Master in Computer Science UiT The Arctic University of Norway

Computer science surrounds us everywhere in everyday life, such as the internet and mobile phones. The program is highly practical and experimental, where the students learn to design, develop, and program advanced data systems. All teaching will be held in English, and the program has students from all over the world.

Program description

• Duration: 2 years
• Credits (ECTS): 120
• Admission requirements: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or similar qualification, with a major in computer science (min 80 ECTS)
• Degree Name: Master of Science in Biomedicine
• Application code:
  • Norwegian and Nordic applicants: 4008
  • International applicants: 2017

The program supplies you with a solid foundation in computer science, combined with a deeper and more detailed understanding and skills within your chosen area of specialization in the master thesis.

The program consists of four mandatory courses in computer science, a total of 40 ECTS credits, and 20 ECTS credits of elective courses. The elective courses may be within topics such as economics, management, psychology, and entrepreneurship. The program concludes with a master thesis of 60 ECTS credits. The master thesis can also be done in collaboration with an external IT-company.

Since the study program is very experimental with a lot of practical programming exercises and laboratory work emphasis is placed on that the students are acquiring computer science and engineering skills. The computer science courses are directly connected to the on-going research carried out by the academic staff at the department.

Program structure

Teaching and assessment

To complete the program until the master's degree requires motivation and targeted work effort. To achieve the learning outcomes for the study program, students must expect to spend more than 40 hours a week in the study from the study start, including lectures, group hours, laboratory work, and self-taught self-study.

The program offers a varied teaching program while most courses are intensive and project-oriented. In lectures, theory and academic themes are examined. In the group work, students are expected to be active in discussions of issues in the subject matter. Students work in laboratories where compulsory assignments are solved to acquire practical skills in designing, building, and maintaining computer systems, either individually or in teams with other students.

In addition to collaborating with other informatics students, the students will also work with people who have knowledge in other areas. In order to train this, it is important that the student takes an active role, is present, and contributes to the learning environment, both in organized teaching and otherwise during the weeks where the students cooperate and largely learn from each other.

All academic staff who teach the study program are active researchers in various research projects. The courses are based on relevant research and are related to the department's research activity. As a student, you will be able to engage in projects in the research laboratories along the way. Special curriculum and master theses are often part of a larger project context, in a working community in a research group. In the work on these assignments, individual guidance is provided by the department's academic staff.

Access to further studies

On successful completion of the degree program, students may be qualified for admission to a Ph.D. program in Science, depending on satisfactory grades in the Master's and Bachelor's degrees. Ph.D.-program in Science is offered at the UiT.

Exchange

Exchange stays at other educational institutions in Norway or abroad can by agreement be included in the program. The Department of computer science has subject-specific exchange agreements (Erasmus +) with several universities in Europe where the agreements with the Technical University of Munich, Germany, and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands are recommended.

Students can carry out an exchange stay in the second semester of the study. The courses scheduled for completion during the exchange period must be pre-approved in consultation with the department. The department will in each case assess how and to what extent external courses can replace mandatory subjects in the student's education plan at UiT.

Students wishing to carry out an exchange stay as part of the study program must contact the department administration in good time before leaving, no later than the semester start of the semester before departure. The pre-approved courses are included as part of the study at UiT. If the student does not accomplish the pre-approved arrangement this may lead to extended study time.

The amount of work should be representative of the period during which the student is on exchange stays.

Learning outcomes

For each program at the UiT there are set targets for knowledge, analytical understanding, skills, and competencies that a student has reached by the end of studies.

Knowledge

The candidate has:

• a broad solid foundation in computer science.
• considerable depth of understanding of a selected area of specialization.
• a deep understanding of the state of the art distributed and parallel software architectures.
• solid knowledge about risks and threats in computer systems and their related security measures.
• a solid understanding of system and application development relevant to the chosen specialty.

Skills

The candidate can:

• work independently on a significant non-trivial problem over a longer time period.
• analyze a problem and plan how to work towards a solution.
• plan, organize and execute the work required to solve the problem. Adapt to changes and limitations.
• demonstrate the feasibility of the solution by implementing key parts.
• collect and analyze relevant metrics characterizing the problem and the solution.
• write a well-structured and clearly formulated report describing the thesis work and reflecting on its results.

General competence

The candidate:

• has an interest in the continued development of computer science as a dynamic field under the influences of advances in the discipline, changes in technology, and in application areas, business models, and businesses.
• can communicate effectively, orally and in writing, within the field, and with the public as well as experts in other fields.
• can pursue life-long learning and development.
• is aware of relevant social and ethical issues and apply this awareness to their professional conduct.

Job prospectives

After graduating with a Master's degree in Computer Science, you can work all over the world within many different industries, for instance, IT, mobile, health, teaching, and oil. The work is typical as system developers, engineers, scientists or consultants, within areas such as web, mobile phones, data security, computer games, 3D- and film animation, search engines, operating systems, databases, and networks. It is common among the candidates to hold manager positions and to establish their own enterprise.