Application and Admission M.Sc. Data Science and Artificial Intelligence

Application

Despite offering the program to a wide range of students, applicants should have a strong background in computer science or a related field since programming and mathematical knowledge is assumed. Moreover, applicants need to have very good command over the English language in order to follow lectures and exams.
We can only consider your application if you meet all of the following three conditions. Otherwise, your application will be automatically rejected, without exception.

(1) You meet the minimum requirements.

(2) Your application contains all required documents

(3) You submit your application during the application period on the STiNE portal. Application period opens May 1st and closes June 15th 11:59 pm C.E.T .

Minimum Requirements

(1a) A Bachelor’s degree from the Faculty of Informatics, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, from Universität Hamburg, either in Informatik (Computer Science) or Computing in Science

(1b) a Bachelor’s degree in a related field insofar as the following minimum ECTS credit points were obtained: 24 ECTS credit points in mathematics, from which 6 ECTS credit points were obtained in the field of stochastics; 60 ECTS credit points in computer science, which correspond to the curriculum of the Bachelor's degree program in Informatik (Computer Science) at the MIN Faculty of the University of Hamburg.

In the case (1b), please provide all the information justifying for the asked ECTS credit points. That means describing the courses taken during the Bachelor’s degree program, explaining their title and content shortly, and highlighting their connection to the required fields.
Ex: My 2nd semester “Random Processes” course involves the study of discrete- and continuous-time random variables, including e.g. Markov chains. 9 ECTS credit points were obtained during this course, therefore fulfilling the minimum requirement of 6 ECTS for a mathematic module focused on stochastics.
If possible, please provide these explanations in form of a table, with each row containing a relevant module studied during your Bachelor’s degree.

If If you have not yet completed a Bachelor's degree program that meets the requirements listed above, you may be admitted if you are able to prove that you have both acquired at least 150 ECTS credit and are officially registered as having started your Bachelor thesis.
If you are unable to provide this evidence, please describe in a separate document, including a timetable, how you will complete the outstanding coursework and examinations by the end of the first Master's semester and still successfully start your Master's degree in the first Master's semester.

(2) English language proficiency, justified by either one of the following:

Attestation of a C1 English level provided by a course in your university or equivalent institution
International English Language Testing System (IELTS ) certificate with a grade of at least 6.5
Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) certificate with a grade of at least 90
Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English (CAE)
Proficiency in English (CPE)
Seven years of English courses in a German-speaking school.

Admission

If the applications that meet the special admission requirements exceed the number of places available for the Master's degree program in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence for the selection procedure, the selection will be made as follows:

(1) The final grade (or official preliminary final grade estimate in case of a missing semester of studies) of your Bachelor’s degree.

(2a) The content of your Bachelor’s degree, as compared to the equivalent Bachelor's degree program in Informatics from the MIN Faculty of the University of Hamburg.
(2b) The content of your Bachelor’s degree, as compared to the equivalent Bachelor's degree program Computing in Science from the MIN Faculty of the University of Hamburg.

(3) Your selection of modules during your Bachelor’s degree, as relevant to the DSAI Master. This includes elective modules (including projects, seminars, etc.), as well as relevant internships, professional experience or proven open source projects.

The note for criterion (2) will be the best ouf of the note for (2a) and for (2b), which is equivalent to saying that your Bachelor’s degree will be compared to what seems the closest (content-wise) to either of the Bachelor's degree programs in Informatics or Computing in Science from the MIN Faculty of the University of Hamburg.

The criteria above are weighted as follow: Criterion (1) (grade) is weighted by 30%. Criterion (2) (B.Sc. content) is weighted by 40%. Criterion (3) (module selection) is weighted by 30%.

The selection decision is made by a selection committee consisting of three lecturers from the Master's degree program in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, two of whom are qualified examiners.

Application Procedure

(1) Create an account on the central administration of Universität Hamburg (CampusCenter) STiNE platform. Follow this link. You will then receive the access data for the online application by e-mail. After logging into STiNE, you can access the application form via the Application menu (above), then Online application (navigation bar on the left) > Master, Semester 1, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Admission restricted.

