Doctoral Programme in Fine Arts: Pre-examination guidelines

Published 17.11.2022 | Updated 24.9.2024

These pre-examination guidelines have been approved by the Board of the Academy of Fine Arts on 28 May 2024 and entered into force from their date of approval, replacing the previous pre-examination guidelines that entered into force on 1 Sep 2021. All currently ongoing pre-examination processes will be finished as agreed without changes. All newly initiated pre-examinations will be carried out following these guidelines.

These guidelines are to be followed in the pre-examinations of artistic components and entire doctoral theses in fine arts. The description of the doctoral thesis can be found in the curriculum.

These guidelines are primarily aimed for doctoral students, but they also describe the roles of the supervisors, the pre-examiners, and the Pre-examination Board in the pre-examination process. The duties of the pre-examiner are described in the Pre-examination Board’s Rules of Procedure, which are sent directly to all pre-examiners, while the duties of the supervisor are discussed in more detail in the guidelines for supervision.

Instructions concerning the examination of the thesis (after the thesis has been pre-examined) are described in the examination guidelines.

Pre-examination process

The goal of the pre-examination process in the Doctoral Programme in Fine Arts is to guarantee that the doctoral thesis meets the required quality standards from artistic and research point of view.

The pre-examination process consists of two stages. In the first stage, the artistic components which the doctoral student plans to include in the thesis are pre-examined. This part of the pre-examination will primarily take place when the components are presented in public. The Pre-examination Board will approve the individual components as part of the doctoral thesis. In the second stage, the doctoral thesis will be pre-examined in its entirety. This pre-examination takes place when all the individual components of the thesis have been completed.

The roles and duties of the Pre-examination Board

The Pre-examination Board is responsible for the pre-examination of artistic components and complete doctoral theses in fine arts. The Pre-examination Board consists of six members who are experts in fine arts. At least half of the Board members must be from outside the Academy of Fine Arts. The Pre-examination Board serves a four-year term and members can stay in the Board for a maximum of three terms in a row. The Pre-examination Board members are appointed by the Dean of the Academy of Fine Arts.

After the Pre-examination Board has learned about the contents of a doctoral student’s research proposal in sufficient detail and consulted the doctoral student’s responsible supervisor, they will appoint two pre-examiners for the doctoral thesis. One pre-examiner is a member of the Board, while the other is an external pre-examiner. As a principle, the same people should serve as pre-examiners for the entire duration of the doctoral thesis project. If this is not possible, the Pre-examination Board has the authority to appoint a new pre-examiner. The Pre-examination Board may also appoint an additional pre-examiner to pre-examine the doctoral thesis in its entirety. This external pre-examiner may also later work as the examiner of the doctoral thesis. Potential grounds for the disqualification of a pre-examiner are discussed in the Administrative Procedure Act (434/2003, 27§-30§).

The doctoral student has a right to submit an objection concerning the selected pre-examiners. If the doctoral student submits an objection, the Pre-examination Board will discuss the issue in their next meeting, or if the matter is urgent, through another channel.

The roles and duties of the supervisors

The responsible supervisor is the person primarily responsible for supporting the doctoral student when they are planning to submit one of the components of the doctoral thesis for pre-examination. The responsible supervisor will also determine when the thesis, or one of its components, is ready for pre-examination. The pre-examination process cannot be initiated without the approval of the responsible supervisor. They can notify the secretary of the Pre-examination Board of their approval by email.

The work of the responsible supervisor is supported by the supervision team. The Head of the Doctoral Programme appoints a responsible supervisor from the personnel of Uniarts Helsinki, as well as an external supervisor, to supervise every thesis project. In addition to the responsible supervisor and the external supervisor, it is possible to employ the services of an external expert to provide comments on a specific component of the thesis project. These people comprise the supervision team, whose work is coordinated by the responsible supervisor. In general, both the responsible and external supervisor are required to hold a doctoral degree. This requirement does not apply to external experts, however.

