Student Guide

Programmes

Master's Programme in Industrial Engineering and Management

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Planning your studies

The most important tool for planning your studies is your personal study plan (HOPS). You can register only for courses that are in your primary HOPS, so making HOPS in SISU is crucial. Your degree diploma is also created based on your Sisu HOPS, so it is important to keep your HOPS up to date.

Sisu instructions main page illustration

The front page of Sisu instructions for students

Applications, instructions and guidelines

How to create a personal study plan (HOPS) on Sisu

Applications, instructions and guidelines

How to plan your 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.

Start planning your studies by familiarizing yourself with the curriculum.

In order to support graduation in 2 years, it is important to recognize the critical path. You are encouraged to choose your major before the 1st year starts. Thereby, the first autumn emphasizes the compulsory courses of the major enabling the research assignment already in the first spring (or the 2nd autumn). The research assignment is a prerequisite for starting the master’s thesis. Although the intensive work takes place in the 2nd spring, preparations for the master’s thesis should gradually start in the beginning of the second year. The choice and timing of the optional courses of the major should support the progress in the critical path.

During the 1st autumn, you should choose your minor (whether the choice is restricted of free). In the planning and scheduling of studies, take into consideration quotas, prerequisite knowledge and the suggested sequence for the courses in the minor. The sooner the choice of the minor is made; the more possibilities you have to level the overall workload without delaying the graduation. Likewise, planning of a semester in a foreign university becomes easier.

The last element in making the personal study plan is choosing the electives.

Master’s Programme in Industrial Engineering and Management offers four majors:

Operations Management
Organisation Design and Leadership
Product and Innovation Management
Strategy

You can choose your major freely. If you are unsure about your choice, you can change your major later. The majors have common content, which makes it easy to include already completed courses into the new major.

Restrictions concerning minor subjects for the curriculum period 2024–2026 will be updated on this page during spring 2024.

The degree includes a minor, chosen from an appropriate field of engineering. There are restrictions on the choice of the minor. Depending on the content of the bachelor's studies the choice of minor can also be free (i.e. the minor need not be from a field of engineering and the restrictions on the choice need not apply). If your choice of minor is restricted, please notice the following:

The objectives and content of the minor must be clearly from a field of technology other than IEM.
Some minors contain courses that are offered by the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management (course code format being TU-9XXX) or the School of Business (99X99999). Replace these courses with other courses accepted in the minor.
The following Master's level minors do not fulfill the programme's intention of " a minor in a field of engineering that clearly differs from industrial engineering and management":
- Code: CS.a Creative Sustainability
- Code: BIZ5230 (BIZ)/IDBM.a (ARTS) International Design Business Management
- SCI3038 Multi-Disciplinary Energy Studies
- ENG3074 Real Estate Economics
- ENG3073 Human-Centered Living Environment
- SCI3098 Human-Computer Interaction
- SCI3072 USchool
- SCI3073 Analytics and Data Science
- SCI3086 Financial Engineering
- SCI3090 Startup Minor/SCI3110 AVP Startup Minor
- Bachelor-level minors: ENG3049 Aaltonaut, ENG4007 Kiinteistötalous (Real Estate Economics), ENG4006 Kestävät yhdyskunnat (Sustainable Communities), CHEM3040 CHEMARTS, SCI3030 Informaatioverkostot (Information Networks), SCI3063 Tilastotiede (Statistics), and SCI3114 Tulevaisuudentutkimus (Future Studies).
  
  Some minors may also contain courses that have strong business, societal, or varying content although they are offered by departements in the Schools of Technology. These types of courses must also be replaced with other courses in the minor. In ENG3060 Mechanical Engineering, a student can choose courses from several tracks (topic groups). The following restrictions concern this minor:
- The MEC-E1001 Mechanical Engineering in Society course offered as common studies or courses under the topic group "Societal perspectives in engineering" are not allowed in the minor.
- Product Development track is only allowed with the following contents: MEC-E3001 Product Development Project 10-15 cr, MEC-E3002 Methods in Early Product Development 5 cr, MEC-E3005 Prototyping for Innovation 5 cr
  
  A minor designed for the bachelor’s level may be included in the master’s degree. Many of the bachelor-level minors are offered in Finnish, which may in practice limit the choices of foreign students. Problems may also arise if the student does not have sufficient prerequisite knowledge for a master-level minor, and the prerequisite course is offered in Finnish. The following minors should not have these problems:
- CHEM3055 Chemical Engineering
- ELEC3057 Digital Systems and Design
- ENG3083 Computational Engineering
- SCI3104 Quantum Technology
- SCI3096 Data Science
- SCI3031 Computer Science (only advanced study path of the minor is accepted)

Plan in which part of your degree you include the exchange studies. During the exchange you can take courses

for your electives.
for your major: you can take courses equivalent to mandatory courses of the major, and/or you can include exchange courses in the optional part of the major. If you take optional courses for the major, you don’t have to find equivalent courses from our curriculum. However, the courses you select must meet the learning outcomes of the major.
for your minor. You can include suitable courses in your chosen minor at Aalto. If your choice of minor is restricted, do not selected courses from business schools/faculties. If your choice of minor is free, you can complete the International Studies Minor during exchange.

According to Aalto regulations, it is not possible to transfer courses which have overlapping content with your other courses. Choose courses that will provide new knowledge!

Credit transfer

Student Guide illustration, applications, instructions and guidelines

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.

You can get 1–10 ECTS from work experience related to your field of study. The credits can be included in your elective studies.

