1. 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, deviate from previous approval, are against the rules or have some other status preventing graduation, then your graduation cannot be processed.
   • Reserve at least three (3) weeks 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 will be rescheduled for the next available graduation date. Below under the heading Graduation timetables the table also includes the deadline for updating your study plan and applying for missing approvals. If you need help in updating your study plan, you can use Sisu guidance for students whose timetable is published further down on this page.
   • If you have been admitted to study both a Bachelor's and Master's level degree, don't hide the bachelor level study plan from view in Sisu. Hiding it will prevent us from processing your graduation request.
2. Check that the studies in your study plan show a completion mark (a garland icon) in Sisu. Your thesis, maturity essay, thesis seminar and credit transfers (e.g. exchange studies) are exceptions in that they must be completed by graduation day, but they are not registered yet in Sisu. Submit your thesis as instructed on the Thesis page of your programme pages.
   • Apply for any missing credit transfers by creating a study draft for exchange studies, for example. Information about credit transfers here and instructions for applying for credit transfer here.
   • If Sisu is not showing any completed thesis and/or maturity essay and/or thesis seminar for you, check that your study plan has the correct course codes for them.  You can find the up-to-date codes on your programme’s curriculum page.
   • If the completion ‘garland’ mark is missing from studies other than your thesis, thesis seminar, maturity essay or credit transfers, wait for them to show up in your study plan before moving on to the next stage.
3. Apply for graduation in Sisu, the instructions are here.
   • Do not edit your study plan after submitting your application.
     • If you notice an error before graduation day, cancel your graduation application, make the correction and apply for graduation again
     • If you notice an error after graduation day, contact [email protected] and await instructions before editing your study plan.
4. Respond to the questionnaire for Master's-level School of Business graduates.
   • Aalto University School of Business and The Finnish Business School Graduates gather feedback from graduating students regarding studying and finding employment.
   • Responses are confidential, and responses and respondents can't be connected.
   • The feedback is used in assessing and developing the operation of the university and charting how graduating students find employment and the level of pay.
   • More information here.
5. Follow your Aalto email as we will use it to contact you if we need extra information.
   • It will take several weeks after graduation for your degree and degree certificate to be prepared. For details, read the section Graduation timetables below.
6. You can receive your degree certificate at the graduation ceremony or at the Learning Services HelpDesk.
   • If you need a degree certificate earlier, you may receive a provisional one by contacting [email protected]. Note: Kela, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, requires no separate graduation certificate, as they receive the information from the university directly.

•  
• The date entered on the degree certificate is the official date of graduation and the last possible date for submitting a graduation request.
  • You must submit your thesis and maturity essay for examination no later than your graduation date. More information on your programme pages During your studies > Thesis.
  • Missing credit transfers for exchange studies, for example, must be sent for processing no later than the graduation date. Information about credit transfers here and instructions for applying for credit transfer here. NB! Credits from internship are not regarded as credit transfer, they are normal course credits!
  • All other completed studies for inclusion in the degree must be approved and the approvals must be visible in the study plan before the request for graduation is submitted.
• After the graduation date, theses and maturity essays are evaluated and entered. Any remaining credit transfers are also processed.
  • You need not do anything about this as the people doing the processing will just follow their given timetables.
• After the graduation date, we will register your degree in Sisu based on your study plan.
  • If there are errors or if completed studies are missing from your study plan, we will contact you after the graduation date. Remember therefore to read your Aalto email regularly!
  • All degrees of students who graduate on the same day will be registered according to the same timetable. That is why graduation requests in Sisu take about three weeks to process after the graduation date. Especially with July and December graduation dates, processing graduation applications takes longer due to the volume of applications.
• When your degree is registered, we will finalise your degree certificate.
  • Degree certificates are given at the same time to all who graduated on the same date.

2024

* No theses or maturity essays may be submitted for examination in June. If you are graduating in June, submit your thesis and maturity essay according to the May timetable.

2025

* No theses or maturity essays may be submitted for examination in June. If you are graduating in June, submit your thesis and maturity essay according to the May timetable.

Degree certificates are given at either the graduation ceremony or can be picked up from the Learning Services HelpDesk by booking an appointment (more information on the page Contact). The HelpDesk needs to inspect your ID before the certificate can be given.

The place, time and other details about collecting your degree certificate will be sent to you by email if you are unable to attend the graduation ceremony.

What should I do if I can’t come to get my degree certificate?

1. You can authorise someone to pick up your certificate at the HelpDesk by giving that person a letter of attorney or other written authorisation. No certificate can be given out unless the receiving party has a proof of identity and the letter of attorney or the written authorisation. Remember to book an appointment for picking up the diploma.
2. You can authorise us to send the certificate to you by mail by sending the letter of attorney or authorisation to School of Business Learning Services by email to [email protected]. Certificates are sent only outside of Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo and Kauniainen area. The certificate will be sent to use by certified mail and given only to the individual indicated. The Power of attorney for receipt of degree certificate (Authorization to send degree certificate) can be found here.

The degree certificate (diploma) consists of the certificate of completion of a degree, a transcript of records of the degree studies and the grades received, and a Diploma Supplement, which has explanatory information about the degree.

• The transcript of records, showing the studies in the degree, is based on your study plan.

The degree certificate and its translation are made in duplicate: one copy for you and one for the Aalto University archives. You cannot receive a new copy of the certificate should the original be lost or destroyed; however, you may obtain a certified copy of that in the archives. More information can be found here.

Language of the degree certificate

Graduates of the English-medium Master's programmes receive an English and Finnish degree certificate, if the thesis was written in English.

However, graduates of English Master's programmes who wrote their thesis in Finnish will receive a Finnish degree certificate and an English translation.

