Aalto Handbook

Research, Art, Impact and Education (RAITEE) 2027 Assessment

Our research, artistic activities, impact and education portfolio will be evaluated in 2027. Preparations for the assessment have started in the spring of 2026.

Aalto campus photo with art — Photo: Aalto University/Julia Weckman

Summary

In RAITEE 2027, we assess research, art, impact, teaching and education together to support Aalto´s departments and education portfolio development.

The purpose of the assessment is to evaluate the current quality, multidisciplinarity, societal impact, international standing, and competitiveness of research, art and education (portfolio level). The assessment will also identify and analyse synergies between research and education.

The self-assessment process will include benchmarking against relevant international peers.

The assessment is organised per school, covering each school’s education portfolio and departmental research. However, one single panel consisting of a chair and 12 members will assess the whole university.

Research, Art, Impact and Education Assessment Emblem

Assessment themes

Quality
Multidisciplinarity
Societal impact
International standing and competitiveness

With these themes, we are able to:

Assess how strong Aalto University is academically, how competitive it is internationally, how effectively it combines different forms of knowledge, and how successfully it translates its activities into benefits for society.
Assess the university as a knowledge-producing, talent-developing, and society-shaping institution.
Provide a balanced picture of both academic excellence and public value, while capturing both current performance and future capacity.

Motivation

The assessment is for our own development. We want to reach higher. Peer evaluation is a natural component of all academic endeavors. We wish to get feedback on our research, artistic activities, education and their impact, and on how future-proof our educational portfolio is.

We will combine the assessment of research and teaching because those are intertwined in any case, and because our external evaluators often ask about both of those. Also, in this way we will save our resources compared to conducting the two assessments separately as before.

An additional reason is that according to the Finnish law, universities must evaluate their education, research, and artistic activities, as well as the impact of these activities. Universities are also required to participate regularly in external evaluations of their operations and quality assurance systems. The results of evaluations conducted by universities must be made public. (University law 558/2009, 87 §)

Assessment framework

Purpose of the assessment	RAITEE 2027 is an enhancement-led evaluation of research, art, impact and education which is done to support the development of departments and educational portfolio in the long term.
Unit of assessment	24 departments with research view 6 schools with education portfolio view
Assessment criteria	Quality Multidisciplinarity Societal impact International standing and competitiveness
Panel structure	One panel, chair and 12 members
Evidence base	Data for publications, external funding, personnel (more detailed information coming 9/2026) Education portfolio data (more detailed information coming 9/2026) Department level self-assessment, including research and education synergies and benchmarking Summaries on school-level Panel´s analyses and discussions Panel site visit 4 – 8 October 2027, including interviews
Methodological approach	Enhancement -led approach, emphasising continuous development
Use of results	The results will support our development towards the goals we have set for ourselves. The results and follow-up actions will be processed through our annual process cycles. The departments will not be ranked, nor will they receive numerical grades. Instead, we will get insights to make the next steps in developing our departments and teaching portfolio. The results will not have direct consequences for the School or department budgets.
Organisation	The vice rector of education Petri Suomala and vice rector of research Jyri Hämäläinen lead the assessment project together with the head of learning services Eija Zitting and the head of research services Ella Bingham. In addition, the steering committee includes the manager of programme management services Johanna Söderholm and the head of planning Marja Niemi. Project managers are Anne Sunikka (RAI) and Minna Mayer (TEE).

Two women analysing the content of a test tube

Aalto University regularly assess the quality of its research and artistic activities, and its societal impact. The assessment is based on internationally agreed best practices. The quality and merits of research activities are assessed through peer review using criteria relevant to the field in question.

Research & Art

A photo of Aalto University students discussing, photo by Aino Huovio

The target of TEE 2020 is to identify needs for future development in education at Aalto, and make visible and evaluate the achievements during the 10 Aalto years.

Programme director's handbook