The personal study plan is prepared in four steps so that

1. the first part is done by the end of September for the first 12 modules of the academic year;
2. the second part is done in January for modules 13-15 of the first year of studies;
3. the third part is done during modules 11-13 for the second year of studies; and
4. the fourth part is done before the study abroad period.

Please note that you can register in Sisu only for the courses in your personal study plan agreed and confirmed by you and Mari Syväoja. You can access Sisu here.

In case of changes, you must always contact Mari Syväoja by email to agree on changes. Also, if there would be changes to the course schedule, the students will be informed by the staff by email to agree on new arrangements for the study plan.

Please note that the procedures and instructions for the Mikkeli campus students will be somewhat different than for the Otaniemi campus students. You should only add courses offered at the Mikkeli Campus to your study plan - your study right for the MSc degree offered in Otaniemi will be opened only when you graduate from the Mikkeli BSc program.

NOTE. If your plan for Electives section was suddenly labeled being against the rules, please follow these instructions to get rid of the error.

Instructions for the Mikkeli degree students for creating a personal study plan in Sisu are below as a PDF file.

BScBA students register for courses on Sisu according to their approved personal study plans. Changes to the personal study plan and thus registration for courses must be done at latest normally three weeks prior to the beginning of the course with the Manager of Academic Operations. You can see the deadlines to register for each course from the course information on Sisu.

Specific policy of the BScBA program generally prohibits taking more than one course at the same time. Exceptions to the general policy may be granted, but only in response to a written Request for Doubling directed to the Program Director that provides an adequate justification for doing so.

A course may be cancelled if there are 10 or fewer registered students. This decision is made on a case-by-case basis.

In case you want to register for new courses or do other changes in your current study plan, please follow this process:

1. Agree first on the preferred changes to your current study plan with Mari Syväoja by email.
2. After you get the approval by email, you can do the changes on your primary study plan on Sisu and
3. register for these courses. Please follow the instructions on this page.

At Aalto University, the basic requirements for registration for courses include (but are not limited to) the following:

1. You have a valid right to study at Aalto University.
2. You have enrolled as an attending student.
3. You have added the course for which you are registering to your primary study plan HOPS, i.e. the HOPS which matches your current right to study.

1. Agree on courses and changes to your study plan/course list with Mari Syväoja by email.
2. Add the courses in your approved study plan/course list to your primary study plan on Sisu.
3. In your primary study plan, click the code of the course in which you want to register for. NOTE. You need to start the process from your primary study plan!
4. Go to the Completion methods tab and choose the method (class participation). NOTE. Choose the correct group for courses taught in several groups (e.g. Intercultural Management).
   1. NOTE. You can only register for the courses in your approved study plan/course list.
   2. NOTE: If you have already created a study plan during an earlier academic year and used it to register for courses, Sisu will automatically display old versions of courses. If no teaching is shown in the details of a course, 1) choose a new version (2022-2023) from the drop down menu under the COURSE TITLE (or go to the course info sheet) and 2) confirm the selection from the blue banner at the top of the page to make Sisu display a newer version of the course. Bypass this step if your study plan is based on the degree structure template of the ongoing academic year.
5. Click the Proceed to enrol link in the pop-up window at the top of the page.
6. If there are several teaching groups for the course, choose the correct one marked in your approved study plan/course list.
7. Click the Enrol button
8. Answer any compulsory questions
9. Click the Confirm button

You have now registered for the course. However, because the number of students is limited, your registration will not be confirmed until the end of the registration period. Therefore your registration status on the subpage Registrations on your Sisu profile will be "Not confirmed" until the staff has confirmed the registrations for the course.

First-year student, please follow the steps and instructions below to register for the courses in 2023-24.

Get first familiar with the degree requirements 2022-2024 to see the list of all the studies you need for the BScBA degree. The information on courses offered in 2023-2024 is available in the Course Schedule. 