When it comes to the pre-examination of the individual components of the thesis, the responsible supervisor helps the doctoral student compile all material required for the pre-examination and discusses the feedback provided in the pre-examiners’ reports with them. The responsible supervisor must also inform the other members of the supervision team of the progress of the pre-examination process.

Before the doctoral thesis is pre-examined in its entirety, the responsible supervisor will go through the whole thesis and ask the other members of the supervision team for their comments. When the responsible supervisor estimates that the thesis is ready to be submitted for pre-examination, they will recommend to the Head of the Doctoral Programme that the thesis should be allowed to be pre-examined.

The roles and duties of the doctoral student

The doctoral student is responsible for informing the responsible supervisor about the progress of the thesis project, and they must also consult the responsible supervisor about the proper way to prepare an individual thesis component for pre-examination. It is also the doctoral student’s responsibility to submit the materials that are intended to be pre-examined for pre-examination in accordance with the instructions included in these guidelines.

The pre-examination process

Depending on the structure of the doctoral thesis, it can be pre-examined either as a single piece of work or one component at a time. The benefit of dividing the pre-examination process according to the components is that the pre-examiners will have an opportunity to examine the artistic component of the doctoral thesis during its public presentation. In general, the pre-examiners are offered the possibility to travel to see the component which they are required to pre-examine. If the pre-examined component is presented publicly in a location that is hard to reach, the pre-examination will be based on documentation, an exposition of the work, or by making use of a reconstruction of the work set up in the premises of the Academy of Fine Arts. In cases like this, the Head of the Doctoral Programme will approve the pre-examination method after consulting the responsible supervisor. All materials submitted for pre-examination must be part of the planned doctoral thesis.

The pre-examination is based on the written reports of the appointed pre-examiners of the doctoral thesis. However, the whole Pre-examination Board will familiarise themselves with all thesis components.

If the Pre-examination Board decides that the pre-examined component should be rejected, the doctoral student is entitled to withdraw the material from the pre-examination process. In this case, the pre-examination of the component will be ceased and the documents pertaining to the pre-examination will not be submitted to the examiners of the doctoral thesis as is done when the doctoral thesis or one of its components are accepted by the Pre-examination Board. The doctoral student has a right to submit a request for rectification in response to a pre-examiner’s report. The request must be submitted to the secretary of the Pre-examination Board no later than seven (7) days from the date of the delivery of the pre-examiner’s report.

When the thesis is examined, all pre-examiners’ reports and requests for rectification will be submitted to the examiner of the doctoral thesis. Pre-examination reports become public documents after the doctoral student has graduated.

Stages of the pre-examination process and related deadlines

In general, approximately three months should be reserved for the pre-examination process of an artistic component of the thesis. For the pre-examination process of the entire doctoral thesis, approximately fours months should be reserved. These time periods start with the submission of an artistic component or the entire thesis, and ends with the Pre-examination Board’s decision concerning the pre-examined work. The doctoral student should also allocate enough time for the planning of the pre-examination process.

The pre-examination of individual thesis components

1) Planning for the first stage of pre-examination

The responsible supervisor supports the doctoral student when they are planning to submit their work for pre-examination. The time required for the planning process depends on the nature of the work. The doctoral student must inform the responsible supervisor of any intended pre-examinations as early as possible. The responsible supervisor must be allowed enough time, at least one week, to familiarise themselves with the current stage of the thesis project.

2) Compiling the material for pre-examination

The doctoral student is responsible for compiling all the material that is to be pre-examined. The time required for this process depends on the nature of the pre-examined work. The doctoral student should not underestimate the amount of work at this stage; rather, they should start preparatory work in good time before they are expected to set up an exhibition for instance.

