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Degree structure and curriculum

The doctoral degree at Aalto University consists of 3 modules:

1. General research studies
2. Research field studies
3. Doctoral thesis

The study modules 'General research studies' and 'Research field studies' comprise a total of 30* or 60 ECTS (30* ECTS in the fields of art and design & technology, 60 ECTS in the field of business). The scope and content of each of the study modules are described in the curriculum of the doctoral programme. Credit points are not awarded for the doctoral thesis. 

Please check the curriculum requirements of your doctoral programme before confirming any DPSPs.

You can advise your doctoral student to find courses through the following course offering:

• Compulsory courses of the doctoral programme
• Other courses offered by the doctoral programme / school
• Courses offered by other schools
• Language and communication courses for doctoral students & Finnish/Swedish courses by Aalto Language Centre
• Findocnet - independent online courses on transferable skills and competences
• Courses from other Finnish universities & doctoralcourses.fi, or from our networks like N5T, Unite!, KATAJA, EIASM, Cumulus Association etc.
• Aalto University Pedagogical training

* 40 ECTS for doctoral students who have started their studies before 1.8.2024. They can also switch to complete their studies according to the new 30 ECTS curricula. 

Teaching doctoral students follow the same principles as all other teaching leading towards a degree offered by Aalto University: it is planned and offered in the 2-year curriculum planning cycle, following the University's guidelines and schedules.

Each doctoral programme has its own curriculum, which consists of the degree requirements and course descriptions approved by the Academic Committee of the School, and which follows the degree structure presented above.

Courses aimed for doctoral students bear the letter 'L' in their course code. Often Master’s level courses bearing the letter ‘E’ in their course code are also planned so that they can be included in doctoral studies.

If you are interested in offering a course for doctoral students in your School, contact the planning officer of your doctoral program and note the 2-year planning cycle.

Curriculum design at Aalto University

Course implementation from teacher's view

In addition to the courses taught at Aalto University, doctoral studies often include independently completed individual studies, e.g. conference presentations, summer schools, publications (not included in the thesis), literature reviews, etc. The supervising professor and the doctoral student agree about the inclusion of these type of studies and about their completion in the Doctoral personal study plan (credit plan) before hand. After the student has completed the studies and given a report, the supervising professor evaluates the studies and grants the credits for them.

Independently completed individual study courses

As part of the curriculum 2024-2026, course descriptions and codes have been created for the most typical independently completed individual studies in each doctoral programme. The course descriptions provide more information on the types of activity that can be credited and how many credits can be granted. The grading is always pass/fail. You can find the course descriptions in with the course code. Each School has their own codes and course descriptions, which might be slightly different from each other.

The curriculum of the doctoral programme dictates what kind of individual studies can be credited and how many of these credits can be placed in each study module of the degree (General research studies and Research field studies). Here is a list of the type of activities that can be credited through the independently completed individual study courses - note that all of them are not available in all Schools:

XXX-L2010 Presenting research at a conference I D
XXX-L2020 Academic advising I D
XXX-L2030 Teaching at higher education I D
XXX-L2040 University practices I D
XXX-L2050 Reviewing a scientific manuscript I D
XXX-L2060 Literature I D
XXX-L2070 Publishing research I
XXX-L2080 Summer or Winter Schools I D
XXX-L2090 Art production I D

(XXX represents the School code, e.g. ARTS or SCI)

Full list of individual study courses and codes in each School (aalto.fi) 

Doctoral students will present to their supervising professor a filled-out form and any possible additional report of the completed activity (e.g. their presentation, literature review or written/oral report). Reporting can also happen in the form of a book exam or other form of assessment.

Other independently completed individual studies

Supervising professors can also grant credits for students following the old system, if the student has started their studies before 1 August 2024, or if there is a need to give credits beyond the course codes (as long as it is not restricted by the curriculum of the doctoral programme).

