Aalto University (Finnish: Aalto-yliopisto; Swedish: Aalto-universitetet) is a public research university located in Espoo, Finland. It was established in 2010 as a merger of three major Finnish universities: the Helsinki University of Technology, the Helsinki School of Economics and the University of Art and Design Helsinki. The close collaboration between the scientific, business and arts communities is intended to foster multi-disciplinary education and research.
The Finnish government, in 2010, set out to create a university that fosters innovation, merging the three institutions into one.[4] The university is composed of six schools with close to 17,500 students and 4,000 staff members, making it Finland's second largest university. The main campus of Aalto University is located in Otaniemi, Espoo. Aalto University Executive Education operates in the district of Töölö, Helsinki. In addition to the Greater Helsinki area, the university also operates its Bachelor's Programme in International Business in Mikkeli and the Metsähovi Radio Observatory in Kirkkonummi.
The university is named in honour of Alvar Aalto, a prominent Finnish architect, designer and alumnus of the former Helsinki University of Technology, who was also instrumental in designing a large part of the university's main campus in Otaniemi.
In 2004, a workgroup led by Anne Brunila of the Finnish Ministry of Finance concluded that Finland had too many universities and other institutes of tertiary education which should be consolidated. Following this, Yrjö Sotamaa, president of the University of Art and Design Helsinki at the time, proposed the merger of Aalto University's founding schools in his president's opening speech in 2005. Sotamaa's line of reasoning was that this move would create a unique interdisciplinary university that was needed to create new innovative thought.[citation needed]
The idea received attention within the Finnish Ministry of Education, which appointed Raimo Sailas, a leading official at the Ministry of Finance, to investigate the possibility of a merger. After Sailas' group reported that it considered the merger to be beneficial to the Finnish academic world and economy, the Finnish government decided to go on with the project on 11 November 2007.
On 29 May 2008 the government announced that the new university would be named after the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto in honor of his achievements in technology, economics and art. The Finnish minister of education at the time, Sari Sarkomaa, together with representatives of Finnish industries and professional organisations, signed the Aalto University charter on 25 June 2008 in Helsinki. On 19 December 2008 Tuula Teeri was selected by the board to be the first president of Aalto University.
Aalto University started operating on 1 January 2010. In the process of creating the university the university law of Finland was rewritten for the university to be allowed to collect endowment. The university managed to reach its goal of collecting 200 million euros in private donations. The sum was augmented by 2.5 times by the Finnish state.[5]
In a 2017 analysis by The Times Higher Education, Aalto University ranked 55th among technology challenger universities.[6]
As the Aalto University was founded the four schools of science and engineering were formed out of the departments of the Helsinki University of Technology (TKK), founded in 1849 by Grand Duke Nicholas I. It received university status in 1908. In 1966, the University of Technology moved from Hietalahti in downtown Helsinki to its current Otaniemi campus, designed by Alvar Aalto. At the time of creation of Aalto University, TKK had about 250 professors and approximately 15,000 students. This means the largest part of the Aalto University is formed from the former Helsinki University of Technology.
In 2011, the former University of Technology (then known as Aalto University School of Science and Technology) was split up into four schools, corresponding to the former TKK faculties: School of Chemical Technology (CHEM), School of Electrical Engineering (ELEC), School of Engineering (ENG), and School of Science (SCI).
The Helsinki School of Economics (HSE) was established in Helsinki in 1904 by the business community and was given the status of a university in 1911. It operated as a private university until 1974, when the state of Finland was given the financial responsibility of the university.
Following the merger, the university was briefly renamed Aalto University School of Economics, and is currently known as Aalto University School of Business (Aalto BIZ).
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The University of Art and Design Helsinki has been the largest art university in the Nordic countries. It was founded in 1871. Media Centre Lume – the National Research and Development Center of audiovisual media – is also located in the university. The university awarded the following academic degrees: Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, and Doctor of Arts.
The university has been active in establishing research projects and industrial collaborations via the private sector. During the rectorship of Yrjö Sotamaa the university was active in integrating design into Finnish innovation networks.
Following the merger, the university was briefly renamed Aalto University School of Art and Design. In 2012, the Department of Architecture, which historically has been a part of the Helsinki University of Technology, was moved to the school, and the name was changed to Aalto University School of Art, Design and Architecture (Aalto ARTS).
The department of photography at Aalto University School of Art, Design and Architecture (Aalto ARTS) is home to what is known as The Helsinki School, a selected group of photographers from Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture that has been the model for a new approach to education as well as a vehicle for collaborative thought and cooperation.[7]
The university, which is incorporated as Aalto University Foundation, is governed by the seven-member Aalto University Foundation Board. The board decides on the foundation's strategy, operation and financial issues, is responsible for any far-reaching plans and appoints the university president and vice rectors. Formerly working as the provost of Aalto University, Ilkka Niemelä was elected president of Aalto University in 2017. The first president of Aalto University was Tuula Teeri. The university is organized into six schools with their respective deans and administrative structures.
The university is organized since the beginning of 2011 into six schools formed out of the three merged universities. Each school has several departments and separate laboratories as well as a number of separate research and other units.
All engineering programmes offered by the schools of science and technology lead to the degree of diplomi-insinööri (M.Sc.(Tech.), Master of Science in Technology), a five-year taught master's degree, which is fairly similar to the German Diplom-Ingenieur degrees. From 2005, according to the Bologna process, all students must also complete a bachelor's degree (B.Sc.(Tech), Bachelor of Science in Technology), in Finnish tekniikan kandidaatti or TkK, before the DI or architect's degree. However, the schools of science and technology do not offer programs terminating in a bachelor's degree; a student may only be accepted to study for the Master's level degree. The schools of science and technology require a bachelor's degree from foreign students studying in English, because only Master's studies are offered completely in English.
