Regardless of which avenue of study you choose, our programmes give you access to many good theory courses, good facilities for production and a collegial atmosphere of international staff and students. We like people to get involved and contribute to our community and therefore we don't necessarily accept visiting students who wish to pick just a few courses at the lab.
The common theme of our study programs is summed up in our mission statement: "The mission of the Media Lab is to explore, discover and comprehend the new digital technology and its impact in society; to find and exploit the possibilities it opens to communication, interaction and expression and to evaluate, understand and deal with the challenges it poses to design and creative production."
Our design school context also places a high value on the quality of our art, design and media production as well as the end-user/viewer experience. This concern for the individual person's experience of a product or a production is indeed important to us and, in many ways, sets us apart from many more technically oriented schools.
Doctor of Arts study programme
Doctoral studies are a part of our research scene and there are increasing opportunities to perform the studies within the context of our established Research groups. Postgraduate students are welcome to partake in many courses and most welcome to suggest their own contributions as teachers or instructors.
Master of Arts study programmes
Two study programmes, utilising a "hands-on with minds-on" approach aims to combine practice with theory.
Shorter stays
Our Minor subject studies programme is a way for interested MA level students from other schools and other universities to experience a smaller part of our MA program (typically approx. one term of study). The packages offered as minor subjects are based on our thematic interest areas and actually mix the students from both programs together for an intensive period within various projects. Please note that there is a separate application process for minor studies each year.
We also allow a small number of foreign exchange students to join us for various periods of time, based on exchange agreements between institutions. However, we encourage international students to plan their studies here within one of the minor studies programmes as this guarantees better learning and coordination of them during their exchange. Also we would strongly advise our future exhange students to self-evaluate their language skills carefully in advance, taking into account that living in a foreign culture takes lots of energy - also in communications and learning!
Application
Admissions for our different programs are open at differing times, mainly in spring.
Courses
The courses listed in our curriculum are open to all Media Lab Helsinki students. From time to time, there is room for a student or two from the other schools here at the Aalto University - please contact us for more info on how to apply.