STUDY PLAN AND COURSE REGISTRATION PROCESS

1. You first fill in and submit the electronic form Study plan proposal for 2023-2024 before your personal study plan discussion, but at latest by Thursday, 7 September by email to Mari Syväoja ([email protected]). You will receive the form by email to your Aalto email address.

   * The first-year required courses are already listed on the draft study plan proposal form (excel sheet). Changes are possible, if needed.

   * Everyone needs to mark some selections to the form – you can find instructions in the form.

   * Note that if you have exemption from Swedish/Finnish, you can place an elective course in those modules.

2. After the staff has processed the study plan proposals, you will get the confirmed course list for 2023-24 by email. 
3. After you have received the approved course list for 2023-24 by email, please 
   1. check that all courses in your approved course list are also in your Sisu primary study plan and 
   2. complete your course registrations for 2023-2024 on Sisu. 

Instructions for the process are available in the slides and a separate subpage: How do I register for courses? 

Please note related to your primary study plan on Sisu that 

• if you have exemption from Swedish/Finnish, you should place the replacing courses under those sections
• all electives completed in our program must be placed under the Major with the other courses listed there – so NOT under the Electives section
• you should have only the approved courses in your Sisu primary study plan to show that you have just the necessary 180 cr in your study plan (or 183 cr, if you replace the Swedish course with an elective)

In case your study abroad period will be cancelled totally due to pandemic situation, you need to

1. request exemption by sending Mari Syväoja an email and
2. complete the Minor (30 cr) in our program; in this case you can register for courses offered in Mikkeli by following this process:
   1. Send a list of courses you would like to do Mari Syväoja by email (please include second choices, if possible).
   2. After you get the approval by email, you can add those courses on your primary study plan on Sisu and
   3. register for these courses. Please follow the instructions above under the subtitle Course registrations.

After you graduate from our BSc program, you can start the MSc studies.

Swedish Business Communication is required of those who have had Finnish as their language of education in comprehensive (grades 1–9) and upper secondary (grades 10–12) school in Finland. Those who have had Swedish as their language of education in comprehensive and upper secondary school in Finland, will complete a special advanced course in Swedish language. For others, the missing 3 cr can be earned by taking other language and communication courses.

If you have got your upper secondary education in Finland in any other language than in Finnish or Swedish, and you do not have sufficient knowledge in Swedish, you can request to be exempted from doing the Swedish Business Communication course. In case you get the exemption, you need to complete the missing 3 credits either by taking other language courses or other additional IB courses in the field of business communication.

Finnish Business Communication is required of those who have had Finnish or Swedish as their language of education in comprehensive (grades 1–9) and upper secondary (grades 10–12) school in Finland. Other students are required to complete the course Finnish for Foreigners.

If you have got your upper secondary education in any other language than Finnish or Swedish, and you do not have sufficient knowledge to complete the Finnish Business Communication course, but you know enough Finnish so that the Finnish for Foreigners is too easy for you, you can request to be exempted from doing Finnish Business Communication or Finnish for Foreigners. In case you get the exemption, you need to complete the missing 3 credits from other courses.

Once the Bachelor’s Thesis is completed, all candidates for the BScBA degree must complete and pass the Maturity Test. The test is to show that the student is familiar with the area or field in which the Bachelor’s Thesis is written and to demonstrate proficiency in Finnish or Swedish (if a Finnish citizen).

If you have got your upper secondary education in any other language than Finnish or Swedish (if Finnish citizen), and you do not have sufficient knowledge to complete the test in Finnish or Swedish, you can apply for the exemption to write the Maturity Test in English.

Required textbooks and other class material are typically ordered before the start of each course for the students that have registered for it. Every student is responsible to order her/his books by himself/herself during given ordering period. The library informs students about ordering periods by email.

List of required textbooks for the current academic year can be found here and will be updated regularly when we receive the textbook information from the instructors.

