Teaching programmes

A teaching programme is a plan outlining how studies are offered to enable student progress in accordance with the curriculum. It also encompasses open university studies. 

The teaching programme contains information on the implementation of the curriculum during the academic year as well as timetables, including course dates, times and places. Teaching programmes are drawn up for bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programmes, the University’s doctoral school, and the Language Centre, including open university education.

Teaching is planned and organised for different target groups as follows:

• Courses targeted for degree students (incl. e.g. exchange students)
• Courses with established quotas for degree and open university students (free of charge for degree students)
• Courses offered as open university courses available to degree students for a fee (summer teaching is free of charge for attending bachelor’s and master’s students, with the exception of courses organised at partner institutions)

For information on open university courses, please see Continuous learning and open university teaching.  

Teaching programmes are designed collaboratively by teaching staff, planning officers and, for courses provided by degree programmes, their steering groups, and for Language Centre courses, the relevant language units.  

The directors of degree programmes are responsible for the preparation of teaching programmes. At the Language Centre, this responsibility rests with the supervisors of language units.  

Teaching programmes are approved by degree programme steering groups. The Language Centre’s teaching programme is approved by the Language Centre director.

As a teacher, you contribute to designing the teaching programmes of degree programmes and the Language Centre in which you teach. In unclear cases, please contact your supervisor. Your expertise may be suited to several degree programmes at different faculties. To offer your courses for inclusion in a teaching programme, you can actively contact, for instance, a degree programme director (for contact details, see Flamma under ‘My unit’ > ‘All unit sites on Flamma’ > [faculty coordinating the relevant degree programme] > ‘Management and decision making’).

The initial stage of preparation focuses on how teaching will be provided in the next academic year and how teaching, guidance and supervision duties will be distributed. This planning covers both degree studies and open university courses. The distribution of teaching, guidance and supervision duties is based on an agreement between you, other teachers, the degree programme director, the department or study track coordinator, if any, and your immediate supervisor. This process is also associated with annual work planning (instructions on Flamma, requires login with University credentials).

Teachers can also be paid an hourly fee, or teaching can be compensated as extra work, as separately agreed. Information about fees can be found on the page Check list for new teachers for teachers not employed by the University and on the Flamma page Hourly paid teaching and fees for University staff.

Questionnaires are used to collect course-specific information (e.g., the schedule, method and form of teaching, facility needs) from course coordinators for the purpose of designing and deciding on teaching programmes. This may be done in different ways in each degree programme, so if you teach in several programmes, please follow their specific guidelines. Please also note that some degree programmes call these questionnaires (in Finnish, opetusohjelmakysely) ‘notifications of teaching’ or ‘reports on preferences’ (in Finnish, opetusilmoitus). When planning the courses you will coordinate, you must ensure they comply with curricula. You can suggest in the teaching programme questionnaire that places be made available in your courses to open university students. For further information on planning teaching, please see the websites 

• Constructive alignment and the 10 steps of course design
• Methods of completing studies (includes a description of forms of teaching: contact, distance, blended and online teaching) 
• Continuous learning and open university teaching 
• Teaching facilities
• Support for teachers: Course literature acquisition (Helsinki University Library website)

You may also be asked about any obstacles to course times and facilities and about your preferred teaching hours. Please indicate only insurmountable obstacles, such as conference dates, and facilities in which you cannot teach under any circumstances. The obstacles will be taken into account in creating timetables. The aim is to schedule teaching for the times requested by the teacher, but this is not always possible because of students’ learning paths and the availability of facilities. Further information on questionnaires and instructions for completing them are available at Answering the data collection form in Optime.

Based on the above planning and questionnaires, degree programme steering groups decide on teaching programmes by mid-March. The Language Centre’s teaching programme is approved by the Language Centre director. At this point, teaching programmes do not yet include course dates, times or facilities. Any supplementary information on or amendments to teaching programmes are subject to separate decisions, if necessary. 

Planning officers prepare timetables and book facilities for courses using the Optime software. The following is taken into account: 

• Curricula 
• Approval of teaching programmes 
• Students’ learning paths 
• Information provided by course coordinators through the teaching programme questionnaire 
• Timing and facility obstacles reported by teachers 
• Where possible, preferred teaching times reported by teachers 
• Available facilities (information on facilities used in teaching) 

Please note that student progress in accordance with the curriculum is the key principle guiding all programme design.

Degree courses take place, as a rule, during teaching periods and intensive periods and are primarily scheduled between 8.00 or 9.00 (depending on the campus) and 16.00. However, classes can also be scheduled until 20.00 if necessary or separately requested, provided the teacher has not reported an obstacle. Courses offered primarily to those pursuing open university studies should be organised after 16.00. 

