Aalto University Business Analytics Master’s Thesis Guide: 2026–2028 Curriculum

Aalto University’s Master’s Programme in Business Analytics is a 120 ECTS, two-year Master of Science (Economics and Business Administration) programme organised by the School of Business. For students following the current 2026–2028 curriculum, the thesis framework is unusually clear: the Master’s thesis is 30 ECTS, the Master’s Thesis Seminar is 3 ECTS, and the maturity test is recorded as 0 ECTS.

Those numbers matter because Aalto’s School of Business does not use one identical thesis size across every current programme. Some School of Business programmes now use a 20 ECTS thesis, while Business Analytics remains at 30 ECTS in the current curriculum. Students should therefore follow the Business Analytics curriculum and thesis seminar rather than borrowing rules from Finance, International Management, Strategic Management or another programme.

This guide focuses on the current Business Analytics thesis process, planning, supervision, permitted thesis formats, submission, maturity requirement, assessment, AI use and the programme-linked 2027 timetable. It deliberately does not invent a universal page count, fixed chapter template, compulsory citation style or one mandatory empirical method because Aalto’s current official instructions do not establish those as universal Business Analytics requirements.

Current degree and thesis structure

The current 2026–2028 Business Analytics degree totals 120 ECTS. Aalto divides this into 87 ECTS of programme studies and 33 ECTS of elective studies.

Within the programme studies, the thesis-related components are:

• Master’s Thesis: 30 ECTS
• Master’s Thesis Seminar (ISM-E5001): 3 ECTS
• Maturity Test: 0 ECTS

This creates a 33 ECTS thesis-plus-seminar workload. The recommended timetable explains that students can complete this work over approximately one academic year or, depending on their pace and goals, over one semester.

Aalto’s School of Business estimates that a 30 ECTS thesis represents roughly 750–900 hours of work, corresponding to approximately five to six months of full-time study. This is a workload estimate, not a promise that every thesis will take exactly the same calendar time.

When should Business Analytics students start thinking about the thesis?

The programme’s recommended timetable allows students to begin thinking about possible thesis topics during the spring of the first year. The formal Master’s Thesis Seminar is recommended to begin in the autumn of the second year and continue into the spring, while the thesis and maturity requirement are placed in year two.

That makes the first year useful for building a thesis pipeline rather than trying to decide the final topic immediately. Students can use courses to identify recurring business problems, data environments, analytical methods and research debates that might later become a feasible thesis question.

A sensible early workflow is to keep a short research notebook containing:

1. recurring business or organisational problems that interest you;
2. analytical or decision-making questions raised in courses;
3. datasets or organisational contexts that may be accessible;
4. academic papers that provide theoretical or methodological direction;
5. methodological skills you may need to strengthen before the thesis seminar.

The aim is not to lock in a topic too early. It is to arrive at the thesis seminar with several plausible research directions that can be tested for academic value, feasibility and data access.

The thesis seminar is the programme-specific control point

Aalto’s School of Business provides common thesis instructions, but it explicitly says that programme-specific requirements concerning structure, formatting, methodology and additional procedures are provided by the programme and thesis seminar.

For Business Analytics students, this is a critical hierarchy. School-wide instructions establish the common process and academic baseline, while the Business Analytics seminar can provide more specific expectations for the actual thesis.

Therefore, when seminar instructions and general School guidance differ in level of detail, students should treat the Business Analytics programme and seminar instructions as the programme-specific operational source.

What should a Business Analytics thesis demonstrate?

School of Business thesis learning outcomes emphasise specialised academic knowledge, scientific thinking, critical evaluation of a research problem, appropriate research methods, analysis and adherence to academic standards.

For Business Analytics, a strong thesis should therefore do more than apply a technical tool. The analytical method needs to serve a defensible research problem. A sophisticated model with a weak question is not automatically a strong thesis, just as a good managerial topic without a credible analytical design is not enough.

