Another perspective
The multidisciplinary experts at the School of Arts, Design and Architecture create better living environments and change the world through artistic means.
Cooperation and interaction between the different disciplines represented at the school challenge technology-driven thinking and put greater emphasis on a human and user-centred approach in the creation of new environments.
Our research in the field of design and media is world class and on a strong international standing in both art and architecture. Other leading research areas pursued at our school include design, digital media, audiovisual presentation, art research, visual culture and wellbeing construction, as well as community and urban construction.
The school has active links to the surrounding society, business and industry, and the culture sector. Our partners include the best Finnish and international universities and centres of expertise.
Aalto University is the place where science and art meet technology and business.
The School of Arts, Design and Architecture is part of Aalto University, which is a multidisciplinary university operating in the fields of technology, business and commerce, and the arts. Aalto builds on Finnish strengths and its objective is to become one of the leading universities in the world as a unique entity.
Mission
Aalto University works towards a better world through top-quality research and teaching, and educates responsible experts as societal visionaries.
This mission is fulfilled by the internationally significant work of the School of Arts, Design and Architecture, which strengthens multidisciplinary, critical and human-centred art and research, and offers new ways of thinking artistically and scientifically about the world.
Vision
The School of Arts, Design and Architecture implements Aalto University's vision through the acknowledgement of its societal impact, its standing as a leading meeting place for successful practitioners in its fields of operation, and by becoming a world-class institute for the study of art, design, and architecture by the year 2020.
Strategy
The strategic cornerstones of the School of Arts, Design and Architecture are:
- User-centred art and design, a full spectrum of design skills, and design on all scales;
- Meaning-making and developing experiences and stories;
- New ways of sharing related to design, production and/or distribution;
- Artistic research practice
Some of our most important new initiatives and areas of research include the construction of human-centred living environments (Living+) and the digital society, as well as new solutions developed at the intersection of mobile technologies, services, media, games, and entertainment.
Key facts
(Figures are from 2016)
Undergraduate students: 2 434
Postgraduate students: 330
Personnel: 442 (of which 56 are professors, 193 other academic personnel, and 193 service personnel)
Number of degrees granted
Bachelor's degrees: 296
Master's degrees: 249
Doctoral degrees: 17
International professors and research personnel (20%)
International master's degree students (18%)
International doctoral degree students (26%)