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The academic year is divided into two semesters:

• Autumn semester 1 August – 31 December
• Spring semester 1 January – 31 July
• Summer teaching takes place at the turn of the spring and autumn semesters, and teaching is offered in early and late summer. Courses ending by 31 July are counted towards the spring semester accumulation and courses ending after 31 July are counted towards the autumn semester. More information about teaching periods can be found in the Academic Year Calendar. 

The student services of your programme will help you in matters such as:

• Study planning and HOPS
• Exchange studies
• Credit transfer
• Master's thesis (administrative process)
• Graduation
• Accessibility of studies (different learners, URHEA)
• Applying for study right extension

Contact information for student services of your programme can be found on the programme page under the heading Contact.

If you have questions related to for example student well-being or career choices, check  out the main page on guidance and support. 

When you create a new study plan, you must choose a curriculum period as the basis of your plan. Choose the curriculum period according to the academic year in which you started your master's studies. If you wish, you can also follow a newer curriculum. If you return to studies after a long break, choose the newest curriculum. 

If you have the right to pursue both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, the studies required for both degrees must be included in the same study plan. In order to have both degree’s in the same study plan, please follow the instructions for master’s level study plan.

It is likely that you created your bachelor’s-level study plan according to the curriculum period of when you started your studies. However, when you begin master’s-level studies, you need to update the curriculum period of your master’s-level study plan to a newer curriculum period, i.e. the period of the year when you have graduated as bachelor and officially start pursuing master’s-level studies. Follow the instructions to change the curriculum period of master’s level studies.

If you are thinking about exchange studies, a comprehensive information package on exchange destinations and application instructions has been compiled on the Exchange studies page.

Planning exchange studies in your study plan

You can create several personal study plans in Sisu. Create a separate personal study plan for exchange studies. If you are applying for more than one exchange destination, make a separate personal study plan for each destination.

• Create a new personal study plan and name it after the exchange university (eg. Technische Universiteit Eindhoven).
• Add exchange courses to the personal study plan as individual study drafts: Select the study module to which you want to add the course and click the “Add a study draft” button.
• If you wish to complete a minor during your exchange, add the study module SCI3041 International Studies Minor as your minor in the study plan. Add the exchange courses as study drafts under the module.
• Make a study plan for the entire degree, i.e. add all the courses that you intend to include as part of your degree in the exchange study plan.

N.B.

• For students of Industrial Engineering and Management, the International Studies Minor can be placed in elective studies as an elective minor. The actual minor subject must be technical.

You must apply separately for the exchange. Adding the International Studies Minor to the personal study plan does not equal applying for the exchange.

Once you have completed the courses, apply for credit transfer according to the Sisu instructions. Remember to add the official course descriptions and the official transcript to your credit transfer applications.

If you have completed or are completing higher education studies outside Aalto University or you have otherwise acquired competence suitable for your degree, you might be able to count these towards your degree. Check the suitability of the course from the study coordinator or planning officer of your programme. The actual credit transfer is done when the course has been completed. N.B. the above mentioned guidelines regarding MOOC studies.

See Aalto University's instructions for credit transfer of studies. The page also contains instructions for those completing two degrees at Aalto.

Cross-institutional studies mean that you can complete studies at another Finnish Higher Education Institution. If your programme belongs to a cross-institutional study network, you can take courses agreed in the agreement at another Finnish Higher Education Institution. Aalto University has several cross-institutional networks, and for some of the agreed courses in network, you can now enroll through the cross-institutional study functionalities in Sisu. These instructions apply ���ʵ��� University students whose degree programmes include the right to participate in one of the cross-institutional study networks.  

New cross-institutional networks are added to the RIPA system throughout the year. You can find all current networks in the student guide.

Studies supporting your major  

All courses listed in the major curriculum studies that are not already included in your major are good choices for elective studies. 

Studies supporting your minor  

If you want to broaden your knowledge of a minor subject, courses that are not already included in the minor of your bachelor's or master's degree can be included in elective studies. If you are unsure about your choice of minor, you can use elective studies to familiarize yourself with different minor subjects by taking basic courses from a few different minor subject options and then choosing a suitable minor.

Courses from other master’s programmes at the school of Science

• Courses from the Department of Computer Science (beginning with CS)
• Courses from the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management (beginning with TU)
• Courses from the Department of Mathematics and Systems Analysis (beginning with MS)
• Courses from the Department of Applied Physics (beginning with PHYS)
• Courses from the Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering (beginning with NBE)

Courses offered by other Aalto schools

You can take courses offered by other Aalto schools. All courses offered at Aalto can be found in . 

Elective minor

You can take an elective minor, if there is room in your degree. Please note that elective minors follow the same guidelines as the regular minor, i.e. you must follow the curriculum of the minor.  

International studies

• Exchange studies
• International Studies Minor

Language Centre studies

The Language Centre's teaching offering includes language studies in many different languages as well as various communication and interaction studies. In addition to traditional language courses, the selection includes courses that develop interaction skills, intercultural communication or help manage performance anxiety. The Language Centre also offers students individual learning and support services in English and Swedish. 

