Aalto University IDBM Master’s Thesis Guide for SCI Students: 30 ECTS Thesis, TU-E0100 and School of Science Process

Aalto University’s Master’s Programme in International Design Business Management (IDBM) is jointly organised across all six Aalto schools. The programme is shared, but the thesis process is not. Aalto directs students to the thesis instructions of their home school.

This guide is therefore only for IDBM students whose home school is the School of Science (SCI) under the current 2026–2028 curriculum. The current SCI route is SCI33. Its thesis architecture is distinctive: the Master’s thesis is 30 ECTS, the curriculum separately lists TU-E0100 Research Assignment, 5 ECTS, and the maturity requirement is SCI.matr, 0 ECTS. TU-E0100 must not be folded into the thesis credits. The thesis remains 30 ECTS.

A second important boundary is procedural. Aalto keeps the detailed School of Science thesis workflow in the authenticated SCI Master’s Thesis MyCourses workspace. The public pages establish the credit structure, home-school routing, topic approval, MyStudies controls, presentation/publicity rules, graduation prerequisites and current schedules, but they do not expose every form, rubric, model timeline or internal step. This guide therefore stays detailed where Aalto is public and deliberately does not invent the login-only parts.

Where the thesis fits in the current IDBM SCI degree

The current IDBM degree is 120 ECTS. For School of Science students, the curriculum identifies route SCI33 and gives the thesis area a three-part structure that should be kept separate in planning:

• 30 ECTS Master’s thesis;
• 5 ECTS TU-E0100 Research Assignment, listed separately in the SCI curriculum block;
• 0 ECTS SCI.matr maturity requirement.

The current SCI curriculum also requires an advanced technical minor under School of Science rules. Aalto explicitly notes that the thesis may combine knowledge from the student’s major and minor. This is particularly relevant in IDBM, where a thesis can bridge technical expertise with design, innovation, product development or business questions while remaining academically suitable for the School of Science.

Students selected to the School of Science in 2023 or earlier may be following an earlier curriculum. This article is scoped to the current 2026–2028 route, so earlier-cohort students should confirm their own curriculum in Sisu and the SCI workspace before applying current course-code details.

The thesis is a 30 ECTS research assignment

The current IDBM SCI page describes the Master’s thesis as a research assignment with workload corresponding to 30 credits. The current curriculum says that the topic is agreed between the student and the thesis supervisor and may draw on knowledge from both the major and the advanced technical minor.

The same curriculum makes several related requirements clear:

• advisor rules follow the student’s school and advisor(s) must have at least a Master’s degree;
• thesis work includes a seminar or equivalent presentation;
• the thesis is a public document and cannot be concealed;
• SCI.matr is a separate 0 ECTS maturity requirement.

The separate 5 ECTS TU-E0100 Research Assignment is part of the current SCI curriculum but is not the 30 ECTS thesis itself. Treating the degree as a 35 ECTS thesis would be inaccurate. A better planning model is: complete the required SCI curriculum components, keep TU-E0100 distinct, and manage the 30 ECTS thesis as its own formally approved academic attainment.

Six-month SCI planning baseline

The current IDBM SCI instructions recommend starting the thesis process at the beginning of the second study year. On the same page, Aalto gives a general School of Science planning rule: most programmes require a 30-credit thesis, which equals six months of full-time work. If full-time thesis work is not possible because of other courses, employment or a longer activity such as collecting original data, Aalto advises starting earlier. The page also warns that exceeding the six-month target may affect the grade.

Because Aalto phrases this as guidance for “most programmes” rather than publishing a separate IDBM SCI month-by-month timetable, use six months full-time as the current SCI planning baseline, while confirming the actual operational schedule with the supervisor and the authenticated SCI Master’s Thesis workspace. Do not add CHEM’s 800-hour or ELEC’s 810-hour figures: those are different school-specific regimes.

IDBM projects often involve more than one disciplinary environment, so expose dependencies early. Company data, research infrastructure, software access, participant recruitment, ethics/privacy arrangements, prototype development or coordination with an external advisor can all affect the calendar. A 30 ECTS scope still needs active project control even when the final schedule is adjusted for justified constraints.

Choosing an IDBM SCI thesis topic

The thesis topic should be academically appropriate for the student’s School of Science studies and be agreed with the supervisor. The current curriculum also allows the thesis to combine knowledge from the student’s major and advanced technical minor.

IDBM creates a useful but demanding interdisciplinary setting. A SCI thesis may connect a technical research problem with design, innovation, product, service or business context. For example, the technical core might concern data, software, artificial intelligence, information systems, computational methods, digital platforms, human-technology interaction, operations or another SCI field, while the wider IDBM setting explains why the problem matters.