In this case, the same form is used, but the student submits the form differently in Sisu and the study attainment will have a different kind of code created automatically by Sisu.

Instructions for doctoral students (aalto.fi)

• The examiners have to hold a doctor’s degree.
• They have to possess sufficient scientific competence and authority in the thesis’ research field or fields and have a sufficient amount of scientific publications. Pre-examiners should actively publish in the field of the thesis.
• They should be among the best experts within the field from Finland or abroad. They need to be independent experts in the field, external to the School. The recommendation is to use international experts external ÄûÃʵ¼º½ University.
• A pre-examiner may serve as an opponent.
• Field of arts and design: It is possible to appoint a third pre-examiner on the basis of artistic merit only (without a doctor’s degree).

Objectivity and impartiality in choosing examiners

The pre-examiners and opponents are to present their own, independent, expert and impartial evaluation of the doctoral thesis and thus they cannot:

• be a close relative of the student
• be the student's immediate superior
• have a too close relation to the author of the thesis, its supervising professor or thesis advisor

Please also see Aalto University's general guidance on objectivity and impartiality (aalto.fi) and school-specific guidelines below.

ARTS:
The pre-examiners cannot
•&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è; have had significant collaboration, such as co-authored publications, with the doctoral student.
•&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è; have had significant collaboration, such as co-authored publications with the supervising professor or advisor of the student, especially during the previous five years.

CHEM:
The pre-examiners cannot
•&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è; have co-authored research papers with the supervising professor or thesis instructor or collaborated with in research in the past three years
•&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è; have close collaboration with the doctoral candidate at any point of their doctoral studies, or acted as thesis advisor for their Master's thesis
For more questions, please contact the CHEM Doctoral Programme Committee.

ELEC:
The pre-examiners and opponents cannot
•&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è; in the past five years have co-authored research papers or currently be working on one with the doctoral student, supervising professor nor advisor, or otherwise collaborated within research
•&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è; be from the school of the doctoral student, the school of the supervising professor / the co-supervisor / the thesis advisor, or from the research group in which the doctoral thesis is done. Only for very special reasons the examiner can be appointed from another school of Aalto (written motivation why nobody outside Aalto could be appointed).
•&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è; have a degree from the past 5 years from the school of the student
The supervising professor should strive to find experts from all over the world and thus it is recommended that at least one of the examiners is working outside Finland.

ENG:
•&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è; The pre-examiners cannot have co-authored research papers with the doctoral student or collaborated with in research in the past five years.
•&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è; The pre-examiners cannot have had significant collaboration, such as co-authored publications with the supervising professor or advisor of the student, especially during the previous five years.

SCI:
•&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è; At least one of pre-examiners should have substantial experience on supervising doctoral students. This should be shown by presenting the pre-examiners’ and opponents’ CV (including a timeline of academic appointments and doctoral student supervision experience) and a separate list of publications (Google scholar or equivalent is satisfactory).
•&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è; When selecting examiners, we wish to remind you how important it is to give full consideration to all genders and members of underrepresented minority groups.
•&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è; The pre-examiners / opponent(s) cannot have co-authored research papers with the doctoral student or collaborated with in research in the last five years (CHEM: in the last three years)
•&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è; Any joint research papers between the pre-examiners / opponent(s) and supervising professor or thesis advisor in the last five years must be unrelated to the doctoral thesis. A short clarification must be given in case joint papers exist.
•&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è; The pre-examiners and opponents cannot be from the school of the doctoral student, the school of the supervising professor, the co-supervisor or the thesis advisor or the research group in which the doctoral thesis is done. Only for very special reasons the examiner can be appointed from another school of Aalto (written motivation why nobody outside Aalto could be appointed).

