Credit transfer
What does credit transfer mean?
Credit transfer may take the form of
- course substitution, where studies completed elsewhere compensate for an Aalto course.
- inclusion of studies completed elsewhere in your Aalto degree.
- accreditation of learning gained outside formal education towards your degree.
In addition, applying for credit transfer is needed if you wish to use a single study attainment (e.g. a completed course) towards more than one degree pursued at Aalto University.
- If you are studying at another university or higher education institution as a cross-institutional student and these studies are part of your programme's curriculum, you do not need to apply for credit transfer to include them into your degree.
- For all studies that are not included in the cross-institutional agreement, inclusion in the degree requires a personal study plan approval. Read more cross-institutional studies RIPA: Cross-Institutional RIPA | Aalto University
If you have already earned a degree at Aalto University or are studying towards multiple degrees at the same time and wish to use the same studies for more than one degree, you need to apply for credit transfer for such studies. See instructions.
All the studies you have completed belong to a specific study plan or completed degree (e.g. Bachelor of Science (Technology)). If you wish to use the same credits for another degree at Aalto University (e.g. towards a Bachelor of Arts (Art and Design)), you should make a study draft in the study plan for that degree and apply for credit transfer through the plan.
- Place the courses first in the degree to which they primarily belong. For example, if you have completed studies towards the major in your Bachelor of Science (Economics and Business Adminstration) degree and you wish to use them as electives in your Bachelor of Science (Technology) degree, you should add them as study drafts to the study plan in the BSc (Technology) degree.
- If you have completed a minor that could become part of either of your degrees, you should primarily include it in the degree that you will complete first and add the same courses as study drafts to the other degree.
In other cases, you do not need to apply for credit transfer for studies completed at Aalto. You can place courses completed at another school of Aalto University in your study plan (PSP) and, if necessary, apply for their approval through the PSP.
Aalto University policy on credit transfer
The key principles and guidelines for credit transfer are described below, based on Aalto University policy on credit transfer.
- Only Aalto University degree students can apply for credit transfer.
- Studies can be transferred to the degree both by substitution and inclusion.
- As a rule, elective studies are transferred by inclusion. This also applies to language studies that are not a compulsory part of the degree. Substituting language studies is only possible if the language studies are compulsory or otherwise included in the degree requirements of the degree programme.
- The competence to be recognised must be in line with the objectives set for your degree or part of it, such as a course, and it must not overlap with the other parts of your degree.
- The transferred credits must be included into your degree.
- You cannot later replace transferred studies with other studies.
- Studies that exceed the scope of the degree are not transferred.
- The transferred studies may not exceed half of the extent of the degree to be completed. For example, a bachelor's degree (180 ECTS) may contain a maximum of 90 credits of transferred studies. In addition, the following restrictions apply:
- Bachelor’s degree: A maximum of half of the combined scope of the basic studies and major studies in the bachelor's degree may be transferred studies. Language and communication studies are not included in the scope. For example, in a situation where the scope of basic studies in a bachelor's degree is 65 credits (including 5 credits of language studies) and the scope of major studies is 65 credits, the maximum total amount of studies eligible for these modules may be 62.5 credits and 5 credits of language studies.
- Master's degree: no more than half of the scope of the degree programme studies or major studies may be transferred. For example, a major of 60 credits may include a maximum of 30 transferred credits.
- Credits for a bachelor’s or master’s thesis or maturity essay cannot be transferred.
- In licentiate and doctoral degrees, the thesis accounts for more than one half of the degree, which means that all other studies towards the degree may be transferred credits.
- A course completed at another Finnish higher education institution is included in the degree with the original grade if the grade and the grading scale used correspond to the grading scale used at Aalto University (1-5 or Pass-Fail). If the scale is different from that used at Aalto, the transferred course is graded Pass.
- When substituting an Aalto University course with a course completed at another Finnish higher education institution, the grade Pass is used.
- Credits demonstrating knowledge of the second national language of Finland (Finnish or Swedish) are graded on a scale of hyvät tiedot/tyydyttävät tiedot (Good Knowledge/Satisfactory Knowledge).
- For courses completed in foreign higher education institutions, the grade Pass is used in all cases.
Attach the following attachments to your credit transfer application. If attachments are missing, the processing of your application will be delayed.
- A transcript of records or a degree certificate, either digitally signed or marked with a stamp of the issuing university or school.
- If you have completed studies in another Finnish university or university of applied sciences, you can also use the My Studyinfo service () to share information of your completed studies. Go to My Studyinfo, create a sharing link, save the link in a file, and add the file to your credit transfer application.
