• The course-specific application information is available on the course pages:
  • prerequisites
  • eligibility
  • application dates
  • teaching dates

• Check that you fulfill the eligibility criteria and possible prerequisites specified in the course description.
• Fill in your application form carefully and make sure to provide all the requested information.
• Pay attention to the application deadlines. 

There may be some course-specific variations to the application deadlines, especially if a course starts at the beginning of July. Please note that popular courses may sell out before the final application date.

• After submitting your application, it will be reviewed by the Summer School staff and in some cases, course teachers.
• If we need more information from you, you will receive an email request within 7 days.
• You will receive the final admittance decision within three (3) weeks of sending your application. 

Sold out courses

• Waitlist: if the course becomes full after you have applied, you can sign up for the waitlist. You will receive more information about the waitlist in the message telling you that the course is full.
• Alternative course: you also have the option to apply for a different course. We are happy to give you recommendations on alternative courses.

• Accepted students need to confirm their participation by paying the course tuition fee.
  • The tuition fee payment deadline is 14 days from your admittance decision and is included in your admittance email.
• When paying the tuition fee, you can also request an invitation letter for your visa application.
• After the payment, you may cancel your participation according to our cancellation terms.

• Recent high school or vocational school from all over the world are welcome to apply to Aalto University Summer School or Winter School.
• Explore new topics and find inspiration for your university studies in an international atmosphere!
• Tuition fees apply.

All summer course participants must be 18 years old and have completed a high school or vocational degree or equivalent by the time the course starts.

• Students from all over the world are welcome to apply to Aalto University Summer School or Winter School.
• Come and discover new topics in an international atmosphere!
• Tuition fees apply.

Students from Aalto’s partner universities

• Students and staff from Aalto University's international partner universities are eligible for reduced tuition fees. The partner school discount is 10% off throughout the whole application period (summer 2025).
• You will be notified in your acceptance email if you are eligible for the discount. The partner school discount cannot be combined with other discounts.
• Note that Aalto University Summer School courses in this listing are not included in the exchange agreements.

Aalto University Summer School does not provide tuition waivers or accept exchange students as a regular practice. Nevertheless, we do have certain courses or groups exclusively designed for exchange programs or tuition waivers, which are directly promoted to our partner schools. Such programs are not available on the course listing on our website.

Aalto University Summer School courses are a great way to update your knowledge and be inspired by new experiences. 

• Professionals and lifewide learners from all over the world are welcome to apply to Aalto University Summer School or Winter School.
• Come and discover new topics in an international atmosphere!
• Tuition fees apply. We can also invoice your organisation if it has agreed to pay for the course.

Aalto degree students apply to summer school courses using the same application form as other students.

• The courses offered by Aalto University Summer School cannot be included in Aalto degree studies.
  • Exceptions: Nordic Biomaterials and Digital Business. You should only register for a course in Sisu after being admitted to a course.
• Tuition fees do not apply to students pursuing Bachelor's and Master's degrees at Aalto. You have to be enrolled to Aalto throughout the entire course.
• New Bachelor's and Master's students: If you are an incoming Aalto University student for autumn, you are considered a degree student from 1 August. You may attend courses that begin in August without a tuition fee.
• We give priority to the other application groups in our selection process. Because of the summer school tuition waiver, Aalto University degree students will be placed on a waitlist until the end of the application period. 

If you're unsure where to begin, consider using these questions as a guideline for what to include in your motivation letter or video. 

• Why would you like to take this course?
• Do you have any hobbies, study background or work experience in the topics that the course covers?
• What would you like to learn from the course or from travelling to Finland?
• How would you like to apply the lessons from the course to your future studies or career?

Alternatively, you can share any other relevant information that better describes your motivation for attending the course. 

Other notes about the motivation letter

• For a beginner-level course, you are not required to have previous experience in the topic, even if that is mentioned in the example questions.
• Your motivation letter does not need to follow the list provided above. It can be a traditional motivation letter or a creative piece of writing/video to describe your motivation.
• Some courses have specific questions that the instructors want you to include in your letter. If applicable, you can find them on each course page in the "applying" section.
• If you choose to address the recipient at the start of the letter, you may address it to the Summer / Winter School team. However, this is not mandatory. The content of the letter is more important.

• The recommended length for the motivation letter is 150-250 words.
• You can write your motivation letter in a separate text editor and copy-paste it into the motivation letter field on the application form.
• We do not receive uploads, such as applications in PDF format. It is not required, but if you wish to share a portfolio or similar (mostly in design topics), you can add a link to it at the end of the motivation letter.

• The recommended length for the motivation video is 1-2 minutes.
• Share the link to your motivation video in the motivation letter field. We recommend making the content available to all who have access to the link to make it easy for us to check your video.
• After the admittance decision, you can unshare the video for the time being. Note that we may ask you to share it directly with the course teacher closer to the course start so they can get to know your reasons for attending the course.

Tuition fees are calculated based on the level of the course (e.g. undergraduate/graduate) and credits (ECTS). Please see information about course-specific tuition fees on each course page. 

Unfortunately, Aalto University Summer School does not offer scholarships for participants.

You can register for the social program through a portal similar to the tuition fee portal. Once you have paid the course tuition fee, you will receive the link to the social program portal and learn about the sign-up deadline.

More information on summer school social programMore information on winter school social program

Applicants will receive payment instructions and deadlines via email after being accepted to a course and confirm their course participation by paying the tuition fee. 

The tuition fee payment deadline is 14 days from your admittance decision and is included in your admittance email.

• Each payment is made in one instalment.
• Social programs can be paid later than the tuition fee.
• We use the Finnish Paytrail service for collecting the payments.
  • Accepted payment methods on Paytrail include Mastercard, Visa, Apple Pay, as well as Finnish banks and online payment applications.
  • Before making the payment, make sure that you have allowed international payments from your credit card.
• If an organisation is paying the fees or you cannot complete a card payment, we can send an invoice to you. You can find more information about it in your acceptance email.