Studies
The Department of Design provides the professional competences and foundations for further studies in its Bachelor of Arts majors in Design, Fashion and Interior architecture. Master of Arts programmes in Product and Spatial Design, Collaborative and Industrial Design, Fashion, Clothing and Textile Design and Aalto programmes in International Design Business Management and Creative Sustainability cater for deepened expertise and for the proactive application of design methods and processes in their respective fields. Alongside the specialized design competencies in each programme the students learn the concepts and methods of the arts and sciences of design, with an emphasis on communication and collaborative skills.
Learning at the Department of Design involves practical projects with real-life cases and external partners, as well as more conceptual and theoretical studies. The results of the projects are actively disseminated via suitable forums including presentations, webpages, exhibitions and conference papers. The students have an opportunity to work in multi-national teams and often in cross-disciplinary teams.
Each programme provides a variety of electives that allow our students to compile individual competence profiles combining studies that cross the boundaries of degree programmes to meet the varying future needs of working life and cultural stakeholders. Aalto ARTS offers also a wide variety of minors, many of which are carried out in cooperation with other Aalto University schools. Students can also apply for minor studies at other Finnish universities through the Flexible Study Rights Agreement or complete part of their studies during an international exchange.
The graduates of our degree programmes are design professionals with practical and theoretical competence. They work as design practitioners, entrepreneurs, managers, consultants, educators and researchers for industry, businesses, academic and cultural institutions, and the public sector.
The target time for completing bachelor’s studies is three years and for master’s level studies it is two years. At bachelor’s level the teaching language is mainly Finnish. In the Master of Arts programmes the language of instruction and teaching is English.