Landing pages

Landing pages include lists of links collected by the administration by topic. The pages contain the most important instructions. All instructions can be found using the search. 

Connections and communications

The university uses Office 365 e-mail. The university’s mail can be used with different e-mail programs, which often significantly improves e-mail use comfort and enhances usage. Outlook is the recommended program for Office 365 mail.

  • You can read your e-mail using a browser at https://www.helsinki.fi/office365
  • Helpdesk’s instructions
    General instructions on how to use the university mail are available on the site. The instructions mainly cover how to use Office 365 mail. The university’s mail can be used with different e-mail programs, which often significantly improves e-mail use comfort

Connections from outside the University

The use of some of the University’s online services is limited to the university network for licence-related reasons. These services include the databases and electronic journals offered by the library. To use these services on a computer outside the university network, you are required to establish a secure connection between your home computer and the university server.

The most common technology for establishing such a connection is VPN (Wikipedia). To use a VPN connection, you need a valid university username. Check the installation instructions for different operating systems.

Some of

Information security at the University

This page provides further details about information security collected from the Helpdesk site, Student’s digital skills and Flamma.

Instructions for remote working

The purpose of this page is to describe remote access to IT services offered by the University of Helsinki and provide guidance in their use.

Microsoft 365

Sign in https://www.helsinki.fi/office365

Cannot sign in to the cloud email? Please enter an account in the form
username@ad.helsinki.fi (e.g. rkeskiva@ad.helsinki.fi)

Read more about Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 services

Microsoft 365 is a toolkit of the university, creating mutual electronic office tools and a calendar for the use of everyone at the university. Microsoft 365 has a number of services necessary in everyday work, such as e-mail, calendar, instant message and web meeting services as well as information distribution and social media tools.

Sign in to Microsoft 365 service here: https://helsinki.fi/office365

Mobile devices

As mobile devices and smartphones have become more common, new possibilities and new challenges have arisen. One of the greatest challenges is information security, the importance of which is emphasised as the amount of data and ways of using the systems are expanding. Although the importance of technical information security must not be underestimated, a large part of information security consists of the user’s own actions. These instructions include the best practices concerning the security of smartphones. This list is not designed to be a comprehensive set of information security

Multifactor Authentication (MFA)

This landing page contains links to all the University's MFA instructions.

Multifactor Authentication (MFA) improves information security by making scam attempts more difficult for cybercriminals. You can choose to ask for authentication requests every 90 days per device to avoid receiving the requests continuously. MFA is a feature that provides additional security when logging in to many of the University's services, and it uses a separate device to authenticate.

Passwords

The password linked to the University’s user account is valid for one year at a time. Of course, you can change your password more often for information security reasons. 

The password reset application is available at www.helsinki.fi/password

NB! University Mac users should use these instructions to change their password (and avoid several problems)

You can see the detailed password requirements in the password reset app www.helsinki.fi/password. Password requirements are not published for security reasons.


Please keep in mind that your password is personal. Even IT support never asks for your personal password!

Printing in the University

Printing can usually be done through the Smartcard printing queue on the university workstations. You can print on any public printer on any campus. Printing on Smartcard devices is always subject to a charge. If you are a member of staff, your department will cover the costs. Unigrafia Oy provides the printing service to the university.

Remote access to university services

Sometimes you may need to use the university’s internal databases, directories or certain online services from outside the university (e.g., your home directory or SAP). In that case, you need to connect to the university network. For that, you need to establish a secure (encrypted) communication channel, a so-called VPN tunnel. The university offers several options to achieve this. With a VPN client, your home directory will appear as a network drive on your computer.

Resources for Research

The University offers storage facilities, data processing environments, high-performance computing services and solution consultation for the special needs of research and cooperation. You will find links to detailed instructions and presentations on this page.

We also recommend that you take a look at the table, which gives you a quick overview of the services offered and their suitability for confidential material, for example.

Saving and sharing information

The university enables the use of various network drives for individual or group work on both university computers and home computers. In addition to home and group directories, work files can be saved on your computer or external storage media. Different types of storage media have different features. Some are designed for personal use and some for sharing information with others.  This page contains links for more detailed instructions.

For more information on saving information, see Student’s digital skills.

 

User accounts

In their work or studies, University staff and students require a username and related password to access the University of Helsinki IT systems. The primary account is the “AD account”, with which you log in to the University computers and the most common network services, such as email and Flamma.

Wireless networks at the University of Helsinki

The University of Helsinki has several wireless networks:

  • HelsinkiUni is a new wireless network for centrally managed university staff Windows laptops. 
     
  • Eduroam is international wireless network for staff, students and members of the eduroam network.
     
  • HelsinkiUni Guest network is intended for users who do not have university credentials or access to the eduroam network.

Note! The University’s Acceptable Use Policy prohibits the connection of non-centrally managed devices over a wired connection to the University's network (excluding connecting laboratory computers to closed laboratory networks via wired connections). 

You may not connect any personal devices purchased by yourself or other devices outside the University’s centralized management (e.g. non-centrally managed devices purchased for special use for the University) to the University network over a wired connection. IT Helpdesk does not process requests for connecting non-centrally managed devices to the University network over a wired connection. 

If you need a network connection for your own device at the University campuses, you can use either eduroam or HelsinkiUni Guest to connect your device to the network. The wireless eduroam network also works when you visit higher education institutions in Finland and globally.