3) Uploading the material to be pre-examined to the Research Catalogue platform

The responsible supervisor supports the doctoral student when they need to upload the material that will be pre-examined to the Research Catalogue platform. The doctoral student is responsible for uploading all material to be pre-examined onto an exposition on the RC platform, where the materials should be carefully arranged or documented. The responsible supervisor helps the doctoral student arrange the material in a meaningful way and provides comments on the documentation strategy chosen by the doctoral student. It is essential that the material to be pre-examined is clearly identified. When the pre-examination material has been uploaded to the RC platform, the doctoral student will copy the share link generated by the RC platform and paste it into the pre-examination form. The use of the RC platform requires that the doctoral student has registered for a personal RC account, which they have already done when the Research Catalogue database was introduced either as part of the compulsory orientation period at the start of the doctoral studies or in another RC training event.

4) Submitting the material for pre-examination

The doctoral student is responsible for submitting all the necessary material for pre-examination. After compiling all the material required for pre-examination, they will send them to the secretary of the Pre-examination Board.

5) Pre-examination

The pre-examiners are given two (2) months to complete the pre-examination. The two-month period starts when the material is sent to the pre-examiners. The secretary of the Pre-examination Board will send the pre-examiners’ reports to the doctoral student no later than 10 days prior to the meeting of the Pre-examination Board.

6) Analysis of the pre-examiners’ reports and the potential request for rectification

The responsible supervisor supports the doctoral student in the analysis of the pre-examiners’ reports and the writing of a possible request for rectification, if the student decides to submit one. The doctoral student has a right to submit a request for rectification in response to the pre-examiners’ reports. This request must be submitted within seven (7) days to the secretary of the Pre-examination Board. The Pre-examination Board will then process the request together with all the other material pertaining to the pre-examination. If a pre-examiner or several pre-examiners propose that the pre-examined component should be rejected, the doctoral student has a right to inform the Board of their intention to withdraw the material submitted for pre-examination in the request for rectification. The pre-examination process will consequently be ceased. The component withdrawn from the pre-examination process may later be resubmitted for pre-examination in accordance with the guidelines concerning the pre-examination process.

7) Meeting of the Pre-examination Board

The meeting procedure is described in the Pre-examination Board’s Rules of Procedure.

8) Decision on the pre-examination

The Pre-examination Board’s decision concerning the pre-examined component cannot be conditional, but the decision may include critical comments, which the doctoral student should take into consideration when they make the final revisions to the doctoral thesis. The Pre-examination Board cannot reject a pre-examined component if all pre-examiners’ reports recommend that the work should be accepted. The Board’s decision on the pre-examination is final and cannot be appealed.

The pre-examination of the entire doctoral thesis

1) Planning for the second stage of the pre-examination

The responsible supervisor supports the doctoral student when they are planning to submit the doctoral thesis for pre-examination. The time required for the planning process depends on the nature of the work, but the responsible supervisor must be allowed at least one month to familiarise themselves with the final version of the doctoral thesis.

2) Compiling the material for pre-examination

The doctoral student is responsible for compiling all the material that is to be pre-examined. The time required for this process depends on the nature of the pre-examined work. The doctoral student should not underestimate the amount of work that may be required at this stage, and they should not postpone the compilation process until shortly before the submission deadline. All the required material should be compiled well in advance.

3) Confirming the authorship of the text

The responsible supervisor helps the doctoral student to confirm that they are the original author of the doctoral thesis. The responsible supervisor will give permission to the doctoral student to run the manuscript through a plagiarism detection software (Turnitin). The doctoral student will then revise the text according to the Turnitin report and consult, if necessary, the responsible supervisor in this process. Once all necessary revisions have been made, the responsible supervisor approves the similarity report produced by the Turnitin software, which is then appended to the material submitted to the Pre-examination Board. Only the written or verbal component of the manuscript is checked for authorship. The manuscript must be run through the software as a text file.

4) Uploading the material to the Research Catalogue platform for pre-examination

The doctoral student is responsible for uploading all the material that is to be pre-examined onto the RC platform. The material is uploaded into an exposition which the student has prepared for this purpose. The exposition draws together all the pre-examined components that make up the final thesis. The RC documentations of the components that have already been pre-examined can either be directly linked to the doctoral thesis or included in an amended form.

