A docent shall be entitled to participate in the teaching of his or her discipline, the supervision of students, and the examination of dissertations and theses, as well as in other University activities as agreed upon on a case-by-case basis. The title of docent does not constitute an employment relationship with the university, and based on title alone, the docent does not have the right to teach at the university. Without a separate agreement, the docent does not have the right to remuneration or benefits belonging to university personnel. A possible docent contract will separately agree on the forms and conditions of cooperation. The agreement always requires willingness from both parties.
At the University of Helsinki, the title of docent is granted by the chancellor. The Faculty Council shall evaluate whether the applicant fulfils the requirements for the title of docent.
The Faculty of Theology accepts applications for the title of docent twice a year: from 1 to 31 March and from 1 to 30 September.
The title of docent can be granted to a person who has
The Faculty Council will acquire statements on the applicant’s academic competence from two assessors, unless, for special reasons, the statements are considered unnecessary.
Docents are required to have good teaching skills. The Faculty’s teaching skills committee makes an overall assessment of the teaching skills of the prospective docent. The assessment is based on the teaching merits documented in the application documents, an evaluation of the teaching demonstration, as well as an interview.
The Faculty’s instructions for the evaluation of teaching skills
A docent must be proficient in the language, Finnish or Swedish, in which he or she provides teaching. Moreover, a docent must have at least satisfactory oral and written skills in both languages (Government Decree on Universities 770/2009).
Foreign citizens or non-native Finns may be exempted from the requirement regarding proficiency in the Finnish and Swedish languages (Regulations of the University of Helsinki, section 52).
You can apply for the title of docent at the university's recruitment system twice a year. Application periods are 1–31 March and 1–30 September.
Before applying, the applicant should discuss about the application and the field of the docentship with the professor of the field.
External applicants apply by logging into the recruitment system via the Apply link, first by creating an account.
Applicants with helsinki.fi user account and either a valid employment contract, grant researcher contract, visiting researcher or visiting professor contract at the University of Helsinki apply via the Employee login link.
Publications submitted for assessment should demonstrate applicant’s qualifications for the docent:
After the application round has closed, the Research Committee of the Faculty of Theology considers whether the applicants seem to fulfill the qualifications for docentship so that their applications can be sent forward to be fully evaluated.
In this first stage evaluation, the Research Committee pays attention to following points:
If the requirements seem to be fulfilled, the Committee sends the application to the Department of the discipline into which the docentship is intended. If the Research Committee comes to a conclusion that the applicant does not fulfill the required qualifications, it recommends that the applicant should withdraw her/his application.
The department gives its comments on the applied field of the title and suggests two experts who could evaluate the applications. The Research Committee prepares a proposal to the Faculty Council which decides whether the applications will be sent forward to the expert evaluators. The Teaching Skills Committee evaluates applicants’ teaching skills. On the grounds of the evaluation reports, the Faculty Council decides whether it proposes to the Chancellor of the University that the applicant should be granted the title of docent.