The purpose of the BScBA textbook policy at Aalto Mikkeli is to provide the best possible course material for effective student learning as prescribed by law. Specific objectives of the policy are to:

1. enhance the overall academic quality of the BScBA degree program with the use of legally produced textbooks and other course materials;
2. provide scholarly and professional reading material with added value components (CDs, online access to additional material) for effective integration with classroom activities and projects;
3. ensure that faculty and students have access to full and adequate resources for effective teaching and learning;
4. encourage the selection and use of the appropriate textbooks at reasonable cost to students;
5. and strictly prohibit the use of illegal sources for textbooks or illegal copying.

All required textbooks and other course materials are the responsibility of the student. Hence, fees and expenses for textbooks and other material are borne by the student. Students are held responsible for all reading material assigned in a course. If the instructor has identified a textbook or other reading material, it is the expectation of faculty that all students will have the textbook and other reading material. Faculty may report suspected illegal uploading or copying from illegal sources to rightholders (more information here).

Along with the expectation that all students have the required material, including textbooks, it should be noted that the BScBA program will neither engage in nor allow any distribution of materials that is contrary to  Finnish law or international conventions regarding copyrighted material.

Here you can find the Academic Policies that every student has to follow during their studies in Mikkeli. Please see also the Rules of Conduct here and the House Rules of the BScBA Program below.

Class Attendance and Participation

• Class attendance and participation are considered integral parts of teaching and learning at the BScBA program in Mikkeli. Therefore, regular class attendance is required of all students and attendance records are kept for each class. Students are also expected to be in class on time. Late arrivals are seen as being discourteous to the instructor and other students.  
• It should also be noted that if the student participates in the final exam/assessment, it will be graded and counted towards the final grade.

Absence Policy

1. A maximum of three absences of any kind is allowed for a 3-week, 6-credit course. Four or more absences from the 3-week course will result in being dropped from the course.
2. Whenever taking an absence, the student bears the risk of missing class, and the consequences, which may include a lower participation grade, missing a graded activity, etc. It is up to the course instructor to decide whether or not a graded activity can be completed later.
3. An absence on the first day of the course will result in 5 points (on a 100-point scale) being deducted from the student's final raw score before converting it to the final grade.  If a student is absent on the first day due to illness, and provides the Manager of Academic Operations with a medical certificate, the 5-point deduction will be waived. The Manager of Academic Operations will then inform the instructor of the waived deduction.
4. A student getting to class after the session has started will not be able to enter the classroom until the first break and will get an absence for the day.
5. It is expected that students marked present for the day are in class the entire time. Students leaving class early may be marked absent.
6. The instructor may include class participation as a component of the grade, up to 15% of the total points that can be earned toward the final grade.
7. An instructor may identify up to three days of the course (in addition to the first day) as mandatory, ie taking an absence on those days would have a direct impact on the course grade.

The instructor for the course will take attendance in classes. The decision to drop a student from a course will be made by the instructor, who will inform Mari Syväoja, Manager of Academic Operations.

*Addition to the attendance policy of the BScBA Program, Mikkeli Campus (from 14.2.2023 on)

• This addition concerns absences in addition to the normal maximum of three that would fall under a category called Medical and Family Emergency cases.
• Students who want to use this option to complete a course must fulfil these criteria:
  • The total absences of the student will exceed the normally allowed three absences due to a major medical problem or family emergency.
  • The student will be absent no more than 5 days; exceeding that number of days will result in dropping the course.
  • Documentation or a detailed explanation concerning the entire period of the emergency (such as a medical certificate) is provided to the Manager of Academic Operations.
• The case-by-case solution will be coordinated by the Manager of Academic Operations, who will deal with the documentation and discuss with the instructor to find a pedagogical solution enabling the student to continue in the course. In case the MAO is on leave, the student should contact the other study office staff.
• The solution must not cause a significant increase in the instructor’s workload. The grading elements for the course may be reviewed, and additional assignments may be arranged if feasible. However, a shifting of grading proportions may occur. The course grade might be affected due to the student missing some in-class activities.

