Title: Framework, legislation and official regulations
Course: Digivisio - Assessment

Framework, legislation and official regulations

Acts, decrees and regulations on assessment

Assessment is governed by several acts, decrees and regulations, including the Act on the Openness of Government Activities, the Personal Data Act, the Data Protection Act, the Universities Act and the Universities of Applied Sciences Act. Higher education institutions draw up their assessment regulations (or some other similar official document) that, among other things, define the criteria for assessing study attainments. Higher education institutions’ assessment regulations are based on valid acts and regulations.  Every person working with teaching and teaching development must know and comply with the student affairs regulations in their institution, including the assessment regulations.

Students should also read their institution's assessment regulations, as they set out the students’ most important rights concerning assessment.

Guidelines for assessment publicity

Higher education institutions’ documents are public unless otherwise provided by law.  No document of a higher education institution can be declared secret unless its contents are such that it must be kept secret by law.  Provisions on secret documents are contained in section 24(1) of the Act on the Openness of Government Activities.

Acts and regulations applicable to assessment

Should you wish to read more about the acts and regulations applicable to assessment, use these links:

- Section 44 of the Universities Act, assessment and recognition of study attainments.
- Section 37 of the Universities of Applied Sciences Act, assessment and accreditation of prior learning.
- Administrative Procedure Act (434/2003).
- Personal Data Act 523/1999.
- Act on the Openness of Government Activities.
- The Data Protection Act (1050/2018) adds detail to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Assessment is based on the learning outcomes and assessment criteria stated in the curriculum. More detailed assessment criteria can be drawn up for different implementations.

For more information about acts and regulations related to accessibility, see these links:

- Act of the Digital Services (EU Comission)
- EU Accessibility Directive (Finnish accessibility legislation is based on this directive)
- ABC Global Book Services. is an online service that allows participating libraries for the blind and print disabled, obtain easily to accessible content they need.