Application:Minimum requirements

Applicants should have a strong background in computer science or a related field of study since programming and mathematical knowledge is assumed. Moreover, applicants must have a very good command over the English language to follow lectures and exams. You have to meet the following formal requirements in order to apply to the Master's program 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. These 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: At least Level B2 in all testing categories (listening, reading, speaking, writing) better C1 
 IELTS: 6.5 + B2
 TOEFL: IBT 90, PBT 575, CBT 230
 Cambridge: CAE or CPE

Formal Requirement: 60 ECTS credits or comparable from computer science

The formal requirement for the MSc IAS is a completed degree (at least a Bachelor’s degree) with at least 60 credit points (ECTS) in core Computer Science (cs) courses/modules. Only completed university courses obtained in a single bachelor in cs or master in cs or a related field of study count towards the formal requirement of 60 ECTS credits in cs. Applicants who can only provide proof of 60 ECTS counting courses from 2 or more degrees will be subject to a case by case decision and may be rejected on the grounds of not passing the formal requirement of 60 ECTS in one degree. Please contact us before you apply.

How should I evidence and display my 60 ECTS?

Evidence = Transcript + Table

Please send your 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.

Self-made structured table

To display the 60 ECTS in computer science, please provide a self-made structured table of all core computer science courses you have completed. This will help the IAS selection committee to identify which of the courses listed in your transcript of records can be counted as core computer science courses for the required 60 ECTS. All of the information you mention, have to be found 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 read the detailed section about the structured self-made table here including examples:

 Self-made table

Please do not send full module handbooks as descriptions of course content. The selection team will not read them. Providing proof is the applicant's task - use a highlighter to point to the important information in any document you provide.

The ECTS credit system is not used in my country, how can I estimate my credits?

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 number 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 of only core computer science courses. Thus you can use the estimation of 60 ECTS AND the estimation of the ratio of at least 33% of a 3 year-BSc as a rough estimate to the amount of workload your completed cs courses have to fulfill. Please note, it is the applicant's task to provide proof of at least 60 ECTS and information on the degree the applicant is applying with. Please, provide the information the table template is asking for if your transcript does not show ECTS.

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.

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 unless you can specifically prove that the 60 ECTS will be finished at the end of the running semester. If you do not fulfill this requirement, your application will be rejected by the selection committee before entering the selection process.

I don't have a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, can I still apply?

The requirement for the MSc IAS is one finished degree (at least a Bachelor’s degree) with at least 60 credit points (ETCS) from core Computer Science. Make sure to provide evidence of modules with computer science content (i.e. detailed transcript of records, module description in a nice and short table as mentioned in the formal requirements) to help the admissions board to decide whether a module can be counted towards the requirement. Please note the admission board will not search for info in an entire module handbook. All the courses you list and explain have to be found in your transcript of records. It is the applicant's task to provide acceptable proof of 60 ECTS. For evaluation please provide all the information asked for in the example of the table.

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 displayed in your transcript. You need to have a finished degree by 15 May or a statement of your university that you finish within weeks in case you have been accepted to the program. In general, this applies to all applicants: You can apply if you have finished 5/6 semesters and can evidence 150 ECTS credits of 180 ECTS (or comparable) of your first degree = last semester is missing. 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 and grading scale, 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" Bachelor of Science but a comparable degree, what should I do?

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).

Formal 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 one of the language proficiency tests in the list displaying at least the minimum score:

CEFR/TELC Level >= at least B2 in all categories or C1
IELTS >= Overall band 6.5 + B2 (*with a minimum subscore of 6.0 for Listening, Comprehension, Speaking, Writing)
TOEFL: IBT >= 90 (*with a minimum subscore of 20 for Reading, Listening, Speaking, Writing), PBT >= 575, CBT >= 230
Cambridge >= CAE or CPE

*of course, the overall minimum level has to be reached, too

Please, contact us if you have an internationally accepted test that does not appear on this list.

The following evidence may also be accepted - state your case in an extra letter:

• Native English speaker (evidenced by a copy of your ID or passport of a country with English as one of its official languages)
• Living/studying in an English-speaking country (AUS, NZ, GB, USA) for a long period (3 years or longer) (evidenced by confirmation e.g. letter of your company, university)

Evidences that on their own do not fulfil the requirement

• Medium of instruction
• English courses within your degree without an internationally accepted certificate
• Short exchanges or visits in English-speaking countries
• Essays or papers written in the 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 fulfillment 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.

Recent application periods have shown that most applicants have been directly rejected without English proficiency tests due to a very high number of applicants and/or an unclear evidenced English proficiency. Therefore it is recommended to send in one of the internationally established language certificates as listed above.

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 a country with English as one of its official languages (e.g. Australia, New Zealand, 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, institution, English in your application. Please provide a document of your own stating the information and why you are not sending an English Proficiency Test. 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 is: Universität Hamburg - Department of Informatics DI Code: 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 and inform us via email: ias-info@informatik.uni-hamburg.de. If your documents do not arrive in time your application will be rejected. Some documents never reach us.

More questions regarding the application

• Frequently Asked Questions about the application

What does this mean for the documents I should prepare?

See Required documents for detailed information.