Planning the Studies, Master's Degree

Kuvituskuva päivämäärät

On this page, you will find general guidelines for Haaga-Helia's Master’s students for planning the studies.

Master students should always prioritise the instructions received from their guidance counsellor as there might be some programme or specialisation specific differences.

Structure and contents of studies

The scope and structure of studies and course descriptions can be found in the study guide.

The degree programme always follows the structure presented in the study guide. Haaga-Helia's Master's programmes offer the student wide opportunities to choose studies in accordance with personal learning objectives.

The compulsory studies of the Master's degree include a thesis, which is preceded by the Applied Design Research course. The common studies of the degree are defined for each degree programme. In most of Haaga-Helia's Master's programmes, the students choose the courses from the common studies that suit them best. Specialisation forms the core competence of the degree, which the student chooses either during the application phase or at the beginning of the studies (excl. DP in Strategising in Organisations and Sustainable Aviation Business). The students choose free-choice studies according to their own goals from the offer of Haaga-Helia's Master's courses or from other higher education institutions as applicable. Typically, free-choice studies are studies of other specialisations.

In a Master's degree in English (90 credits), at least 70 credits must be completed in English, including a thesis written in English.

Personal study plan, PSP

The study planning tool is the PSP found in Peppi. With the PSP tool, the students choose the courses for their own study plan and enroll for courses. In addition to the PSP tool, it is often useful to draft your own plan in which also other important things in life are considered.

PSP will be constructed during the first semester of study. After this, if necessary, PSP is updated once a semester (in October and April) before the next semester's course enrollment. The guidance counsellor checks and approves PSP once a semester.

Study time and the maximum time for studies

The statutory study time for a Master’s degree is 1,5 – 2 years. The studies should be planned to follow this time frame so that the coursework and the Master´s thesis together build up the degree.

At the beginning of studies the statutory study time of 2 years is entered in the personal study plan (PSP). If the student's statutory study time has been fulfilled and he/she is still attending the fourth semester, a one year's extension to complete his/her studies is automatically added to PSP (see Study time and graduation within the statutory study time). In this case, the study time in PSP is also updated from two years to three years.

The maximum duration of the Master’s studies is three years. Students who are not able to complete the Master’s degree within the maximum duration of the study time (3 years), can finish their degree studies at the Open University of Applied Sciences (Open UAS). Students also have the opportunity to apply for an extension of study time during the last attending semester but the extension is not always granted.  

Study leave, or other longer leave, is a good opportunity to take time and focus for studying. During the study leave, it is possible to get funding in the form of Adult Education Allowance. It is possible to enroll as non-attendance for maximum two semesters (and with a legal reason even longer). We recommend to use the possibility for non-attendance when studying is not realistic. 

Important links when planning your studies