Foundation's grant application and deed of gift forms
For students/researchers: Application forms for scholarships and travel grants
- Scholarships are awarded for MSc, Licenciate and Doctoral theses at Aalto CHEM, ELEC, ENG, SCI and Department of Architecture.
- Please attach a transcript of records (can be an unofficial version).
- Return the application, signed by your supervising Professor, to the Foundation Office no later than one week before the meeting (see here for meeting times).
- The Foundation awards scholarships based on donations. Thus a company must first make a donation to a specific field of technology. If you cannot think of a suitable company, you might ask your professor.
- Grants from the foundation's own funds for doctoral students are awarded once each spring, please see here for details.
The instructions given below mainly concern grants awarded from donations for thesis work.
An MSc thesis grant is 14000 eur at maximum. The foundation can award such a grant in case it has received a 17500 eur donation from a company (10% of the donation is used to support the professor's research area and 10% is disbursed by the Foundation for its operational expenses).
The length of the MSc thesis grant is 6 months typically. In case of a shorter length, the total amount of the grant will also be reduced.
The grant applications of Master’s thesis writers are to be submitted to the Foundation at the early stages of the writing process.
Grant recipients and State financial aid (Kela) for students: Our tax-free grant is intended as a subsistence aid for students and graduate students while writing the thesis. It does not affect the amount of the Kela study grant. For additional information, please see the Kela (the Social Insurance Institute of Finland) website.
Employment relationships of grant recipients: It should be noted, particularly in the case of thesis grants, that tax-free grants may only be awarded if the recipient is not in a contractual employment relationship with the donating company. Neither can the recipient receive any other compensation for a similar work simultaneously. A part-time employment at Aalto University is possible. In case the professor or the student need to sign an NDA or an IPR transfer agreement, the funding of the thesis shall not be mentioned. Please note the IPR transfer agreement can only be done after the thesis is completed. Also, as the thesis is public, the role of the supervisor does not require one to sign and NDA with the company.
Pension insurance: The obligation to take pension insurance does not apply to grants for Master's thesis work. Postgraduate students need to apply for Mela pension insurance if their grant period is at least 4 months. Please see Mela's instructions on how to apply.
Payment of grant: The grants are paid in installments. Six-month Master's thesis grants are paid in three installments. The first installment is usually paid on the last day of the month in which the award decision was made, the second installment two months later and the third installment five months after the first. You may check the payment dates from the Office of the Foundation. In the case of grants for master’s thesis writers, a €335 deposit will be deducted from the first installment and paid to the recipient after the thesis is complete. For the deposit to be returned, the grant recipient must show that the thesis is found at the Aaltodoc archive, or that the university has approved the thesis. You may also prove the completion of your thesis by providing a copy of the Master's degree certificate.
For donors: Deed of gift forms
- The donation is gratuitous. The donator can specify the field of technology for which the donation is intended but not the specific topic of the thesis, nor the name of a professor or a student.
- Please send the deed of gift to Foundation Office no later than one week before the meeting; for meeting times please see the main page.
- The Foundation will use 80% of the donation as a thesis grant, 10% is used in the advising professor’s research area and 10% remains for the Foundation’s operations.
- Tax-free grants may only be awarded if the recipient is not in a contractual employment relationship with the donator. The grant recipient, during the grant period, shall not receive any compensation or remuneration from the donator. In case the grant is considered taxable, the tax penalties will incur both the donator as an employer and the grant receipient as an employee.
- The donator does not exercise the right to direct the grant recipient. The research conducted and the thesis writing are supervised by a professor at Aalto University.
- In case the student needs to sign an NDA or an IPR transfer agreement, the funding of the thesis shall not be mentioned. Please note the IPR transfer agreement can only be done after the thesis is completed.
- In case your company's financial administration requires a bill for paying the gift, then please fill in the deed of gift and contact the Foundation Office.
- Deed of gift forms are given below in .docx and .pdf file format.
Aalto-yliopiston tekniikan tukisäätiö myöntää apurahoja opinnäytetöiden tekemistä varten. Toimintaansa säätiö rahoittaa muun ohella yhteisöjen, useimmiten yritysten, lahjoituksin. Lahjoitukset ovat tietyin edellytyksin lahjoittajille verovähennyskelpoisia.
Säätiön myöntämää apurahaa voidaan verotuksessa pitää veronalaisena, mikäli lahjoittajayrityksen ja apurahan saajan välillä on työsuhde, tai opinnäytetyöstä on sovittu työsuhteelle ominaisin tavoin.
- Apurahan verovapaus edellyttää käytännössä, että apurahansaajan mahdollinen työsuhde säätiölle lahjoituksen tehneeseen yritykseen on päättynyt ennen apurahakauden alkua. On huomattava, että esimerkiksi työtehtävistä vapauttaminen, opintovapaa tai lomautus määräajaksi eivät katkaise työsuhdetta. Työsuhteeseen säätiölle lahjoituksen tehneeseen yritykseen apurahansaaja voi mennä apurahakauden päätyttyä eli viimeisen apurahaerän maksukuukauden jälkeen.
- Opinnäytetyön tekemisestä ei tehdä erillistä sopimusta, jota voitaisiin pitää työsopimuksena. Diplomityön ohjaamisesta voidaan sopia työn aloituskokouksessa, jossa määritellään työn tavoite ja rajaus ja hyväksytään tutkimussuunnitelma.
- Apurahan verovapaus voi vaarantua, mikäli apurahansaaja apurahakaudella ottaa vastaan säätiölle lahjoituksen tehneeltä yritykseltä esimerkiksi matkakulukorvauksia tai muuta taloudellista etua tai korvausta, jonka voidaan katsoa olevan vastiketta tehdystä diplomityöstä tai muusta apurahansaajan yritykselle tekemästä työstä.
- Mikäli apurahaa pidetään verotuksessa työsuhteen tai muun syyn perusteella veronalaisena työsuhteeseen perustuvana korvauksena, veroseuraamukset kohdistuvat sekä yritykseen työnantajana että apurahansaajaan työntekijänä. Viivästys- ja muiden seuraamusten ohella veronalaiseksi katsottu apuraha luetaan takautuvasti apurahansaajan verotettavaksi ansiotuloksi.
- Tukisäätiö ilmoittaa vastaanottamansa lahjoitukset ja myöntämänsä apurahat Verohallinnolle. Verohallinto antaa lisätietoja apurahojen verotuksesta.
Grants from the Foundation's own funds
Please see here for application forms and the list of recipients.