test differ from the general rule as follows:
If the summary of a bachelor’s thesis is used as the maturity test, the thesis must be assessed within 21 calendar days after it has been submitted for assessment. If the maturity test is an electronic exam, the thesis must be assessed within 28 calendar days of submission.
When the abstract of the thesis is used as the maturity test, its content and language must be assessed within 21 days and within 28 days when the maturity test is an electronic exam. At the end of semesters, the following schedules apply to the language review of maturity test exams: If the student completes the exam by the end of November, the language revisor assesses the language of the maturity test in December. The language of maturity test exams taken in December are assessed in January. Similarly, the language revisor assesses the language of the maturity test in June if the student has completed the exam by the end of May. The language of maturity tests completed in June are assessed in August.
If the maturity test is an exam, it is given the date of taking the exam when recorded in Sisu. A thesis is recorded with the date it was submitted for assessment via the Trepo publication system. Other study attainments than exams and theses are generally recorded in Sisu using the date they were submitted for assessment.
Assessing and grading study modules
The grade of a study module is based on the weighted average of the grades of the course units included in it. Weighing is based on the number of credits in the course units. Under Sections 9 and 15 of the Government Decree on University Degrees, the thesis included in both bachelor’s and master’s degrees is considered equivalent to other study units in assessment. The grade awarded for the thesis is taken into account in the overall grade for intermediate and advanced studies in the same way as the grades for other course units.
Further information is available on the Grading of study modules page.
Publicity of assessment documents
Assignments given for the purpose of assessing learning, such as exam questions, are generally public. However, assignments may be kept confidential if disclosing them would compromise the purpose of the assessment, the equal treatment of students, or assessment in the future when, for example, the assignments are systematically reused.
A student whose study attainment assessment is complete is entitled to see the confidential assignments upon request after completing the attainment. Students’ study attainments and written assessments are confidential unless they come into the public domain in whole or in part due to the nature of the assignment.
Notwithstanding the above, an assignment completed by an individual student may be presented and shared with the other students attending the same seminar or event in seminar-based teaching or if this is otherwise necessary for learning. Students who become aware of the content of another student’s coursework must keep the information confidential and may not use it for their own benefit or that of another or to the detriment of another.
Students’ assignments must not be handed out or shown to staff members who are not involved in the assessment process or otherwise published without the student’s consent. Students’ assignments may be used for teaching and research purposes and to develop education provided the student's identity is not disclosed.
Study attainment assessments are public.
Retaking a study attainment and raising the grade
Retake: a student retakes a failed study attainment to get a passing grade (e.g. retakes an exam or submits entirely new coursework). If a study attainment has already received a passing grade but the student wishes to get a higher grade, it is not a retake but a raise.
Raise: the student repeats the study attainment or other coursework on which the assessment is based or does additional work to obtain a higher grade.
A student can retake a study attainment or raise the grade received unless there is a justified reason (e.g. completion method) that restricts the retake or raise. The possibility of retaking a study attainment or raising the grade must be communicated at the beginning of the implementation at the latest. During courses, there is no need to arrange opportunities for retaking study attainments or raising the grade related to assessing the study attainments and learning processes.
If the course unit includes an exam, the student has the possibility to retake the exam or raise the grade regardless of the assessment results. Implementations must provide a total of three opportunities for retaking exams. Students must be informed of the dates of re-examination well in advance. The opportunity to retake an exam must be arranged within a reasonable time from the original exam.
Other study attainments than an exam may be retaken, or the grade can be raised, by agreement with the teacher. For example, the student may have to redo significant parts of the attainment or do it on a completely new topic. It is possible that to raise the grade or retake the study attainment, a student may have to repeat the entire course.
The assessment of an assessed study module that has been entered in the academic records may not be changed unless the Faculty Council decides otherwise.
Appeals to rectify the grading of study attainments
A student dissatisfied with the assessment of a study attainment or a thesis, a credit transfer decision, a decision to extend the degree completion, or a decision on the reinstatement of the right to study may appeal for a rectification. The appeal must be made within 14 days of the student receiving information on the assessment result or a decision on the right to study.
Please also see the page Appeals against grades.