Director of the degree programme: Professor of Practice Risto Sarvas
Degree: Master of Science (Technology), 120 ECTS
Abbreviation: INF

The mandatory elements of the student’s curriculum are a major (either long or compact), a Master’s thesis, and elective studies. A compact major is always supplemented with a minor.

The specific content of the major depends on the student's own interest areas. The Information Networks major offers four focus areas:

1. Software Engineering and Architectures
2. Business and Organisational Design
3. Social and Digital Media and
4. User, Data and Design.

Each focus area equals 15 ECTS at minimum and 40 ECTS at maximum. Moreover, the major includes Information Networks compulsory studies of 25 ECTS.

Besides the major, the programme requires elective studies (25–35 ECTS) and the Master’s Thesis (30 ECTS). If the student chooses to take a compact major, a minor (20–25 ECTS) is mandatory. When starting their Master’s studies, the students select one focus area. During the first semester the students are obliged to make their study plan (HOPS), which after its approval acts as a contract between the student and the programme. Before approving the study plan, the programme confirms that the proposed study plan fulfills all the criteria of the programme.

Master’s students have two possibilities to structure their studies.

Long major

• Long major (55–65 ECTS)
• Master’s thesis (30 ECTS)
• Elective studies (25–35 ECTS)

A long major (55–65 ECTS) consists of

1. Information Networks compulsory studies, 25 ECTS
2. Selected focus area from the Information Networks offering, 30-40 ECTS

The students are encouraged to select the core content of the long major to support thier Master’s Thesis interests.

Compact major 

• Compact major (40–45 ECTS)
• Master’s thesis (30 ECTS)
• Minor (20–25 ECTS)
• Elective studies (25–30 ECTS)

A compact major (40–45 ECTS) consists of

1. Information Networks compulsory studies, 25 ECTS
2. Selected core track from the Information Networks offering, 15–20 ECTS

A compact major is supplemented with a minor that broadens the student’s competence. The students are encouraged to select the core content of the compact major to support their Master’s Thesis interests. A minor is selected from study entities that are offered as a minor. The professor of the student’s focus area approves the suggested minor by signing the student’s personal study plan (HOPS).

The extent of a major may not exceed 65 ECTS. Similarly, the extent of a compact major together with a minor may not exceed 65 ECTS. Thus, the students will always have a choice of a minimum 25 ECTS completely elective studies. The students are obliged to complete the chosen majors or minors in that extent they are offered.

In the Information Networks programme we underline two forces that drive change in societies: technological development and creation of new business. Both technology and business capture human activities that have shaped people’s lives for the past centuries. And they keep on shaping our lives on a global, societal, communal, and individual level.

Are the changes shaped by technology and business good or bad for the societies? This is a question traditionally not within the domain of engineers, designers and business developers. In addition, the answers to that question have been typically outside the expertise of these same professionals.

The ethics and social impact of technology and the business around it has been left to social scientists and philosophers. However, the social scientists who understand the societal impacts of technology often do not understand the inner workings of technical products, processes and methods. Nor do they have similar first-hand knowledge of how technology is commercialized into a prosperous business.

The mission of our program is to educate societally conscious engineers. Engineers who are masters of software and digital technology and who can create new business based on this technical know-how.

In addition, we train these engineers to understand the complexities and structures of society, especially how technology and business shape societies. Third, we recognise that passive analysis and knowledge of technology and business in society is not enough. Therefore, we educate professionals who actively work with the ethical, philosophical and value-based issues involved in shaping a society in one direction or another.

The generic aims of the education are listed below:

• Provide the students with a comprehensive understanding on how technology and society interact, especially how technology is socially constructed.
• What are the ethical, aesthetic, and philosophical discourses and issues involved in creating new business and technology.
• How to create societally sustainable and ethically sound technologies, organisations, and business.
• How to understand one’s own role, identity, and goals in the context of technology, organisations, business, and societal impact.

More specifically, the studies provide:

• Knowledge on how design processes and data are used to create digital products and services that are usable, valuable and functional.
• Understanding on how digital communication, especially in social media, is shaping the way information is created, represented, and consumed.
• Skills and tools on how software and data is designed and engineered as part of businesses, systems and architectures.
• Knowledge and practices on how organisations and businesses are shaped to create the value, impact, and outcomes desired.

Information networks compusory courses (25 ECTS), compulsory for all students of the programme.

^{* Societal Design Project course can be substituted with one of the following:
MEC-E3001 Product Development Project, 10 cr
MUO-E8012 Design for Government, 10 cr
MUO-E3039 Design for Social Change, 5+5 cr
TU-E4100 Startup Experience, 9 cr}

Professor in charge: Jukka Luoma
Professors: Marina Biniari, Mikko Jääskeläinen, Lauri Saarinen, Risto Sarvas
Extent: 15–40 ECTS

Objectives

The Business and Organizational Design focus area equips the student with knowledge and skills required in creating and transforming businesses in light of opportunities and challenges arising from technological and societal changes. The focus area accumulates the student’s knowledge, toolkit and skills for analyzing, evaluating, and developing business models and strategies that allow organizations to create new value in changing business environments. The focus area also advances the student’s knowledge and ability for assessing and reflecting on the challenges and implications of adopting new business models and strategies, as well as for designing supportive organizational structures and processes..

Learning outcomes

After completing the compulsory and elective studies of the focus area the students are able to:

• analyze, evaluate and develop business models and strategies in changing business environments
• analyze and evaluate how organizational design and development supports adapting to changing business environments
• structure and analyze complex business problems individually and in teams
• foster collaboration and knowledge creation within and across organizations

The student conducts compulsory courses and selects optional courses to complete the focus area so that the required amount of the credits is fulfilled.