Interdisciplinarity does not remove the need for a clear research problem. A company challenge, product idea or innovation opportunity is not automatically a thesis question. The student still needs to identify what is being investigated, what evidence is needed, how the method can answer the question, and what conclusions the evidence supports.

The public IDBM SCI sources do not prescribe one universal method. Depending on the topic, a suitable design may involve computational analysis, software or systems work, quantitative data, qualitative evidence, experiments, modelling, case analysis, design research or a justified combination. Method choice should follow the research question and supervisor/SCI guidance rather than a generic IDBM template.

Supervisor and advisor roles

The current IDBM curriculum states that supervisor and advisor requirements follow the student’s school. For the SCI route, the supervision arrangement must therefore satisfy current School of Science requirements rather than BIZ, ELEC, CHEM, ENG or ARTS rules.

The public curriculum explicitly establishes that thesis advisor or advisors must hold at least a Master’s degree. External experts from a company, research partner or another university may contribute where the SCI process permits, but the formal academic supervision structure remains governed by Aalto and School of Science rules.

Use the authenticated SCI Master’s Thesis workspace to confirm the current supervisor eligibility and any operational appointment details that are not exposed publicly. Do not copy ELEC’s expanded supervisor categories or ENG’s supervisor list into SCI simply because those lists are public elsewhere.

At the beginning of the project, clarify practical responsibilities: who approves the academic scope, who gives day-to-day feedback, how frequently progress will be reviewed, how external objectives are separated from academic requirements, and how final draft review will be scheduled.

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 IDBM SCI students, the current public instructions require the thesis topic to be approved before final evaluation submission. Once the topic has been agreed with the supervisor, the approval is sent through MyStudies. The IDBM page also states that the supervisor, advisor(s) and topic must be approved in MyStudies before the thesis is submitted for IDBM approval.

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, separate TU-E0100 and SCI.matr components, topic approval, advisor baseline, presentation, public-document rule and graduation controls. 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

IDBM SCI theses may be connected to companies, Aalto research groups, innovation projects or external partners. The public curriculum allows qualified advisor support subject to School of Science rules.

An external setting does not change the basic academic requirement. The thesis must still be a 30 ECTS academic research assignment governed through Aalto and School of Science requirements.

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.

TU-E0100 Research Assignment, 5 ECTS

The current 2026–2028 IDBM SCI curriculum lists TU-E0100 Research Assignment, 5 ECTS in the School of Science route. This is an important programme-specific component because it is separate from the 30 ECTS Master’s thesis.

Do not silently turn this into a thesis seminar credit or assume that it follows BIZ, ELEC or another school’s process. Its current teaching, assessment and operational requirements should be checked in Sisu/MyCourses under the student’s actual study plan. The public thesis article can safely establish the credit boundary, but it should not invent course assignments that Aalto has not published on the IDBM SCI page.

This distinction also helps with degree planning. A student who sees a 30 ECTS thesis plus TU-E0100 should understand that the research-assignment course is a separate curriculum attainment, not evidence that the thesis itself is 35 ECTS.

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

The current public IDBM SCI pages do not establish one universal thesis page count or word count. They also do not publish one compulsory citation style or one mandatory chapter structure for every IDBM SCI thesis.

That is appropriate for an interdisciplinary route in which technical topics and evidence can differ substantially. A computational thesis, empirical study, software/system project, design-research project or mixed-method study may require different report structures.

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 IDBM curriculum states that SCI thesis work includes a seminar or equivalent presentation.

The public programme pages do not provide one universal SCI presentation format for every IDBM SCI student. 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 requirement and AI use

The current IDBM SCI curriculum lists SCI.matr, 0 ECTS. The public IDBM SCI pages do not define one universal maturity-test format for this route, so this guide does not invent an abstract-as-maturity rule or copy another school’s format. Use the authenticated SCI thesis workspace for the current operational requirement.

One university-wide rule is unambiguous: Aalto prohibits AI in maturity examinations. Whatever current SCI format applies, the assessed maturity component must therefore be completed without prohibited AI assistance.

For the rest of the thesis, current Aalto guidance allows AI support subject to applicable instructions while keeping responsibility with the student. AI-generated material cannot simply be submitted as the student’s own unmodified work. Follow current SCI/supervisor disclosure and data-security rules, particularly for confidential company or research material.

The Master’s thesis is public

The current IDBM 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 technical information or trade secrets, the publication boundary should be agreed at the beginning with the supervisor and external partner. Aalto states that the thesis submitted for evaluation may not contain confidential information. Choosing not to give immediate online full-text consent in Aaltodoc does not make the evaluated thesis confidential; public metadata and the abstract remain part of the archive regime.

