Doctoral graduates of Aalto University in working life

Below are results of the survey conducted in late 2023 for doctoral alumni who graduated in 2020. The response rate at Aalto University was 40 %. The next survey will be conducted in the autumn 2024 and its results will be published in late spring 2025.

Majority of doctorates in expert positions

60 percent of the 2020 doctoral graduates of Aalto University were employed by a private companies, compared to the national average of one in four. One third worked in universities. The employment rate of graduates is good: four out of five respondents have not had any unemployment periods after graduation.

70 percent of the graduates had an expert position in their organisation. Half of them worked in research and one fourth in development and planning duties. 10 percent worked in consulting or training and seven percent worked primarily in management and supervision duties.

70 percent of the respondents felt that their work duties had more become demanding with their doctoral degree and 68 percent felt that their degree had given them more meaningful work.

Skills learned during doctoral education are valuable in working life

The respondents felt that they could utilize the skills they learned during their doctoral studies in their work and that the requirement level of their work matched their doctoral degree. They listed analytical and systematic thinking skills, problem-solving skills and ability to learn and adopt new information as the most important abilities in their current job position. 

To explore detailed results of doctoral career monitoring, go to the Finnish education administration's reporting portal Vipunen (in Finnish). 

More information on doctoral career tracking

Tiina Kotti
[email protected]

Minna Söderqvist
[email protected]