• You have to be registered as an attending student when you submit your thesis, request for graduation, and on the official graduation date. You do not have to be registered as an attending student when participating in the graduation ceremony or Aalto graduation party.
• You have to complete all studies included in your degree before applying for graduation. The only exception to this is master's thesis. To avoid any delays in graduation, ensure that all required study modules have been approved at least three (3) weeks before the graduation request deadline. 
• Your degree is based on the studies that you have on your primary study plan (HOPS) in Sisu. Sisu generates the degree certificate based on both your study plan and the graduation request, so please check that your study plan is approved and up-to-date. Do not hesitate to ask for advice from Learning Services.

 After you've made sure your HOPS is in order, you can request for graduation. 

Step by step instructions for making a graduation request in SisuThe degree certificate is issued in English (the language of the degree) and either in Finnish or Swedish according to your choice. If you want the degree certificate in Swedish, please provide the information as Additional information on the graduation request form. Otherwise, the certificate will be in Finnish by default.

If you have agreed with your supervisor on submitting your master's thesis at the same time as you wish to graduate, see dates and more information on submitting your master’s thesis at SCI Master’s thesis workspace in MyCourses. 

Students who in their master’s degree studies have shown excellent knowledge in the field as well as exceptional maturity and sense of judgment in their thesis, may have this recognised in their degree certificate with the phrase "The degree was completed with honours".

A degree may be awarded with honours when both conditions below are fulfilled:

• The weighted average grade of the courses (including the thesis) included in the degree is at least 4.00. Courses graded with pass-fail are not considered when the average grade is calculated.
• The grade for the master’s thesis is at least 4.

Respond to Graduate Survey – Your answer is highly appreciated! 

Please fill in this survey (surveypal.com).

The Graduate Survey provides current information about studies and working life that can be utilized in developing 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. The information received is also used to follow the employment and salaries of recently graduated technology professionals in Finland.

The survey is conducted by Aalto University together with other technical universities and the Academic Engineers and Architects in Finland (TEK). All responses are confidential, and it is not possible to connect any response with an individual respondent. 

• The monthly deadline date for making a graduation request will also be your official graduation date. 
• Degree programme committee approves thesis topics and final master's theses in their meetings.
• It is not possible to submit a thesis topic approval and a final thesis for evaluation at the same time. Thesis topic approval is the starting point for working on your thesis. Send the thesis topic approval application through MyStudies as soon as you have agreed with your supervisor on your thesis topic. 
• It is possible to submit the final thesis for evaluation and apply for graduation at the same time. Please remember to inform your supervisor in advance and to leave enough time (4 weeks) for the supervisor to read the final thesis and write a statement.  

*possible graduation date, if your master's thesis has already been approved and registered in Sisu.

*possible graduation date, if your master's thesis has already been approved and registered in Sisu.

You can collect your certificate from Learning Services of School of Science when the certificate is available for pick-up. 

You'll find the date for when your certificate is ready in the graduation schedule above.

See Contact information and opening hours for SCI LES

• Please have your ID with you. You must prove your identity when collecting your certificate.
• If you are unable to collect your degree certificate, you can either: 1) authorize another person to collect it for you, or 2) ask Learning Services to mail it to you as a registered letter. Certificates are mailed only outside the capital region (Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo, Kauniainen). In both cases, fill in the Power of attorney form and submit it to Learning Services ([email protected]). 
• In some situations, you can get a copy of your degree certificate. Read more about ordering a copy and arranging the translation of the degree certificate.

School of Science arranges four graduation ceremonies every year. The ceremony includes speeches and music, and it lasts for about two hours. Refreshments are available after the ceremony. You can invite up to three guests. 

The invitation will be sent to graduates by email about one month before the ceremony. The invitation will be sent to your personal email, so please check that your email is up to date in Sisu.

Email any questions to [email protected]. 

Aalto University organizes Graduation Party outdoor event after the school's ceremony in June. Invitations to the outdoor event with registration link will be sent in April and May. 

If you wish to take part in the event, update your personal email address you’ll be using after the graduation in Sisu. 

Read more about the Graduation Party. 

If you graduate in the beginning of a term (autumn or spring), and you can change your enrolment status from attendance to non-attendance in OILI before the enrolment period ends, you can apply for a membership fee refund from Student Union AYY.

If you graduate later during the autumn term and have paid for the entire academic year, you can apply for a refund of the spring term’s membership fee. Read more on AYY website: 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 cards deploy a real-time system in verifying your student status, you cannot use your digital student card after you have graduated.

If you have a plastic student card, it is valid until the end of your AYY membership period. However, if you have a plastic student card and you apply for reimbursement of the membership fee, you must visit Starting Point with your student card. Starting Point will record the change of your status 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

• 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 remain valid for two months after your graduation. The validity of the access rights may be extended beyond two 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. 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 (for example 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 you graduate, 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 the master's survey is alumni who graduated five years ago. In the doctoral survey, alumni who graduated three years ago.

Please take the time to respond when you receive the survey after graduation. Your response is highly appreciated! It will provide current information from working life that can be utilized in developing 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

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

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

Further information: https://www.aalto.fi/en/for-alumni or [email protected].