Accessing and verifying course details 

Planning officers will notify you when you can access the details of your courses offered during the following academic year in Optime or Sisu. They will also instruct you about verifying these details. You can also access your course details on course pages through Flamma’s Teacher section. If you cannot access Optime, Sisu or Flamma, you will receive information on your courses via email. Please note that the course details of different degree programmes are confirmed at different times.  

When your course details have been published in Sisu, you can transfer them to your electronic calendar using either Sisu’s Teaching calendar or Optime. Instructions for transferring your calendar through Sisu can be found online at Sisu instructions: Managing teaching and registered students, or through Optime on Flamma (requires login with University credentials). You can also use Optime, for example, to access information on a specific course or on courses offered by a specific degree programme and to explore the availability of facilities. You can find calendar instructions on Flamma (requires login with University credentials).  

Information on course dates, times, places and teachers is transferred from Optime to Sisu, electronic calendars and course pages. All the above information is handled by timetabling officers, so please do not enter it, for example, into separate files or edit it in Sisu.

Preliminary teaching programmes are published by the end of March for the purpose of planning studies for bachelor’s and master’s students and prospective students (incl. exchange students). The preliminary programmes contain information on course implementation methods, forms of teaching, timing (at the teaching period or equivalent level), language of instruction and target group. The preliminary teaching programmes of degree programmes are published in the Studies Service website at Where can I find courses? and the Language Centre’s website at Language education at the Language Centre. The programmes are published for open university students on the University website in March (autumn and spring terms) and January (summer courses).

Actual teaching programmes are published in Sisu and in the Courses section of the Studies Service usually by the end of June (autumn and spring terms) or early March (summer courses). These programmes include the exact course dates and times, information on venues, teachers and registration, and any information supplementing the curriculum.   

Updating your course pages 

A public course page is automatically created for each course and examination. The course schedule and description is imported into this page from Sisu, and the page also has a link to course feedback. You are responsible for adding all other relevant course information (e.g., a detailed course description and a link to a Moodle area) to the page for your students. Any content that students need before registering for the course must be updated on the page before the teaching programme is published or at the latest before the registration period begins.

You can easily find all your course pages through Flamma’s Teacher section (requires login with University credentials). Instructions for updating course pages are available here. If you do not have University credentials, you can request that other course teachers or the degree programme planning officers update the course page.

Course pages are displayed to students in the Studies Services sections Calendar and Courses.

Changes to courses can be made for compelling reasons if student schedules permit it, the changes are in line with the curriculum, and suitable teaching facilities are available. Please note that some changes require a separate decision by the degree programme steering group or director (see details on Flamma, requires login with University credentials). If you must change your course, please follow these instructions: 

1. Send an email message to the timetabling team responsible for the degree programme.  
2. The subject heading of your message should include the title of the relevant degree programme. 
3. In the message field, add the course title and, if possible, Sisu identifier, and clearly indicate the required change and its reasons.  

Messages will be handled in the order in which they are received. Please contact the timetabling team about any changes well before courses begin; the response time may be long particularly in the summer. 

Changes to course dates, times and facilities will be automatically updated on course pages. If necessary, you can update other information on the pages and inform your students.  

• Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, bachelor’s and master’s programmes: viikki-timetable@helsinki.fi
• Faculty of Arts, bachelor’s and master’s programmes: metsatalo-timetable@helsinki.fi
• Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, bachelor’s and master’s programmes: viikki-timetable@helsinki.fi
• Faculty of Educational Sciences, bachelor’s and master’s programmes: siltavuori-timetable@helsinki.fi
• Faculty of Law, bachelor’s and master’s programmes: porthania-timetable@helsinki.fi
• Faculty of Medicine, bachelor’s, master’s and licentiate programmes: meilahti-timetable@helsinki.fi
• Faculty of Pharmacy, bachelor’s and master’s programmes: viikki-timetable@helsinki.fi
• Faculty of Science, bachelor’s and master’s programmes: kumpula-timetable@helsinki.fi
• Faculty of Social Sciences, bachelor’s and master’s programmes: kruununhaka-timetable@helsinki.fi
• Faculty of Theology, bachelor’s and master’s programmes: metsatalo-timetable@helsinki.fi
• Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, bachelor’s and master’s programmes: viikki-timetable@helsinki.fi
• Swedish School of Social Science, bachelor’s and master’s programmes: kruununhaka-timetable@helsinki.fi
• Doctoral programmes and doctoral school: phd-timetable@helsinki.fi 
• Language Centre: porthania-timetable@helsinki.fi