1.1. PRE-EXAMINATION GUIDELINES FOR THE WRITTEN COMPONENT
1.1.1. General
(This is an English translation of the assessment guidelines originally written in Finnish. In the event of any conflict between the English language version and the original, the Finnish language version shall prevail.).
In the arts study programme, the demonstration of proficiency for a doctoral degree is a thematically consistent artistic-research work consisting of artistic components and a written component. The scope of the demonstration of proficiency, i.e. all components together, is 165 credits, and the scope of the components may vary. The relationship between the artistic and written components is not prescribed, but set in accordance with the student's objectives.
The artistic components of the demonstration of proficiency may be comprised of e.g. concerts, compositions, artistic productions, liturgies, recordings, online materials or videos. The scope of the components brings together no less than two and no more than four concert programmes or other artistic entities in a doctoral degree.
When the artistic components are compositions, the scope and complexity of the artistic components must correspond to one to two concert entities or entities consisting of other similar works or performances taking into account the student's composition style and technique. With regard to the compositions, an entity that corresponds to the scope of at least one concert must be publicly performed (e.g. at least one artistic component must be a public composition concert or similar performance). In exceptional cases (e.g. a large-scale opera or other entity that is challenging in terms of production), a score alone is enough. Depending on the nature of the demonstration of proficiency, compositions must include scores whenever they are necessary for composing music, performing compositions or assessing them.
If the artistic components consist partly of composed music and partly of performed music, the ratio described above is taken into account in the number, scope and complexity of the components as well as in their assessment.
The demonstration of proficiency also includes a written component. Together, the written component and the artistic components form a coherent body of research. The written component also contains a summary which provides a report of the goals and framework of the complete demonstration of proficiency, the functions of its components and how they interrelate, along with a review of the results and a discussion of the significance of these results.
1.1.2. Demonstration of proficiency assessment stages in the arts study programme
The demonstrations of proficiency for the doctoral degree are pre-examined and examined. In the arts study programme, the artistic components of the demonstration of proficiency are pre-assessed and the written component is pre-examined separately.
The pre-examination of the artistic component is a preliminary assessment, in which the pre-examiner assesses the doctoral student's capabilities for completing the component. The pre-examiner assesses whether the component is ready for public performance and for committee assessment. Separate guidelines have been issued for the pre-examination of the artistic component.
The purpose of the pre-examination of the written component is to ensure before the assessment committee's overall assessment of the demonstration of proficiency, the public examination and the printing of the work, that the written component’s manuscript meets the formal requirements and that it is of a sufficient standard.
When the written component is ready to be submitted for pre-examination, a pre-examiner is appointed by the Academy board of the Sibelius Academy, based on a proposal prepared by the supervisor-in-charge with other supervisors.
The pre-examiners prepare a written, reasoned statement and provide it to the Academy board of the Sibelius Academy within three months. The doctoral student is entitled to respond to the statement.
If the statement of the pre-examiner does not support the granting of an examination permit due to deficiencies in the work, the pre-examination procedure shall expire without a separate decision. However, the doctoral student can bring the matter to the Academy board of the Sibelius Academy, who will decide whether the examination process continues or expires. After the pre-examination procedure has expired, the doctoral student may request a new pre-examination when the demonstration of proficiency has been modified on the basis of the rejection statements and the supervising teacher is in favour of initiating the pre-examination procedure.
The assessment committee is responsible for the actual assessment of the demonstration of proficiency. The assessment committee's assessment task continues from the first component of the demonstration of proficiency to a public examination and an examination statement. The assessment committee listens to and follows all artistic components of the demonstration of proficiency, such as concerts and recordings. The student receives from the assessment committee oral and written feedback for each artistic component, and this feedback serves to support the demonstration of proficiency process and the student’s learning within it. The written feedback also supports the assessment of the demonstration of proficiency as a whole. After the completion of each artistic component, a feedback discussion is held, in which the assessment committee discusses the completed artistic component with the doctoral student concerned. The assessment committee may comment on the demonstration of proficiency stage and the direction of its future artistic and written components.
Once all the artistic components have been implemented and the written component pre-examined, the assessment committee provides the Academy board of the Sibelius Academy with a statement on the demonstration of proficiency for the issuing of an examination permit. This statement is based on the committee's assessment of the demonstration of proficiency as a whole, which also takes into account the pre-examination statements for the written component. The doctoral student is entitled to respond to the statement.
Once the Academy board has issued an examination permit, the demonstration of proficiency will be examined at a public examination event.
After the examination event, the assessment committee issues a written, signed statement on the demonstration of proficiency to the Division of doctoral education and research within one month of the examination event. The statement also addresses the examination event. The doctoral student is entitled to respond to the statement.
The Division of doctoral education and research approves the demonstration of proficiency and decides on the grade based on the statements provided. When handling the matter, the Division may request a hearing from the chair of the examination event or the examiners or opponents of the demonstration of proficiency.