The supervising professor is responsible for proposing two independent preliminary examiners (pre-examiners) for the pre-examination and at a later stage one or two opponents for the defence. The supervising professor makes the proposal but may ask the thesis advisor(s) for suggestions for pre-examiners and opponent(s). The doctoral student cannot take part in making the proposal for the pre-examiners and opponent(s), but if they disagree (e.g. in case of bias), they can submit an official written response for the Doctoral programme committee before the pre-examiners / opponet(s) are appointed.

Note: Before making the proposal to the Doctoral Programme Committee, the supervising professor must contact the examiners and check that they are willing to examine the thesis within the given time.

The qualifications and suitability should be shown by presenting the pre-examiners’ and opponents’ CVs and lists of publications or an equivalent clarification (e.g. web links to the examiners’ home pages).

Pre-examiners

Supervising professor fills out the information on the Pre-examination application (306) form and gives the CVs and publication lists to the doctoral student to be attached to their online pre-examination request.

In addition the supervising professor may use the form Grounds for proposed pre-examiners/opponents (mandatory in BIZ & ELEC).

Doctoral student forms

Opponents

Supervising professor fills out the information on the Opponent proposal (307) form, including opponent's CV and publication list.

In addition the supervising professor may use the form Grounds for proposed pre-examiners/opponents (mandatory in ELEC).

Doctoral student forms

It is recommended that the key terms of the thesis are made available in a term bank, for example, in the Helsinki Term Bank for the Arts and Sciences, in the language of the thesis and in Finnish or Swedish. For more detailed information, please see the term bank instructions and guidance for doctoral students. This recommendation is currently in a testing period.

Before pre-examination

It is responsibility of the supervising professor to

• ensure that the doctoral student is aware of the requirements for a doctoral thesis and of the stages included in the preliminary examination and the public examination of the thesis
  • General quality requirements for doctoral thesis at Aalto University
  • Different formats of doctoral thesis
  • Stages of pre-examination
• confirm that the manuscript is ready for pre-examination
• confirm that the authors contribution description written by the doctoral student in the doctoral thesis is correct and also, if applicable, that the clarification of subcontracting is correct.
• strong recommendation: use the Turnitin originality report in their evaluation of the unpublished parts of the thesis in order to notice possible plagiarism.
• agree with the doctoral student about the language revision of the thesis, following their School's guidelines.
• find two independent pre-examiners for the doctoral thesis and ensure their impartiality, see below more information on proposing pre-examiners and opponents.
• fill out the necessary parts on the pre-examination application form (306). Application form available at the page Doctoral student forms.

During pre-examination

After the pre-examiners have been appointed in Doctoral Programme Committee meeting, the Doctoral programme's Doctoral education services (in BIZ, Department's secretary) will send them further instructions and the manuscript.

When the statements have arrived the Doctoral Programme sends them to the doctoral student and the supervising professor.

After pre-examination

It is responsibility of the supervising professor to make sure that the doctoral student makes all the necessary corrections to the thesis manuscript that have come up as a result of the pre-examination process.

The Doctoral Programme Committee grants the permission for public defence (i.e. permission for publishing the dissertation and to proceed to the defence). The opponent can be appointed directly after the pre-examination stage, if all the needed details are available.

See more information here: 

-> /en/doctoral-education/preparing-for-the-public-defence#7-custos

-> /en/doctoral-education/proceedings-of-the-public-defence-day

After the pre-examiners have been appointed in Doctoral Programme Committee meeting, the Doctoral programme's Doctoral education services (in BIZ, Department's secretary) will send them the manuscript with further instructions. The instructions linked below can also be used to explain the responsibilities of a pre-examiner to potential examiners.

ARTS instructions
BIZ instructions
CHEM instructions
ELEC instructions
ENG instructions
SCI instructions

After the opponent(s) have been appointed by the Doctoral Programme Committee, the Doctoral education services of the school will send them further instructions. The instructions linked below can also be used to explain the responsibilities of an opponent to a potential opponent.

ARTS instructions
BIZ instructions
CHEM instructions
ELEC instructions
ENG instructions
SCI instructions