KEMS901 Maturity Test for Master's Degree (0 cr)

With the maturity essay, students demonstrate their in-depth familiarity with the topic of their thesis and their mastery of academic writing conventions. In addition, students whose school language has been Finnish or Swedish demonstrate in the maturity essay that their proficiency in either language is at the level of excellent.

A student does not need to demonstrate proficiency in Finnish or Swedish for the master’s degree if he/she already has demonstrated his/her language skills in the maturity essay for the bachelor’s degree.

As a rule, in English-medium degree programmes, the maturity essay is written in English. Exceptions to this rule are students whose school language has been Finnish or Swedish but who have not demonstrated their language proficiency in a maturity essay for the bachelor’s degree. In this case, the maturity essay is written in the language of the student’s school education.

Students who have completed their school education in a language other than Finnish or Swedish can complete their maturity test in Finnish or Swedish, if they have sufficient skills in these languages, or in English.

The content of the maturity essay is evaluated by a representative of the discipline in question and its language quality by a language specialist approved by the Centre for Multilingual Academic Communication. If the student has demonstrated his/her proficiency in Finnish or Swedish with the maturity essay for the bachelor’s degree, a representative of the discipline can evaluate both the content and the language of the maturity essay for the master’s degree.

In cases where students write the maturity essay in a language other than their native language or school language, the familiarity with the thesis topic and the mastery of academic writing conventions are emphasised in the evaluation.

• demonstrates familiarity with the subject of the thesis and
  
• demonstrates Finnish or Swedish proficiency.

Writing Master's Thesis simultaneously