Getting work experience from abroad is a way of familiarizing oneself with the field of technology in an international environment, getting to know the local culture, and networking within the working community. Working in a country outside Finland will teach you to work in a foreign culture and improve your language skills. Working in a multicultural environment and living abroad prepares you for working life in a way that working in Finland does not.

More information and submitting the application can be found in the MyCourses workspace of SCI.trai - Training. Go to MyCourses and search for the instance of SCI.trai - Training of the current academic year.

The normative duration of studies is three years for a bachelor's degree, and two years for a master’s degree. If you were admitted to a master’s degree, you have four years to complete the degree. If you were admitted to both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, you have a total of seven years to complete both degrees.

The duration of studies is counted from the time the you enrol as present (attending) at the university. Students have a right to certain absences that do not expend their duration of studies. Absence refers to time when the student has enrolled as non-attending.

If you have not completed your degree within this target schedule, but still want to complete it, you may apply for an extension to your right to study.

Before applying for an extension to your right to study, please familiarise yourself with:

Aalto University policy on extension to duration of studies
the general instructions for applying for an extension
the instructions of the School of Science for applying an extension.

Aalto University policy on extension to duration of studies

Application for extension to the right to study

Applying for extension to the right to study in the School of Science

If you have not completed your degree within the maximum duration of study, but wish to do so, you must apply for extension to your right to study. You receive a letter from the school approximately one year before your right to study expires. The letter gives instructions and the deadline for applying. The earliest time you can apply is the beginning of that term when the right to study expires.

Applications are dealt with twice a year. The application must be submitted

by 15.11. if the right to study expires 31.12.
by 15.5. if the right to study expires 31.7.

Please apply for an extension of study right only when you have the possibility and intention to study and finish your degree.

An extension of study right is not granted just in case. You should apply only when you are certain that you cannot finish your studies by the end of your study right (either by 31 July or 31 December).

Fill in an application for extension in Sisu.

Update your primary study plan in Sisu. Request approval for any parts of the study plan that need it.
Make a timetable for completing the missing courses in the Timeline sheet in Sisu. The study plan must be goal-oriented and feasible.
As soon as the status of your study plan is Selections done, navigate back to the notification box on the Sisu front page to apply for the extension.

Send the required attachments mentioned below to [email protected]. Use the following email subject line “SCI, your name, attachment to application for extension”.

Documentation of the reasons for the delay in your studies. NB! Working will not be taken into account.
If you have previously been granted an extension of your right to study, please provide an account on how you used the granted extension.
If you have statutory absences (military service, maternity or paternity leave, parental leave), please provide certificates for these absences.
If you are studying in a master's programme and are currently working on your master's thesis, send a thesis plan with a timetable. Ask your thesis supervisor for a statement evaluating the progress and timetable for completing your thesis.
If the reason for delayed studies is illness, submit a medical certificate. Such documents should be fairly recent. Documents which are several years old are usually not taken into account. Send all confidential material to [email protected].

Secure email

If you are using an email address other than your aalto.fi address, do this: first, sign in to the portal at https://securemail.aalto.fi. Then follow the instructions in the portal to send your attachments to this address: [email protected].
Use the following email subject line: ‘[Your school: ARTS, BIZ, CHEM, ELEC, ENG, SCI], [your name], attachment to application for extension’.
Please find the instructions for encrypted email at https://www.aalto.fi/en/cyber-security/deltagon-for-aalto-community.

You may be granted an extension if you can be expected to complete your studies within a reasonable time. The number of courses not completed is considered in relation to the planned time of graduation. Circumstances that may be considered as grounds for an extension include illness, difficult personal circumstances, extracurricular societal activities, student exchange or internship abroad and systematic sports training. If you have been granted an extension before, your progress during that time plays an important part in the decision.

The extension is granted by the dean.

The extension remains the same even if you enrol as absent during the extension. The absences not counted towards the overall duration of study mentioned above do not automatically mean a longer extension. They are, however, taken into account if you apply for another extension.

Career planning

Studies in Industrial Engineering and Management lead to diverse career paths. Careers in service industry, research and development, and business development and management are common, as are service purchasing and requirements engineering in both public and private sectors. Expert positions in consulting, research or educational organisations are possible as well.

Typical job titles of recent graduates include e.g. Analyst, Consultant, Contract Manager, Product Manager, Purchasing Engineer, Risk Management Consultant, Risk Specialist, Service Development Engineer, Services Manager, Sourcing Specialist, Specialist - Process Development Logistics, Supply Chain & Quality Manager, Strategy Analyst, Technical Consultant, …

Our recently graduated alumni work e.g. in the following companies: ABB, Accenture, A.T. Kearney, Bain & Company, The Boston Consulting Group, Capacent, Enevo Inc., FA Solutions, Fazer, Finnair, Fiskars, KONE, Konecranes, McKinsey & Company, Metso, Neste, Nordic Healthcare Group, NOKIA, Nordea Markets, Normet Corporation, Palmu, Reaktor, Reddal, RELEX Solutions, Rovio, Siemens Energy, Sievo, Smartly.io, SOK, Stora Enso, Telia Company, UBS, Wärtsilä,…

The programme also provides an excellent basis for doctoral studies. Further information on the research conducted at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management can be found on the department website.

Career Design Lab is a learning and collaboration space for shaping sustainable careers. We support Aalto students and alumni in meaningful career design and lifewide learning. For employers, we offer opportunities for collaborating and connecting with Aalto talent. We also serve Aalto University and all lifewide learners by sharing research-based insights and inspiring dialogue on the sustainable and inclusive future of careers.