Study options

Master's Programme in Computer, Communication and Information Sciences – Human-Computer Interaction

How can artificial intelligence change the way we interact with computers? What will come after the mouse and keyboard? Human-Computer Interaction educates future leaders who study, innovate, and improve information technology for the benefit of the people and society. The study option distinguishes itself internationally by a focus on computational and engineering methods. The rigorous curriculum offers a unique opportunity for students of computer science and engineering to learn how to apply technical approaches in human-computer interaction. The study option is based on outstanding HCI research at Aalto University. The university was recently ranked #21 worldwide in research impact in the area of HCI.

Aalto university / students at computer / photo by Unto Rautio

Degree:

Master of Science (Technology)

Application period:

1.12.2020 – 4.1.2021

Language of instruction:

English

Duration:

2 years, full-time

Eligibility:

Relevant Bachelor's degree

Field of study:

Technology and Engineering

Credits:

120 ECTS

Organising school:

School of Science

Tuition fees:

For non-EU/EEA citizens, €15000/y (Master’s studies)

HOW TO APPLY

About the studies

Description

The Master’s Programme in Computer, Communication and Information Sciences – Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) prepares students for professional and academic careers in human-computer interaction. The HCI study option is unique with its focus on methods from engineering and computer science with applications in interaction design, user interface technology, and user research. HCI graduates have:

A modern computational approach to HCI. Graduates learn a wide repertoire of powerful computational and engineering methods and how to apply them to practical problems in HCI.
A strong interdisciplinary approach to human-centric technology. Graduates have gained an interdisciplinary experience with a strong emphasis on computer science and engineering, including contributions from psychology, social science, business, and design. The HCI study option emphasises the systematic understanding of humans as the basis of our decisions.
A globally recognised skillset. Graduates understand modern design problems from a computational perspective, including challenges in concept creation, interface technologies, algorithms, data and modelling. They are ready to work in teams with a focus on AI, machine learning, robotics, electrical engineering, data science etc.
Meta-cognitive skills for life-long learning. Graduates understand scientific literacy, have a mindset for critical thinking and possess strong teamwork and leadership skills.

Upon graduation from the Human-Computer Interaction study option, graduates can pursue internationally competitive careers where they take the lead in design, research or management.

Human-Computer Interaction Doctoral Track

Human-Computer Interaction major offers also a competitive doctoral track where a limited number of top students can be admitted. Students selected to the doctoral track can have their studies tailored towards pursuing PhD studies and can start working towards a PhD in one of the department’s research groups already during their Master studies. Applicants must explicitly indicate their possible interest for the doctoral track in their motivation letter when applying for the Master’s programme. The best doctoral track applicants will be interviewed. Read more >>

Career opportunities

HCI professionals are well-employed and pursue careers related to user experience, usability, interaction design, human factors, user interface design, human-computer interaction and beyond. Our curriculum includes several contact possibilities with the industry in Finland and abroad, in particular in the capstone project. Half of our students write their Master's thesis for a company.

The programme is particularly well suited for students who will be engaged in start-up companies on interactive products and services as it includes essential knowledge to make products and services successful. The graduates will have strong engineering and design skills, as well as other technical and professional skills that enable them to take key roles in an industrial research and development environment. They are well prepared for industrial R&D jobs, user interface engineering and consulting, various expert roles related to interactive technology and user research, and doctoral studies at Aalto University and abroad. Typical job titles include User Interface Engineer, User Experience Designer, Behavioral Analyst, Interaction Designer, User Interface Developer, User Researcher, Information Visualisation Specialist. Our students have also pursued academic careers. The studies put emphasis on basic theories and methodologies, offering a solid basis for PhD studies in HCI in Helsinki or internationally.

Qualifications

Graduates of the programme will graduate with a Master of Science (Technology) degree (diplomi-insinööri in Finnish).

Post-graduate studies

The programme qualifies for doctoral studies (Doctor of Science in an applicable field).

Content of the studies

Students learn computational approaches to HCI via modeling, theories, and methods, as well as relevant design and empirical methods. As the curriculum progresses, they learn to apply their skills to increasingly more realistic problems.

The first year of studies consists of learning the core methodologies and techniques in the design and analysis of interaction. During the second year, students specialise in a chosen technical topic. The core courses provide a strong foundation in design, empirical methods, and HCI theories on topics such as input devices, interactive media, interaction techniques, interface technologies, interactive applications and multimodal interactive systems.

Here are some examples of the wide course selection:

Computational User Interface Design (5 ECTS)
Designing Interactive Systems (6 ECTS)
Emergent User Interfaces (5 ECTS)
Human-Computer Interaction (5 ECTS)
Intelligent Media (5 ECTS)
Usability Evaluation (5 ECTS)
User Interface Construction (5 ECTS)

See all courses

Structure of the studies

The Master’s Programme in Computer, Communication and Information Sciences – Human-Computer Interaction is organised by the Schools of Science and Electrical Engineering and comprises a total of 120 ECTS credits. The two-year programme consists of:

Major subject studies (40-65 ECTS)
Minor subject studies (20-25 ECTS)
Master’s Thesis (30 ECTS)
Elective studies (25-35 ECTS)

Students can select their minor either from the other study options in the Master's Programme in Computer, Communications and Information Sciences or from other Master’s programmes offered by Aalto University. The elective studies consist of additional major courses, additional minor, multidisciplinary courses, or studies abroad.

