Aalto Bachelor's Programme in Science and Technology
Planning your studies
Planning your studies is key in ensuring that your studies progress smoothly and your most important tool for it is a personal study plan (HOPS). Degree requirements and the curriculum guide you when making the study plan. A personal study plan is a tool for planning the contents and timing of the studies towards your degree. Once your HOPS has been approved, you can be sure that the courses and study modules you have selected meet the degree requirements.
Personal study plan in the Sisu system
The study plan is created and updated in SISU – Student Information System. You can log in with your Aalto account.
Follow the SISU instructions when doing the study plan.
Follow the SISU instructions when doing the study plan. When creating your personal study plan, please also follow the instructions you can find in the selection assistant. If you have problems and you cannot find answers to them in Sisu instructions or on this website, please contact the Student Services personnel.
When you are creating a new study plan (HOPS), you will need to select a curriculum period as the template of your plan in the pop-up window. Please select the curriculum according to the academic year when you have started your studies. If you want to, you can also choose to follow a newer curriculum. If you are returning back to your studies after a long break, please select the newest curriculum. For further information on which curriculum period to choose, see Instructions for students who have started their studies before 1 Aug 2022.
The template shows the structure of your degree as well as the compulsory, alternative and elective modules and courses that you can include in it. As you prepare the HOPS, you should consult the curriculum of your major, where you can find detailed instructions on your degree and its modules as well as the recommendations specific to your major.
You can create several versions of your personal study plan, but you can only have one primary HOPS.
For your whole HOPS to be approved, you will need to apply for approval for several study modules separately:
- language studies
- Minor (on the level Minors SCI/CHEM/ENG/ELEC-1-MINOR-NOTGRADED)
- Elective studies (on the level Elective studies e.g. CHEM10.V) and another minor included in the elective studies (on the level Elective minors e.g. SCI10-ELECTMINOR-NOTGRADED), if you want to have another minor
- And for all of the study modules which you have edited in the free edit mode
In other words, you will not apply for approval for the entire HOPS at once. You do not have to wait for one study module to be approved before you can apply for approval for the next. You can find the technical instructions on how to apply for approval for separate study modules in Sisu instructions.
The processing time of personal study plans is a month at most. Please apply for approval for your HOPS well in advance before for example applying for a minor or graduating. If you need to have your HOPS approved more quickly, please contact us at the Student Services.
When your HOPS has been checked, you will receive a message in Sisu. If there is a need to make changes in the personal study plan before it can be approved, please act according to the instructions you have received.
It is always possible to change the personal study plan, when necessary. If you want to make changes to an already approved study module (for example replace one course with another or have a completely different minor), you need to first cancel the approval you have obtained. Please edit the study module and its contents only after canceling the approval. After editing reapply for approval for the study module.
Practical training
The purpose of getting work experience is to develop and deepen the knowledge and skills gained during studies. Having work experience also helps in picturing the job opportunities after graduation and creating connections to working life. Practical training is not a mandatory part of your degree but very much recommended.
From work experience that relates to your field of study, you can get 1–10 ECTS, which can be included in your elective studies.
More information and submitting the application: JOIN.trai - Practical Training (in MyCourses).
Normative and maximum durations of degrees
Universities Act (558/2009) and the amendment of the previous Universities Act (556/2005) include regulations regarding the normative duration of studies for university degrees, the duration of the right to study and extensions of this right. The stipulations apply to students who were granted the right to pursue a degree on or after 1st August 2005.
The student is considered to start the degree studies on the date when he/she accepts the study place in the university. The normative duration of studies for the Bachelor of Science degree is three years and for Master of Science degree two years.
Those students who were granted the right to pursue both Bachelor and Master of Science degrees have the right to complete the degrees in a time exceeding the normative duration of studies by a maximum of two years (altogether seven years).
The duration of studies is not affected by military service, conscription or maternity/paternity or parent leave. In addition, the duration of studies does not include an absence of a maximum of two terms for which the student has registered as non-attending. Should the student fail to register for attendance or non-attendance, this term or these terms shall be included in the duration of studies.
If a student has not completed their degree in the maximum duration of studies, but wants to finish the studies, it is possible to apply for extension. The extension can be granted, if the student can present a study plan on how to complete all the missing study modules within a reasonable time. An approved study plan specifying the courses and schedules must be attached to the application. The decision on the duration of the extension shall be made taking into consideration the previously completed studies and the estimated duration of studies specified in the study plan. Additionally, any previous extension will affect the decision.
For further information, please contact the planning officer of the programme.
Changing the major subject within the programme
Students of the Aalto Bachelor’s Programme in Science and Technology are directly admitted to one of the study options of the programme which is also the major of the BSc degree. Students have the possibility to change the major within the programme after the first year of studies.
Application process
Changing one’s major occurs once a year at the beginning of May.
How to apply: Changing major within Aalto Bachelor's Programme in Science and Technology
Other possibilities to change the study track
The best time to change the study track is between the BSc and MSc degrees. It is possible to continue studies at a different master's programme that the student originally had the study right for. You can check the criteria for continuing studies in a different school of technology after a Bachelor's degree.
Currently, it is not possible to be admitted to this programme by changing one’s degree programme or applying for transfer from another university.
Student newsletters
Scuuppi is a newsletter for students of School of Science. Scuuppi comes out at the end of each teaching period.