Application:Minimum requirements

Applicants should have a strong background in computer science or a related field since programming and mathematical knowledge is assumed. Moreover, applicants need to have a very good comand over the English language in order to follow the lectures and exams. Therefore, you have to fulfil the following formal requirements in order to apply to the Master in Intelligent Adaptive Systems.

• A Bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related field with 60 ECTS credit points acquired in the core field of computer science. The 60 ECTS must be listed in your transcript of records.

• Proof of English language proficiency by (or comparable to)

 CEFR/TELC: Level B2
 IELTS: 6.5
 TOEFL: IBT 90, PBT 575, CBT 230
 Cambridge: CAE or CPE

Requirement: 60 ECTS credits or comparable from computer science

The requirement for the MSc IAS is a Bachelor’s degree with 60 credit points (ETCS) from core Computer Science courses/modules. This excludes math, engineering, mechatronics, electrical engineering, economics or soft skill subjects unless it is clear that they specifically focus on CS centred content.

The ECTS credit system is not used in my country, how can I calculate the correct amount?

ECTS stands for European Credit Transfer System and it is a measure for the estimated workload per module of a student. At Universität Hamburg a BSc in Informatics/Computer Science has a regular length of 3 years and requires 180 ECTS credits. One ECTS credit corresponds to about 30 hours of work and the amount of credits per module is set by the lecturer. Each regular semester of a full-time student contains 30 ECTS credits. 60 ECTS credits equal one year of full-time study. Thus you can use 1/3rd of your BSc as a rough estimate.

What modules will be counted towards the 60 ECTS?

Without additional information, the admission board can only count modules in which computer science content is evident from the module's name (e.g. a module named "Object-oriented programming" will surely be counted). To enable the board to make an informed decision, please provide a short description for all modules with a majority of computer science related content, including projects or practicals. Here are some examples of module names which might be counted: digital signal processing, artificial intelligence, computational linguistics, software engineering, programming in ..., human-robot interaction, neural networks, introduction to computer science, data mining, image processing, algorithms, and data structures, data bases... Advice: if you like the admission board to accept courses with names in your transcript of records like "Project", "Mini/Major Project", "Seminar" please provide an explanation of cs content and official evidence (e.g. stating the course explicitly in a letter of recommendation).

How should I display and evidence my 60 ECTS?

• Evidence = official transcript of records issued by your university containing credit points/hours per module/course, the total amount of credit points/hours, standard length in years of your program studied (e.g. 3y or 4y bachelor), the length you have needed to complete your study

• Display = structured table of your own: containing, all cs courses, short explanation of content, credits, credit hours, the total amount of credits/credit hours in your degree/program (e.g. 180 ECTS in the B.Sc. Informatics at UH), and the total amount of credits/credit hours of your cs courses. State the standard length in years of your program studied (e.g. 3y or 4y bachelor), and length you have needed to complete your study.

In your own interest create a neat, precise, and short table of your own with the courses, you think, are core computer science courses to help the admissions board to decide whether a module can be counted towards the requirement. All the courses you list and explain have to be found easily in your transcript of records. If not, state where the admission board finds evidence, e.g., letter of recommendation. If the module was based on specific literature, please add the name of the book as well. The given information should be short and precise (e.g. name and number of course as exactly given in your transcript) but contain enough information so that the admission board can make an informed decision. Please do not send full module handbooks of your University since the admission board does not have the time to work through whole handbooks to find the required information.

Advice: if you like the admission board to accept courses with names in your transcript of records like "Project", "Mini/Major Project", "Seminar" please provide an explanation of cs content and official evidence (e.g. stating the course explicitly in a letter of recommendation).

The admission board will not sort through your mess :(

You have not finished the BSc or do not have the official certificate yet:

You can apply if you have finished and can evidence 150 ECTS credits (or comparable) of your first degree. At Universität Hamburg a BSc has a regular length of three years and requires 180 ECTS credits, thus you are required to evidence 5/6th of a degree. This has to be done through an official transcript showing the amount of already acquired credits and the number of minimum credits required for completion. The final transcript has to be then handed in for enrolment if you have been made an offer.

You do not have a BSc degree in computer science:

The formal requirement is "60 ECTS credits or comparable from computer science". At Universität Hamburg, each regular semester of a full-time student contains 30 ECTS credits which means that you have to evidence that 1/3rd of a 3-year BSc degree was composed of computer science (CS) courses. Please note that only core computer science modules will be counted which generally excludes math, engineering, mechatronics, electrical engineering or softskill subjects unless it is shown that they specifically focused on CS centred content.