A practical alignment chain is:

research problem → research question → literature/theory → data or evidence → analytical method → results → interpretation → conclusions

Each part should support the next. The method should be selected because it can answer the research question with the available evidence, not because it is fashionable or familiar.

There is no single compulsory Business Analytics method

Current Aalto evidence does not establish one mandatory thesis method for every Business Analytics student. Depending on the research question, a thesis could involve statistical modelling, machine learning, optimisation, econometrics, simulation, experiments, survey data, archival or transactional data, business process data, qualitative evidence, mixed methods or another defensible research design.

The exact design should follow the research problem, the available data, disciplinary conventions and programme guidance.

Before committing to a method, ask:

• What exactly is the research question?
• What evidence would be capable of answering it?
• Is the available data valid for that purpose?
• What assumptions does the proposed method require?
• Can the analysis be completed within a 30 ECTS project?
• Are there privacy, confidentiality, licensing or research-ethics constraints?
• Can the results be interpreted in a way that creates academic and business insight?

This sequence is particularly important in analytics projects where access to data can determine what is realistically possible.

Individual, pair and commissioned theses

The School of Business currently permits a Master’s thesis to be completed individually or in a pair.

For a pair thesis, the work must form a cohesive shared research project and both students are expected to contribute equally. The thesis is assessed as one work and the students normally receive the same grade, although special circumstances can lead to different grades.

A thesis may also be commissioned by an external organisation. This can be valuable in Business Analytics because companies and public organisations often have real analytical problems and data. However, the academic thesis remains a University assignment. The University supervisor must approve the topic and the work must meet Aalto’s academic standards regardless of the commissioner’s commercial or operational goals.

Students should therefore separate two questions early:

1. What does the organisation want to learn or solve?
2. What is the academically defensible research problem that can become a Master’s thesis?

The two can overlap, but they are not automatically identical.

Confidentiality and organisational data

Aalto states that the Master’s thesis itself cannot be confidential. An external organisation cannot require the thesis document to remain confidential as a condition of cooperation.

This is especially important for Business Analytics projects using customer data, employee data, commercial datasets, internal processes or proprietary models. Confidential supporting material may sometimes be handled separately with the commissioner, but material that is excluded from the public thesis cannot be relied on as hidden evidence for grading.

Before starting data collection or analysis, students should resolve:

• whether they are legally permitted to use the data;
• whether personal data are involved;
• whether data must be anonymised or aggregated;
• whether an NDA is compatible with a public thesis;
• what can appear in the final public document;
• whether the research design remains academically understandable without confidential annexes.

Do not leave these questions until the final submission stage.

Article-type thesis: a valid option, not the universal format

The School of Business also permits an article-type thesis. In that format, the thesis follows research-article conventions appropriate to the field.

Aalto gives an approximate 10,000–15,000-word range for the article manuscript format. This figure must not be misread as a universal Business Analytics thesis word count. It applies to the optional article-type format, while other thesis formats can have different expectations.

Aalto also makes clear that expectations can vary by programme in length, amount of data and type of analysis. Students should therefore obtain the applicable Business Analytics seminar guidance before treating any word or page number as binding.

Do not copy an old thesis as a rigid template

Aalto recommends using its thesis template, but its School of Business guidance warns against treating earlier theses as fixed structural models. Thesis structure depends on the research methodology and field.

That means there is no defensible universal chapter list such as “Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Results, Discussion” that every Business Analytics thesis must reproduce in exactly the same way.

Those sections are common in many empirical studies, but the final structure should fit the research design and the instructions provided by the programme and seminar.

Previous theses are useful for understanding the expected academic level, presentation and depth. They should not override the current curriculum or seminar instructions.

Supervisor, topic approval and the start of the formal process

The common School of Business process begins through the programme’s thesis seminar. Students develop the topic, agree on supervision, and the supervisor and topic are formally approved through MyStudies.