Turnitin, PDF/A and the final-file boundary

Current Aalto thesis submission integrates Turnitin into the final MyStudies workflow. Final submission produces a similarity report and also an AI report visible to the supervisor. Students are encouraged to use similarity checking before the final submission so citation, quotation and paraphrasing issues can still be corrected.

The thesis submitted for grading must be a PDF/A file and stay below 100 MB. Aalto recommends validating PDF/A before the deadline, particularly for documents with complex graphics, embedded content or specialist software output.

Treat the final MyStudies upload as the official academic file, not as another draft. Complete supervisor review, presentation/maturity requirements, confidentiality cleanup and PDF/A validation before committing to the final submission.

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.

For IDBM students who started in 2018 or later, the IDBM Programme Committee handles final thesis evaluation and approval. This is separate from the generic School of Science Degree Programme Committee schedule used for broader SCI graduation administration.

Current IDBM approval dates and the SCI 2027 graduation calendar

As verified on 30 August 2026, the current IDBM Applications page still lists these remaining 2026 thesis-approval deadlines:

Aalto had not yet published a complete 2027 IDBM Programme Committee thesis-approval calendar at verification. Do not substitute another committee’s dates simply because they are available.

The School of Science does publish a broader 2027 graduation/committee calendar. Its thesis-compatible dates include 17 February, 21 April, 26 May, 30 July, 22 September, 17 November and 31 December 2027, with corresponding SCI committee windows. It also contains starred graduation-only dates for students whose thesis is already approved and registered.

Those SCI dates are useful for degree/graduation planning, but they are not automatically the IDBM Programme Committee thesis-approval calendar. IDBM SCI students should coordinate both systems: use the current IDBM Applications page for the controlling thesis-approval deadline and the SCI graduation page/Sisu for the graduation request. Recheck both before final scheduling.

A realistic planning sequence

Before the thesis start

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.

Formal start

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. Confirm how TU-E0100 fits your current study plan, 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 schedule with the supervisor and keep the project within a 30 ECTS academic scope. Do not import a fixed duration from another SCI programme.

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 using the current IDBM approval deadline and relevant SCI graduation timetable. Recheck both live sources before submission.

Final checklist

Before final submission, confirm that:

• you are following the IDBM SCI home-school route;
• the Master’s thesis is 30 ECTS;
• TU-E0100 Research Assignment, 5 ECTS is being treated as a separate curriculum attainment;
• SCI.matr, 0 ECTS is handled under the current SCI maturity instructions;
• your current curriculum/cohort in Sisu is correct;
• you have planned around the current SCI six-month full-time baseline, or agreed a justified schedule that reflects other studies/data collection;
• the topic is academically suitable and has been agreed with the supervisor;
• advisor(s), where used, meet the current qualification requirement;
• topic, supervisor and advisor(s) have the required MyStudies approval before final IDBM submission;
• the authenticated SCI Master’s Thesis MyCourses instructions have been checked;
• your method follows the research question rather than an invented universal IDBM template;
• the seminar/equivalent presentation is complete under current SCI instructions;
• the maturity requirement follows the AI prohibition;
• Turnitin issues have been reviewed before the final upload;
• confidential material has been kept out of the evaluated public thesis;
• the final file is valid PDF/A and below 100 MB;
• your primary HOPS is current and approved and you are registered as attending;
• other degree studies/modules are ready for graduation processing;
• the supervisor has enough time for final reading and statement, including the public four-week planning allowance when submitting alongside graduation;
• you are using the current IDBM Programme Committee thesis-approval deadline rather than treating the generic SCI graduation calendar as the same thing.

Final planning principle

The safest public framework for a current IDBM SCI thesis is precise: 30 ECTS thesis, separate 5 ECTS TU-E0100, separate 0 ECTS SCI.matr, School of Science supervision rules, MyStudies approvals, seminar/equivalent presentation, public-document status, authenticated SCI operational guidance and IDBM Programme Committee final approval.

The public SCI page gives the six-month full-time planning baseline for most 30-credit theses, but it does not publish an IDBM-specific hour figure, one universal page count, one citation style, one maturity format or a public step-by-step SCI workflow. Those operational details should come from the live SCI MyCourses workspace and supervisor, not from another Aalto programme.

For final scheduling, keep the two administrative calendars separate: IDBM controls thesis approval through the IDBM Programme Committee, while SCI provides the graduation/Sisu framework. Recheck both before submission.