Transcript PPT Presentation - Tempus Project Site

The new Computer
Science Masters Degree
of FCT/UNL
“Course outline”
FCT/UNL’s MSc degree in the late 80’s
 Since 30 years ago, FCT/UNL provides an
engineering degree (BSc) in Computer Science
with a 5 years duration
 By the late 80’s we started a MSc degree
course:
Main initial goal: to provide a path for academic
progress for young teaching assistants
During the first year the student should pick 6 or 7
different courses (40 ECTS) among a broad offer
and elaborate a MSc thesis during the 2nd year
Initially, the MSc course had a small number of students
- in general already enrolled with the university
FCT/UNL’s MSc degree in the late 90’s
 By the late 90’s the MSc course degree attracted more
students (coming with our own BSc degree as well as
with similar degrees from other universities)
 The number of offered course options was higher, and
 There was a certain overlap between the contents of
courses of the BSc fifth year and the ones of the MSc
first year
 We then started a major restructuring of the MSc degree
The current Computer Science MSc degree
 Type B courses - deepening courses (well grounded
material, behind the fundamentals)
 Type A courses - introduction to research
 4 different non overlapping tracks (specializations) Artificial Intelligence, Computer and Network Systems,
Software Technology, and Technology of Information
Systems
 The student is required to:
 to take at least 4 type B courses and 2 type A courses,
 to take at least 50% of the credits in the same track,
 elaborate a Master Dissertation on its specialization
Integration of the Computer Science
BSc and MSc course degrees
 Nowadays, type B courses are common to the 5th year
of the engineering degree (BSc)
 MSc students coming from our BSc (or similar Computer
Science Engineering degrees) are exempt from type B
courses
 One good student, coming from a good 5 year BSc
degree, can finish the Master in one year (2 type A
courses plus the master thesis in one year) thus
finishing a BSc and a MSc in 6 years
The “Bolonha
conformant” Computer
Science (CS) MSc degree
of FCT/UNL
“Outline of the course
proposal”
Agenda
Approach and methodology
Skills and competences to be acquired by
students
Curriculum structure
Offered courses and their structuring
The new concept of specialization
How we compare our degree proposal to
similar ones
Course positioning
Actividade Profissional
Forma Ќ‹ o 1ј ciclo
Forma Ќ‹ o 2ј ciclo
Forma Ќ‹ o 3ј ciclo
Institui Ќ‹ o Parceira
Institui Ќ‹ o Parceira
Institui Ќ‹ o Parceira
FCT/UNL
Forma Ќ‹ o 1ј ciclo
Fundamentos
ciђncia e
engenharia
Mat Ћrias
essencias
do curso
FCT/UNL
FCT/UNL
Forma Ќ‹ o 2ј ciclo
Bloco Inicial
Bloco Principal
Bloco complementar
3 anos
Especializa Ќ› es
Forma Ќ‹ o 3ј ciclo
2 anos
Licenciatura =
piv™para a Mobilidade e
Empregabilidade
3 ou 4 anos
Mestrado =
piv™para a Mobilidade e
Empregabilidade
Methodology
 Two years degree (second cycle) after a three year first cycle
 At course entrance, students must already master the basics of
Computer Science (ACM and IEEE curriculum) — this will be
enforced by an admission exam if required
 Flexibility is paramount - the course allows flexible curriculum
tracks and emphasis; the course must allow the student:
 to master state of the art engineering practices and
 to get an introduction to computer science research
 Students, helped by a tutor, are co-responsible for their course
choices - almost no mandatory courses
 Besides CS, students must improve their skills in several
disciplines namely: mathematics, technical and scientific
communication and economy and management
 Optionally, students may become specialists in a branch of CS
by following a concentrating of optional courses
Course goals and students skills
 To deepen parts of the ACM/IEEE Computer
Science (CS) curriculum
 State of the art engineering practices and
introduction to research
 Communication and management skills
 System vision, ability to deal with complexity
 Autonomy and self-learning skills
Curriculum structure: scientific areas
 Main area: Computer Science
(Informatics)
 Complementary areas:
 Mathematics
 Human and Social Sciences
 Economy and Management
 Electronics Engineering,
 ...
Scientific areas
Scientific area
Label
ECTS
Computer Science (Informatics)
INF
93
Mathematics
MAT
6
Economy and Management
EG
6
Human and Social Sciences
CHS
3
Open
12
Total
120
Mandatory courses
 Introduction to Operations Research (MAT 6 ECTS)
 Economy and Management (EG - 6 ECTS)
 Technical and Scientific Communication
(CHS - 3 ECTS)
 Masters Dissertation (INF - 42 ECTS)
Optional courses
Optional courses in Computer Science
(INF - from 51 to 63 ECTS )
Optional courses in different scientific
areas (from 0 to 12 ECTS)
Structure of the Computer Science
(INF) optional courses (from 51 to
63 credits)
 Initial or basic set courses
Students must obtain at least 18 ECTS in this subset
 Complementary courses
No other constraints besides “course pre-requirements”
 Advanced topics courses
No other constraints besides “course pre-requirements”
The initial or basic set
Knowledge Representation and Reasoning
Database Systems
Human Computer Interaction
Construction and Analysis of Software
Systems
Software Architectures
Distributed Systems
The advanced topics set
 Advanced Topics on Decision Support and Artificial
Intelligence
 Advanced Topics on Parallel and Distributed Computing
 Tópicos Avançados em Linguagens e Modelos de
Programação
 Advanced Topics on Constraint Programming
 Advanced Topics on Distributed Systems
 Advanced Topics on Information Systems
 Advanced Topics on Software Engineering
 Advanced Topics on Visualization
Other Computer Science courses
Several different courses
Some deepen the initial set
Some introducing new topics
Please see table
Other optional courses (from 0 to
12 credits)
Applied Statistics
Stochastic Methods
Wireless communications
Digital Systems Synthesis
Computing and Cognitive Sciences
Ethics and Computer Systems
Project Management
.....
Specializations
 The course allows the student to optionally
concentrate the credits obtained in CS in a
specialization
 Each CS course can contribute to 0, 1 or more
specialization
 If the student concentrates up to 30 ECTS in a
concentration (chooses courses contributing to
that specialization), and presents a dissertation
in the same area, it will get a Masters degree
with the suffix, “Specialized in ....”
 The specialist concentrates 72 in 93 credits in a
special course track
Available Specializations
 Decision Support and Artificial Intelligence
 Graphical and Multimedia Systems
 Information Systems Technology
 Computer Systems and Networks
 Software Construction and Analysis
 Software Engineering
 See the course table
What is a specialization ?
 A specialization is not necessarily a sub
scientific area
 It can be presented by a menu metaphor —
besides the “menu a la carte” there are several
pre-composed menus or pre-defined tracks
 These menus have different “budgets” and focus
Student tutor
Supports the student in her choices;
explains the course structure and the
future implications of her choices
Freely chosen by the student or appointed
by the degree coordinator
The thesis advisor becomes the student
tutor in the second year
How does this course compares to
similar ones ?
Very flexible set of curriculum tracks
Several specializations providing from
state of the art engineering practices up to
introductions to research
( 15 + 12 ) / 120 = 22.5% credits can be
obtained in areas complementary to the
main course area