ÄûÃʵ¼º½

News

Aalto University endowment returned 10.9% during first half of 2021

Endowment provides EUR 28 million to fund research and education this year.
Dipolin portaat. Kuva: Aalto-yliopisto / Tuomas Uusheimo.
Photo: Aalto University / Tuomas Uusheimo.

The Aalto University endowment provides EUR 28 million funding to university operations in 2021. This partially compensates the Ministry of Education and Culture funding cuts made during the past 10 years. These cuts have reduced the university government funding by 50 million euro on an annual level, when comparing the year 2021 funding to the year 2011 funding.

During the first half of 2021, Aalto University endowment portfolio return was 10.9%. At the end of June 2021, the average return of the Aalto University endowment portfolio since inception in 2010 was 5.7% per annum and market value of the endowment portfolio was EUR 1293 million.

The first half of the year saw a strong rebound globally in both economic activity and financial markets, enabled by progress with vaccinations against COVID and continued strong policy support.  Majority of the return contribution came from equity investments with government bonds being the only detractor.

Aalto University has a long-term target for carbon neutral endowment portfolio, with changes being implemented in the portfolio to reduce the carbon intensity of the investments from year 2021 onwards. As part of this work, ca. 20% of the investments have been changed into more sustainable versions and these changes will continue in the second half of the year. Additionally, the first Endowment Sustainability report will be published in September, see Aalto University Endowment webpages, link below.

Key figures of endowment 1-6 / 2021

Not audited figures.

Key figures of endowment

More information:

  • Marianna Bom
    Chief Financial Officer, Aalto University
    +358 50 599 0906, marianna.bom@aalto.fi
  • Iivo Paukkeri
    Head of Investments, Aalto University
    +358 50 599 0906, iivo.paukkeri@aalto.fi

Endowment and investment strategy

The endowment supports the sustainable funding of Aalto University’s operations, research, education and innovation.

Read more
An autumnal aerial view of Aalto University campus from Laajalahti, autumn colours, yellow and orange, are prominent in the trees
  • Updated:
  • Published:
Share
URL copied!

Read more news

Unite! Seed Fund 2026: Call opens on 20 January. Applications open for student activities, teaching and learning, research and PhD.
Cooperation, Research & Art, Studies, University Published:

Unite! Seed Fund 2026: Call opens on 20 January 2026

Gain an early overview of the Unite! Seed Fund Call of Spring 2026. The call includes three funding lines: Student Activities, Teaching and Learning, and Research and PhD.
tohtorinhattu, Kauppakorkeakoulu
University Published:

The School of Business will confer ten Honorary Doctors at its May 2026 Ceremonial Conferment – this prestigious celebration is held every five years

The first Ceremonial Conferment of the School of Business was held in 1946, so the 17th Ceremonial Conferment of the School of Business will take place in spring 2026
A computer window with 'Issue fixed' in bold black text, labelled 'IT Services' on a blue background. A smiley face is on another window.
University Published:

Fixed: Issue in Aalto Wiki navigation and themes

Aalto Wiki functioning normally, update 17 Dec 2025
A person with short, dark hair wearing a black blazer and navy shirt stands next to a window.
Appointments, University Published:

Meet the new ELLIS Institute PIs: Azade Farshad advances AI for medical applications

Farshad’s research background is in computer vision and generative models.