Aalto University CCIS Master’s Thesis Guide for School of Science Students: 2026–2028 Curriculum

Aalto University’s Master’s Programme in Computer, Communication and Information Sciences (CCIS) is jointly organised by the School of Electrical Engineering (ELEC) and the School of Science (SCI). That joint structure matters for thesis planning because Aalto does not send every CCIS student through one identical thesis process. The current CCIS thesis page directs ELEC students to ELEC-specific public instructions and SCI students to the separate SCI Master’s Thesis workspace in MyCourses.

This guide therefore applies only to CCIS students whose thesis is administered through the School of Science. It uses the current 2026–2028 CCIS curriculum and the public SCI-specific starting and graduation guidance verified on 29 August 2026. It does not import ELEC-E0210, ELEC supervisor rules, School of Chemical Engineering procedures, or any other school-specific process to fill gaps in the authenticated SCI workspace.

Where the thesis fits in the current CCIS degree

The current 2026–2028 CCIS degree is a 120 ECTS Master of Science (Technology). The curriculum uses a flexible structure built around:

• a 40 or 60 ECTS major;
• a 30 ECTS Master’s thesis;
• a 20–25 ECTS minor for students taking a compact 40 ECTS major;
• elective studies used to complete the 120 ECTS degree.

The exact study-plan balance depends on whether the student’s major uses the compact or long structure. That flexibility does not change the thesis scope: the current CCIS Master’s thesis is 30 ECTS.

For SCI students, Aalto’s current CCIS thesis page identifies majors including Computer Science, Game Design and Development, Human-Computer Interaction, Machine Learning, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Security and Cloud Computing, and Software and Service Engineering. These fields differ substantially in research traditions, so the thesis method cannot be reduced to one universal model.

The thesis is a 30 ECTS research assignment

The current CCIS curriculum describes the Master’s thesis as a research assignment corresponding to 30 credits. The topic is normally related to the student’s major and should be agreed with a professor who has expertise in the thesis area.

The curriculum also makes three additional components explicit:

• a seminar presentation or equivalent presentation;
• a maturity essay related to the thesis;
• public-document status for the approved thesis.

These requirements belong to the current thesis framework. The public curriculum does not publish a separate additional thesis-seminar ECTS value for SCI students, so this guide does not invent one.

Start planning at the beginning of the second study year

Aalto’s current SCI-specific starting guidance recommends that students begin the thesis process at the beginning of the second study year. This is a useful planning rule because finding a suitable topic, supervisor, research environment or external commissioner can itself take time.

The same SCI guidance says that a 30-credit thesis corresponds to approximately six months of full-time work. If the student cannot work on the thesis full-time because of employment, other courses, data collection or another reason, Aalto advises starting earlier.

Aalto also warns SCI students that exceeding the six-month target may affect the grade. That does not mean every project must finish on exactly the same calendar date. It means the student should discuss scope and timetable with the supervisor early and should not allow an originally 30 ECTS project to expand indefinitely without academic control.

Choosing a topic that fits the major

A CCIS-SCI thesis should normally be connected to the student’s major and advanced studies. Depending on the major, a suitable thesis may involve, for example:

• algorithms, systems, software or theoretical computer science;
• machine learning, data science or artificial intelligence;
• human-computer interaction and user research;
• game design, game technology or interactive systems;
• cloud, security or distributed systems;
• software and service engineering;
• empirical, computational, design-oriented or mixed research approaches.

These are disciplinary possibilities rather than mandatory methods. The current public CCIS sources do not require every SCI student to run an experiment, build software, collect interviews, train a model or use one statistical technique. The research question should determine the appropriate method, and the supervisor should confirm whether the proposed design is academically suitable.

Supervisor and advisor roles

The current CCIS curriculum states that the Master’s thesis supervisor must be a professor at Aalto University. The topic is agreed between the student and a professor specialising in the thesis area.

One or more thesis advisors may support the project. The curriculum says that advisor or advisors may be from a company or another university and must hold at least a Master’s degree.

This creates a useful division of responsibility. An external advisor can provide domain knowledge, data access, technical feedback or day-to-day support, but the thesis remains an Aalto academic attainment supervised under the School of Science framework.

Students should clarify supervision arrangements early: who comments on the research plan, how often progress is reviewed, who comments on drafts, and how external-company needs are kept compatible with academic requirements.