The responsible supervisor supports the doctoral student in the appropriate structuring of the thesis and provides comments on the documentation strategy chosen by the doctoral student. When the structure of the thesis has been finalised in the Research Catalogue, the doctoral student will copy the share link generated by the platform and paste it to the pre-examination form. The doctoral student will also mark down the planned publication format of the thesis into the pre-examination form. Some common alternatives include:
a) the thesis will be produced as an exposition on the RC platform
b) the thesis is published as a PDF file and documentation compiled onto the RC
c) the thesis is published as a printed book, its PDF version and an RC attachment.

Other formats can also be considered if the responsible supervisor is in favour of their use. However, the doctoral thesis must be published either in PDF format or as an RC exposition. It is recommended that the student provides links to the documentations of the pre-examined components in the final publication.

5) Requesting permission for submitting the doctoral thesis for pre-examination

When the entire doctoral thesis including all its components is ready to be pre-examined, the supervision team needs to recommend the thesis to be submitted for pre-examination. As the representative of the supervision team, the responsible supervisor requests that the Head of the Doctoral Programme gives permission to initiate the pre-examination process of the doctoral thesis. The Head of the Doctoral Programme is given one month to familiarise themselves with the thesis and to ensure that the doctoral student will correct any substantial shortcomings that may remain, after which permission to submit the thesis for pre-examination is granted. The thesis does not need to be checked again for plagiarism at this stage. After the student has been given permission to submit their doctoral thesis for pre-examination, the pre-examination process can begin.

6) Submitting the thesis for pre-examination

The doctoral student compiles all the material required for pre-examination and sends it to the secretary of the Pre-examination Board.

7) Pre-examination

The pre-examiners are given a total of three (3) months to complete their reports. The time starts when the pre-examination material is sent to the pre-examiners. The pre-examiners must send their reports to the secretary of the Pre-examination Board no later than 14 days prior to the meeting of the Pre-examination Board. The secretary will then send the pre-examiners’ reports to the doctoral student no later than 10 days prior to the meeting of the Pre-examination Board.

8) Analysis of the pre-examiner’s reports and a potential request for rectification

The responsible supervisor supports the doctoral student in the analysis of the pre-examiners’ reports and the writing of a request for rectification, if the student wishes to submit one. The doctoral student has a right to submit a request for rectification in response to the pre-examiners’ reports. This request must be submitted within seven (7) days to the secretary of the Pre-examination Board. The Pre-examination Board will then process the request together with the other materials pertaining to the pre-examination. If a pre-examiner or several pre-examiners propose that the pre-examined component should be rejected, the doctoral student has a right to inform the Board of their intention to withdraw the material submitted for pre-examination in the request for rectification. The pre-examination process will consequently be ceased. An improved version of the thesis may later be submitted for pre-examination in accordance with the guidelines concerning the pre-examination process.

9) Meeting of the Pre-examination Board

The meeting procedure is described in the Pre-examination Board’s Rules of Procedure.

10) Decision on the pre-examination

The Pre-examination Board’s decision cannot be conditional, but the decision may include critical comments, which the doctoral student should take into consideration when they make the final revisions to the doctoral thesis. The Pre-examination Board cannot reject a thesis if all the pre-examiners recommend that the thesis should be accepted for public examination in their reports. The Board’s decision on the pre-examination cannot be appealed.

Pre-examination material

The collection of all documents to be submitted for pre-examination are referred as pre-examination material.

The responsible supervisor supports the doctoral student in planning for pre-examination and gives the permission to submit artistic components for pre-examination. For the pre-examination of the entire doctoral thesis, permission to initiate the process must be granted also from the Head of the Doctoral Programme. The doctoral student will send the materials that are to be pre-examined to the secretary of the Pre-examination Board.