- A screenshot from the My Studyinfo service is not an acceptable transcript of records.
- The course description or other description of the content of the studies you have completed elsewhere.
- The description must describe the contents as they were at the time the course was completed.
- If you cannot find the original course description, contact the higher education institution where you completed the course.
- To claim credits for a study module, for example a minor completed elsewhere, you must include a certificate issued by the university in question or otherwise provide adequate proof of the study module being a degree module of the university.
- For instance, an extract from the study guide listing all the courses that may be included in the study module is considered adequate proof.
- An explanation of the scope of the module, if the scope has not been given in ECTS credits.
Apply for credit transfer in Sisu. See instructions.
- Applications are processed on a rolling basis.
- You will receive a message on Sisu as soon as the decision on credit transfer has been made.
- You can also request the decision by post to your home address.
Course substitution
In credit transfer, substitution means that studies completed elsewhere or learning demonstrated otherwise than through formal education compensate for studies included in the degree requirements. The substituting course or other study attainment must have equivalent contents and learning outcomes with the course substituted for.
- The scope of the substituting course in ECTS credits may be equal or greater or a maximum of 20% narrower than the scope of the course substituted for.
- However, a course whose scope is less than 5 credits may be substituted for by a course whose scope is a maximum of one (1) credit narrower.
- In Sisu, the Aalto University course substituted for is marked ‘substituted’.
- The scope of the course is marked according to that of the Aalto University course substituted for.
- You can also apply for having a single Aalto course compensated for by several courses completed elsewhere. Also in this case, the scope will correspond to that of the Aalto course substituted for.
- Compulsory or otherwise degree programme requirement language studies can be transferred by substitution. Other language studies cannot be transferred by substitution; instead, the student continues their language studies in a course corresponding to their proficiency level.
Apply for substitution on Sisu through the course info sheet. See instructions. Please note that elective studies are generally transferred by inclusion.
Course inclusion
In credit transfer, inclusion means that studies completed elsewhere orother prior learning is included in the Aalto University degree. Inclusion does not require that the contents of the learning correspond exactly to the contents of any Aalto University course. However, inclusion does require that the learning is suitable for the module where it is to be included, and its level and relevance corresponds to the degree requirements and curriculum. Credits for courses may be transferred through inclusion only if they fit into your degree.
First, add the course to be included as a study draft to your study plan. Apply for inclusion through the study draft. See instructions.
Inclusion of a study module
Adding a study module to your degree through inclusion usually means transferring credits for a whole minor. The minor study module completed elsewhere must be sufficiently suited to your Aalto degree and its scope and level must meet the requirements of your degree. A minor or other study module may only be included if it fits into your degree.
Accreditation of learning outside formal education
Accreditation of learning outside formal education means that learning gained outside formal education is recognised as part of the degree, provided it meets the learning outcomes of the degree and programme pursued. Learning that may be accredited towards a degree may be gained outside formal education, for example in continuing education, positions of trust, hobbies or work. It should be noted that, when assessing prior learning, the focus is on the knowledge and skills gained rather than the experience itself.
Each Aalto University course has a set of intended learning outcomes defined in the course description. (). If the learning you have gained through work or continuing education is equivalent to the learning outcomes of an Aalto course, you can claim credits for the course through substitution.
- Contact the responsible teacher (teacher-in-charge) of the course before submitting your application.
- The content of your prior learning will be compared against the learning outcomes of the Aalto courses you wish to receive transfer credits towards, and the course teacher-in-charge may require you to provide additional evidence of your learning to support the written documents.
- The additional evidence may take the form of an oral or written examination, an essay, a portfolio or other assignment.
- If you have work experience that is relevant to your degree, you can apply for its inclusion in your degree, most often in the form of a work placement. You should contact your degree programme for details.
- If you have done voluntary work or held positions of trust in the Aalto community, you can earn credits for them by taking a course set up for this purpose
If you have prior learning that is relevant to your degree but does not correspond to any courses offered at Aalto, the learning may be accredited towards your degree as custom credits.
- Learn about the learning outcomes of your degree. Think about how your prior learning may be linked to your degree and your personal study plan.
- Please note that your learning must be measurable, which means that demonstration of your learning may be required.
- Discuss the custom credits policy with your programme staff. Learning Services will help you in finding the right person when needed.
- After you have agreed on the custom course credit, add a study draft to your personal study plan on Sisu and apply for credit transfer through the study draft.