Clarification of the consent to disclosure of personal data at Aalto University

Personal information

Your personal information is composed of four sections: Name and other personal information; Contact information; Authorisation for disclosure of information; and Non-disclosure order. 

Name and other personal information

Your information is updated in Sisu with data from Finland’s national learner ID register if Sisu contains the following information on you: personal identity code, given name, family name, citizenship and active study right. You information is also updated in Sisu from the register if the following data changes: national learner ID, given name, family name, address, domicile, citizenship and mother tongue. No other information (such as personal identity code, gender, preferred first name) is updated in Sisu from the register. The national learner ID register is maintained by the Finnish National Agency for Education. The register’s data is based on data from Finland’s Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DPDSA).  Please contact Learning Services if your personal identity code, gender or preferred first name data needs to be updated in Sisu.

•  Personal identity code
  • Your personal identity code is hidden by default, but you can click the Show button to make it visible.
• Name
  • See the instructions on name changes.
  • Sisu uses the official names of individuals, the official names are used as the basis for printing documents such as degree certificates. Sisu also transfers information to databases and other needs of the authorities, which highlights a reason for why the official form of names are required in Sisu. 
• Preferred first name
  • Please note that your preferred first name must be one of your official given names. 
• Gender
  • At Aalto University, the gender field in Sisu can be set as male, female, or unknown.
  • In Sisu, the Unknown option is used for gender in the following cases:
    • The student’s gender is not known.
    • The student has an official proof of identity where gender is indicated as other.
    • The student defines themself as other gender (no official document needed).
  • Aalto University collects individual gender data for analysing larger groups of people, such as at the major subject or degree programme level. This data is collected for the following reasons:
    • To enable statistical monitoring of gender equality in education
    • To monitor the impact of planning and guiding of development activities, and
    • To comply with national authorities’ requirements to collect this information.
• Language of secondary education
  • For new bachelor's, master's and doctoral students, the language of secondary education is automatically transferred to Sisu via the Koski service. 
• National learner ID
  • This information is retrieved from the national learner ID register. 
• Passport information
  • Not currently in use. The field now states: ‘No passport information has been added.’

Contact information

• Email
  • You cannot edit your primary email address: for Aalto students, it is always the student’s Aalto address, and for students with active study rights, it is automatically imported from Aalto’s user administration. 
  • The Aalto email remains active for two months after the study right ends. Aalto's user IDs and authorisation
• Secondary email
  • The secondary email address comes from StudyInfo.fi or from Suomi.fi, and you can update it in Sisu.
  • Keep the secondary email address (i.e. your personal email address) up to date. It must be your own personal address, not a work or other organisational email address.
  • Remember to add your secondary email address to your personal information in Sisu. This is important so that, after completing your degree, the email can reach you to say the degree certificate is ready. The secondary email address is also important for alumni communications.
• Address information
  • Your primary address information comes from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency’s (DPDSA) data on your permanent home address in Finland.
    • If there are any changes in your address, you must report them to the DPDSA.
    • Only a local address in Finland can be entered in the primary address field. If you live[B2]  abroad, enter that address in the secondary address field.

Authorisation for disclosure of information

• If you have not defined the purposes for disclosure of your information, they will be shown highlighted.
• Your personal email will not be disclosed. 
• Clarification of consent for disclosure of personal information

Non-disclosure order

If you have a non-disclosure order for personal safety reasons registered with the DPDSA, please inform Learning Services about it. Remember also to notify Learning Services when the non-disclosure order ends.

• If you have a non-disclosure order, the information protected under it will not be entered into Sisu. Remember not to enter such information yourself, either.
• Your email address  in the EMAIL field must be entered in Sisu, however. That email must remain in Sisu and in the other systems because they cannot function without it.

Changing your information

You can update your contact information (phone number and secondary email address) and your data disclosure authorisations yourself by using Sisu’s Edit button.

Changing your personal information

If your preferred first name, gender or personal identity code needs to be updated, contact Learning Services. Note: Do not send any certificates or your personal information by unencrypted email.  The encrypted email address for the Starting Point is confidential-startingpoint@aalto.fi.s, and any encrypted email you send to the Starting Point must be sent from your Aalto email address in order for the encryption to work properly. For more information, see the page about the Deltagon encryption service for Aalto students and employees. If you are unable to use your Aalto email to send encrypted emails, follow the instructions on this page: Encrypted email for external users of Aalto University.

You may also visit the Starting Point service desk to see about changing your name, gender or personal identity code information in Sisu. You will need to present a trustworthy validation, such as a passport, driving licence, official ID, or a decision by the DPDSA regarding a change in personal information.  

Additional information about updating information on your name

First read these instructions: updating your information. 

• Officially changed given names and/or family names of students with active study rights are updated from the national learner ID register. However, preferred first names are not updated from there.
• If your name change occurred abroad, you must notify the DPDSA. See Change of name abroad. 
• You can also visit the Starting Point service desk, if necessary, to take care of name changes. You will need to present a trustworthy validation, such as a passport, driving licence, official ID, or a decision by the DPDSA regarding your name change.   
• Please note that your preferred first name must be one of your official given names. If you want to be called by a name that is not one of your official first names, you must change your official name through the DPDSA. Sisu updates the new name within 24 hours of the official name change. 
  • After an official change of your first name(s), contact Learning Services about updating your preferred first name. Learning Services can set one of your official given names to be used as your preferred name.