Course Registrations

• All the students must do a personal study plan (HOPS) in co-operation with the Manager of Academic Operations. Each student agrees to study according to the study plan done for him/her.
• BScBA students register to courses on Sisu according to their approved personal study plans.
• Changes to the personal study plan and thus course registrations must be done at least three weeks prior to the beginning of the course with the Manager of Academic Operations.

In-class Behavior

• Appropriate and active participation in classes is expected of all students. (Talking out of turn, talking with fellow students during lectures, and sleeping are not allowed.)
• Mobile phones are to be TURNED OFF during all class hours.
• During online lectures, students are recommended to turn their cameras on and have an appropriate and active participation.
• Students are not allowed to open Facebook during class sessions.
• Student name plates are to be used in all classes.
• Professors have the right to ask any student engaging in disruptive behavior to leave the class.
• Professors have the discretion for lowering student grades for inappropriate class behavior.
• We value our visiting professors and they deserve your respect. Please welcome them and treat them with courtesy.
• We value all of our students. Please treat your colleagues with respect and civility.

Exams

• Dishonest academic work of any kind (cheating, plagiarism, copying from other’s work) is strictly forbidden. Please review the Rules of Conduct and Exam Regulations.
• A study attainment may be left ungraded if the student is deemed to have violated the Code of Academic Integrity while completing it. Dishonest academic behavior is subject to severe disciplinary action including failure and/or dismissal from the course.
• If you need to go to the bathroom during the exam, you MUST ask permission from the professor.

Textbook Policy

• Students are usually expected to order their own textbooks unless otherwise announced. Please see also the site Textbook order and payments.
• The Information Specialist sends information on the textbook orders to students well before the beginning of each module.
• All required textbooks and other course materials are the responsibility of the student. It is the expectation of faculty that students will have access to the textbooks and other reading material.
• The BScBA program will neither engage in nor support any copying or distribution of materials that is contrary to international conventions regarding copyrighted material.  

Quality Assurance

• Students are offered the opportunity to evaluate instructors and courses with the course evaluation process.
• To insure a process of objectivity and integrity, a staff member conducts course and faculty evaluations in the absence of the instructor. Strict protocols are used to ensure confidentiality.

Premises

• Unica Building, Lönnrotinkatu 5
  • 1st floor: Auditorium, Restaurant Herkku
  • 2nd floor: Classrooms 1 & 2, faculty and staff offices, Aquarium, study rooms 2A Europe, 2B Africa & 2C Antarctica and learning hub North America
  • 3rd floor: Classrooms 3, 4 & 5, faculty and staff offices, study rooms 3A Asia & 3B Oceania
• Cultiva Building, Lönnrotinkatu 7
  • 1st floor: Aalto School of Business Mikkeli Library

Study rooms and learning hub

• The reservation system for booking the spaces is recommended. Reservations lists are available next to the doors. The booking expires if the room is not used for 15 minutes.

Entrance to the building (in normal circumstances)

• The front doors are open on weekdays from 7.30 am to 4.30 pm.
• Outside of the office hours on weekdays and during the weekend, students can get into the building by using the door code, which is given to the students when they arrive in Mikkeli. The code lock is at the door behind the building.
• No entrance to the 2nd and 3rd floor during 12.00 pm – 7.00 am.
• NOTE! DO NOT give the door code to outsiders. The door code is changed from time to time for security reasons.

Alarm System

• The alarm system on the 1st floor main lobby is on at 6 pm – 6 am on workdays and all through the weekends. If you enter the main lobby during these hours, there is a fine of 100€.
• There are recording security monitors in the building.

Name plates

• Name plates are essential to use in all classes so that visiting professors can recognize the participation of the students.

Lockers

• On the second and third floor corridors there are 80 lockers, which students can reserve for their use for the entire study time in Mikkeli by paying the deposit of 10 euro.
• The lockers will be give to the students by "first come, first serve" basis and you can ask for free lockers from the Student Affairs Coordinator (office 207).
• Terms of reserving the lockers
  • If the key is lost or damaged, the deposit will not be returned.
  • The locker is for personal use only.
  • When you finish your studies in Mikkeli, you return the key and you will get your deposit (10 euro) back.

