1. The new Computer Science Masters Degree of FCT/UNL “Course outline”

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. The “Bolonha conformant” Computer Science (CS) MSc degree of FCT/UNL “Outline of the course proposal”

7. 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

8. Course positioning

9. 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

10. 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

11. Curriculum structure: scientific areas Main area: Computer Science (Informatics) Complementary areas:  Mathematics  Human and Social Sciences  Economy and Management  Electronics Engineering, ...

12. Scientific areas Scientific areaLabelECTS Computer Science (Informatics)INF93 MathematicsMAT6 Economy and ManagementEG6 Human and Social SciencesCHS3 Open12 Total120

13. 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)

14. Optional courses Optional courses in Computer Science (INF - from 51 to 63 ECTS ) Optional courses in different scientific areas (from 0 to 12 ECTS)

15. 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”

16. The initial or basic set Knowledge Representation and Reasoning Database Systems Human Computer Interaction Construction and Analysis of Software Systems Software Architectures Distributed Systems

17. 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

18. Other Computer Science courses Several different courses Some deepen the initial set Some introducing new topics Please see table

19. 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.....

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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