The Faculty’s docentship committee is chaired by the vice-dean for research, and the committee members are two professors, three members of other teaching and research staff who hold the title of docent, and a lecturer in university pedagogy. The committee’s duties include the following:
- Inspecting applications for the title of docent (sufficiency of publications, field of the docentship, teaching skills, need demonstrated by the department’s supporting statement) and proposals for assessors before the proceedings at the Faculty Council
- Serving as the teaching skills committee and providing a statement on the teaching skills of applicants for the title of docent
- Preparing matters related to the qualification requirements for docentships for the Faculty Council
- Developing the institution of docentship and promoting the integration of the title holders into the Faculty
- Other duties assigned by the dean
The docentship committee discusses applications for the title of docent as well as the head of discipline’s proposal on assessors before the relevant proceedings at the Faculty Council. Applications for the title of docent are considered by the Faculty Council only if they are supported by the docentship committee. The applications are usually discussed by the Faculty Council at two separate meetings. In the first meeting, the relevant application is recorded, and assessors are appointed to provide a statement on the applicant’s academic qualifications. The supervisor of the applicant’s doctoral dissertation cannot serve as an assessor, and at least one of the assessors must be from outside the University of Helsinki. The assessors must issue their statements within two months. If the statements recommend granting the title, the applicant’s teaching skills will be assessed.
In the second meeting, the Faculty Council will decide whether the applicant has the academic qualifications and teaching and language skills required of a docent, and whether to propose to the chancellor that the applicant be granted the title of docent.
The chancellor decides whether to grant the title of docent.
Assessment of teaching skills
The teaching skills of applicants for the title of docent are assessed by a Faculty's teaching skills committee. Such assessments must be based on the Faculty’s general instructions for teaching skills committees.
See the Faculty’s general instructions for the assessment of teaching skills.
Applicants may demonstrate their teaching skills by holding a lecture on a topic of their choice. The time allotted for the lecture is 20 minutes.
Applicants for the title of docent can give one lecture to demonstrate their teaching skills. If an applicant’s teaching skills are found insufficient for the title of docent, a new application process cannot be initiated before he or she submits a report on how he or she has developed his or her teaching skills since the previous demonstration.