What does this mean for your documents that you should prepare?

If you are not sure whether your degree can fulfil the requirement, please add information on modules that you have completed and that contained CS related content, e.g., in a table. Optimally this is a selected list of courses with a short description of what the covered CS content was. Please make sure those courses can be found in your transcript easily. (The admission board will not sort through your mess) If the module was based on specific literature, please add the name of the book as well. The given information should be short and precise (Name as given in transcript, number of credit hours spent, short description) but contain enough information so that the admission board can make an informed decision. Please do not send full module handbooks of your University since the admission board does not have the time to work through whole handbooks to find the required information.

You do not have "standard" BSc but a comparable degree:

Please submit all documents that together can be counted as comparable to a BSc degree (e.g. associative + 2y-BSc degree in some countries)

Your degree does not fulfil the requirements:

The admission board might add together courses from several degrees or professional training to reach the required amount. This will be decided on a case to case basis but only incorporate courses that are taught on a B.Sc. level and of an extent comparable to a course in higher education. You should, therefore, include evidence of all your degrees and training courses that can fulfil these criteria. Please state precisely that you would like the admission board to accept extra courses and which. A table and a short abstract is a good idea + evidence. (The admission board will not sort your mess.) However the last years have shown that - it is very unlikely to be accepted with a degree that does not fulfil the requirements.

I do not have a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, can I still apply?

Yes, but still you need to evidence 60 ECTS in core computer science courses.

I do not have enough credits on the BSc transcript, but another degree or comparable?

In any case you will need 60 ECTS. The admission board counts only finished university courses obtained in one bachelor in cs or master in cs or a related field.

• Providing more university degrees with not enough cs on its own, will be a case by case decision by the admission board and might lead to direct rejection. Please note, that the "additional" courses have to be taken at, at least, BSc level and have to be finished. It has to be evident that they are taken at a university. You have to provide the transcript of records stating credit points/credit hours as well.

The advice here: make it as clear as possible what you would like the admission board to accept and where the course came from e.g. table/list Even if the admission board does not accept all of your listed courses - will help your case verifying that you are really interested in the field of IAS. In any case, provide as much evidence about the content and the nature of the courses/experience as you can - in order to help the admission board to come to an informed decision. But please note, the admission team and board does not have endless time to sort your mess.

Can I complete courses after application to make good for missing credit points in computer science?

No, unfortunately not. The requirement of 60 credit points from computer science modules, which have to be comparable to modules from the “BSc Informatik” at the University of Hamburg, will be checked at the beginning of the admission process. If you do not fulfil this requirement, your application will be rejected by the admissions board before entering the selection process. Missing credit points have to be obtained before application through additional courses, e.g. at your current university

Requirement: English language proficiency

I have a language certificate that is not listed on the website, can I send this as proof?

Only sending a language certificate that is listed on the website with a sufficiently high score will lead to an automatic acceptance as proof of language proficiency.

You can also send a language certificate that is not listed, which then will be handed to the admission board that has to decide whether this is comparable to the listed certificates. It is always a good idea to provide information about the certificate and why you have acquired a different language certificate than listed. Please understand that only internationally established certificates can be counted. Certificates from local language schools and universities cannot be easily verified and therefore have to be rejected.

I am a native English speaker. Do I still have to send a certificate?

If you are born and living in a country with English as its native language, you do not have to provide further evidence. This might also apply if you have been living, studying or working in such country for a long time, but this will be decided on a case to case basis by the admission board. If the admission board decides that it is not sufficient proof, it can still be counted in addition with other evidence.

My previous degree was taught fully in English, does that count as sufficient proof?

No. However if your certificate/transcript explicitly states that English was the medium of instruction within your entire degree (=3+ years) or you provide a letter by the University stating that all modules were taught and assessed in English, the admission board may accept this as proof of proficiency. Again this will be decided on a case to case basis depending on country and institution. Over the last years - it was more likely to be rejected than accepted without language proficiency test. If you have studied in a country where English is the native language, the evidence carries more weight since you were fully immersed in an English speaking environment.

I have a TOEFL certificate but can't find the institution code of Universität Hamburg?

If you want to submit the TOEFL scores through ETS, the departmental code is B406. Since there usually is a considerable delay between test and the arrival of the score card, please ALWAYS add a copy of the scorecard or the results page to your documents. If your documents do not arrive in time or never your application will be rejected. Only by adding a copy to your application - you can be sure that the admission board has the information by the time a selection decision has to be made.