Minimum Requirement: 60 ECTS credits in computer science

The minimum requirement for the MSc IAS is a completed degree (at least a Bachelor’s degree) with at least 60 ECTS credits in core Computer Science courses; only completed university courses obtained in a single Bachelor in Computer Science or a single Master in Computer Science or a related field of study count towards the 60 ECTS credits in Computer Science. 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 minimum requirement of 60 ECTS in one degree. In the case that you need to count several degree programs together, please contact us before you apply.

How to provide acceptable proof of at least 60 ECTS in core computer science

Evidence = Your transcript + Template_Evidencing_comparability_of_degree + Diploma Supplement

Please submit your official transcript of records issued by your university and additional documents attested by your university. In addition to your finished courses, your transcript or diploma supplement needs to contain:

• the credit points or credit hours per module/course (the numbers your transcript offers)
• the total & standard amount of credit points or credit hours in your degree by which you are allowed to graduate
• the typical length of your degree program in years
• the actual time it took you to complete your degree program
• your grade and grading scale

• Please fill in the "Template_Evidencing_comparability_of_degree" to state the core computer science courses, see next section.

The table template for degree comparability and at least 60 ECTS

You need to provide a well-structured table of all your completed core computer science courses. This table will help the IAS selection committee to identify which of the courses listed in your transcript of records count towards the required 60 ECTS in core computer science. Your transcript of records needs to match all computer science courses that you listed in your table. Please use the table template and keep your course/module table short and precise (e.g. name and number of course - it needs to exactly match your transcript; add a short description on computer science content). Please give concise explanations for courses/modules. If the course/module you list does not match your university's official transcript of records, please provide another source of evidence attested by your university, e.g. letter of recommendation and write a comment in your table. Please also state contact hours and weeks per semester of contact hours. For more explanations see the table template and the wiki page describing the information you need to state:

Use this table template to list all of your core computer science courses and read which courses may count:

 Table template to fill in

Please do not send your full module handbook/course catalog instead of a "table". The selection team will not read these. Providing structured proof is the applicant's task - use a highlighter to point to the important information in any (official) document you provide.

Common questions regarding the table template

My country does not use the ECTS credit system. How can I estimate whether I fulfil the 60 ECTS credits requirement?

ECTS stands for European Credit Transfer System. It is a measure for a student's estimated workload per course/module. 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. The lecturer sets the number of credits per module. Each regular semester of a full-time student contains 30 ECTS credits. 60 ECTS credits equal one academic year of full-time study of only core computer science courses. Thus you can use the estimation of 60 ECTS contact hours (see required table template) AND the estimation of the ratio of at least 33% of core computer science of a 3 year-BSc as a rough estimate of whether the selection committee would rate your degree as eligible (fulfilling the formal requirement of at least 60 ECTS). It is the applicant's task to provide proof of at least 60 ECTS and information on the degree with which the applicant is applying. Please only use the table template and provide the information the table template is asking for if your transcript does not show ECTS. Please provide official proof of the information you state in the table template, see transcript and diploma supplement sections.

What type of course/modules will be counting towards the 60 ECTS?

Here are some examples of courses/modules which will likely count as core computer science: 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, databases...

Modules that do not count as core computer science include maths, engineering, mechatronics, electrical engineering, economics or soft skill subjects unless these soft skill subjects explicitly revolve around computer science.

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

No, unfortunately not. You need to have 60 ECTS in computer science at the time of your application. If you do not fulfil this requirement, your application will be rejected by the selection committee on the grounds of not passing minimum requirements.

I don't have a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. Can I still apply?

Yes. The requirement for the MSc IAS is a completed degree (at least a Bachelor’s degree) with at least 60 credit points (ETCS) in core computer science. It is the applicant's task to provide acceptable proof of 60 ECTS or more in core computer science.

I have not completed my degree and do not know my final grade yet.

Please make sure that you have 60 ECTS in core computer science subjects displayed in your transcript by the time you apply. You need to have completed your degree by 15 May. If not, you need to provide a statement by your university stating that you will complete your degree within weeks in case you were accepted to the IAS Master's program. In general, this applies to all applicants: You can apply if you have completed 5 out of 6 semesters and can evidence 150 ECTS credits out of 180 ECTS (or comparable) of your first degree. This means that your final semester can be missing at the time of application. Your situation must be detectable in your official transcript of records, showing the number of credits already acquired and the number of minimum credits required for completion of your degree. Your final transcript and graduation certificate have to be handed in for enrolment, in case you are admitted.

In regards to your final grade or your preliminary final grade, please provide an official document by your university stating your (preliminary) final grade. Please also provide the corresponding grading scale. Provide both these documents, even in case you only have completed 5 out of 6 semesters of your degree program. Your grade can be in the GPA system or the system used by your university. In every case, you should submit it as a number. Make sure that you attach an official document attested by your university. The IAS selection committee does not accept self-calculated final grades. Nor does the IAS selection committee calculate your final grade for you.

We need to be able to translate your final/average grade into the German grading system. Please provide your degree's grading scale (minimum passing grade, maximum grade, e.g. in GPA: "1" is usually the minimum passing grade and "4" is the maximum grade). Please provide an official document for your grading scale if it is not evident on your official transcript of records.

If you fail to provide official proof of your grade and grading scale, you will receive a less favorable ranking - see selection criteria 2. Ranking behind everybody who has verified their grade and scale.

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). Fill in the table template for each degree.

Can I add more than one degree to the table template where the ECTS contact hours are estimated?

No, please fill in the table template for estimation of ECTS contact hours and ratio for each degree. Please note, that the minimum requirement needs to be met in one of the degrees, e.g. the Bachelor. The selection committee may decide case by case if the minimum requirement can only be fulfilled with more than one degree. However, the chances of being accepted may be very slim.