Applying study credits

Apply study credits for student activities

The competency requirements for student activism studies will be updated as part of the ongoing curriculum reform.
Starting in August 2026, the courses will be as follows:
Student Activities: Member Services
Student Activities: Communications and Marketing
Student Activities: Events
Student Activities: Tutoring
Student Activities: Leadership
Student Activities: Advocacy (formerly “Influencing”)
Student Activities: Finance and Administration (formerly “Project Management”)
All courses are still worth 5 credits.
Some will remain largely the same, while a few will have their names and content updated to better reflect the current situation.
We will begin accepting portfolios again on August 15, and by then, new links for applying for competency badges will be published on this page.

Have you worked in the campus team, sudent association or perhaps in the council of representatives? You can apply for study credits and digital Open badges!

By joining in on the student activities you acquire new competences that can be recogniced as part of your degree. By participating in student activities it is possible to do 5cr – 35cr of complementary competence study credits. These credits can be on top of all other study credits according to a decision of the vice president of Laurea and it will not block you from taking any other study unit from the curriculum. 

 Study credits for student activities can be applied by creating a portfolio to show the acquired competence and filling out the Open bage application form that can be found after the name of each study unit. Fill out the form and attach your portfolio. You can apply for the credits for one or more study units at a time. Also for example you can apply for the study credits for one study unit and later for another one. The credits will be marked for the semester that you apply them in.

You can use the open badge for example on your LinkedIn profile to show your acquired competence. The badge is valid for five years.

Laurea’s planner Jaana Akiola is the module coordinator for the student activities study modules.

Applying for study credits

  1. Check out the learning objectives and sign up for the study units. Sign up is open all the time.
  2. Make a portfolio in which you describe your actions and how you have achieved the learning goals. You can apply for credits for several study units with the same portfolio, but separate the the different study units clearly with headlines.
  3. Fill out the application for the Open badge for each study unit separately.
  4. Assesment group goes through the applications continuously other than at holiday times (the end of the year and June-July).
  5. Assesment group either accepts or asks for additions to the portfolio.
  6. When the points are granted the evaluation is pass/fail and also the student receives the Open badge.
Return dates before summer and Christmas

Portfolios will be reviewed by the screening group from 15.1.-2.5. and 15.8.-1.11. You can apply for credits from the beginning of the semester at any time and return forms are open all year round.

If you wish to receive credits before the summer, please submit your application by 2 May and if you are asked to complete your portfolio, a new version must be returned within one week of the request for completion. After the summer, portfolios will be assessed again after 15 August.

Before the Christmas holidays, the last chance to return your portfolio is by 1 November and if you are asked to complete your portfolio, a new version must be returned within one week of the request for completion. After Christmas, portfolios will be assessed again after 15 January.

If you are graduating at the end of the semester in question, please let us know your schedule by emailing [email protected]

The modules and the study units

More detailed portfolio assignment 

  • First, familiarise yourself with the learning outcomes of the course. 
  • Introduce yourself and tell us what positions you have held in student union activities. A self-portrait would be nice, but not mandatory. 
  • Use the practical examples about you have learned to describe how your skills have developed in different areas. The growth in skills can be described, for example explaining what the starting point is, what didn’t work in it, and then describing how the operation was changed. E.g. In the case of Member Services in Student Activities, you must both describe the features of good customer service and what you have learned from it, information security and also report on the development of the services. Please discuss all the learning outcomes of the course with the portfolio. 
  • Tell us what your contribution was to the work. 
  • At the end of each study unit, add a summary of what you have learned about student activity. 

Please also note: 

  • Please use good general language in your portfolio to tell the employer about your work. Type with whole sentences. 
  • For example, you can attach an ad, project plan, marketing plan, or an image of an event budget to a work sample portfolio. 
  • You can make your portfolio for an electronic portfolio platform (Microsoft Sway, Bulb, or otherwise), Powerpoint, or Word.   
  • With pictures, you can make your portfolio more alive and especially when telling about communication skills, they are useful, but otherwise not mandatory. 
  • An acceptable performance cannot be obtained with a portfolio that only lists events without a description of the development of the competence.  
How to get Open Badge in use

How to get started with Open Badge

When the badge is awarded, the student will receive the following message and link from [email protected] (search for the message in your email):

(Olet saavuttanut opiskelija-aktiivitoimintasi perusteella osaamista, josta sinulle myönnetään osaamismerkki Laureamko XX-opintojakson opiskelijatoiminnassa…)

You have achieved competences based on your student activity for which you are awarded a competency badge in the Laureamko XX student activity.

Create your free Open Passport account and claim your badge. Earned badges will accumulate in your Passport and stay in it to share your badges via LinkedIn, for example.

https://openbadgepassport.com/1etusivu/

Tutorial Open Badge Passport – How to create a badge (video duration 2:42 min)

How to get started on LinkedIn

The badge then needs to be published on Linkedin.

Go to your LinkedIn profile page and select Add to profile and from there to Recommended and Licenses & Certifications and click on the plus sign
Add the link name to your badge page and add the address copied from the Open Badge Factory in the Credential URL field and other necessary information.
Finally, click Save.

More information

Jaana Akiola, Module Coordinator
[email protected]

Annika Sievinen, Specialist of the Student Union
[email protected]