Order a thesis
A commissioned thesis offers you new information for solving a problem or for the development theme area
Does your organisation have a challenge but you lack the resources to investigate and solve it? Or do you need support implementing a research and development project?
As part of their studies, University students realise diverse projects and thesis work which can be tailored to meet the needs of employers. What are the benefits of projects or final thesis work with students? You receive new, unbiased and grounded information and concrete suggestions to develop your organisation.
You benefit from new perspectives and innovations with an outside-the-box attitude. You get a contact to the University and its experts and you can effortlessly get familiar with your potential future employees. You can also benefit from new resources: skilled students can analyse and solve issues for which the organisation has no time or exact expertise. Project-based studying involves practical solving of real-life problems. The best learning experiences are gained from projects that are carried out so as to meet the real needs of working life organisations.
Maybe for your organisation as well? At our multidisciplinary University, we can implement student projects on a wide variety of themes.
A student thesis or a student project?
| A student thesis | A student project |
|---|---|
| is usually an independent, academic work | is usually group work |
| is carried out under the supervision of an expert of the academic field | is carried out as part of a course with the support of an expert teacher |
| has a flexible schedule, often jointly negotiable | has a predefined schedule, the start and end of the work are clearly outlined |
Student thesis boosting your development project?
A commissioned thesis offers your organisation reliable knowledge for solving a problem or for the development theme area. At the same time you gain access to the latest research findings. Thesis are supervised by an academic expert, which ensures the quality of the work. Theses can yield insights to support business development or social understanding, for instance, and the commissioner can be equally well a company or a public or third sector organisation. Theses at the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥ may deal with a variety of theme areas.
Theses at the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥ may deal with the following issues and theme areas, for example:
- Staff’s learning and educational needs
- Occupational well-being, promotion of health and working capacity
- Reward practices and work motivation
- Management and leadership
- Cost and profit calculations
- Internationalisation and export
- Social media and commercial communication
- Development and introduction of information systems
- Chemical analyses and laboratory work, e.g. sewage cleaning, soil sample analyses, impurity and composition analyses of raw materials
By a thesis included in the University’s degree programmes, the student shows his/her knowledge of the scientific field in question and also applies this knowledge to find answers to the chosen research questions. In commissioned theses, the research questions often arise from workplace-oriented needs.
At the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥, theses are made at two levels: A bachelor’s thesis is usually made during the third study year, and its extent is equivalent to more than a month’s full-time working. A master’s thesis is part of the higher academic degree and is made at the end of the studies. The extent is equivalent to about six month’s full-time working. Publicity of theses The Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999) also regulates the publicity of master’s theses. For the legal protection of students, it is of primary importance that the assessment of theses takes place according to uniform principles. The theses are integral parts of degrees and should be publicly available for review. Publicity ensures objective and fair assessment of theses. If a thesis involves collaboration with a company or other organisation, and when specifically agreed, the identification information of the commissioning organisation can be left out from the thesis. Moreover, the actual thesis submitted for review must not include any business or trade secrets of the collaborating organisation but such things need to be left in the background material.
Theses cooperation
Using a grant
Companies and other organisations can sponsor scientific work and studying at the University by donations. When a company or community wants to sponsor a university student’s thesis by a grant, the procedure is as follows: The company or community donates the grant sum to the University by using a donation document.
The University always announces a call for applications for such grants. The announcement states the number and monetary value of the grants available. The length of the application period is normally at least two weeks. The University does not accept personal grants from outside the University to be circulated through the University’s payment transactions or bookkeeping. Grants cannot embed any work assignment in exchange, nor an employment relationship for the grantee.
For the recipient, grants given by universities and other bodies outside the taxation category of public communities are taxable income for the part that exceeds the state grant for artists (in 2019 the artist grant was €20 728,44). – accessible on the University’s intranet only.
Tax-deductibility of monetary donations
According to the Income Tax Act, Section 57, a community may, as prescribed more specifically by a related decree, deduct from its income a monetary donation within the range of 850–250,000 euros, which is made to a Finnish university for a purpose that promotes science, art or the preservation of Finnish cultural heritage. The deduction is calculated for each recipient (a university as a whole is a single corporate body).
The Income Tax Decree stipulates that for the tax deduction, the taxpayer needs to attach the income tax return with an appropriate account of donations made in the tax year. It must include, among other things, information about the recipient, donator, date and sum of the donation as well as a statement that the donation was made to a Finnish university or higher education institute for the purpose specified in the income tax law.
Commissioning a thesis from the University
An organisation may also commission a thesis project directly from the University, in which case the University will take care for the practical arrangements of the project. In such cases, the commissioner and the University sign a project contract concerning a thesis work, and the University will then hire the student for the project period.
(Commissioner-funded thesis work from the University) – accessible on the University’s intranet only.
A contract directly with the student
(commissioned thesis work) – accessible on the University’s intranet only.
An organisation can also make a thesis contract directly with the student. In that case, the student him/herself is responsible for the contract and its terms agreed with the commissioner. The University’s role is to provide the student with necessary guidance for the thesis work as well as to review and assess the thesis. However, the student must always seek his/her supervisor’s approval for the topic of the thesis in advance. The student can be paid for a directly commissioned thesis project in two ways:
Employment relationship
The company or organisation may hire the student to do the thesis work. In such cases, it is recommended that the monthly salary be at least on the same level with that of university interns (1,015–1,270 €/month).
In addition, the employer needs to pay normal employer costs and take care of necessary staff insurances. An employed student is usually working at the employer’s premises, which enables regular interaction between the student and the commissioner.
Compensation for work
When the commissioner cannot hire the student for an employment relationship, the reward is often paid as a compensation for work. In other words, the commissioner monitors the progress of the work and ensures by appropriate instruction that the outcomes are consistent with the commission and purchases then the final outcomes from the student. Receiving a compensation for work does not require that the recipient be registered in tax administration records or the trade register or have a related business identity code. A compensation for work does not entail any employer’s social security payments, but it is subject to withholding tax, unless the recipient is enrolled in the Prepayment Register. In addition to the compensation for work, the commissioner needs to remunerate any research costs. These may include, for example, material and printing costs as well as mailing or travel costs.