The School indicates that supervisors are generally expected to meet thesis students approximately four to six times, although the exact practice can differ by programme and individual project.

Students should make each supervision meeting productive. A useful approach is to send focused material in advance and ask a limited number of specific questions about research design, analysis, argument, scope or interpretation.

The supervisor is an academic guide and evaluator, not a co-author who rewrites the thesis. Responsibility for the research decisions, analysis and final text remains with the student.

Research integrity, ethics and reproducibility

Business Analytics projects can involve substantial methodological and data-management risk. A technically correct analysis can still be academically weak if the data source is inappropriate, assumptions are hidden, preprocessing is not documented or results cannot be reproduced.

Students should keep clear records of:

• how data were obtained;
• inclusion and exclusion decisions;
• data cleaning and preprocessing;
• variable definitions;
• model or parameter choices;
• validation procedures;
• robustness or sensitivity checks where relevant;
• code, software and version information where appropriate;
• ethical or privacy decisions;
• limitations that affect interpretation.

The thesis should allow a knowledgeable reader to understand what was done and why.

AI use in the thesis

Aalto’s current AI guidance permits AI tools to support learning and academic work unless a course, programme or assessment has imposed a restriction. The student remains responsible for the accuracy, originality and integrity of submitted work, and AI use must be disclosed or cited when required by the applicable instructions.

For thesis work, this means an AI tool may be useful for permitted support tasks, but it cannot replace source evaluation, methodological judgement, verification of calculations, research ethics or the student’s responsibility for the final argument.

Students should maintain a record of substantial AI use so that disclosure can be accurate. Any output used in research or writing should be independently checked against reliable sources and the underlying data or analysis.

There is a stricter rule for the maturity test: Aalto prohibits language models in maturity tests.

For School of Business Master’s theses, the thesis abstract serves as the Master’s-level maturity essay. Students should therefore treat the maturity component as a restricted assessment and follow the current Aalto instructions rather than assuming that ordinary thesis-writing AI permissions automatically extend to it.

The maturity test and thesis abstract

The Business Analytics curriculum lists the maturity test as a 0 ECTS requirement. Under the School of Business thesis process, the thesis abstract functions as the Master’s-level maturity essay, so a separate maturity essay submission is not normally required.

For an English-language thesis, the abstract is written in English. Depending on the student’s previous education and language obligations, a Finnish or Swedish translation of the abstract may also be required.

Because language obligations depend on the student’s educational background, students should verify the exact requirement in their own student record and current Aalto instructions before final submission.

Final submission through MyStudies

The final thesis is submitted for evaluation in MyStudies as a single archival PDF/A file that includes the required cover page and abstract.

A Turnitin similarity report is generated from the final thesis file submitted through the system. Students should therefore treat this as the formal assessment version and complete all checks before upload:

• confirm the title and metadata;
• use the required cover and abstract material;
• verify references and citations;
• check tables, figures and appendices;
• verify accessibility and readability;
• confirm that confidential information is not included;
• check the PDF/A file itself after export;
• ensure that the submitted file is the final approved version.

The thesis is a public academic document, so publication implications should be considered before submission rather than after approval.

How the thesis is assessed

Under the School of Business process, the thesis is evaluated by the supervisor and a second examiner who is knowledgeable in the field. They provide an evaluation using the School’s common Master’s thesis rubric.

Aalto updated this rubric to distinguish the scope of 20 ECTS and 30 ECTS theses, and the updated rubric applies from 1 August 2026. That distinction reinforces why Business Analytics students must use the 30 ECTS scope applicable to their own programme.

After evaluation, the Head of Department confirms the grades for theses submitted during the relevant month. The evaluation statement and grade then become available through Aalto’s student systems.

Students should use the rubric during planning and revision, not only after the thesis is finished. Assessment criteria are most useful when they influence the quality of the research problem, methods, analysis, argument and presentation throughout the project.

