In order to obtain a B.Sc. degree a student must earn 120 units of academic credit. For a M.Sc. degree, 160 units of credit as well as a thesis is required. One credit should normally correspond to roughly one week (40 hours) of study. Our students typically register for 12 credits (``study weeks'') in the fall semester and 15 credits in the spring semester. During the summer sessions a student can earn an additional 8-10 credits. Most students, however, work in industry during the summer to gain practical experience in data processing and to improve their financial situation. This is actually what the department recommends. Thus, a normal student should earn 27 credits a year, an exceptionally diligent full-year student 40 credits. Nevertheless, there is a considerable variation in study efficiency among students.
Our typical course consists of about 50 to 60 lectures (a lecture lasts 45 minutes) and of about 20 to 30 hours of problem solving, discussion and repetition sessions in small groups of about 10 to 20 students. Each course is examined individually with grades: 3/3 = excellent, 2/3 = good, 1/3 = satisfactory. A typical course is worth 4 or 5 credits. The computer laboratory is supervised in small groups of 6 to 12 students. Students also attend seminar courses, the enrollment of which ranges from 5 to 15 students. In these seminars the students read current literature, write essays and give oral presentations. A seminar group normally meets 2 hours per week yielding 2 credits per semester.
In order to receive a M.Sc. degree in computer science, students are required to earn their credits as follows:
| Computer science | >= 95 cr |
| Mathematics | >= 26 cr |
| Physics | >= 15 cr |
| General studies | 9 cr |
| Total | >= 160 cr |
In mathematics, the obligatory courses are calculus (11 cr), algebra (5 cr), logic (5 cr), and probability (5 cr). Physics can be replaced with almost any other subject, such as economics, administration, statistics, or psychology. For a B.Sc. degree, 55 credit units of computer science is sufficient.
The computer science studies for a M.Sc. degree can be subdivided as follows:
| Obligatory courses and laboratories | 35 cr |
| Elective courses | >= 28 cr |
| Seminars | >= 4 cr |
| Project work | 8 cr |
| M.Sc. Thesis, Scientific writing | 20 cr |
| Total | >= 95 cr |
The obligatory computer science courses and laboratory work currently cover (academic year 1997-98) the following areas:
| Introductory programming (Java) | 6 cr |
| Data structures | 6 cr |
| Operating systems and hardware architecture | 7 cr |
| Information systems and databases | 8 cr |
| Theory of computation | 4 cr |
| Total | 31 cr |
In principle, students are fairly free to choose any elective courses. They normally follow the recommendation of the department by building up a specialized background knowledge for a successful thesis in one of our research groups. Thus, a student might specialize according to his/her study goals, interests and talents, towards, e.g., theoretical computer science, information systems, telecommunications software, distributed systems, operating systems, artificial intelligence, or software engineering.
To start studies for the postgraduate degrees Ph.Lic. (Licentiate of Philosophy) and Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy) in Computer Science, a student having shown good academic standing in his/her M.Sc. studies contacts a professor of the department. At first, a personal study program is designed for the student. It outlines the field of specialization of the studies, the topic for the thesis, and the content and the schedule of the coursework. Each student is assigned a personal advisor. See Section 4.2 (Graduate Schools) for more details.
The requirements for the Ph.Lic. degree can be summarized as follows:
| Elective courses and seminars | |
| in computer science | 20 cr |
| in mathematics | 20 cr |
| Ph.Lic. thesis | 50 cr |
| Total | 90 cr |
The elective courses in mathematics can be replaced with coursework in other subjects such as physics, economy, psychology, etc., or additional courses in computer science. The Ph.Lic. thesis is normally written in English. The allocation of credits for thesis research indicates that after the required coursework it should take 1-2 years to prepare a Ph.Lic. thesis.
It is important that the student takes the courses and the seminars early enough to obtain sufficient background for writing the thesis. Active participation in seminar courses is particularly useful as is attending international schools and specialized research courses. Such courses are also regularly given at the department.
The requirements for the Ph.D. degree are otherwise the same as for the Ph.Lic. degree, but a Ph.D. thesis demands more work, from 2 to 3 years, roughly one year more than a Ph.Lic. thesis. The Ph.D. degree can be achieved directly, although we often recommend that our students take the Ph.Lic. degree first, and then by improving and extending their Ph.Lic. research, achieve the Ph.D. level.
The Ph.D. theses are written in English. A thesis should include a scientific contribution which is significant enough to be publishable internationally. A Ph.D. thesis (as well as a Ph.Lic. thesis) can also be assembled from a number of published articles or congress papers, possibly written jointly with other authors. A dissertation of this type, which is actually fairly common, consists of an introductory survey written by the candidate alone, with the individual articles as appendices.
Preparing the thesis is clearly the most demanding part of the Ph.D. and Ph.Lic. studies. To succeed with the thesis it is recommendable that a student works within a research group at the department. The support and the criticism given by the group is often essential for making progress in the work.