Aalto user IDs and home directory

• For information about the validity of your Aalto IT user IDs and home directory, see Aalto user IDs and authorisations.

Study rights

Certificate of student status

Downloading the electronic certificate of student status from Sisu:

1. Go to the My Profile tab.
2. Select the Study rights tab.
3. Click the Form a certificate of student status button.
4. Select the language you want the certificate in.
5. Click the Form button.
6. Generating may take a moment; when it is ready, a green notification bar will appear at the top of the page. Click Download PDF.

Introduction of the tab

The ‘Study rights’ tab displays the following information for each of your study rights: 

Basic information

• Validity period: the period of validity of your study right.
• Granted extensions: the extensions granted to your study right and their durations.
• Organisation: the organisation where you have a right to study (one of Aalto University’s schools).
• Language of secondary level education.

From now on, you need to click Show details to view the details mentioned.

• Provisions on the normative duration of studies: the provisions on whose grounds the maximum duration of your studies is limited. The provisions also determine the period of validity of your right to study.
• Decree on university degrees: the government decree on university degrees that applies to your studies.
• Degree regulations: the degree regulations of your school or Aalto University that apply to your studies.
• Date of issue: the day your right to study was granted to you.
• Studies started: the day you started studying (the start date of your first term as an attending student).

Study right state

Progress

the degrees you have completed and the study time you have left.

Attendance

Your enrolment as an attending or non-attending student for each term If you have enrolled as non-attending due to a reason specified in the Universities Act (558/2009), the reason is visible next to the term in question.

Education path

This a visual description of your right to study. If you are pursuing a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, your bachelor’s programme and major are on the left, while the master’s programme options available to you are on the right. If you are pursuing a single degree, your master’s or doctoral programme is displayed on the left.

Your education path may present you with several potential options that are usually either degree programmes or majors. These options are indicated by blue arrows. Some options may be marked with a lock icon. This means that if you want to be admitted to the option in question, you need to apply for a study right from your school. If your application is approved, your school will confirm that this option is part of your study right.

If no lock symbol is visible, you can confirm your selection yourself. A confirmed selection is marked in the education path view with a blue tick symbol. If you have no confirmed selection yet, your study plan may display the message ‘no study right’ next to your major.

Other confirmed selections related to the study right

Network rights included in the study right

Registrations

The ‘Registrations’ tab contains a list of the courses (individual implementations of each course) for which you have registered.

Completed studies

The studies you have completed are listed in the following order: First, the study modules (including degree programmes) you have completed and the courses included in them. Second, the courses and parts thereof you have completed. Third, partially completed courses.

The default view is ‘Passed credits’. Select ‘Failed and expired credits’ to see them instead. You can rearrange the courses in each section by clicking on the column header, such as ‘Date’.

Transcript

Downloading a transcript of records from Sisu:

• Go to the My Profile tab.
• Select the Completed studies tab.
• Click the Generate transcript button.
• Select the language you want the transcript in.
• Click the Form button.
• Generating may take a moment; when it is ready, a green notification bar will appear at the top of the page. Click Download PDF.

At the end of the transcript, the grading scales used for the assessments are shown, along with explanations of the extent in credits, the asterisk (studies completed elsewhere), and the languages of completion.

The transcript of records is electronically certified.

Introduction of the tab

The studies you have completed are listed in the following order:

1. Completed degrees programmes
   • Including completed study modules that are part of the degree.
     • Including the completed courses that part of the the completed study modules.
2. Courses and other credits
3. Partially completed courses

The default view is ‘Passed attainments’. Click on ‘Passed attainments’ and select ‘Failed and expired attainments’ to see them instead. 

Applications and requests

You can submit various applications on Sisu, after which they will be approved or rejected. Inclusion, custom cours credit and credit transfer applications sent by you can be returned to be complemented if needed.

All applications and requests you have submitted and the decisions to approve or reject them are available under the ‘Applications and requests’ tab.

Note: You can only apply for approval for parts of your study plan if your study plan is based on your valid study right.

After your application has been approved or rejected, you will receive a message on Sisu. Click the speech bubble icon at the top of the page to read your messages. Sisu does not send out email notifications for new messages. We recommend that you regularly check your messages on Sisu instead.

Groups

The groups to which you belong are listed under the ‘Groups’ tab in the ‘My profile’ section. The groups are for example used as selection criteria for course registration (target groups) and for study guidance (study guidance groups).

Payments and scholarships

The ‘Payments’ tab contains a list of the student union membership fees you have paid. Guild and other association membership fees are also displayed if you paid them during enrolment for the academic term.

If you are liable to pay tuition fees and you have been granted a scholarship (a waiver of the tuition fee), the scholarship is mentioned in the section ‘Granted scholarships’.