Undergraduate studies are generally quite similar in between different programs with a considerable part being taken by a tuition of a solid base in mathematics and physics.
Apart from numerous programs in Finnish/Swedish, various international Master's programs are offered exclusively for studies in English.[16] The postgraduate degrees given are tekniikan lisensiaatti (Lic.Sc.(Tech.), Licenciate of Science in Technology) and tekniikan tohtori (D.Sc.(Tech.), Doctor of Science in Technology).
Finnish students are accepted mainly on the basis of result in the national DIA entrance exam. The exam variant taken by most entrants mainly tests quantitative ability in mathematics, physics and chemistry, but specialized tests are available for students applying to a number of programs. The score required for entry to the Aalto University varies much depending on the intended field of study, however, in general the scores required for the Aalto University are higher than for any other university granting entry through the DIA exam. For example, the mean sum of mathematics and physics DIA exam scores was 7.2 in the year 2010, whereas the mean minimum sum of mathematics and physics exam scores for gaining admission to an Aalto program was 17.1–20.1, depending on the priority point distribution.[17] Aalto also contains five of the most selective programs with respect to the matriculation exam scores, out of approximately total of 50 university technology programs in the nation, of which approximately 30 are outside of Aalto, and the three most selective programs with respect to entrance exam and combined scores. The minimum scores required for these top programs are in the 95th–99th percentile range of the whole applicant pool, and approximately 98th-99.8th percentile of what would be the score distribution of the whole age group.
The School of Arts, Design and Architecture has been a leader in art and design education in Finland for over 138 years. It is an international postgraduate university institution with students from over 50 countries. It offers doctorate, master and bachelor's degrees in a wide range of disciplines – fine art, design, new media, art education, visual culture, motion picture and production design. School of Arts, Design and Architecture is a pioneer in research and in developing interdisciplinary study programmes.
The school received its current name in the beginning of 2012 when the architecture department moved in from the School of Engineering (previously part of Helsinki University of Technology).[18] The architecture programmes lead to the Master of Science degrees in architecture and landscape architecture.
In 2021, Aalto University was ranked the sixth globally according to the QS World University Rankings by the subject Art and Design.[19]
The School of Business offers degrees in economics and business administration at the Bachelor, Master, Licentiate and Doctoral levels, along with MBA programs targeted to business professionals. Many of the degrees and programs are offered in English.[20]
In its degree programs, the school has a two-step program structure with a three-year bachelor's degree followed by a two-year master's degree. A doctoral degree normally takes four additional years. Financial Times ranked Aalto University School of Business 29th in the European Business school rankings in 2013.[21]
Aalto University School of Business is located at the Otaniemi campus. The school offers two Bachelor of Science Programs (one in Finnish at the Otaniemi campus and the other in English at the Mikkeli campus) and 13 Master of Science Programs (12 are offered in English).
The Aalto University School of Business is the first business school in Finland and the first business school in the Nordic countries to have received all three labels of excellence from the world's leading business school accreditation bodies: AACSB, AMBA, EQUIS. This Triple Crown status is an honor held by only few business schools worldwide. The school is also an active member of the CEMS (Global Alliance in Management Education) and PIM (Partnership in International Management).
Aalto MBA and Executive MBA Programs are NOT Master's degree programs. Both are organized by Aalto University Executive Education Ltd. MBA and Executive MBA programs are offered in Helsinki, China, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Poland and have tuition fees, unlike the degree programs. The MBA program is taught through two-week modules by visiting faculty from some of the top business schools in the world, including Emory University, Rutgers Business School, University of South Carolina, Georgetown University, UCLA, Concordia University, Queen's University, Rotterdam School of Management, Indiana University, ESADE and INSEAD.[22][23] Aalto University Executive Education Ltd also offers a double degree Executive MBA Program in partnership with Esade Business School. Financial Times ranked Aalto University School of Business 78th in Global MBA programs,[24] 85th in Executive MBA programs.[25]
Aalto EMBA was advertised as a Master's degree program in Taiwan, even though it's a non-degree program. Recruiting and hosting of the program infringed local laws. The issues were discovered in 2022 and the program was closed as a result.
Aalto University has defined four fundamental competence areas: ICT and digitalisation, Materials and sustainable use of natural resources, Global business dynamics and Art and design knowledge building. In addition to these, the university invests in three integrative multidisciplinary themes: Advanced energy solutions, Health and wellbeing, and Human-centred living environments.[26]
Researchers at Aalto University have achieved notability in, among other things, low temperature physics (holding the current world record for the lowest temperature achieved), the development of devices and methods for magnetoencephalography, mobile communications, wood processing, and neural networks, with professor Teuvo Kohonen initiating research in self-organizing maps. Additionally, the first commercialised total synthesis, the synthesis of camphor, was invented by Gustaf Komppa, the first professor of chemistry at TKK[27] and the Nobel laureate (chemistry, 1945) Artturi Virtanen held a professorship in biochemistry at TKK. More recently, the university has notably invested in the research of nanotechnology, operating the largest cleanroom facility in Northern Europe[28] and one of the largest microscopy clusters in Europe.[29] MilliLab, a joint laboratory of VTT and Aalto University, built one of the radio receivers in the Planck probe, which maps the cosmic microwave background for determining the age and composition of the universe.[30]
Aalto University has participated in nine centres of excellence during 2008–2019 (Finnish: huippuyksikkö), selected by the Academy of Finland to represent the top research in the country, and receiving separate, fixed-period funding from the academy.[31]