LAB publishes its thesis rules as a guidebook PDF, reissued each year, with separate editions for bachelor's and master's degrees. This page is written from the 1 August 2025 editions.
That matters more than usual here: LAB's older guidebooks quote different credit figures, so a guide you find through a search engine may be out of date. Check the date on any LAB PDF before you rely on a number in it.
Scope and structure
- Bachelor's: 15 credits, an independent thesis.
- Master's: 30 credits, an independent thesis.
The bachelor's thesis is not one course. It runs as three 5-credit courses:
| Course | Credits |
|---|---|
| Thesis Planning | 5 ECTS |
| Thesis Implementation | 5 ECTS |
| Thesis Publication | 5 ECTS |
The thesis process always includes a written, published thesis report — whatever form the underlying project takes.
Writing the maturity test sits inside the Thesis Publication course, which is why it comes at the end rather than alongside the writing.
What the process requires of you
Beyond the report itself, the guidebook lists submitting the report to Turnitin, attending a seminar if required, conducting a peer preview if required, taking the maturity test, and providing feedback on the thesis process.
The "if required" items vary by field of study, so confirm which apply to you rather than assuming they do not.
Turnitin
LAB uses Turnitin to check the originality of thesis reports. Two points are worth drawing out.
It is not only a final gate. The guidebook says the system may be used to support thesis writing throughout the writing process. If your field gives you access, running a check on a draft is a legitimate use rather than an attempt to game it.
Your report joins the database. Each uploaded thesis report is saved in Turnitin's database, which LAB frames as protection — it stops someone else plagiarising your work later.
Both you and your supervisor receive the analysis report showing possible similarities against sources in the system. Fields of study issue their own instructions on how to upload a completed report.
Evaluation
Assessment is competence-based. The thesis supervisor and a possible second reviewer evaluate both the work conducted and the thesis report.
Note the two halves: the report is not assessed in isolation from the project behind it.
The maturity test
By completing it you demonstrate mastery of the content of the thesis and the ability to write a linguistically high-quality presentation on it.
Timing. It can be taken once the thesis is complete and the supervisor permits it. As a rule it is written after the thesis has been submitted for assessment.
Individually, always. It is completed individually even when the thesis was written in cooperation between two or more students. A joint thesis does not mean a joint maturity test.
Format. An essay, press release, article or blog post — agreed between you and your supervisor. Separate instructions exist for taking it.
Assessment. Both language and content are assessed, on a pass/fail scale. A failed maturity test may be retaken twice.
The statutory basis
LAB quotes the governing decree directly:
For the degree, the student is to write a maturity test in the field of their thesis, demonstrating their knowledge of the field and skills in Finnish or Swedish. The university of applied sciences decides on the maturity test where the student is not required to have the language skills referred to in section 7(1). (Government Decree on Universities of Applied Sciences 1129/2014)
That last clause is what allows LAB to set the arrangements for students who are not required to demonstrate Finnish or Swedish — which is why international students' maturity tests are handled differently without the requirement being waived.
Testing accommodations
The guidebook addresses this explicitly. Students eligible for individual testing accommodations:
- may be allowed more time to write than others, and
- must, if necessary, present an expert's statement on their situation — for example from a specialist doctor or a special needs teacher.
Publication
As with every Finnish university of applied sciences, the thesis report is uploaded to Theseus, the shared UAS repository, and the master's guidebook lists that upload among the steps required to complete the thesis.
What we could not confirm
LAB does not publish a similarity percentage threshold for Turnitin. The analysis report goes to the student and supervisor, and judgement sits with them; no numeric limit appears in the 2025 guidebooks.
The detailed grading criteria sit in an appendix to the guidebook PDFs rather than in the body, and are maintained separately. This page does not reproduce the grading bands — read the appendix in the current PDF for your degree level, since those tables are the part most likely to change between annual editions.