Professor in charge: Tapio Takala
Professors: Petri Vuorimaa, Risto Sarvas
Extent: 15–40 ECTS

Objectives

Social and Digital Media focus area addresses the technological, design and societal challenges rising from the digitalisation of media, i.e., the merge of communications with contemporary digital technology. The focus area provides the knowledge and tools for understanding such concepts as filter bubbles, information manipulation, data-analytics in communications. A student specialising in this focus area can find herself working in such fields as data journalism, growth hacking, content marketing, or digital communications. Before taking this focus area the student should have a basic knowledge of communications, digital communications channels, and skills for programming and design.

The goal of this focus area is to create engineers and designers who see the opportunities and threats in social and digital media in contemporary and future information societies. Especially how to shape products, organisations and societies by combining data & software with information visualisation, content production, media channels, and communications in general.

Learning Outcomes

After completing the focus area the student:

• understands contemporary issues and challenges of digital and social media for the society, especially from a technical perspective.
• can visualise data and information.
• has the skills to use digital communications for such purposes as sales, product development, and societal influencing.
• understands how data, software and digital media are key in information visualisation, content production, media channels, and communications in general.
• has the skills to design, develop and create communications.

The student conducts compulsory courses and selects optional courses to complete the focus area so that the required amount of the credits is fulfilled.

Professor in charge: Casper Lassenius
Professors: Marjo Kauppinen, Risto Sarvas, Marko Turpeinen, Jari Collin
Extent: 15–40 ECTS

The Software Engineering and Architectures focus area is on designing and creating information and communications systems through agile and user-centric processes; especially in the context of organisations and networks. The student will learn how software architectures are designed, managed, and implemented, as well as, what governance and legal issues are related to software design and engineering. After completing this focus area, the student has the knowledge and skills to shape organisations and society by creating large software systems, especially in an enterprise context. The types of professions related to this focus area are, e.g., software architect, software developer, product owner or manager, chief technical/information officer, and software engineer. 

Objectives

After completing the focus area the student

• understand the role and need of software and information architectures & systems in modern organisations and enterprises.
• understand the relationships between software systems, architectures and human aspects of technology in an enterprise context.
• have skills to design, engineer, manage and lead software projects and architectures.

The student conducts compulsory courses and selects optional courses to complete the focus area so that the required amount of the credits is fulfilled.

Professor in charge: Marko Nieminen
Professors: Antti Oulasvirta, Risto Sarvas, Johanna Kaipio
Extent: 15–40 ECTS

Objectives

The User, Data and Design focus area provides knowledge and tools to design and develop digital products and services leveraging design thinking, data analytics and user-centric product development. Increasingly, the profession of a designer requires the combination of different world views and methodologies. In other words, product development and service design is a mixture of human understanding and decision-making enhanced with data analysis.

Students specialising in this focus area can find themselves working, e.g., as a product manager, product owner, lead designer, service and UX designer, a user researcher and/or head of design. Before taking this focus area the student should have basic knowledge of design thinking, user-centric product development, as well as programming and software. After the compulsory courses in this focus area, students are encouraged to find their profile and expertise by selecting from the list of optional courses.

Learning Outcomes

After completing this focus area the student:

• understands how data analytics is applied into actual design and business contexts.
• can apply the tools, practices and processes of user interface (UI), interaction design (IX), user experience (UX), and service design.
• can create digital products or services by leveraging both qualitative design thinking and quantitative methods.
• has the potential to create radically new ways of creating products, services, and processes that blend data analytics with design thinking.

The student conducts compulsory courses and selects optional courses to complete the focus area so that the required amount of the credits is fulfilled.

The minor is optional and allows the students to broaden their competence within the Information Networks master’s programme, as well as to fields of technology other than information and communication technology.

If the major is completed as compact (40–45 credits), a minor must be selected. The minor is confirmed in the Personal Study Plan.

More information on Aalto University’s minor subjects:

Minors 2020-2022

Students choose 25–35 ECTS of elective studies. As elective studies, students can complete a minor and/or take individual courses at Aalto University or other Finnish universities. Students can also participate in an international student exchange programme or include 1–10 ECTS of work experience completed in Finland or abroad in elective studies. If students include course JOIN-A0003 Contributing in Community (3 cr) in their degree, only 7 credits of practical training is accepted in the degree.

For more information on internationalisation or Aalto University’s minor subjects:

• Minors 2020-2022
• Internationalisation and studies abroad

Compulsory language studies for students whose language of education is Finnish or Swedish are included as part of the bachelor’s degree. If the language studies have not been completed in the phase preceding master’s studies, they must be taken during the master’s degree studies. In this case, the student must take 2 ECTS in second national language and 3 ECTS in one foreign language (including both oral (o) and written (w) proficiency).

Students who have received their education in a language other than Finnish or Swedish or received their education abroad are required to complete only 3 ECTS in one foreign language.

Students with excellent command of English (e.g. English as a first language) may apply for the exemption from the compulsory foreign language requirement and take 3 ECTS of Finnish courses instead. In this case, according to the Degree Regulations, the student has not demonstrated the requisite written and oral language requirement in a foreign language, which is reflected in the appendix of the degree certificate.

Application form:
Application for the exemption from the obligatory foreign language requirement

Language studies are included in students’ elective studies. 

Students are required to complete a master's thesis, which is a research assignment with a workload corresponding to 30 credits. The thesis is written on a topic usually related to the student's major and agreed upon between the student and a professor who specializes in the topic of the thesis. The supervisor of the thesis must be a professor in the university, whereas the instructor(s) must have at least a master’s degree.

Master’s thesis work includes a seminar presentation or equivalent presentation. The student is also required to write a maturity essay related to the master’s thesis. 

The master’s thesis is a public document and cannot be concealed.