Faculty of Health Sciences: Double Master’s thesis
At the Faculty of Health Sciences, it is possible to complete a so-called double Master’s thesis.
A double Master’s thesis refers to a single thesis submitted simultaneously for two different Master’s degrees—either within the same faculty, across two faculties, or between two Finnish universities.
At the Faculty of Health Sciences, a double thesis is permitted if both general and formal requirements are met. It may serve as a Master’s thesis, an advanced studies thesis in dentistry, or a licentiate thesis in medicine.
General requirements:
- The faculty has approved the possibility of completing a double thesis within its degree programmes.
- The collaboration must bring significant added value, quality and impact to the thesis.
- The regulations of both institutions (universities, faculties, or degree programmes) must allow for a double thesis and be sufficiently compatible.
- Both institutions must have necessary supervision resources and committed supervisors for joint supervision.
Formal requirements for the preparation and approval of a double thesis:
- A double thesis has only one author (co-authored theses are not permitted).
- The student and the supervisors must carefully assess the feasibility of a double thesis, considering available resources and the topic’s suitability.
- The thesis must meet the ECTS and academic requirements of both degree programmes.
- Supervisors must inform the student that the workload is significantly higher than for a single-discipline thesis.
- The double thesis must demonstrate the student’s mastery of methods of both disciplines. The topic and material must be theoretically and conceptually sufficient in both.
- Supervision practices must be agreed upon in advance, including the schedule, discipline-specific requirements and assessment procedures.
- A supervision agreement must be prepared, detailing:
- the language of the thesis and maturity test,
- the schedule and examination process,
- the originality check procedure, and
- available supervision resources and duration of supervision.
- By signing the agreement, the student, supervisors and representatives of both degree programmes commit to the terms of the double thesis.
- An electronic originality check must be completed and approved by both supervisors before assessment.
- The thesis is assessed according to the assessment practices of both institutions, each its own process.
- The names of both institutions must appear on the thesis cover page, indicating it is a double thesis.
- The thesis must be submitted simultaneously to both institutions.
- The maturity test must be completed separately for each institution.
- The thesis is public and published according to the practices of both institutions.
- The student may request rectification of the assessment in accordance with the relevant university’s procedures.