Dear all,
A couple of issues that need discussing and one form that ALL students should complete. Students should read all of the points below, teachers and supervisors points 2-4.
1) The new BSc in "Biochemistry with international exchange" will start from August 2012. Lots of details still to finalize, but existing students will be able to transfer to this. More details in Spring.
2) Urkund, plagiarism detection software. The current guidelines from the university are that students must load work into Urkund and not staff. However, for a number of reasons we would like staff to be able to upload student work into Urkund. To do this we need the copyright for the work transferred to us for this purpose. Accordingly we are asking ALL students to complete the attached form and return it to Jari Heikkinen. Students who do not complete the form will have their work checked for plagiarism very carefully by other methods. Since these other methods are more time consuming this may result in delays to grades being awarded.
3) eGradu. From 1st August the university will no longer require bound copies of the Pro Gradu thesis, instead they will be stored electronically by the library as eGradu's. Students will be given three options regarding their gradu. 1) Open access; 2) Access via the intra-net from the library only; 3) No access. Pro Gradu's from our department often contain work which will become part of a scientific publication. If these theses are made accessible via the internet it allows competing groups to see the data AND it may compromise future publication. Students and supervisors are strongly recommended to discuss which option to take and our advice is to choose option 3 i.e. no access, unless the work has been published prior to submission of the Pro Gradu or will not form part of any publication. Students who insist on option 1 may find that supervisors are reluctant to give them good projects. The university is keen to have ALL gradu's openly available electronically (option 1) and students should change the status of their Pro Gradu from option 3 to option 1 AFTER the work has been published. The final details of this scheme are still being finalized, but it will effect students who are starting their Pro Gradu in early Spring hence the information sent now. Final details will be sent once we know them.
4) There is a strong external push for us to show that students are completing their studies on time. We will be tweaking a number of procedures over the next six months to ensure that credits are registered in Oodi as soon as possible after the work is done. One change that will take immediate effect is that ALL students should complete the paperwork with Jari Heikkinen to get the credits awarded for Orientation to Research Work after EACH orientation. Do not wait until all of orientations are completed. This does unfortunately mean more paperwork but it is in the interests of the department AND of individual students to do this.
As always I am happy to answer any questions people may have on any of these.
Best wishes,
Lloyd
Lloyd Ruddock Professor of Protein Science Department of Biochemistry University of Oulu Finland