At the beginning of their studies, students define their Personal Study Plans (PSP) together with an academic advisor. The primary purpose of PSP is to ensure that the studies support the student’s interests and are completed in a logical order.

Personal Study Plan (PSP)

Personal Study Plan (PSP) is a practical tool to define a student’s own study path, i.e. compiling an optimal selection of courses, aligned with the student's interests and programme requirements. PSP is also a useful tool for keeping up with studies. At best, it shows the stage at which students are with their studies and sets concrete milestones for them to follow.

Thesis

Students are required to complete a Master's thesis, which is a research assignment with a workload corresponding to 30 ECTS credits. The topic of the thesis is agreed upon by the student and the supervising professor. Master's theses are typically written for a company or for one of the research projects of the department(s) in question.

International opportunities

The programme’s reputation is recognised globally and it provides students a solid foundation for an international career. The two organising schools offer diverse possibilities for exchange studies all over the world. Other possibilities for developing one’s global competence are, for instance, conducting a practical training period, summer courses abroad or acting as a tutor for first-year students.

Aalto University is international by nature, welcoming thousands of degree and exchange students from abroad each year. These students join the diverse Aalto community not only through studies, but also multiple free time events, activities and celebrations around the campus. Programme administrators, active student tutors and student support services work rigorously to help international students integrate into Nordic culture and welcome them at home in Finland.

Multidisciplinary opportunities

Aalto University is well-known for bridging disciplines of business, arts, technology and science. The lively campus brings students from different fields under one roof. This spontaneous multidisciplinary environment sparks new ideas, gathers enthusiasts around them and gives birth to friendships, networks, and every so often, startups.

Co-operation with other parties

The research groups involved in the programme co-operate closely with international companies and research groups of the field of HCI. They have demonstrated academic co-operation with high quality international universities and organisations.

Research in Human-Computer Interaction at Aalto University is internationally recognized for contributions to computational design and interaction. CSRankings.com ranks Aalto University as #4 in Europe in the field of HCI. The groups are also part of FCAI, the Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence.

Research focus

The topics of the major are linked to ongoing research focus areas in the Department of Computer Science and Department of Communications and Networking at Aalto University.

Study-option-specific application instructions

Applicants to the programme must meet the general eligibility and language requirements that are common to all Master's programmes in the field of science and technology.

Required background:

software engineering (basics)
good or strong programming skills
algorithms (basics)
machine learning (basics)
mathematics, and especially linear algebra, calculus, and probability theory or statistics

Knowledge of one or more the following areas is considered an advantage:

interaction design
human-computer interaction
human factors
robotics
data structures
security
electrical engineering, signal processing
artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science
web and mobile technology
psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience

The documents requested from all applicants are listed here. In addition, applicants to the CCIS programme are requested to provide the following study-option-specific documents:

Motivation letter*
- The motivation letter should be written in English. The maximum length of the motivation letter is about 4000 characters.
- Applicants interested in doctoral track should indicate this in their motivation letter. Other than that, there are no specific instructions for the content of the motivation letter except for the general advice that you should write a separate motivation letter for each study option to which you apply.
Curriculum Vitae (CV)*
At least one original recommendation letter
- The recommendation letter should preferably be from a university professor, lecturer or a thesis instructor who has supervised the applicant’s studies. There are no specific instructions for the contents of the recommendation letter. The letter should comment on the applicant’s suitability and aptitude for the programme. Recommendation letters written by work supervisors are accepted as well in case some time has passed since graduation.

*) The lack of this document will adversely affect the evaluation of the application.

In addition, these additional documents add value to your application:

Short course descriptions of courses taken in the relevant subject areas (see "Study-option-specific eligibility requirements")
Work certificates and certificates of other relevant achievements
Copies of any publications
Official transcript of records for other university studies which are not included in the mandatory part of the application (e.g. incomplete degrees, exchange studies, non‐degree studies)
GRE or GMAT test results, if available

General instructions on study-option-specific documents

All additional application documents described above should preferably be submitted in English. If some other language than English, Finnish or Swedish is used in them, the applicant must provide precise, word-for-word translations of them.

Upload the documents to your online application form in pdf-format. Name the file(s) according to format: Name of the document-Lastname-Firstname (e.g. CV-Lastname-Firstname.pdf). Maximum file size is 1.0 GB.

The study-option-specific documents must be uploaded for each study option separately, even if you use the same document (e.g. CV). Please check carefully the study-option-specific document requirements for each study option you apply to.

