Separate continued right to study

Published 22.12.2022 | Updated 26.9.2024

What is the right to continued study?

The continued right to study allows our alumni to supplement their studies free of charge at the Open University, through joint studies or through courses organised by their own academy.

If you have completed a bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree at Uniarts Helsinki, you can be granted a continued right to study. The continued right to study is a separate right to study, which can be granted for two years after graduation. It does not entitle students to complete a degree, but rather enables them to complete individual courses. It does not entitle to same kind of student benefits as when completing a degree.   

For how long is the continued right to study valid?

The continued right to study is valid for the academic term during which the student has graduated and for two years thereafter. The continued right to study cannot be extended.

How to activate your right to continued study

Using the diploma request form, notify your academy that you wish to activate your continued right to study.

The continued right to study will allow you to complete any courses that you are taking and have not completed at the time of your graduation.

The continued right to study cannot be postponed or suspended after it has been granted. If you renounce your continued right to study in writing, you will not be able to apply for it again.

How to apply to courses by using a separate continued right to study

Open University courses

You can apply for the Open University’s courses during the Open University’s registration period.

The selection criteria of each course determine which Open University students will be selected as participants. The selection criteria (previous studies, cover letter, proficiency test, order of enrolment) can be found in the course descriptions.  

Academy courses and Uniarts Helsinki’s joint studies

A Uniarts Helsinki graduate can also apply for courses organised by their own academy or for Uniarts Helsinki’s joint studies, if the course in question is not offered by the Open University.

Each academy and Open Campus processes applications on a case-by-case basis.

Academy of Fine Arts and Uniarts Helsinki joint studies application guidelines

Academy of Fine Arts courses

For more information on the application process, please contact the Fine Arts study affairs team.

Theatre Academy courses

You can apply for courses by registering for the courses in Peppi. You can only register for Theatre Academy courses that are included in the continuous learners offering for that term.

The department responsible for the course will handle your registration (either approve or reject it). You can follow the status of your registration in Peppi.

Uniarts Helsinki’s joint studies

You can also learn more about joint studies courses offered by Uniarts Helsinki.

Sibelius Academy application guidelines

You can apply for courses by registering to the courses in Peppi. The department responsible for the course will handle your registration (either approve or reject it). You can follow the status of your registration in Peppi. The decision can be made pre-emptively before you graduate, but the right to complete a course or a study module cannot be granted until you have graduated with a Master’s degree.

Instrument/vocal studies or other tuition that includes only individual tuition is not allowed for students studying with continued right to study.

Students who have graduated inside the target time have a right to do artistic level performance examinations with continued right to study. See the detailed instructions.

It is possible to complete pedagogy studies based on a continued right to study under certain conditions. See the detailed instructions.

Rights and benefits available to continuing students

Can a certificate be obtained for continuous studies?

A student with a continued right to study is entitled to receive an official transcript of the courses that they have completed.

What is the order of prioritisation when course participants are selected?

The order of prioritisation may be course-specific, and it is defined during the annual lesson planning process and noted in the course details.

Does the continued right to study allow me to transfer credits?

Credits for individual courses cannot be transferred. This means that, as a continuing student, you will not be able to include courses completed or proficiencies obtained elsewhere in your Uniarts record.

The transfer of credits from courses that are a part of a broader study module (such as the Teachers’ pedagogical studies module, which is worth 60 ECTS) is examined on a case-by-case basis.

Can a student with a continued right to study participate in an exchange program or a traineeship?

No.

Does the continued right to study allow students to complete courses offered to degree students but held by a different university? In other words, are cross-university studies possible?

No.

Can I have a continued right to study and a right to study for a degree at the same time?

Yes. If the continued right to study has been granted before the new right to study for a degree begins (for example, in the case of doctoral studies), the student’s continued right to study remains in effect until the validity period of the continued right to study ends.

Does a continuing student need to register as a Uniarts student each year?

A student with a continued right to study does not need to register at the university each year, because their registration is recorded at one time for the entire study period.

Do continuing students have uniarts credentials, and how much system access do they have?

A continuing student’s uniarts user id remains active until the student’s continued right to study expires. The credentials

• allow you to access your email
• allow you to access Peppi to see your own records

Please note that your degree student’s access rights remain valid for another two months after the end of the graduation semester.

Do I have a right to use multi-function printers to copy and print documents on campus?

No, for students with a right to continued study don’t have a right to copy or print documents (or have printing quotas).

To which email address is information about courses sent in the case of continuing students?

For students with a right to continued study, messages related to their studies will only be sent to their uniarts address.

What sort of access permits and rights to use premises do continuing students have?

Academy of Fine Arts

• Continuing students do not have the right to reserve rooms.
• Continuing students do not have the right to use premises. Access permits can be granted where necessary (for example, if the student is participating in a course that lasts for a long time).

Sibelius Academy

• Continuing students do not have the right to reserve rooms.
• Practice rooms with a queue system can be used.
• Access permits and rights to use premises during continued studies remain otherwise unchanged from what they were during the student’s degree studies.
• A student studying with continued right to study has the right to use equipment intended for self-recording in SibA’s halls, if the recording is related to a course that the student completes with the continued right to study and the student has completed orientation related to self-recording.

Theatre Academy

• As alumni, continuing students have a separate right to book facilities. You can apply for the right to book facilities by using the diploma request form.
  Theatre Academy alumni’s right to book facilities
• Access permits can be granted where necessary (for example, if the student is participating in a course that lasts for a long time).
• Continuing students do not have the right to use a locker in dressing rooms.

Do I have right to borrow an instrument at Sibelius Academy?

No, the student studying with continued right to study don’t have a right to borrow instruments.

What sort of student benefits do continuing students receive?

The continued right to study does not entitle students to student union membership.

The continued right to study does not entitle students to discounts received by degree students, which include discounts for public transport and Kela’s meal subsidy.

The continued right to study does not entitle students to use YTHS services.

Do international continuing students need to pay tuition fees?

Continuing students do not need to pay tuition fees, which means they are also not entitled to receive grants or reductions related to tuition fees.

Can an international continuing student be granted a residence permit for their studies?

The continued right to study does not entitle students to receive the kind of residence permit granted to degree students. After graduation, students can apply for a residence permit to look for work, which is valid two years at most or, a residence permit on the basis of work (a degree completed in Finland). Please see the instructions and read more on Migri’s website: https://migri.fi/en/after-graduation.  

Learn more about the residence permit

Can studies completed with a continued right to study affect financial aid received from Kela or from the TE Office?

If you are studying with a continued right to study, you are not studying to obtain a degree. If you are receiving aid from Kela or from the TE Office, you should confirm the effect that the continued right to study will have on it.