Requests for graduation will be submitted by filling out a graduation request through your study plan on Sisu. Your graduation request on Sisu should be based on your up-to-date primary study plan. Please note that you must be enrolled as an attending student on your graduation day.  

When applying for graduation, the other studies included in the degree must be completed and registered, and the thesis must be returned in its final form to MyStudies for grading. If there is no grade for the thesis at the time of submission of the graduation request, it will be entered in the register about a month after the Programme committee has made a decision on it.

Creating a study plan on Sisu is compulsory because Sisu generates the degree certificate based on both it and the graduation request.

Update your study plan (HOPS) on Sisu and apply for any approvals that may be missing.

• If any part(s) of your study plan require separate approval, are against the rules or have some other status preventing graduation, then your graduation cannot be processed. So submit the requests for approvals in time.
• Reserve enough time for this processing, so that the problems can be cleared up in time. If your study plan is not in order by graduation day, your graduation may be rescheduled for the next available graduation date.

Look at instructions how to request for graduation

The graduating students take part in a graduation survey. Please answer the survey before requesting graduation, after having submitted your thesis. The results of the survey are used to develop teaching and student services.

The graduation survey questionnaire 2024

The Graduation Days

The graduation day is the same day when the request for graduation should be submitted in Sisu. Below you can find this year's dates for graduation. Degree certificate will be done after the graduation day.

Students graduating with a Master of Arts (Art and Design) degree or, in the field of technology, with a Master of Science (Architecture)/(Landscape Architecture) degree must complete all studies that will be included in the degree and have these studies registered as completed by the time they apply for a degree certificate. An exception to this rule are the Master’s thesis which have to be submitted for evaluation in its final form by the time the student applies for a degree certificate. In addition, the thesis has to be archived in the Aaltodoc publication archive through MyStudies. The thesis can be registered as approved even after the student has applied for a degree certificate.

Graduation dates 2025

When your degree certificate is ready, you will receive a personal email with instructions on when and how to receive it. Please make sure that your secondary email address at SISU is up to date so that we can contact you if your Aalto ID expires. 

Normally, degree certificates are not available until at least four weeks after the graduation date. Please note that the certificates for May, June and July graduates will be issued in August due to the Master's thesis evaluation schedule and staff summer vacations. You can download an electronically signed transcript from SISU as a provisional certificate once your status has changed to 'Graduated'. 

Once your certificate is ready, you can receive it in one of three ways: 

1. Collection from the School of Arts, Design and Architecture 

   Degree certificates are distributed every Thursday from 15:00 to 17:00 in room M311 on the third floor of the Väre building. You can pick up your certificate on a Thursday that is convenient for you. There are no distribution times during the summer vacations or at the end of the year holidays.  
   
   If you are unable to pick up your certificate yourself, you can also authorize someone else to collect it on your behalf. In this case, please contact the address informing you that the certificate is ready for collection. 

2. At the Graduation Ceremony 

   You can receive your certificate at the Graduation Ceremony, which is held twice a year. The ceremonies are in January and June. We do not accept already collected certificates back to be received again at the ceremony. When you register for the ceremony, you have to indicate whether you have already received your certificate or if you would like to receive it at the ceremony.  

3. Mailing outside the Helsinki Metropolitan Area 

   If you wish to have your degree certificate mailed to you, you will be asked to fill in a letter of authorization for mailing, which you will receive by email when the certificate is ready. 

   Certificates can be sent outside the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, not to Espoo, Helsinki, Vantaa or Kauniainen. 

ARTS graduates have a ceremony twice a year, in January (June - November graduates) and June (December - May graduates). The next graduation ceremony will be held on 10th January 2025.

You will receive an email inquiring about your participation in the Graduation Ceremony.

Graduation ceremony is a celebration where the graduating students who have signed up for the ceremony in advance receive their degree certificates.

A graduating student may invite two guests to the graduation ceremony. The dress code is smart casual, considering the prestigious nature of the celebration.

The details of the programme are included in the invitation that is sent to the graduates by email.

There are reserved seats for the graduates in the front rows. The graduates are asked to arrive 15 minutes before the ceremony begins.

In addition to the School of ARTS graduation ceremony, an outdoor event “Graduation Party” will be organized in the middle of June 2025 for all bachelors, masters and licentiates who have graduated between 1 May 2024 and 30 April 2025 from Aalto University. 

Invitations to the event with registration link will be sent in April and May. So, remember to update your email address you’ll be using after the graduation in Sisu!

Read more about the Party at https://www.aalto.fi/en/gradparty. 

Students who, in the course of their studies towards either the bachelor’s or master’s degree, have shown excellent knowledge of the field as well as exceptional maturity and sense of judgment in the thesis may have this recognised in their degree certificate with the phrase ‘completed with honours’. The decision regarding awarding a degree with honours rests with the school.

In the field of technology a degree may be awarded with honours if the weighted average grade of the studies (with the thesis) included in the degree is at least 4.00 and if the thesis grade is 4 or 5.

If you graduate in the beginning of a term and you are able to change your enrolment status from attendance to non-attendance before the enrolment period ends, you can apply for a membership fee refund from the Student Union.Those who graduate later during the autumn term can apply for a refund on the following term’s membership fee, i.e. for the spring term. https://www.ayy.fi/en/membership-and-student-card/membership-fee

Your study right at Aalto University ends on your graduation date. Because the digital student card Frank App deploys a real-time system in verifying your student status, you cannot continue using the Frank App after you have graduated. If you have a plastic student card, it is valid until the end of your AYY membership period. However, note that if you have a plastic student card and you apply for reimbursement of the membership fee, you must visit your School’s Student Service point with your student card. The Student Service point will record the change and remove the academic year tag on your student card. Further information  https://www.ayy.fi/en/membership-and-student-card/student-card-and-frank-app

• Return all keys and access badges.
• The right to access Aalto University IT services will remain valid for two (2) months after your graduation, after which it will be removed. 
• 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 e-mail account will not be delivered. If you have used your Aalto University e-mail address to create user accounts for other services (e.g. Apple ID or Dropbox), please remember to replace the Aalto address with your personal e-mail 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.

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]

National career monitoring survey is conducted by Career Services of Finnish Universities. The target group in Master's survey is alumni who graduated five years ago and in Doctoral survey alumni who graduated three years.

Please take time to respond when you get the survey 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.

For more information: https://www.aalto.fi/en/collaboration/aalto-university-graduates-in-working-life