Doctoral Programme in Interactive Technology

General eligibility and assessment criteria

Programme-specific requirements and assessment criteria

The ability and aptitude of applicants is assessed on the following principles:

• The scientific quality and relevance of the research and study and supervisory plan, and the feasibility of their implementation.
• The appropriateness of the Bachelor and Master degree studies and the research topic for the doctoral programme and the main subject applied for.
• The availability of sufficient expert supervision.
• The applicant's skills and knowledge, the language proficiency necessary to complete the doctoral programme and the grade of the previous degree can be considered.
• The level of promise and motivation demonstrated by the applicant. Interviews may also be used to aid the selection procedure; the interview assesses the applicant's abilities and suitability. Assessments of individual doctoral researchers are not made public.

Language requirements

• Applicants who have taken their secondary school education, or studied for and obtained their Bachelor or Master degree in English in one of the following countries are exempt from submitting a language test: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
• Graduates of the UTA Faculty of Communication Sciences or its predecessors do not need a language test score.

Applicants who are not in either of the two groups above and who plan to study in English must submit an international language test score. The minimum scores are:

• IELTS Academic score of 6.5
• PTE Academic score 62
• TOEFL score of 575 (paper version) or 90 (iBT version)

A plain photocopy of the test score is enough regarding IELTS scores. The PTE and TOEFL scores must arrive from the testing organisation. The TOEFL reporting number of the University of Tampere is 9871.

Prior to applying for admission, the applicant must contact the professor of the main subject s/he is applying for, or a possible supervisor of studies, in order to draft the research plan as well as the study and supervisory plan.

The application must include the following documents:

• a study and supervisory plan signed by the applicant and the supervisor(s)
• a research plan that outlines the research topic and its foundations. (Instructions on how to draft a research plan)
• CV with full employment history and information on how the studies at UTA will be financed.

In addition, applicants who have not graduated from the Faculty of Communication Sciences or its predecessors, University of Tampere, must submit the following documents:

• officially certified photocopies of the original Bachelor’s and Master’s degree certificates and their authorised translations in English, and officially certified transcripts of records (i.e. courses taken, grades and credits received) and their authorised translations in English. A syllabus of the Master studies must be submitted too (see below). For information on officially certified documents please see the UTA page.
• photocopy of the Master's thesis in the original language (if applicable) and a synopsis in English
• international applicants must provide a reputable account of his or her language proficiency (see below)
• CV with full employment history and information on how the studies at UTA will be financed. Please give the contact information of two referees in the CV, if the Master degree was not taken at the University of Tampere

Unless your former institution issues diplomas and academic records in English, Finnish, or Swedish, the documents must include the authorised, complete and exact translations into one of these languages.

Applicants who have taken their degrees in a country other than Finland must include with their application a photocopy of their thesis corresponding to the Finnish Master's thesis and an account of their Master studies.

When an applicant does not have a Master's degree in the main subject he or she is applying for, the application must indicate the studies undertaken to achieve the skills and knowledge required for starting doctoral studies.