Current 2027 thesis and graduation timing

The Business Analytics graduation page links thesis and maturity submission to the programme’s graduation calendar. Aalto currently lists the following 2027 graduation dates:

• 27 January 2027
• 17 February 2027
• 24 March 2027
• 21 April 2027
• 26 May 2027
• 23 June 2027
• 30 July 2027
• 25 August 2027
• 22 September 2027
• 20 October 2027
• 17 November 2027
• 31 December 2027

For most graduation rounds, the graduation date is also the last day to submit the thesis and maturity requirement. June is an exception: Aalto states that there is no thesis examination in June, so a student planning June graduation must submit according to the May thesis and maturity timetable.

These dates are useful for current planning, but students should always re-check the Business Analytics graduation page before scheduling a final submission. Aalto may update administrative calendars, and a thesis should never be rushed around an old copied deadline.

A practical Business Analytics thesis roadmap

Stage 1: Build the question before the model

Start with the managerial, organisational or analytical problem. Convert it into a focused research question. Then identify the literature, data and analytical design capable of answering that question.

Stage 2: Test data feasibility early

Before promising a sophisticated analysis, confirm access, quality, privacy, licensing and sample limitations. A weaker method on valid data can be more defensible than an advanced method built on unsuitable data.

Stage 3: Use the thesis seminar to narrow scope

A 30 ECTS thesis is substantial but finite. Use seminar feedback to reduce unnecessary variables, questions, methods or cases. A focused project with a coherent analytical argument is usually stronger than a thesis trying to solve several unrelated problems.

Stage 4: Formalise supervision and topic approval

Complete the MyStudies topic and supervisor process as required. Agree on a realistic schedule and clarify what feedback the supervisor can provide at different stages.

Stage 5: Document the analysis as you work

Maintain reproducible records of data processing, code, models, assumptions and decisions. Do not try to reconstruct the analytical workflow after the results are already written.

Stage 6: Write interpretation, not just output

Tables, coefficients, model metrics or dashboards do not explain themselves. Connect results back to the research question, literature and business context. Explain limitations and avoid claims that exceed the evidence.

Stage 7: Use the rubric before submission

Review the School of Business rubric while revising. Check whether the thesis demonstrates a clear research problem, appropriate methods, rigorous analysis, critical thinking and coherent academic communication.

Stage 8: Protect the final submission process

Allow time for supervisor feedback, final proofreading, reference checks, PDF/A conversion, abstract/maturity requirements and MyStudies submission. If targeting a graduation round, work backwards from the current programme-linked deadline rather than finishing on the deadline itself.

What not to assume

For the current 2026–2028 Business Analytics programme, students should not assume:

• that a 20 ECTS thesis rule from another School of Business programme applies here;
• that 10,000–15,000 words is the universal thesis length;
• that every thesis must use the same chapter structure;
• that one citation style is mandatory without programme-specific evidence;
• that every thesis must use machine learning or another single analytical method;
• that company data may be kept confidential inside the assessed thesis;
• that AI permissions for ordinary thesis work also apply to the maturity-test component;
• that an old graduation date remains current without re-checking Aalto’s programme page.

Final planning principle

The current Business Analytics framework is strong enough for precise thesis planning. The degree is 120 ECTS under the 2026–2028 curriculum, the Master’s thesis is 30 ECTS, the thesis seminar is 3 ECTS, and the maturity requirement is 0 ECTS. The programme timetable places the formal thesis process mainly in the second year, while the School of Business provides a common process for supervision, public thesis requirements, MyStudies submission, evaluation and research integrity.

The most important practical lesson is to keep the hierarchy of evidence clear. Follow the current Business Analytics curriculum first, the Business Analytics thesis seminar for programme-specific operational requirements, and the School of Business thesis instructions for the shared School-level framework. That prevents a common Aalto error: importing a valid thesis rule from a different programme into a Business Analytics thesis where it does not apply.