Aalto Doctoral Programme in Arts, Design and Architecture

Degree students at Aalto University also have the possibility to study at another Finnish university.

The Flexible Study Rights Agreement (JOO) is a national agreement between universities, which provides students of Finnish universities the opportunity to include courses from other universities into their degrees. For more information, see the JOO online platform (opens in a new tab).

FITech network university
UniPID – Finnish University Partnership for International Development
University Network for Asian Studies

When you apply for a flexible study right, the study plan needs to confirmed first.

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

You can transfer credits for studies completed, for example, at other higher education institutions, whether abroad during an exchange period, or in Finland for another degree or under the JOO flexible study scheme. Learning gained outside higher education can also be included in the degree (see Accrediation of learning demonstrated in some other manner). Please see further information and details on the Aalto University policy on credit transfer below:

• Aalto University policy on credit transfer
• Points to note in credit transfer
• Application form and required supporting materials
• Submitting your application: Doctoral students
• Appealing a decision
• Appealing against a decision regarding credit transfer
• Appealing against the outcome of an appeal concerning credit transfer
• Transfer of credits: substitution or inclusion?
• Substitution of an individual course  
• Inclusion of an individual course
• Credit transfer of studies completed in another Aalto school
• Open University studies

• Scholarship of 500 euro for the first refereed article or artistic component.

The scholarship is paid to a doctoral student for her or his first refereed (i.e. peer-reviewed) article must be included in the doctoral dissertation and be published in an international publication forum or the first art production or product development project.

The student must be one of the main authors in the publication or one of the main artists in the art production or product development project. In the School of Arts, Design and Architecture the article must have been published in an official journal defined by the Finnish Publication Forum (see http://www.tsv.fi/julkaisufoorumi/english.html and http://www.tsv.fi/julkaisufoorumi/haku.php?lang=en ). The Doctoral Programme Committee has paid attention to the fact that in the School of Arts, Design and Architecture doctoral dissertations are mainly monographs, so the incentive scholarship is not only limited to article dissertations. The student must be one of the main authors in the publication.

The application has to be submitted within six months of the fulfilment of the scholarship criteria.

• Scholarship of 500 euro for completing theoretical studies

This scholarship is paid to doctoral student, who has, within two years of the date of admission to pursue doctoral studies, completed the theoretical studies (40/60 credits). The doctoral studies must have been completed according to the official degree structure and accepted by the Supervising Professor and the Head of the doctoral programme.

The application has to be submitted within six months of the fulfilment of the scholarship criteria.

• Scholarship of 2,000 euro for completing the doctoral degree

This scholarship is awarded for completing the doctoral degree, provided that the following conditions are fulfilled:

a) Theoretical studies must have been completed according to the confirmed study plan and the pre-examiners appointed (the date of the Doctoral Programme Committee meeting) in no more than eight full semesters from the date the study right was granted. The pre-examiners need to be appointed at the latest during the eighth full semester.

b)  Completion of the doctoral degree, provided the degree was earned by the end of the calendar year the doctoral candidate turns 30-years-old.

The application has to be submitted within six months of the fulfilment of the scholarship criteria.

The time spent on maternity and parental leave as well as national military or non-military service completed (documents required) may be excluded from the calculated duration of study. However, the scholarship for those under 30-years-old, no other conditions will be taken into consideration.

The scholarships will be awarded according to the above-mentioned criteria for doctoral candidates who have met the conditions for receiving a scholarship during 1 January 2014 – 31 December 2021.

The school shall award scholarships based on the application made by the doctoral candidate. The application has to be submitted within six months of the fulfilment of the scholarship criteria.

Scholarships are granted based on an application made by the person in question. Decisions on scholarships are made by the Vice Dean. Students are informed of the decision by email.

Please submit the application form to [email protected]. The details of your studies and degrees will be checked and certified as true. The applicant will be informed of the decision and the sum awarded will be paid into the bank account the applicant has indicated on the application form. Note: In scholarship forms, the bank account number must be in IBAN -form, also the BIC-code is needed.

Only applicants who have confirmed funding for doctoral studies from Aalto University for at least nine months can apply in the continuous application. Other full-time applicants apply in the March application round. Funded doctoral positions are advertised on Aalto University webpage https://www.aalto.fi/careers. If you wish to apply, you must first secure the funded position before applying for a study right for doctoral studies.

The same eligibility criteria and language requirements apply to applicants in the continuous application and they must submit all the required application documents as the applicants in the March application round.

Please note that from 1 August 2016 onwards students may accept only one study place leading to a higher education degree in Finland during one academic term (Universities Act 558/2009).*

*Higher education degrees include bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees awarded by universities as well as degrees from universities of applied sciences.