If you have a summer job or work alongside your studies, you can include 1-10 ECTS of work experience in your elective studies. The practical training accepted for the degree must be related to the studies of the programme and it must be completed after your master’s studies have begun. As a rule, individual work assignments, positions of trust and the student's own projects completed at the university are not accepted as practical training.

Please note that if you include course JOIN-A0003 Contributing in Community (3 ECTS) in your degree, only 7 ECTS of practical training is accepted in the degree.

Work experience is included in the elective studies of the master’s degree with the course code sci.trai (practical training in Finland) or sci.itra (practical training abroad). You can find more detailed information about the practical training credits on the sci.trai/sci.itra course .

To apply for the training credits, you must first register for the course in Sisu. After this, the return box for your degree programme will open in MyCourses (can take up to 24h) and you can submit the required documents in MyCourses.  

You can find more information regarding internship grants in the Student Guide: TECH internship in Finland and TECH internship abroad. 

Elective studies must be university-level, primarily part of a university degree studies that meet the objectives of the degree.

Many universities offer studies aimed at wider audiences (massive open online course, MOOC). The suitability of these courses is assessed by each programme against the objectives of the degree. As a rule, self-study online courses aimed at the general public are not suitable as part of elective studies. Always check the suitability of a course with your programmes coordinator or planning officer before taking the course.  

The School of Science has passed a few guidelines regarding online courses that are applied to all credit transfer applications:  

• Elements of AI/Ethics of AI/Building AI
  • The Education Management Team of School of Science has outlined the following policies in meetings held 23.10.2019 and 10.5.2021: In the future, online courses The Elements of AI (2 ECTS, offered by University of Helsinki) and Ethics of AI (2 ECTS, offered by University of Helsinki) can be recognized as part of only the degree of Bachelor of Science (Technology), and only 1 ECTS can be counted towards the degree. This policy applies to credit transfer applications submitted.
• Full Stack Web Development  
  • The course Full Stack Web Development (offered by the University of Helsinki) can be included in the degree with a maximum of 5 ECTS (CCIS, Mathematics and Operations Research and Engineering Physics programmes) or a maximum of 5-7 ECTS (Information Networks, Industrial Engineering and Management, Life Science Technologies, ICT Innovation and Security and Cloud Computing programmes).  

As a rule, course registration also serves as registration for the course exam and intermediate exams. However, there are exceptions for electronic exam room "Exam" exams, retake exams, and the exams for large computer science courses. Due to practical arrangements, for large computer science courses (over 300 students), you may need to register separately for the course exam. Further details can be found in the abbreviations of the educational events below.

Aalto University rules and instructions for exams and course attainments can be found here: Academic policies and regulations | Aalto University

As a rule, only register for courses that you are able to complete to completion. This allows as many people as possible to attend the courses and complete them on time.

However, if you have to drop out of a course for a special reason, interrupt the course in Sisu  according to the Sisu instructions. If the course includes participation in teaching, always notify the teacher of the discontinuation of the course as early as possible.

You can attempt to improve the grade of a course that you have already passed by retaking it only once. It is not possible to change the version of completed courses in HOPS, so see the instructions "Registering to raise your grade" here: Detailed instructions on registering for courses in Sisu.  

You can renew a failed course as long as there are opportunities to complete the course.

As a current student, you can choose whether to continue your studies according to the current curriculum or to follow a new curriculum. If you wish to continue your studies according to the curriculum, create a new study plan for yourself in Sisu once the updated study plan template is available.

When the curriculum changes and you register in Sisu for courses for the next academic year, change the versions of all the courses in your study plan that are already in it but that you have not yet attended. If you encounter a course that does not have a new version of the academic year, the course will no longer be organised.

• You can change the version by clicking on the course code and under the title of the course brochure "Version: 202X-202X".
• Select the current academic year from the list that opens.
• Click "Enable this version" in the banner that opens on the course brochure.

More information in the Sisu instructions: Detailed instructions on registering for courses in Sisu

Aalto University and University of Helsinki offer a comprehensive list of quantum-related courses through the QuantEd agreement. The above-mentioned students may apply for a study right on these courses in the other institution.

You can browse the course information in Sisu (e.g., course level, content, prerequisites, contact information of the responsible teachers) as well as the up-coming course implementations (choose the “Completion methods” tab) by clicking the course name. Most of the courses are primarily taught in English. The University of Helsinki courses are advanced level courses.

Please note that not all the courses are offered every academic year.

Please also note that the teaching periods are different for the University of Helsinki and Aalto University.

Before applying for a study right, please check from your own programme whether the course credits fit in your degree. Do this before registering for the planned network studies.

From the autumn 2025 onward, the study administration process is handled through the cross-institutional studies service RIPA. The system is used in the student information system Sisu where students can search and register for the network studies and automatically receive transferred credits for courses completed at the other university.

Please see the Sisu instructions on cross-institutional studies for more details: 

• instructions for Aalto University students 

Please remember to check from your own degree programme whether the network studies you plan to take fit in your degree. Do this before registering for the planned network studies.