Building Technology

The Master’s Programme in Building Technology offers students comprehensive academic and professional knowledge of the different disciplines within civil and structural engineering.

Civil engineering plays a key role in creating safe and healthy built environments, which are essential elements of everyday life and well-being. Combining the global needs for energy efficiency and sustainability with the characteristics of a good living environment requires theoretical understanding, professional skills, and a broad-minded attitude.

The programme deals with the design, construction, use, and maintenance of civil engineering structures, such as buildings and bridges. With its four main topics – structural engineering, building performance, construction management, and mineral-based materials – the programme provides students with knowledge and skills essential to the future careers in industry, research, education or authority. Based on the individual selections, the student can specialize in topics like building energy use, building services technology, repair and maintenance, indoor air quality and fire safety engineering.

The programme strives for the development of working life skills like analytical and critical thinking, multidisciplinary teamwork and collaboration, and communication for scientific and technical professionals. The aspects of professional ethics and social and environmental responsibility are integrated into the studies.

The programme includes six courses (totalling 30 cr) of common core studies which form the autumn term of the first year. After the first term, students can specialise in a certain field of building technology or they can – by combining courses from different fields – acquire a good general understanding of engineering applications related to building technology.

Technical knowledge will be deepened by selecting six courses (30 cr) from the packages of advanced courses offered by the study programme. The synthesis or specialisation of the studies can be further strengthened through 30 cr of elective studies, which may include the courses offered by the study programme or other courses within Aalto University. For the specialisation, the predefined courses will also be available for the students. The programme concludes with a master’s thesis of 30 cr, which is prepared individually.

The master’s thesis (30 cr) is a piece of applied research that includes not only the written thesis but also the maturity essay and a presentation. The key goal of the master’s thesis is solving a problem relevant to the field of study based on existing scientific knowledge in compliance with the principles of responsible conduct of research. The goal is to produce a scientific thesis. The master's thesis shall be written on a topic related to the advanced studies of the degree programme, agreed upon between the student and the supervising professor. A suitable topic can, for instance, be a research and development project carried out for a partner outside the university, or it can be connected to an ongoing research project of the department. The master’s thesis takes 6 months (fulltime) and it is an individual project.

In the Master’s Programme in Building Technology the thesis can be, for example, an experimental or numerical study of the behavior of structures, a simulation of functionality of buildings or development of processes and operations in construction.

Student selection

The selection process is competitive and paper-based. Applications that pass the eligibility check of Aalto University Admissions Services (administrative evaluation) proceed to the programme specific academic evaluation.

The following academic evaluation criteria applies to this master's programme:

•                          Degree and institution of higher education

•                          Relevancy of studies

•                          Academic performance

•                          Motivation 

Academic evaluation is split into two phases

−                          In the first phase, the applicant’s degree that is used as grounds for the application and the related institution of higher education are evaluated. The applicant’s academic performance is evaluated, while any of the applicant’s other education that is attached to the application may also be evaluated. Criteria used to evaluate academic performance may include the time taken to complete the degree as well as the date of the degree’s completion.

−                          In the second phase, the acceptable applicants are ranked. A number of eligible applicants no greater than the allotted quota are admitted based on the academic evaluation. The most important criteria are the applicability of previous studies and academic performance in studies relevant to the study option. The aim is to admit only those applicants who have the required competence to begin studies without any supplementary studies.