Language skills

Information about language skills requirements

Personnel Instructions 4 § Language skills

Language skill requirements for academic staff are defined separately for each task, considering that an adequate number of teaching and research staff should have a command of Swedish, which is the teaching, examination and administrative language of the School, and is required for carrying out the School's societal mission. Some specific tasks can be defined such that the teaching language is English or some other language, and that knowledge of Swedish is not required. The assessment of which language skills are required for each task will be made based on the units' personnel plans. The final decision is made by the Rector.

For tasks including teaching in Swedish, the command of the Swedish language should equal "excellent command" as outlined in the decree on assessing the knowledge of Finnish and Swedish in the state administration (481/2003). For executing tasks that do not include teaching in Swedish, when necessary, "good" or "satisfactory" command of Swedish may be required in order to enable the executor of the tasks to take part in the common activities and decision making of the School.

Command of Swedish can be assessed by language exams for the state administration, by general language exams, by studies in the Swedish language or by the School's language committee. When necessary, and for specific reasons the Rector can also accept command of Swedish that has been demonstrated in some other way.

The School provides support for staff members with an insufficient knowledge of Swedish to enable them to take part in common activities and decision making at the School. Support staff should have the language skills that their tasks require.

Instructions for Hanken's Language Committee

The Instructions for Hanken's language Committee (Instruktion för Svenska handelshögskolans (Hanken) språknämnd) is only available in Swedish at the moment.For more information on these instructions, please contact personalarenden@hanken.fi.