The deadline for the study-option-specific application documents to be uploaded to your application form is 11 January 2021 at 15.00 (3 pm, GMT +2).

The applications must first meet Aalto University’s general eligibility requirements. Applicants meeting the general eligibility criteria for master's studies are evaluated and ranked according to the process described below.

The applications are first evaluated based on the following, critically important criteria:

Academic performance
Relevance of previous studies

Only the applications that meet the requirements for these criteria will be evaluated further using the criteria below:

Recognition and quality of institution
Suitability
Other areas of competence

The best applicants will be selected based on the joint evaluation of all the above criteria. The programme does not have a minimum quota to be fulfilled, and not all eligible applicants will necessarily be admitted.

Academic performance

What is evaluated?	Grades of the previous degree(s) and pace of studies
What we look for in an applicant	The CCIS programme is looking for applicants with excellent study success in their previous studies. In study options where the number and quality of applications is high, this means that the applicant has achieved consistently excellent grades throughout the degree studies (very high weighted average grade or GPA). The applicant’s study success will be evaluated based on the grade point average (GPA) and grades in key courses. The time spent on the previous studies will also be taken into account. All the applicant’s previous university studies, including incomplete degrees and non‐degree studies, will be taken into consideration when evaluating study success. The minimum GPA for applicants from Finnish universities of applied sciences is 4.0. Meeting the minimum GPA does not guarantee admission to the programme. Applicants with GPA below the limit cannot be admitted unless they have other exceptional qualifications. Programme’s courses or equivalent courses completed in the open university or as non-degree studies with excellent grades may support the application.
Evaluated documents	Transcript(s) of records, degree certificate(s)
Criticality	Critical

Relevance of previous studies

What is evaluated?	Content and quantity of previous studies in relation to the applied study-option-specific requirements
What we look for in an applicant	Applicants are expected to have a high-quality Bachelor’s degree in computer science, software engineering, communications engineering, or electrical engineering. Excellent candidates with degrees in other fields including but not limited to information systems, engineering, natural sciences, mathematics or physics will be considered if they have sufficient studies in the required areas. The required background knowledge, as well as areas of knowledge that are considered an advantage, are defined in "Study-option-specific eligibility requirements". The contents of the applicant’s previous degree(s) are evaluated based on the courses on the official transcript of records. Relevant work experience, professional certificates and online courses can also be taken into account in the evaluation, but they do not in general compensate for the absence of university-level studies covering the theoretical foundations of the knowledge areas.
Evaluated documents	Transcript(s) of records, course descriptions
Criticality	Critical

Recognition and quality of institution

What is evaluated?	Recognition and quality of the applicant's previous institution
What we look for in an applicant	We expect applicants to have completed their previous degree in a high-quality university and programme. The recognition of the applicant’s home university affects also the interpretation of the grades when evaluating the academic performance.
Method of demonstrating competence	International and national rankings of higher education institutions
Criticality	Not critical

Suitability

What is evaluated?	Applicant’s suitability to the study option, motivation, commitment to the studies, and written communication skills
What we look for in an applicant	The applicant should be motivated to study the chosen subject and committed to full‐time studies with a plan to complete the Master’s degree in two years. We are looking for applicants who are able to express clearly the reasons for applying to the study option and describe why they would be excellent candidates for the study option. Studies in the Master’s programme should provide genuinely new knowledge for the applicant. If the applicant already has a Master’s degree, the motivation letter should clearly indicate why another one is necessary. In most cases, non-degree studies are recommended instead.
Method of demonstrating competence	Application as a whole including motivation letter
Criticality	Not critical

Other areas of competence

What is evaluated?	Work experience, other qualifications and achievements
What we look for in an applicant	Beyond their academic record, applicants may have other experience, knowledge and qualifications that prepare them for the Master’s studies and distinguish them among their peers. We particularly value demanding work experience in the area of the planned studies, participation in scientific research leading to publications, entrepreneurship, and special achievements such as success in competitions (e.g. Junction Hackathon).
Method of demonstrating competence	Curriculum vitae, recommendation letters, proofs of employment, publications, other certificates, GRE or GMAT results (if available).
Criticality	Not critical

Contact information

For enquiries regarding the application process, required compulsory application documents or English language proficiency, please contact Admission Services at [email protected].

For enquiries regarding the study-option-specific application documents, doctoral track or studies in the programme, please contact Learning Services at Aalto University School of Science at [email protected].

See what our students think about studying Human-Computer Interaction.

Study at Aalto

Do you want to study in the Nordics in Finland? At Aalto University science and art meet technology and business. We believe in the power of curiosity and encourage our students to explore the unknown as well as to learn and do things in a whole new way.

Finland’s excellent reputation in education, combined with a wide range of courses offered in English, makes Finland an attractive study destination for international students. Boasting the largest technology hub of the Nordic countries, Finland is a world leader in information technology, business, design and many other academically centred fields.