According to the Universities/Polytechnics Act, a first-year student may register as absent (non-attending) for the academic year for special reasons only.
You can prove the statutory reason for your absence with the following documents:
1. Service under the Conscription Act (1438/2007), Non-Military Service Act (1446/2007), or Act on Women's Voluntary Military Service (194/1995):
2. The student needs time off his/her studies to take care of a child in regard to the child’s birth or adoption (14.1.2022/52):
- Kela's certificate regarding maternity, paternity or parental allowance period or, if the certificate has not yet been received, a medical certificate regarding the pregnancy.
- Corresponding certificates from the authorities of other countries regarding statutory parental leave.
3. The student cannot begin studies due to being incapacitated by personal illness or injury:
- Sickness allowance decision, rehabilitation allowance decision, or, if no decision exists, a medical certificate. The medical certificate must state which illness or injury the student suffers from, and that this condition prevents the student from beginning their studies.
- Obstacles caused by the practical arrangements required by the illness or injury: an adequate clarification, e.g. a certificate from the student housing foundation that the student is on the waiting list for an apartment required by his or her injury.
- The student's own notification is not an adequate clarification.
Submitting the documents
- The documents must be submitted in Finnish, Swedish or English.
- Documents may be delivered by email, post or directly to the Student Centre Disco.
- Documents must be supplied as soon as possible, but a week after the end of the registration period at the latest, at which time documents delivered by post must also be delivered.
- For the autumn semester and the whole academic year, the documents must be submitted by 31 August
- For the spring semester, documents must be submitted by 15 January
- If the deadline is on a weekend, documents should be delivered by the following Monday.
- If you fail to deliver sufficient clarification regarding the grounds for your absence within the deadline, you will lose your right to study.
- If you wish to begin your studies at a later time, you must apply for readmission from the university.
- Readmission does not require participation in the student admissions procedure.
If you have registered as non-attending student for a statutory reason, you can inform the extension to your study time after the end of the absence. However, you must inform the extension while your study time is still in force (the actual study time of completion), not retroactively after the end of your study time or when you are studying in an additional time. For more detailed instructions, please see the page on the extension of study time.