Remember good manners

• Respect the university property and use the physical facilities for their intended purposes which are primarily intended for teaching and learning.
• No eating or drinking in the computer aquarium, computer classrooms or in the auditorium!
• Clean up any mess or trash of yours!
• Herkku's dishes belong in the restaurant.
• No one is allowed to bring any alcoholic beverages to the 2nd and 3rd floor.
• Smoking is only allowed outside of the building in marked places. Always remember to use an ashtray.

Ensure a safe and pleasant university environment for your class mates by obeying the house rules!

Safety and security guide

In English

In Finnish

Final examinations are generally held at the end of the course. Because there are no permanent faculty members in the BScBA program, it is not feasible to provide alternate examination dates. The instructor determines the form of all examinations in a given course.

The grades of each course must be posted on Sisu no later than within four weeks of the examination.

A student has the right to obtain information about the criteria applied to the grading of his or her examinations. He or she is given the opportunity to view a graded written or otherwise recorded examination. Such an examination is stored for a minimum of six months from the date on which the examination grade is posted.

If a student repeats an examination for a given class, the best grade obtained is the one finally entered into the student’s transcript for the class in question. It should be noted that the grade given for the Bachelor's Thesis cannot be improved later.

The right of appeal means that students have the possibility to request for rectification if she/he believes that there has been an error in the grading. See more information about academic appeals here.

Academic excellence and high achievement levels are only possible in an environment where the highest standards of academic honesty and integrity are maintained. In accordance with the Aalto University General Regulations on Teaching and Studying, a study attainment may be left ungraded if the student is deemed to have violated against the Code of Academic Integrity while completing it.

All students must follow the Exam Regulations for BScBA Students (see below). Should a student cheat during an examination, the person proctoring the exam must immediately notify the student in question and remove the student from the classroom. If the cheating is discovered only after the examination session, the instructor can fail the student in question. Any cheating leads to the failure of the relevant student performance (exam, exercise etc.). Cheating by students other than those enrolled in the BScBA program shall be reported to the student’s home institution.

1. Arrive in time for the examination. Students are not allowed to enter the classroom after 30 minutes have passed from the start of the exam.
2. Turn off your mobile phone and/or other electronic devices and place them in your bag before bringing all of your belongings to the front of the classroom.
3. You may only take your writing utensils and something to drink (e.g. a bottle of water) to your seat unless otherwise instructed by the proctor.
4. You may not leave the room (e.g. finish the exam, go to the toilet) before 35 minutes have passed from the start of the examination. Please ask for permission from the proctor to go to the toilet by raising your hand.
5. No talking to other students is allowed. In case you have a question, please raise your hand and the proctor will come to you.
6. Concentrate on your own examination papers to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.
7. The proctor has the right to remove you from the examination if cheating is suspected. If you notice cheating, please inform the proctor of the exam immediately. If you are found cheating, a disciplinary process may be started.
8. Return all your examination papers, including scratch paper, if not mentioned otherwise.
9. In the case of an emergency situation during an examination (fire alarm, power cut, acute illness), the examination may be continued after the emergency is over at the discretion of the invigilator. If the invigilation has continued without disruptions during the emergency, the examination may be continued. Otherwise, the examination is suspended.

Credit transfer means counting studies completed outside Aalto University towards your BScBA degree by either using them to substitute for an individual course in the BScBA program, or including them in the degree, for instance, towards the electives.

Credits from courses taken before starting the studies in the BScBA program should be transferred before the end of September of the first year of studies. The credit transfer decisions will be also taken into account when preparing the personal study plan for the student with the Manager of Academic Operations by the end of September of the first year of studies. Transfer credit decisions for the courses completed outside of the BScBA program during the BScBA studies can be requested at any time during the studies.

A summary of key points of the Aalto University policy on credit transfer (read here) and the procedure is presented below.