Pre-examination material for individual components of the doctoral thesis

1) Pre-examination form

The pre-examination form includes detailed information about the component submitted for pre-examination. The form also provides a list of all the documents that are part of the pre-examination material. Furthermore, the form includes the share link that provides access to the pre-examination materials on the Research Catalogue platform.

2) Research plan

The research plan is an essential part of the pre-examination material. A valid research plan cannot be over 10 years old. It is especially important when individual components of the thesis are pre-examined, because it allows the pre-examiner to evaluate the role of the pre-examined component in the doctoral research project. It is recommended that the doctoral student should revise the relevant parts of their research plan each time they submit a new component for pre-examination. Alternatively, they can provide an account of any changes made to the research project in the accompanying letter.

3) Accompanying letter

An accompanying letter is a brief, clearly articulated account of the role of the pre-examined component in the doctoral thesis. The accompanying letter should also include all the practical details relevant to the pre-examination process, such as important dates, times, and addresses. A short description of how the component relates to the thesis project includes at least the following information: how many components have been previously pre-examined, what is the role of the current component, and what is yet to come. If the doctoral project has changed significantly from what is described in the research plan, the letter should specify how and why. Alternatively, the doctoral student can provide an updated research plan along the original one and keep the letter short and practical.

4) Documentation of an individual component of the thesis

The component to be pre-examined can be an individual artwork, an exhibition, or a curated event for example. It is recommended that the doctoral student should already devise an appropriate documentation strategy that is well in line with the nature of the pre-examined component when they start preparing the pre-examination material. This can be made use of later in the final thesis as well. This way, the compilation of the pre-examination material onto the RC platform may also facilitate the planning of the entire doctoral thesis. Documentation is a compulsory part of the pre-examination material, if the pre-examination is done based on documentation.

5) Other potential material

The pre-examination material should also include all supplementary material relevant to the understanding of the pre-examined component, such as an exhibition invite or a press release. The supplementary materials should be clearly marked as such, and their amount should remain reasonable.

Pre-examination material for the entire doctoral thesis

1) Pre-examination form

The pre-examination form includes information of the doctoral thesis submitted for pre-examination and lists all documents included in the pre-examination material. Furthermore, the form includes the share link that provides access to the pre-examination materials on the Research Catalogue platform.

2) Research plan

At this stage, the role of the research plan is purely formal, and the doctoral student should not spend any time on its revision. However, a valid research plan no older than 10 years must be included in the pre-examination material.

3) Accompanying letter

The accompanying letter submitted with the pre-examined thesis provides a clearly articulated account of the structure of the pre-examined thesis and lists all the thesis components that have been previously pre-examined. The letter should also include all practical details relevant to the pre-examination process and the publication format planned for the doctoral thesis. If the form and the contents of the thesis are essentially intertwined in the publication format (e.g. an exposition), the material submitted for pre-examination must provide a reasonable representation of the final format. If the thesis is planned to be published in the form of a traditional book for example, it is advisable to keep the text separate from the images, to number each image, and to mark down their intended places in the manuscript.

4) The doctoral thesis

In the second pre-examination stage, the thesis is submitted for pre-examination in its entirety. This is done on the RC platform following the same procedure as with the individual thesis components. The components that have already been pre-examined are now supplemented with their final documentations or performances that have been developed into expositions. They will not be pre-examined individually at this stage. Rather, each component is evaluated as part of a unified whole, which becomes defined by a script that draws all the components together.

5) Abstract

An abstract is needed when potential examiners, who may also work as a third pre-examiner for the thesis, are approached. It is also important to work on the abstract in good time, since after the pre-examination, a finished abstract of 1-2 pages is required for the publication of the thesis.

6) Confirming the authorship of the text

In the second stage, a Turnitin report signed by the responsible supervisor is included as part of the pre-examination material. The report is produced by following the procedure described in section “The pre-examination of the entire doctoral thesis”, item 3.

Pre-ex­am­i­na­tion form

Declaration of the submission of a thesis or an artistic component for pre-examination.