(2) Upload all the individual documents listed below as PDF files in German or English (or a certified translation into German or English). The file upload capacity is limited to 9MB. The deadline for document upload (i.e. end of the application period) is June 15th 11:59 pm C.E.T. The documents listed as [Optional] below must be included as additional documents. Read more about the STiNE online form here. These documents must all be provided in the following order, and before the application deadline:

The filled-in cover letter form listing personal information.
A table-style Curriculum Vitae.
Proof of English language proficiency.
Your transcript of records, as delivered by your University if English-speaking, or translated to English if not. Highlight in this transcript the relevant courses regarding the minimum requirements listed before.
The (ideally table-style) description of your modules attesting that you fulfill the minimum requirements.
Bachelor degree certificate, as delivered by your University. You can still apply if (at most) one semester is missing for completing your degree, but this must be evident in the transcript provided. In the latter case, 150 ECTS credit must have been earned, and the minimum requirements must be fulfilled at the date of application (minimum 24 ECTS in mathematics including 6 ECTS in stochastics, and 60 ECTS in computer science, which correspond to the curriculum of the Bachelor's degree program in Informatics (Computer Science) at the MIN Faculty of the University of Hamburg. Upon admission, the final transcript and Bachelor degree certificate must be provided.
A description of your Bachelor degree, either delivered by your University, and if not, created by you. Most universities deliver this as an official document. It usually contains
- Your degree’s grading system and computational rules, if the grade is not stated in your transcript. You must at least provide the minimal, minimal passing and maximal grades.
- The standard amount of semester required for completion of your degree.
- The total amount of credit hours or ECTS credit points required for completion of your degree.
- The description of how many weeks of in-class (=contact hours) time with a lecturer present you have per semester.
- If you have to create this document yourself, or even partially because some parts are missing in the document provided by your University, you can use resources such as letters of recommendation from your lecturers, screenshots from your University course’s website (providing the link and highlighting the relevant information).
Your final grade, as officially provided by your University, if it is not already evident in your transcript. If your are still missing one semester to complete your degree, the preliminary final grade estimate must be computed by your University and provided in an official document.
Your University’s grading scale: you must at least provide the minimal, minimal passing and maximal grades.
[Optional] Evidence of research, professional or international experience Please here only include evidence of experience that is strictly relevant to the DSAI Master. More general experience should be included in your table CV

(3) The DSAI selection committee will evaluate your application: if you meet the minimum requirements and have sent a complete application, your application will be ranked via the selection criteria. The selection comittee evaluates only the pages in the final application PDF. Emails to the DSAI Team or links to more information or official documents will not be followed nor read. Check thoroughly the content and format of your final application PDF before applying.

(4) The selection committee sends the ranked list and the list of rejections to the central administration (CampusCenter). The CampusCenter then checks and evaluates this list and decides then how many of the top-ranked applicants will receive a letter of acceptance and who is put on the waiting list.

(5) The admission notification is sent to you. Please refer to the information in the online application platform (STiNE) for the exact date of publication of the notifications. The notifications will be made available to you electronically in your applicant account in STiNE under the heading "Documents" on the dates specified in the application information. The registration period is 7 days. You should therefore check your account regularly (at least once a week), even if you are rejected in the initial round, so that you do not miss any deadlines if you are admitted in potential later rounds. Please note that you must accept your study place within the deadline stated in the letter of admission, otherwise it will be awarded to the next applicant in the ranking procedure. If you receive a letter of acceptance please contact the DSAI Team as soon as possible– so we can send you more onboarding information right away. As we can unfortunately only estimate who exactly, how many, and when you have received a letter of acceptance – you need to contact us first for the onboarding procedure to start. For enrolment please follow the instruction described in your letter of acceptance.

About the DSAI Team

The DSAI Team is part of the Department of Informatics, Universität Hamburg. The DSAI Team is responsible for the application process, selection process, program coordination, curriculum, questions about the Master program Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, counseling of students and applicants. The DSAI Team running the program contains the selection committee, consisting of three lecturers from the Master's degree program in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, two of whom are qualified examiners. The current academic advisor is Prof. Dr-Ing. Timo Gerkmann.

For any question regarding the Master program Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, regarding curriculum, application and admission procedure, or the website, please send us an e-mail at the following address: dsai-info.inf@uni-hamburg.de. We will answer important emails for each applicant only once within the application period. Thank you for you understanding.