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
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.
The person performing the university's teaching and research position is required to master the language in which he or she must provide teaching.
In universities where a degree can be completed in both Finnish and Swedish, the person performing the teaching and research position is also required to have at least satisfactory oral and written skills in Finnish and Swedish. The University may grant exemption from these language proficiency requirements as laid down in the Code of Conduct.
These requirements cover 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 C2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. At the faculty’s discretion, level C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages may be accepted as a minimum Swedish language proficiency requirement.
During the application 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.
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.
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.
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).
More information about the template for researcher's curriculum vitae
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.