Graduating with doctoral degree

All doctoral graduates are asked to answer a feedback survey for doctoral graduates. The purpose of the survey is to acquire feedback about the content and guidance of your doctoral studies and function of the doctoral programme services. Your experiences and opinions are important for improving the programme and making it better meet the needs of the students.

Please answer the survey only once, you may have already received the link from your doctoral programme or from the agreement for graduating doctors.

Link to doctoral graduate feedback survey 2024 (Webropol)

Aalto University asks our doctoral graduates to answer a career monitoring survey three years from graduation. The aim is to actively monitor the integration of academic graduates into working life.

Please take time to respond when you get the career monitoring survey approximately three years after graduation, your response is highly appreciated! It will provide current information from the working life that can be utilized in the development of teaching and research. Additionally, students who are still deciding on their studies and job opportunities value the information gained from the career paths of graduates.

Before graduation, please inform your Doctoral programme of your contact information for further contacts regarding graduation ceremony, ceremonial conferment, thesis awards, etc.

For example, each year Aalto University is asked for nominations for the TEK Doctoral thesis award. Also other award granting bodies ask for nominations.

Choose your School's link to fill out the agreement:

CHEM: Agreement for graduation doctors
ELEC: Agreement for graduating doctors
SCI: Agreement for graduating doctors

or send the information by email to your Doctoral programme's Doctoral Education Services (aalto.fi).

You may receive your degree certificate

1. at your School's graduation ceremony
2. by picking up the certificate from Aalto University
3. by mail (mainly persons residing outside the Helsinki region)

Please note that your diploma certificate is ready appr. 1 month after the official graduation date, but Schools do not organise graduation ceremonies every month. You will be invited to the School's ceremony by email.

You will be notified where and when to pick your diploma certificate, if you decide not to participate in the graduation ceremony. If you cannot pick up the certificate yourself, you can authorize someone else to do it. Please use a power of attorney form available at Doctoral student forms (aalto.fi). Use the same form if you wish that the diploma certificate is sent to you.

If you need earlier proof of your completed studies, you can order an electronically signed official transcript from Sisu, see more information here.

• The right to access Aalto University IT services (Aalto account, such as your Aalto email) will remain valid for two months after your graduation, after which it will be removed (for those who graduate by 31.7.2024, the validity period is four months).
• You can start using the alumni email service offered by Aalto University after gradaution.
• When your right to study ends, remove all the software that the university has provided for home use, unless otherwise stated in the license agreement of the software.
• Return all borrowed study material and equipment.
• Return all keys and access badges.
• Remember to make a copy of the files in your university-provided home directory (network drive) and cloud services (e.g. Google Drive) for yourself, as the files in your home directory will be removed once your access rights expire.
• Any messages sent to a closed Aalto email account will not be delivered. If you have used your Aalto University email address to create user accounts for other services (e.g. Apple ID or Dropbox), please remember to replace the Aalto address with your personal email address in those services.

Please note that you may be bound by a confidentiality obligation even after your graduation, if you have, for instance, gained access to secret information while in a position of trust at the university.

Your research.aalto.fi profile and ACRIS login expires when your study right expires (i.e. date of graduation). If you remain fully-employed by Aalto University, your profile remains (doesn't apply to e.g. hourly-paid contracts).

Aalto University graduates' degree information is saved automatically in Aalto's alumni and partner system (CRM) after the graduation.

By joining Aalto Alumni Circle, the digital network,  you can update your contact details, keep in touch with fellow graduates and current students and you can obtain @alumni.aalto.fi mailbox.

Further infomation: aalto.fi/en/alumneille (aalto.fi) or [email protected]

Aalto University is giving out incentive scholarships for doctoral students who have started their pre-examination within exactly four years of being admitted to the doctoral programme or who earn their degree by the end of the calendar year in which they turn 30. Incentive scholarships are granted upon application by the student.

The incentive scholarships are available to doctoral students from all Schools except the School of Business.

Exact conditions and instructions to apply for the incentive scholarships (aalto.fi)