MyStudies and topic approval

Aalto’s current university-wide thesis-management system uses the Thesis tab in MyStudies. The system supports the thesis record, basic thesis information, supervisor and advisor information, approval of the relevant thesis details, and final submission for evaluation and archiving.

For SCI students, the current graduation instructions add a specific public requirement: the thesis topic must be approved before the final thesis is submitted for evaluation. Once the student has agreed the topic with the supervisor, the topic-approval application should be submitted through MyStudies.

This means a student should not treat the final upload as the first formal interaction with the thesis process. The academic topic and supervision arrangement need to be settled sufficiently early.

The detailed SCI process is in MyCourses

Aalto repeatedly directs SCI students to the authenticated SCI Master’s Thesis workspace in MyCourses for the thorough thesis process instructions.

That access boundary matters. Public webpages confirm the current 30 ECTS scope, six-month baseline, topic approval, supervisor/advisor baseline, presentation, maturity essay, public-document rule and graduation timing. They do not expose every internal SCI form, template, rubric, writing instruction or procedural step.

Accordingly, this guide does not reconstruct hidden SCI instructions from ELEC or another school. A student should always use the current SCI MyCourses workspace and supervisor guidance for details that are not publicly available.

Company and externally commissioned theses

The CCIS curriculum explicitly allows thesis advisors to come from a company or another university. In practice, many computing and technology theses are connected to companies, research groups or externally funded projects.

An external setting does not change the basic academic requirement. The thesis must still be a research assignment related to the student’s advanced studies and supervised through Aalto.

Before committing to an external topic, students should clarify:

• whether the problem is academically substantial enough for a 30 ECTS thesis;
• what data, software, infrastructure or participants will be available;
• what can appear in the public thesis document;
• who will act as Aalto supervisor and who will act as advisor;
• whether intellectual-property or publication plans could affect the project schedule.

The final academic scope should be agreed with the Aalto supervisor rather than being defined solely by the commissioning organisation.

Thesis language

The current CCIS curriculum permits the Master’s thesis to be written in English, Finnish or Swedish. Aalto also states that the language of the Master’s thesis determines the language of the degree.

Because language affects the degree, students should confirm the intended thesis language early rather than treating it as a final formatting choice.

No universal page count, chapter template or citation style is publicly stated

The current public CCIS and SCI pages used for this guide do not establish one universal thesis page count or word count for all SCI majors. They also do not publish one compulsory citation style or one mandatory chapter structure for every CCIS-SCI thesis.

That is appropriate for a programme spanning theory, software engineering, HCI, machine learning, game development and security. A theoretical computer-science thesis may be structured very differently from an empirical HCI study or an applied machine-learning project.

Students should use the authenticated SCI thesis workspace, their major’s conventions and supervisor instructions for project-specific formatting and writing expectations.

Seminar presentation

The current CCIS curriculum states that the Master’s thesis work includes a seminar presentation or equivalent presentation.

The public programme pages do not provide one universal SCI presentation format for every CCIS major. Therefore, students should verify the current presentation arrangement in the SCI Master’s Thesis MyCourses workspace and with the supervisor.

The important planning point is that the presentation is not an optional activity to remember after the thesis has already been closed. It is part of the thesis framework and should be included in the completion schedule.

Maturity essay and AI use

The current CCIS curriculum requires a maturity essay related to the Master’s thesis.

Aalto’s current university-wide AI guidance allows AI to support learning unless its use is restricted, while keeping responsibility for academic work with the student. However, Aalto prohibits AI use in maturity exams.

Because the CCIS Master’s thesis includes a maturity essay, students should treat the assessed maturity component as subject to that prohibition. For other thesis work, students should follow the latest University, SCI workspace and supervisor instructions and disclose permissible AI use where required.

The Master’s thesis is public

The current CCIS curriculum is explicit: the Master’s thesis is a public document and cannot be concealed.

This is particularly important for company and security-related projects. A student should not assume that an NDA or commercial relationship can simply convert the final academic thesis into a secret document.

If the project involves confidential source material, proprietary data, unpublished vulnerabilities or trade secrets, the public-document requirement should be discussed at the beginning with the supervisor and external partner. Sensitive material that cannot lawfully appear in the public thesis must be handled outside the public report according to the applicable Aalto and project rules.

