Aalto developing a multidisciplinary Bachelor's programme – students to choose their major during their studies
Aalto University is currently developing a new multidisciplinary Bachelor's programme. Students selected for the programme will be able to decide on their field of graduation during their studies, instead of when they apply.
Students enrolled in the programme will explore science and technology, business, and arts and design—incorporating Aalto’s three fields—and will graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Business Administration or a Bachelor of Science in Technology. Upon completion of the multidisciplinary programme, they can apply to Master's programs in any of Aalto’s fields.
The idea of a multidisciplinary Bachelor's programme has been around since Aalto University's inception 15 years ago. Now is the ideal time for implementation and the programme’s development has drawn on discussions with industry professionals.
’We have the opportunity to continue Aalto's strong tradition of developing multidisciplinary education while also offering a fresh approach to renewing the Finnish education system. Thanks go to everyone involved in the programme’s development’, says Petri Suomala, Vice President for Education.
Students' motivation grows with the freedom to explore diverse themes
A key aspect of the programme is the ’one-door policy’, where students don't need to choose their focus immediately, bolstered with strong support for learning and tight-knit yearly cohorts.
Finnish higher education has been often highly specialized. Experiences from the UK and the US show that broad-based Bachelor's programmes provide an excellent foundation for high-quality learning and developing expertise. Students' motivation grows when they have the freedom to explore different themes.
Nobel laureate in economics, Bengt Holmström, who served on Aalto University's Board from 2008 to 2016, has advised on the programme development. Holmström, an emeritus professor at MIT, has provided insights into how close, personal guidance with students can be effectively implemented.
The world is becoming increasingly complex, and this is especially evident in global challenges like biodiversity loss, unsustainable material use, and poverty. On the other hand, technological development can both enable and restrict societal change, business opportunities, and participation in society.
For the programme, Aalto University seeks students who are interested in broad societal issues and eager to tackle the challenges of our times.
‘We need people who can think in highly complex terms but move to practical applications in the very next sentence. That is a skill, and it can be taught – but we need to combine technical skills with interpersonal skills’, says Ville Eloranta, Programme Director. ‘We aim for deep specialists who can also make their own expertise understandable and usable to everyone else on the team.’
Due to the quota for first-time applicants in Finland, many young people feel pressure when choosing their first place of study, sometimes delaying the start of higher education with the goal of ’choosing wisely’.
‘At a young age, choosing a single field for the next several years is a tough dilemma, especially for the genuinely curious and talented’, Eloranta adds. ‘In the new programme, you get the whole of Aalto first. You explore the subjects, labs, people, and communities, and then you make your specialisation choice based on real experience and knowledge – from inside the university, not outside it.’
Community is not left to chance in the new programme. Students move through the first stages of their studies together as a single cohort, and even after they choose their degrees, shared courses keep bringing them back together year after year, so classmates who have specialised in different fields keep learning to work side by side. For Eloranta, this is a deliberate design choice.
‘These 60 classmates will be your friends for the rest of your life. They go in every direction in society, but always stay in your network’, Eloranta says, and adds that the shared, interdisciplinary community should also make it easier for international students to find their place in Finland.
The new multidisciplinary Bachelor's programme is also a target for fundraising and has sparked considerable interest among stakeholders.
Update 3 June 2026: The subhead has been updated. Ville Eloranta’s comments have been added, and the end of the text has been edited.
Read more about the new multidisciplinary Bachelor's programme
Aalto already offers a wide range of Finnish-language Bachelor's programmes. This pilot is geared toward international demand, and as experiences from the pilot accumulate, the university will consider expanding such a programme in Finnish, too.
The plan is for international marketing to begin in spring 2026, domestic marketing in fall 2026, with student selection in spring 2027. The first cohort of students would commence in fall 2027.
60 students would be admitted annually.
The programme is funded through Aalto's basic financing and donations currently being collected. The new Bachelor's programme has proven to be an attractive target for fundraising.
Aalto aims to diversify its funding base. Over the past 15 years, the real, inflation-adjusted basic funding received from the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture has decreased by more than a third. Simultaneously, the university has increased student numbers by 40 percent and the number of international publications by 50 percent.
Donation negotiations are underway, but no agreements have been signed yet, nor are potential donors publicly disclosed.
Establishing new degree programmes partially with donation funding is not yet common. The reduction in basic funding for universities drives the search for alternative funding for education, with the goal of producing skilled professionals for society.
The multidisciplinary Bachelor's education is a concept nurtured within the Aalto community and ties into the university's core mission. The programme's planning (curriculum and pedagogy) is based on Aalto's academic expertise.
- Multidisciplinary education at Aalto takes several forms.
Examples of multidisciplinary Master's programmes: International Design Business Management, Creative Sustainability, and Urban Studies and Planning. - Programs with inter-school cooperation include: Advanced Energy Solutions (Master's programme), Life Science Technologies (Master's programme), Urban Studies and Planning (Master's programme), and Bioinformation Technology (Bachelor's programme).
- The degree structure includes 40–50 credits of minor subjects and electives, offering numerous opportunities for multidisciplinary studies, despite some programme-specific restrictions.
- Students can choose introductory courses across Aalto's various fields, as well as partake in multidisciplinary teamwork courses, collectively referred to as University Wide Studies.
- Aalto also incorporates multidisciplinary education through initiatives like the Design Factory, focused on product development, and the ChemArts programme, which brings together chemists and designers.
- The Co-educator team works with teachers to integrate multidisciplinary learning and pedagogical development.
The development of the multidisciplinary Bachelor's programme has benefited from dialogue with industry experts, demonstrating a demand for broad-based education according to Aalto's experience. The learning goals of the programme are still in preparation.
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