Graduates from the Finnish-medium Master's Programme in Business Law (yritysjuridiikan maisteriohjelma) receive a Finnish degree certificate and an English translation.

Degree certificate grades

The degree certificate shows the following:

• The grades of the study units (courses) in the degree.
• The grades of the study modules, calculated as the average grade of the study units (weighted according to the number of credits) in the module. This grade is calculated only if at least half of the study units were graded on a scale of 0 to 5.
• The grade of the degree, calculated as the credit-weighted average of all the study units in the degree that were graded on a scale of 0 to 5.

This calculation includes the thesis, counting it as a study unit. The averages are given at a precision of two decimal places (one-hundredth part).

A Master of Science (Economics and Business Administration) degree is marked as completed with honours if the grade is at least 4.50.

Correcting errors on a certificate

If you notice an error on your certificate, you will receive a corrected one. You must return your defective certificate to Aalto University when you retrieve the corrected one. If your certificate requires a correction, please contact [email protected]. 

The graduation ceremony for students graduating with a Bachelor's degree and Master's degree is held four times a year. The degree certificates for students graduating with a Licentiate's or Doctor's degree are also awarded in this ceremony, if they are graduating at the same time excluding September, when Masters, Licentiates and Doctors degrees will have their own graduation ceremony.

The graduation ceremonies are held at the School of Business on dates of certificate award ceremony usually at 3.15 PM or sometimes 4.15 PM. The graduating students have to be present about half an hour earlier to learn how the ceremony is going to progress and get instructions. The graduating students get an email beforehand with the exact times and information about how many guests they can bring. Normally the number of guests allowed is 0-2. The programme of the ceremony is usually the following:

• Choir (KYL/KYN)
• Dean’s speech
• Diplomas
• Graduate's speech
• Aalto University Business Students - KY
• The Finnish Association of Business School Graduates, Helsinki Section (HEKO)
• Sparkling wine and cake

The ceremony lasts about an hour depending on the programme. In order to attend the graduation ceremony, you need to RSVP with a separate invitation, which will be sent to you via email upon graduating. There is no specific dress code, but usually the graduates are wearing a "smart casual".

Graduation Party

In addition to the School of Business graduation ceremony, an outdoor event “Graduation Party” will be organized on Wednesday 12 June 2024 at 17 for all bachelors, masters and licentiates who have graduated between 1 May 2023 and 30 April 2024 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 here.

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. Further information here.

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. Read more here.

• 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.
• The right to access Aalto University IT services will remain valid for four months after your graduation, after which it will be removed. The validity period of the access rights may be extended beyond four months only for exceptional reasons.
• 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.

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.

Read more here and here.

The School of Business admits new doctoral candidates in an application process once a year. More information on the doctoral programme and the application process can be found here.

When you graduate with a degree from the School of Business, you become an alum of both the School of Business and Aalto University. Aalto Alumni Community is a unique community of multidisciplinary experts in various sectors in the Finnish society and abroad. Belonging to the alumni community is free and does not bind you to anything. You can always choose how actively you want to participate.

Aalto University graduates' degree information is saved automatically in the alumni register (CRM) after the graduation. Make sure to keep your contact information up to date at aalto.fi/biz/alumni.

Please note that your Aalto e-mail address will expire 2 months after graduation.

As an alum, you will get e.g.

• A chance to stay connected with fellow alumni and students (join the School of Business alumni LinkedIn group and Aalto University Alumni Community group)
• The opportunity to create an alumni email address and mail box: [email protected]
• Aalto University Magazine (order on this page)
• A discount on the price of season cards at UniSport (see further instructions)
• Invitations to alumni events, where you can network and increase your knowledge, e.g., via seminar series and the School of Business Homecoming Day
• Latest news on the School of Business & University developments and current affairs via alumni newsletters
• Information on lifewide learning opportunities
• The opportunity to contribute to the development of the university and provide support to students through mentoring or career events
• Access to Aalto JobTeaser for one year after graduation – change your aalto.fi email to another and set up a new password within four months from your graduation: https://aalto.jobteaser.com/

Learn more about the School of Business alumni activities at aalto.fi/biz/alumni.

Welcome to our alumni community!

Emilia Nevalainen
Alumni Relations Manager
Aalto University School of Business
+358 50 433 9712
alumni-biz(at)aalto.fi

The Finnish Business School Graduates is a central organization for graduates and students in economics and business administration. The Finnish Business School Graduates has about 50,000 individual members. It consists of 25 regional associations and 13 student societies. The Finnish Business School Graduates is the fourth biggest affiliate of Akava - Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff in Finland.

Read more about The Finnish Business School Graduates here.

1. 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.
2. Return all borrowed study material and equipment.
3. Return all keys and access badges.
4. The right to access Aalto University IT services will remain valid for four months after your graduation, after which it will be removed. The validity period of the access rights may be extended beyond four months only for exceptional reasons.
5. 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.
6. 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.

JoinAalto Alumni CircleBy joining Aalto Alumni Circle 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 informationFor Alumnior [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.

Nationwide career monitoring survey 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.

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.

You will be notified personally via email when your degree certificate can be collected from the School of Arts, Design and Architecture. Mainly the degree certificates are completed within about a month of graduation. If the graduation day is near the graduation ceremony, the degree certificate can be received in the ceremony. If you are unable to pick up your certificate at the announced pick-up times, pick-up is possible during semesters on Thursdays from 3-5 pm in Väre room M311, 3rd floor (not in July or at the turn of the year). 

Note! The preparation of the certificates completed in May, June and July will start in August due to the assessment schedules of master's theses and the staff's summer vacations.

If you would like your degree certificate to be mailed, please notify it in SISU with a graduation request. For mailing, we will later ask you to fill out a letter of attorney. Note! The degree certificates will not be posted within the capital region (Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen).

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

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