The Helsinki Doctoral Programme in Computer Science - Advanced Comuting and Intelligent Systems is a post-graduate programme jointly offered by the University of Helsinki and Aalto University. Year 2012 was the 18th year that this school has been in operation. The focal areas are Algorithms, structures and complexity (algorithm design and mathematical methods, basic research and innovative methods for novel applications), Pattern Analysis and Intelligent Systems (methods for finding meaningful patterns from and modelling of large data sets, intelligent interfaces) and System Software (operating systems, database systems, middleware, and compilers).

Hecse offers these post-graduates various benefits, such as advanced courses, funding for participation in summer schools and conferences, research visits, and annual student meetings. In 2012, Hecse participated in the arrangements of the Federated Computer Science Event (Yhdistetyt tietojenkäsittelyn päivät) in 28.-29.5. at the Department of Computer Science at the Kumpula campus of the University of Helsinki. The event combined the traditional annual events of three societies in Finland: The Finnish Society for Computer Science, the Pattern Recognition Society of Finland, and the Finnish Artificial Intelligence Society. Hecse also offered several specialized courses on its focal areas. At the end of the year, there were 75 doctoral students in the school, 25 of which had funding from the school. Of these 75, 25 (33 %) were foreign students and 11 (15 %) were women. The Hecse post-graduates attended numerous international courses and conferences. During 2012, 10 Hecse research students defended their PhD theses.