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 or attested by your university.

• 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 formal requirement for the MSc IAS is a Bachelor’s degree with at least 60 credit points (ETCS) from core Computer Science (cs) courses/modules. The admission board only counts finished university courses obtained in one bachelor in cs or master in cs or a related field.

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 a 3 year-BSc as a rough estimate to the amount of workload your completed cs courses have to fulfil.

What modules will be counted towards the 60 ECTS?

Here are some examples of module names which will likely be counted as CS content: 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...

Modules that will not be counted include: math, engineering, mechatronics, electrical engineering, economics or soft skill subjects unless they specifically focus on cs centred content.

How should I evidence and display my 60 ECTS?

• Evidence: Official transcript of records issued by your university or other evidence attested by your university containing the credit points/hours per module/course, the total amount of credit points/hours along with the standard length in years of your program and the length you have needed to complete your study if these details aren't listed in your transcript of records.

• Display: Provide a structured table of all core computer science courses you have completed/will complete with a short explanation of content, credits, credit hours of each course, as well as the total amount of credit hours of your cs courses altogether and the total amount of credits/credit hours of your degree/program. If a course was based on specific literature, please add the name of the book as well. All the courses, as well as mini/major projects or the CS seminars you mention, need to be detectable in your transcript of records. The given information should be short and precise (e.g. name and number of course as exactly given in your transcript). If they aren't listed in your transcript, please provide another source of evidence attested by your university, e.g. letter of recommendation.

Please do not send full module handbooks.

I have completed my degree, do I need to do uni-assist?

In general, it is not a problem if your final grade on your BSc certificate is of your university's grading system and not using GPA since you need to provide information on your university's grading system in your application, as mentioned above. However, you can use uni-assist as a way to get your final grade on your BSc certificate calculated into an equivalent German grade of the German grading system, but this is not a must.

I have not finished my degree and do not know my overall/final grade yet?

Please make sure by the time you apply that you have 60 ECTS in core CS subjects.

You can apply if you have finished 5/6 semesters and can evidence 150 ECTS credits (or comparable) of your first degree. This must be detectable in your official transcript of records showing the amount of already acquired credits and the number of minimum credits required for completion. The final transcript and graduation certificate have to be handed in for enrolment if you are admitted.

In regards to your overall average grade (preliminary) and/or final grade, please provide a document with a (preliminary) final grade calculated by your university, even if only 5/6 semesters of the studies have been completed. It can be in GPA or the system used in your university, but it should be submitted in numbers. Make sure you send an official document attested by your university as the IAS admission board does not accept self-calculated final grades nor does the IAS admission board calculate final grades for you. If this information is listed in your transcript of records, then you don't need to provide this extra document.

For the translation of your final/average grade into the German grading system and comparison reasons. Please provide your degrees grading scale (minimum passing grade, maximum grade, e.g. in GPA: "1" is usually the minimum passing grade and "4" the maximum grade.) Please provide an official document for your grading scale if it is not evident on your official transcript.

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

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

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

No, unfortunately not. The requirement of 60 ECTS needs to be fulfilled upon application. If you do not fulfil this requirement, your application will be rejected by the admissions board before entering the selection process.

What does this mean for the documents I should prepare?

See Required documents for detailed information.

Requirement: English language proficiency

The admission board is looking for evidence of a language level that ensures that you can both follow a complex lecture as well as communicate well in oral and written form. Students that don't have the necessary level won't be able to follow lectures, complete homework and seminar papers, or pass oral exams and thus not be able to complete our program.

Direct fulfillment of the requirement:

• Sending a language proficiency test with a score equal to the minimum score mentioned above

Evidences that on their own do not fulfil the requirement:

• English courses within your degree without an internationally accepted certificate
• Short exchanges or visits in English-speaking countries
• Essays or papers written in English language
• Old English proficiency test score (older than 2 years)

Direct rejection

• Sending a language proficiency test with a score below the listed levels
• Applications without a language proficiency test and without an extra letter stating explicitly what you would like the admission board to accept as English proficiency requirement

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

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. Only listed language certificates with sufficiently high scores will immediately lead to the fulfilment of the formal requirement language proficiency.

You may send a language certificate that is not listed, however it will be the admission board's decision whether or not it is comparable to the listed certificates. It is always a good idea to provide information about the certificate and why you send in a different language certificate than listed.

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

If you were born and are living in a country with English as one of its official languages, you do not have to provide further evidence. In this case, please send in a copy of your ID or passport. This might also apply if you have been studying or working in such a country for a long time, in this case please send in a confirmation such as a letter from your company or university. It is still recommended to provide additional proof of language proficiency with one of the listed language certificates from above.

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

No. However, if your degree was obtained in an English speaking country (e.g. Australia, NZ ,UK, USA ..) and your certificate/transcript explicitly states that English was the medium of instruction within your entire degree (3+ years) and your university attests that all modules were taught and assessed in English, the admission board may accept this as proof of proficiency, but this will be decided on a case to case basis depending on country and institution. It is still recommended to provide additional proof of language proficiency with one of the listed language certificates.

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 your application will be rejected.