Academic Visitor

Who are academic visitors and short-term academic visitors

An academic visitor is a person who visits Aalto for academic purposes (i.e. carrying out research, artistic or educational activities) and is not Aalto’s employee or enrolled as a student in Aalto. A short-term academic visitor is a person who visits Aalto for academic purposes, whose visit to Aalto lasts only a short period of time, and who receives only limited access rights to Aalto’s premises.

Academic visitor

An academic visitor is an individual whose visit is for academic (research, artistic or educational) purposes and lasts up to 2 years, and who is:

• affiliated to another academic or research institution, company, government agency or non-profit organization, or is self-supported (e.g., a grant recipient)
• not employed by Aalto
• granted individual access to Aalto's premises or research infrastructure and/or the possibility to use Aalto's resources for research or artistic activities (including Aalto ID)

Academic visitor may receive limited individual access to selected premises and infrastructures of Aalto including laboratories, and Aalto ID. A person who is given only an Aalto ID (virtual academic visitor) is also considered an academic visitor. If an extension of the academic visit is required, the approval process needs to be completed again before the end of the original visit period.

In some cases, the decision to approve a proposed academic visitor will be made by Provost. A case-by-case risk evaluation will be conducted in this decision stage related to sanctions, export control and research security compliance. The evaluation is based on several factors that are elaborated in the Aalto Visiting Guidelines.

Short-term academic visitor

A short-term academic visitor is an individual who arrives in Aalto for a short-term visit of no more than 4 weeks for academic (research, artistic or educational) purposes. Typically, a short-term visitor is a researcher who participates in seminar, conference or thesis defense held at Otaniemi and stays in Aalto for a few extra days to plan new research activities and publications or to otherwise exchange ideas on topics of mutual interest with Aaltonians.

Short-term academic visitor receives only limited access to selected premises of Aalto excluding laboratories. No Aalto ID is given to the short-term academic visitor.

Please note that if an individual does not need a token for access to Aalto’s premises such person is not considered a short-term academic visitor and the Aalto Visiting Guidelines do not apply to such person’s visit to Aalto. When such person is at Aalto premises that are off-limits to the public, they need to be accompanied by an Aalto employee.

Host’s responsibilities 

All visitors need a host who is typically a professor in Aalto. In special cases, lecturers and other permanent academic employees (not postdocs, etc.) may also act as a host. In such cases, approval goes through the visitor process. Depending on circumstances, the host has following responsibilities:

• guiding and onboarding the visitor during their visit to Aalto
• as for prospective academic visitors: filling out host form and causing that the prospective academic visitor fills out visitor form and provides an up-to-date copy of their CV, and (if needed) providing additional information upon request for facilitation of Provost’s decision-making
• as for prospective short-term academic visitor: checking feasibility of the short-term academic visit and ordering token for short-term academic visitor
• requesting approval from Provost before an invitation letter may be issued if the recipient of the invitation letter is affiliated with an entity located in a country listed in Aalto Visiting Guidelines.

Practical steps to be taken by host

As for short-term academic visitor please see slide no 5 in Aalto Visiting Guidelines. 

Professor is responsible for checking the feasibility of the short-term academic visit before ordering the token for a short-term academic visitor. Please note that professor is not expected to report their findings on feasibility check to anyone in Aalto. Instructions for ordering the token for a short-term academic visitor can be found at Access right request and review: Short-term visitor | Aalto University. When sending email to key responsible person for ordering the token please include your local HR as cc to the email.

As for academic visitors please see slide no 6 in Aalto Visiting Guidelines. Note! There will be a winter break in screening of organizational designations for academic visitors from 20 December 2024 to 6 January 2025.

Please fill in the host-form and email it to your local HR, they will help you start the process.

Instructions for requesting the approval before sending an invitation letter are on slide 8 in Aalto Visiting Guidelines. 

Visitors’ Agreement for academic visitors 

The Visitors’ Agreement may be signed only after the approval for the academic visitor has been received in accordance with Aalto Visiting Guidelines. 

Academic visits are agreed for a fixed period of time. The visitor does not have an employment relationship with Aalto, making their status significantly different from that of an Aalto employee. The visitor is also not a degree student at Aalto. For this reason, it is necessary that the roles, obligations, and responsibilities of both parties are clearly agreed in the visitor agreement. Further, the equipment, supplies, services, workspaces, etc. to be used by the visitor must also be identified. 

Aalto has no labor management rights over the visitor, and the visitor has no employee rights. So don't use the visitor contract as a substitute for an employment contract.