To be eligible for doctoral studies at the School of Arts, Design and Architercture, the students must:

• hold a master’s degree granted by a Finnish university or university of applied sciences;
• hold a master’s degree granted by a Finnish university or university of applied sciences;
• hold a degree granted by a university or university of applied sciences abroad corresponding to the Finnish Master’s degree, providing them with the knowledge base required for the postgraduate research field applied for.

Degree awarded by a higher education institution outside Finland

The copies of study certificates must be certified by the issuing institution or by a notary public. The copies must be made of the original, official documents. Copies of copies will not be accepted. If the certificate has several pages, each page must be certified from the right side of the page. Each page must be certified separately and indicate clearly the date and the original signature, printed name and stamp of the certifying officer. The mere mention of the official copy (eg. stamp "True copy") is not enough.

Degree awarded by a higher education institution in Finland

The copies of study certificates must be certified either by the issuing institution or by two unbiased signatories. The copies must be made of the original, official documents. Copies of copies will not be accepted.  If the certificate has several pages, each page must be certified from the right side of the page. Each page of the copy must carry the signature, name of the signatory/signatories and date. The signatories must see the original document and the copy of it side by side. By signing they certify that the copy is an unaltered copy of the original document.

Before submitting your application you may be in contact with a potential supervising professor or the Head of Research at the Department to find out if the Department has a potential supervising professor in the specific area corresponding to your research plan. For more information, see What does it take to become a doctoral candidate? - Supervising professor and research topic under For prospective students.

You must always provide proof of your language proficiency - either by means of a language test result or more specifically determined degree certificate. Language proficiency cannot be demonstrated by an interview or by any other similar conduct. Please note that if a language test result is required, you must register for the test as soon as possible. Test organizers take quite a lot of time to submit the results. We recommend that you do the test before the start of the application period. See further information: Who can apply? - Language requirements.

Submitting the application

Application (including its attachments in pdf form) are submitted through the electronic application system eAge. The next admission round is in March 2020.

Please read the information regarding eligibility to apply, application process as well as the required documents carefully before filling out an application. You can follow the processing of your application on the application system eAge. The application system is used throughout the duration of the application process. The final admission results are also published via the application system.

Applicants who are selected for phase two of the application will receive a separate notice by email with instructions for submitting their paper documents and postal address. They are given a maximum of three weeks from the notice to submit paper copies of their degree certificates and transcripts of records. These paper copies must arrive in the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture within the set deadline or otherwise the application will be rejected.

Application form should be filled out in eAge application system.
2. Degree certificates from each university attended, including official register lists of study courses taken for the degree (transcripts of records).

You need to scan and upload your original certificates and/or transcripts (with translations, if necessary) to the application system. Please be prepared to send officially certified copies by mail immediately if you are notified that you are selected for phase two of the admission.

3. Research plan: includes a schedule for the studies to be completed (study plan), schedule for dissertation, funding plan, possible project plan, supervision plan and schedule for artistic components.  It is usually appr. 5-8 pages (line spacing 1,5, 12 pt) and is free of form, including:

• Your schedule for the completion of the required studies (40/60 ECTS)
• Your schedule for dissertation work
• Your plan for funding
• Work plan and schedule in case you plan to include an artistic component or product development project

Write your research plan completely by yourself. Research plans are treated as confidential in the evaluation process. You can find generic instructions online, see e.g. Academy of Finland's research plan guidelines.

4. Curriculum Vitae (CV)
5. Copy of passport or other official document of identification
6. Letters of recommendation and certificates of employment (optional)
7. In the field of art and design a portfolio if the research plan contains work plan for artistic components or product development projects
8. Proof of language profiency (see more below under Language requirements)

Applications which do not contain all documents deemed necessary will not be evaluated.

All documents must be either in Finnish, Swedish or English. If the original certificate is in a different language, it must be officially translated to one of the aforementioned languages by an authorised translator. Copies of academic documents and their translations must be certified as authentic by a notary or a university official from your university. The translated documents you send to us should be the original official translations (the paper copies sent in the second phase can also be officially certified copies of the original translations). Please note that you will need to submit both the officially certified copies of the original documents in their original language and the official translations.

If you are selected for phase two of the admission, you will have a maximum of three weeks to submit paper copies of your degree certificates and transcripts of records. These officially certified copies of documents need to physically arrive to the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture within the set deadline, or your application will be rejected.

Note: for degrees completed at Aalto University, paper copies are not needed.

The copy of the passport does not need to be officially certified.

Aalto University Learning Services do not take copies of application documents or attest them.

Portfolio

A portfolio is required if the research plan includes a plan for artistic components. Portfolio presents the abilities of the applicant to demonstrate the artistic components planned. Portfolios can be either uploaded on the application systems in pdf form (maximum size for a single document is 500MB) or the applicant can provide a link to an online portfolio. In case of an online portfolio, the applicant is responsible for ensuring that the link is accessible for a minimum of 2 months from the end of the application period.