Academic career system

Our career system gives the academic staff at Uniarts Helsinki the chance to develop their career on a path that is equal, transparent and internationally competitive.

henkilö opettaa maalausta

What is the career system?

With the help of the career system:

  • We provide support for the staff to develop their competence and promote continuous learning and evolving.
  • We attract talents who are at different stages of their career and from different parts of the world and make sure that Uniarts Helsinki is a sought-after place to grow and gain valuable experience in.
  • We secure the long-term development of our operations by increasing the share of permanently employed academic staff at Uniarts Helsinki.
  • We make sure that there is an ideal balance between the number of permanent and fixed-term positions as well as short-term visiting experts considering the development of different fields of art.

We promote the long-term development of our operations, competence development of the staff and continuous learning and evolving.

There are two tenure tracks within the career system: a tenure track for professors and a tenure track for lecturers. A person who is recruited to a tenure track position receives support to develop as a teacher and to reform their artistic or -research-related practices.

The positions on the tenure track for professors include assistant professor, associate professor and full professor. As for the tenure track for lecturers, the positions are university teacher, lecturer and university lecturer. 


Positions in the career system

Tenure-track positions for professors

  • Assistant professor
  • Associate professor
  • Full professor

Tenure-track positions for  lecturers

  • University teacher
  • Lecturer
  • University lecturer

Fixed-term positions

  • Lecturer (fixed term)
  • Professor (fixed term)
  • Research director (fixed term)
  • Visiting lecturer (fixed term)
  • Visiting professor (fixed term)
  • Doctoral candidate (fixed term)
  • Postdoctoral researcher (fixed term)
  • University researcher (fixed term)
  • Visiting researcher (fixed term)

Other positions

  • Hourly-paid teacher

Uniarts Helsinki’s promises to employees within the career system

1. The university uses joint, public and clear descriptions of the recruitment process and its phases when filling positions placed on the tenure track career path for professors and lecturers.

2. The university determines clear criteria that are used when evaluating tenure track employees’ success. Tenure track employees are given sufficient information on how they can contribute to their advancement on the career path through their work and achievements.

3. Tenure track employees are treated in an equal and fair way.

4. Tenure track employees have the chance to increase their competence in the duties that will be used as the basis for the evaluation of their success.

5. Advancement on the tenure track is monitored on an annual basis in connection with development discussions, for example.

6. It is possible to advance on the tenure track faster than what was originally planned if the employee achieves the objectives faster than scheduled.

7. Those recruited to a tenure track position are provided with an opportunity to receive supervision and support for their work.

8. The person recruited to a position within the career system must be notified of the result of the tenure track process at least six months prior to the end of their employment contract.


Professors’ and lecturers’ tenure tracks