Research Permits

Applying for a research permit

A research permit for the archival materials of the Matriculation Examination Board must be applied for in writing from the Board. The application is free-form, but it should include the applicant’s name and contact details, the materials requested for research, and the topic and description of the research project (for example, an excerpt from the research plan). A recommendation from the supervisor of the academic work must be attached to the application. 

Applications should be addressed to the Matriculation Examination Board (see the contact information for the Board’s Secretariat). Applicants are always notified of the decision in writing. One copy of the completed research work should be submitted to the Board’s archives. If your research will be published online, you may include the publication URL in your application.

Research materials

The Matriculation Examination Board is responsible for the administration, organisation, implementation, and overall management of the Matriculation Examination. The Board’s archives consist of documents related to these duties. The majority of the documents are fully public. Access restrictions apply only to materials containing confidential information or personal data.

As a general rule, the Board’s archives contain materials dating from 1970 onwards. Permanently preserved materials from earlier periods, such as examination papers and regulations or guidelines concerning the examination, have been transferred to the National Archives of Finland. In recent years, the most frequently requested research materials have included test papers, test performances, statistical data, and examination result data contained in the Matriculation Examination Register.

The Matriculation Examination Board permanently archives all test papers of the examination. The most popular subjects of research have been mother tongue and language test papers. Unfortunately, audio recordings from language tests archived in the 1970s and 1980s cannot be made available for research purposes, as the preservation of the archival originals must be safeguarded. However, the digitisation of these archived recordings is being planned.

A small random sample of test responses from each examination round is permanently archived. Subject to the Board’s permission, these samples may be used as research material. As with test papers, the most frequently studied materials have been test performances from mother tongue and language tests. Test performances are confidential official documents under the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999, section 24(1)). Their use for research purposes is therefore subject to more restrictions than research involving fully public documents.

The Matriculation Examination Board publishes up-to-date statistical information on its website, including the numbers of candidates enrolled for the examination, grade distributions, and the numbers of passed and failed examinations. The demand for statistical data as research material has increased steadily, and the Board seeks to make such information available as comprehensively as possible.

The examination result data contained in the Matriculation Examination Register constitute the Board’s most important data resource. The Board preserves these results permanently. The oldest result data, dating from the 1960s to the 1990s, exist only in paper format, while more recent data are also available in the electronic Matriculation Examination Register. The Register is classified as a personal data register under the Personal Data Act (523/1999). Consequently, the use of its data for research purposes must comply with the restrictions set out in personal data legislation.

For further information on the research materials available from the Matriculation Examination Board, please contact the Board’s Secretariat.

Loaning research materials

The Matriculation Examination Board loans archival materials for research use to facilities of the Finnish archival administration (the National Archives of Finland and regional archives) and to institutions that have been granted borrowing rights by the archival administration (for example, the Library of the University of Lapland). Materials are not available for home loan. Researchers are responsible for any costs associated with the delivery and return of the materials.