In the CCIS programme, you can rather freely design the content of your degree. The structure of the degree leaves room for selecting courses you are most interested in, in addition of the compulsory courses of your major studies. Hence, it is important that you do study planning carefully in the beginning of your studies. You can always update your plan later if needed.

When you start planning your MSc studies, consider the following questions:

• What do I want from my studies?
• What skills do I want to develop?
• What are my career goals?

Study planning consists of two things:

1. selecting the structure and content for your degree based on the curriculum and your personal interests and goals
2. scheduling the courses (timeline) 

The outcome of study planning is your personal study plan, HOPS (in Finnish: Henkilökohtainen OPintoSuunnitelma). The personal study plan (HOPS) is an agreement: university grants you the right to study according to the approved, official HOPS and you are obliged to follow it. For Aalto scholarship students the study progress follow-up is based on the scheduled HOPS. HOPS is done in SISU.

You can enroll only for the courses included in your primary HOPS. Therefore, it is important that you make your preliminary HOPS at least for courses starting in I period already during the Orientation Week, or Aalto BSc students: right in the beginning your MSc studies.
 

The basic structure of your degree is fixed according to the Degree Regulations and the curriculum. Within these boundaries, you have a possibility to make choices that support your own interests, goals, and life situation in different phases of your studies.

In the personal study plan (HOPS), you can choose e.g. the following parts of your degree:

• optional courses of your major
• elective studies (including the compulsory language courses of the degree, if applicable)
• possible minor.

If you are planning exchange studies, studies in another Finnish university or transferring courses completed in another university, you include these to your HOPS as well. You can first add these studies to your HOPS as study draft and then the content of these studies must be approved by the responsible professor.

• The starting point of study planning is the most recent curriculum of your programme.
• For elective studies, students are encouraged to take courses also from other fields of studies at Aalto. Note that even though most of the courses are open for all Aalto students, for some courses you need to apply for a study right separately.
• Minors offered at Aalto. Note that some minors require an application while others are open to all Aalto students.
• Language and Communication studies.
• If you have questions concerning your study plan, contact the planning officer of your programme.
• For ELEC students the course ELEC-E0110 Academic Skills in Master's studies provides extensive support for study planning.

While selecting the courses for your degree, you should also schedule your studies, i.e. plan in which study period and during which study year you are taking the course. 

• Information on the recommended study year of the compulsory courses is available in the curriculum.
• In addition, you need to place the major optional studies as well as elective studies/minor and compulsory language studies in your schedule.
• By default, the second spring semester should be reserved for master's thesis. Note that preparations for the master's thesis start already in the second autumn semester.

Note that even though making HOPS is mandatory and it is used in many administrative processes, th HOPS is foremost meant to be a tool for you. Drafting your personal study plan helps you to plan your studies and keep track of your study progress. When you have considered your goals, chosen the courses accordingly and drafted a realistic and target-oriented schedule for completing your studies, you have a map for making your plans a reality.
 

When applying for exchange

You have to make an exchange study plan (Learning agreement for Erasmus exchange) as a part of the application for exchange studies, i.e. a list of the courses you intend to complete during the exchange. At the same time, you must update your study plan (HOPS) in Sisu and indicate where in your degree you intend to place the exchange studies. Please note that the exchange studies must fit into the 120 credits of the master’s degree. There must be room for exchange studies in your degree, as they are part of your degree at Aalto University. You cannot leave courses already completed out of your personal study plan in Sisu in order to fit in the courses you intend to complete during your exchange.

Use the "study draft" function in Sisu to indicate a place for exchange studies in your degree. At this stage, you can place all planned exchange studies in one draft (or in two if you plan to place exchange studies, for example, in both the major and the elective studies). List the same courses and credits in the draft(s) as you have listed in the exchange study plan/learning agreement. 

After the exchange

After completing your exchange, you must apply for credit transfer. Credit transfer is applied for each completed course separately. 

The scope of the degree, 120 ECTS, should not be exceeded. Exceptions are situations where the total number of credits is completed with a course that results in exceeding 120 ECTS (for example, a student has 118 ECTS and completes a 5-credit course to reach the full scope). As a rule, entire course(s) exceeding 120 ECTS cannot be accepted in the study plan. 

If a student has completed more than 120 ECTS at the time of graduation, the student can choose which courses they want to include in the degree (freely elective courses), and the extra courses will remain outside the degree. If desired, the student can receive a separate transcript for the extra studies.
 

Students of:

• Master’s Programme in Computer, Communication and Information Sciences CCIS, students of School of Science
• School of Science students in double degree programmes related to computer science (ITMO double degree programme, SECCLO and ICT Innovation
• Students of Master’s Programme in Information Networks
• Doctoral students in the field of computer science.

• Courses in the curriculum of Master’s Programme in Computer Science, course codes beginning with CSM, which are open also to students from other programmes.
• Courses in the curriculum of Master’s Programme in Data Science, course codes beginning with DATA, which are open also to students from other programmes.
• These courses need to supplement your curriculum and must not be identical or corresponding to courses offered by Aalto University.

You find the courses in UH course portal.

You can take the course if there are places on the course. Any quotas are mentioned in the course descriptions.

There are no special application periods, but you must make the application in good time before the course begins. The teacher has the right to limit the number of students and set prerequisites for the course. If the student does not fulfil the prerequisites or the course is full, the teacher may also reject the registrations.

The right to study is valid for a year. These courses may be completed only if the student’s right to study also in the home university is valid.

Electronic application form 

Add the UH courses in your HOPS as a study draft. Instructions. Once you have completed the course, send an official UH transcript to your programme.

The courses are registered at Aalto with the grade given by University of Helsinki.