Points to note in credit transfers (studies completed outside of Aalto University)

• Only studies reported by the student in his or her application may be considered for credit transfer. The students must themselves propose the BScBA courses they think their previous studies could substitute for.
• Transferred courses must be included to the BSc degree studies (180 cr).
• All credit transfer studies are marked ‘Pass’ in the Aalto student register, with the exception of compulsory language studies in the second national language.

Application form

Before submitting your application, please read through the instructions on this page.

You can first agree with the Manager of Academic Operations that the course in question can be approved as part of your degree.

Apply for credit transfer on the student information system Sisu. Technical instructions on how to apply: Substitution and inclusion of studies on Sisu.

Mikkeli Campus students have the study right only to the Bachelor's Program in International Business until they graduate from the program. However, studies completed at Aalto Open University may usually be counted towards the student’s degree without the official credit transfer application procedure, but they need to be approved beforehand as part of the personal study plan by the Manager of Academic Operations. After completing the course, the student needs to place the course in the relevant place of the BScBA degree on Sisu and request approval for that section. Instructions are available in the slideset under Course registrations and study plans on this page.

Exchange studies cannot be transferred into the Aalto degree until we have received an official transcript from the host institution. Getting the transcript may take several months, so please take this into account, especially if you plan on graduating immediately after the exchange. When the official transcript comes to our study office, we will send it to you by email and you can start the credit transfer process on Sisu. If you have received the transcript from the partner university, you can start the credit transfer process already, but please note that we need the official transcript to complete the process.

In order to get the credits completed abroad to your Aalto transcript, you need to apply for a credit transfer on Sisu. In the Sisu credit transfer application you need to apply for inclusion. Add all the courses you have completed abroad to one application. These studies will then form your International Minor. You also need to attach the previously approved Study Plan for Study Abroad Form and the official transcript from the host university to the application form. Please note that the courses on the foreign transcript need to match with the approved study plan. Exchange studies will be graded with pass/fail.

In case you completed more than is needed for the International Minor (30cr), you can use the extra credits for example to your electives. For these credits you need to fill a separete credit transfer application.

If you failed to complete the required amount of courses (30 cr) on exchange, you will need to subsitute the missing credits with other courses completed in the BScBA Program. In order to get the International Minor to student's degree, a minimun of 18 ECTS needs to be completed abroad. Otherwise the minor will be an Individual Minor.

Instructions for applying for credit transfer in Sisu are here.

Please remember also to add the courses to International Minor in your Sisu primary study plan after the credit transfer process is completed. Instructions are available in the slides under Course registrations and study plans.

For more information on credit transfer, please contact the Manager of Academic Operations.

Internship is not included in the degree requirements of the Mikkeli BScBA Program. However, if the BScBA students do an internship after completing at least 150 credits of the BSc. degree studies, they may include the credits later to their Master's program studies. Internship may be included in the elective studies of the MSc degree.

Instructions on how to apply for the internship credits as part of the MSc degree studies are presented on the programme pages of each MSc. program. We have used the programme page of the MSc. program of Accounting here as an example, but the same process is valid for all MSc. programs. Please note that

• you may apply for credit transfer for internship towards the master’s degree after having completed at least 150 credits of your Bachelor's degree, and
• approval of the internship is not done beforehand, but the decision is made based on the application submitted after the internship has already been completed.

Aalto University wants to support students' internationalization and work experience, so internship grants are available for students who meet the criteria. You can apply for a grant for an internship abroad or in Finland. Learn more about Career Services here.

These transfer rules concern the students who have

• started their studies before 1 August 2022 and
• want to complete their degree according to the degree requirements 2022-2024, or
• are missing a required course that is not offered anymore.

The summary of transfer rules can be found here. The second column in the document shows the requirements for the new curriculum 2022-2024 compared to the curriculum 2020-2022 requirements.

Please note that if you want to complete your degree according to the curriculum requirements 2022-2024, you need to follow all the requirements for it. If you are missing a required course that is not offered anymore, you can complete the replacing course offered in 2022-2024.

For possible questions, please contact Mari Syväoja.