Final submission and graduation planning

SCI’s current graduation guidance requires the student to be registered as attending when submitting the thesis, requesting graduation and on the official graduation date.

All other studies in the degree should be completed before the graduation request, with the Master’s thesis as the stated exception. Aalto recommends that required study modules be approved at least three weeks before the graduation-request deadline.

The student’s primary HOPS in Sisu must also be current and approved, because Sisu generates the degree certificate based on the study plan and the graduation request.

SCI allows the final thesis to be submitted for evaluation at the same time as the student applies for graduation. If doing this, the student should inform the supervisor in advance and allow approximately four weeks for the supervisor to read the final thesis and prepare the statement.

The Degree Programme Committee approves final Master’s theses in its meetings.

Current 2027 SCI thesis-compatible deadlines

Aalto currently publishes the SCI graduation and committee schedule into 2027. The following 2027 deadlines include Degree Programme Committee meetings and can therefore support thesis approval:

• 17 February 2027 → committee 8–11 March;
• 21 April 2027 → committee 17–20 May;
• 26 May 2027 → committee 14–17 June;
• 30 July 2027 → committee 23–26 August;
• 22 September 2027 → committee 11–14 October;
• 17 November 2027 → committee 7–9 December;
• 31 December 2027 → committee in 2028.

The SCI table also contains starred graduation-only dates. Those starred dates are available only when the Master’s thesis has already been approved and registered in Sisu; they should not be mistaken for ordinary thesis-approval deadlines.

Students should recheck the live SCI graduation page and the authenticated SCI thesis workspace before committing to a deadline, because administrative schedules can change.

A realistic planning sequence

Before the second study year

Complete enough major studies to understand the research area you want to enter. Explore professors, research groups, companies and previous thesis topics. If a project requires difficult data access or a specialised research environment, start looking early.

Beginning of the second study year

Narrow the topic and identify a suitable Aalto professor as supervisor. If the work is external, identify the advisor or advisors and clarify academic/publication constraints. Create or update the thesis information in MyStudies and follow the SCI workspace instructions for the formal start.

Early project stage

Define the research question, scope, evidence and method. Agree a realistic six-month full-time plan or a justified alternative schedule with the supervisor. Keep the project within a 30 ECTS academic scope.

Main research and writing stage

Conduct the appropriate theoretical, computational, empirical, design or software-related work. Document decisions and limitations. Write continuously rather than leaving the entire report until the research work is finished.

Final stage

Confirm that the topic approval is in place. Complete the seminar/equivalent presentation and maturity essay according to current SCI instructions. Provide the supervisor with a mature final thesis early enough for the four-week reading and statement allowance when planning around graduation.

Submission and graduation

Submit the final thesis through the current Aalto process, ensure the HOPS and remaining studies are complete, and apply for graduation according to the relevant SCI deadline. Recheck the live timetable before submission.

Final checklist

Before final submission, confirm that:

• you are following the SCI, not ELEC, thesis route;
• the thesis is 30 ECTS and the scope remains appropriate;
• the topic is connected to your major/advanced studies;
• an eligible Aalto professor is supervising the thesis;
• advisor or advisors, if used, meet the current qualification requirement;
• the topic has been approved through the current MyStudies process;
• the current SCI Master’s Thesis MyCourses instructions have been checked;
• the six-month target or an agreed alternative schedule has been planned responsibly;
• the required seminar/equivalent presentation has been handled;
• the maturity essay follows the current rules, including the AI prohibition for maturity assessment;
• confidential material has not been placed improperly into the public thesis;
• the primary HOPS is up to date and approved;
• other degree studies and study modules are ready for graduation processing;
• the supervisor has enough time for final reading and the statement;
• the current SCI committee/graduation deadline has been rechecked.

Final planning principle

The secure public framework for a current CCIS-SCI thesis is clear: 30 ECTS, normally six months of full-time work, an Aalto professor as supervisor, qualified advisor support where applicable, MyStudies topic approval, seminar/equivalent presentation, maturity essay, public-document status and SCI committee approval.

The detailed operational process belongs to the authenticated SCI Master’s Thesis MyCourses workspace. Use that live workspace and your supervisor for details rather than borrowing procedures from ELEC or another Aalto school.