School of Arts, Design and Architecture graduates in working life

School of Arts, Design and Architecture 

The School of Arts, Design and Architecture is a Nordic leader in higher education for design, fashion, games, media, architecture, film, art education and art. The teaching and research focuses on art education, design and design thinking, digital media and visual culture, and urban planning and architecture. Explore the study opportunities offered by the School of Arts, Design and Architecture on the school´s website.

Career Monitoring Survey 

The career monitoring survey is conducted as part of the national academic career monitoring coordinated by the Aarresaari network, which consists of 13 Finnish universities' employment and career services. The survey is conducted using a standardized questionnaire simultaneously for those who graduated five years ago. The results presented on this page are based on the data obtained from the survey conducted in 2023 and targeted to graduates in 2018.

The national results of career monitoring are publicly available in the Education and Culture Ministry's Vipunen information service as a PowerBI report. Vipunen also provides other information about the employment of degree holders. The careers of graduates in architecture and landscape architecture are also studied by the Finnish Association of Academic Engineers and Architects TEK, and you can explore TEK Graduate Survey results on TEK's website. 

Satisfaction with Degree and Employment 

Graduates from the School of Arts, Design and Architecture value their degree and feel that their employers appreciate their qualifications. Of the respondents graduated in 2018, 82% were satisfied with their degree in relation to their own career, 81% felt that their employers value their degree, and 84% would recommend the degree to others. 

The employment situation for those who graduated from the School of Arts, Design and Architecture in 2018 is very good according to the results of the career monitoring survey. 90% of the respondents were either employed or self-employed. Five years after graduation, respondents earn an average of 3500 euros per month (with a mean of 3404 € and a median of 3705 €).

The small or medium-sized companies (less than 250 employees) employ the most arts, design and architecture professionals. Of the respondents, 36% work in small or medium-sized companies, 15% are self-employed, 12% work in municipality or joint municipal authority, 10% in organization, foundation, congregation or similar and 9% in large companies (250 employees or more).

Respondents named companies such as Designmuseum, H&M, HAM Helsinki Art Museum, City of Helsinki, JKMM Architects, Marimekko, Martinex, Newsec, Posti, Ubisoft RedLynx, Vallila, City of Vantaa and Finnish Tax Administration as their current employers. 

Examples of the most common job titles include architect, artist, circular design consultant, content creator, designer, exhibition curator, game graphics designer, interior designer, audio designer, media educator, service designer, UI/UX designer and art teacher.  

The skills considered most important in their current jobs by the respondents include self-direction or initiative, ability to learn and adopt new things, problem-solving skills, co-operation skills, and creativity.