Tools, instructions, and regulations

The degree regulations are an official document of a higher education institution that defines the general rules, rights and obligations for studying and completing degrees. The degree regulations clarify the principles and key instructions regarding studies and teaching.

Humak’s ethical guidelines are currently being updated. Our guidelines are based on our values and guide all members of our university community to act responsibly and respectfully in everything related to studying, work, and cooperation — both within the university of applied sciences and in our relationships with clients and partners.

Ethics Committee is responsible for ethics-related issues

A designated ethics committee has been appointed at Humak. Its purpose is to promote ethical debate, monitor the implementation of ethical principles, and develop ethics in the University of Applied Sciences. The committee meets whenever necessary.

The responsibilities of the ethics committee include:

• discussing and making recommendations on ethical issues related to studying, teaching and research, and development activities
• developing and renewing ethical principles and guidelines for studying, teaching and research and development activities
• providing information on the above matters.

The ethics committee can be contacted at: eettinentoimikunta@humak.fi.

Ethical issues related to research and development activities

• Humak is committed to the Finnish National Board of Research Intergrity TENK’s guidelines on good scientific practice (2012): Responsible conduct of research and procedures for handling allegations of misconduct in Finland.
• Humak follows the ethical recommendations for theses approved by Arene.
• Humak is a member organization of The Human Sciences Ethics Committee of the Helsinki Region Universities of Applied Sciences.
• Humak uses a plagiarism checker (Urkund).
• Humak’s methodological teaching and thesis manuals are part of the Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programs and cover research ethics.
• As part of Humak’s research ethics activities, an electronic, publicly available Humak citation guide has been published and is used in Humak’s Bachelor’s and Master’s degree studies and in Humak’s own publishing activities.
• Our teachers are familiar with the Responsible Research website and present it to students.

Accessibility is the realization of a physical, mental, and social environment in such a way that everyone, regardless of their characteristics, can function on an equal footing with others. The learning environment – including the digital environment – must take into account individual support needs related to learning disabilities, health conditions, or cultural and linguistic background, so that learning can progress according to the objectives. Particular attention should be paid to the overall accessibility and accessibility of guidance, teaching and learning.

The terms accessibility and usability are used to assess the accessibility of different online services. They promote diversity and equality. The Accessibility Directive entered into force in the EU on December 22 2016. Its key objective is to ensure that every individual has the full potential to function fully in digital environments. Learning can be supported by smart technologies, such as apps that can transform speech into text or text into speech, for example. In online environments, accessibility takes the form, for example, of multimodal solutions using different sensory channels.

How is accessibility taken into account at Humak?

As a student, you often know best what kind of facilities you personally need. If you have a learning disability, a health condition that affects your studies, or individual support needs related to your cultural and linguistic background, you should contact a study counsellor right at the very beginning of your studies. After discussion with the study counsellor, any individual arrangements to help you with your studies (e.g. extra time for exams, returning assignments, or alternative ways of completing them) will be agreed upon.

Submit any certificates and statements related to the arrangements to your counselor. The mutually agreed arrangements will be recorded in Peppi’s contract archive and your student counselor and your PSP coach will be added as parties to the contract. In this way, the arrangements agreed in the contract can be taken into account on an implementation-specific basis in the coaching. You can discuss in more detail with the lecturer responsible for the implementation what the arrangements mean in a specific course implementation.

We are a university of applied sciences seeking to build a more humane world. Our task is to unite people and strengthen humanity, civil rights and a sense of community. Our activities are based on the promotion of equality and accessibility in all teaching, research and everyday encounters. We want to create an environment where everyone has genuine and equal opportunities to learn, develop, participate and influence. This work is guided by our jointly prepared equality, equality and accessibility plan. Read the plan below.

At Humak, teaching follows the principles of a safer space, developed on the basis of UN Association principles. A safer space is an environment where everyone actively contributes to building an equal, respectful and open atmosphere. The safer space principles apply to the entire learning community — students, teachers and other staff — and everyone is expected to commit to them.

The ability to use AI is an important skill in many professions – even more so in the future. Using AI tools can also enhance and deepen learning. Humak encourages its students to take up different AI tools and exploit the potential of AI already during their studies.

AI can be used for all learning tasks unless specifically prohibited. The use of AI must be expressed transparently: What AI tools have been used and how? Students are responsible for the content of the learning tasks they carry out. See the Student Guide for the software and systems available for Humak students.

For example, you can ask AI for comments on learning tasks. AI may also suggest useful innovative, creative, and inclusive ways to produce learning task content. It can help to create images and diagrams, as well as presentations and summaries of the given topics. In building the knowledge base, AI may suggest relevant sources. AI can also help with spell-checking, synthesizing, and structuring tasks.

AI is a useful tool but does not replace the importance of personal thinking and decision-making. AI may provide incorrect information or biased interpretations, especially if the user gives it poor-quality prompts. Humak recommends that learning tasks do not include direct quotes from AI-generated text. However, if this is done, the reference will be marked according to Humak’s reference guide. In addition, students should familiarize themselves
with the terms of use of the AI tools they use. 

For more information, see the guide-specific AI instructions:

In June 2023, the Rectors’ Conference of Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences Arene published its recommendations on the use of artificial intelligence for universities of applied sciences. Humak’s guidelines follow Arene’s recommendations.