1.1.3. Assessment of demonstrations of proficiency of proficiency in the arts study programme
The assessment committee assesses the demonstration of proficiency as a whole in relation to the objectives of both the degree and the demonstration of proficiency. The general objective of doctoral education at the Sibelius Academy is to produce music sector experts who are capable of high-level creative and critical work and who operate in demanding art, research, development and educational positions. Doctors of Music graduating from the Sibelius Academy act as societal contributors promoting an ethically sustainable future.
The special goals of the arts study programme are to provide doctoral students with
The assessment of artistic components is supported by a linking paper on each component. In it, the doctoral student explains the objectives for the artistic component and the relation between the component and the demonstration of proficiency as a whole.
With regard to the written component, the committee is supported by the relevant pre-examination statements.
1.1.4. Written component pre-examination and pre-examination statement
The purpose of the pre-examination of the written component is to ensure before the assessment committee's overall assessment of the demonstration of proficiency, the public examination and the printing of the work, that the written component’s manuscript meets the formal requirements and that it is of a sufficient standard.
In the pre-examination of the written component, the criteria described below are used as the assessment criteria. Together with a tenth criterion, which concerns defending the demonstration of proficiency at a public examination, these form the criteria for an acceptable demonstration of proficiency used in the assessment conducted by the assessment committee.
|
A demonstration of proficiency with a grade of Pass is based on independent artistic-research activities, contains new information and, with clear argumentation, corresponds with the task assignment of the demonstration of proficiency. The quality of the demonstration of proficiency sufficiently meets the requirements set for it. |
|
The demonstration of proficiency and its components comprise a uniform, well-managed, consistent, appropriately defined and well-organised entity. |
|
The topic, goals and new knowledge produced by the demonstration of proficiency have sufficient significance in the field of art and research or, in addition to the above, when it can be assessed, with regard to society or more broadly. |
|
The demonstration of proficiency is a meaningful and contextualised continuation of the previous tradition and discussion in its field. |
|
Artistic research methods have been presented and reasoned. They are suitable and appropriate for the topic and objectives, and have been used consistently and reliably. |
|
The demonstration of proficiency is constructively critical in relation to prevailing practices, previous research and the artistic research, outputs or outcomes of one's own work and their significance. |
|
The demonstration of proficiency is sufficiently clear and convincing in terms of communication and style. Previous research and sources as well as the theory, methods and materials of the demonstration of proficiency are systematically structured and argued. |
|
The demonstration of proficiency adheres to the norms of research ethics and responsible artistic and research practices. The ethical aspects of the demonstration of proficiency have been adequately addressed. |
|
If the demonstration of proficiency includes collaborations (such as jointly created works or joint publications), the creator's primary contribution is clearly demonstrated. |
In the pre-examination, it should be noted that the written component is part of the demonstration of proficiency, which also includes artistic components. The written component contains a summary which provides a report of the goals, framework, components of the demonstration of proficiency and their functions and mutual relations, and a review of the results and a discussion of the significance of these results. The pre-examiner of the written component is offered an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the artistic components or the recordings related to them.
The written component does not need to follow the conventional research publication model if it is possible to create a format that better serves its goals and those of the doctoral-level arts study programme. However, the written components to be examined as part of the demonstration of proficiency cannot be implemented without an adequate text section, which presents the topic in question to artistic actors and the academic community. The suggested length of the written component text section is approximately 40–100 pages or 25 000 ± 9 000 words (the reference list, attachments, images or possible multimedia sections are not included).
It is preferable that the statement includes a summary, which contains the following:
The examination permit statement must not be conditional – it must be either affirmative or negative. The pre-examiner may include suggestions for corrections and additions in their approving statement, but in this case, any deficiencies in the written component must not be so significant that they would lead to rejection if they were not rectified. Suggestions for rectification may include additional materials that can be produced with reasonable effort or additional familiarisation with research literature. A statement of rejection shall be issued if there are such serious deficiencies in the work that they cannot be rectified with a reasonable amount of work.
At the end of the statement, the pre-examiner must state unambiguously whether they support the granting of an examination permit or suggest rejecting the work. If desired, the pre-examiner may append a separate list of minor deficiencies and errors in their statement to be provided to the doctoral student. This should be mentioned in the pre-examination statement.
The pre-examiners prepare a written, reasoned statement and submit it to the Academy board of the Sibelius Academy within three months. The pre-examiners may each issue their own, separate statement or a joint statement. The statements are addressed to the Academy board of the Sibelius Academy and provided to the doctoral school's office.
1.1.5. Further information
These guidelines are part of the Sibelius Academy Guide for Doctoral Studies in Music. The Guide for Doctoral Studies contains additional information on doctoral education and additional information on its related demonstration of proficiency.
These guidelines enter into force on 11 December 2023 and apply to all students who commenced their studies on or after 1 January 2021. For students who started their studies at an earlier date, these guidelines apply in accordance with the separately issued transitional provision. The transitional provision is appended to the doctoral degree guidelines, which were concluded on 10 December 2021.