FAQ Master's Program Machine Learning

Most questions, whether regarding the organization of your studies, the curriculum, or any others, can be brought up with the Students’ Advisory Service (Studienberatung).
The exception are questions that can only be answered by the Examinations Office (Prüfungssekretariat), the Dean of Studies or the head of the Board of Examiners (Prüfungsausschuss)

The Examinations Office (Prüfungssekretariat) is solely responsible for handling exam results, i.e. you should only contact the Examinations Office with regard to the following topics:

• Transcripts their authentication
• Certificates
• Bafög certification
• Certification for stipends and scholarships
• Objections with regard to registration of grades
• Handing in medical testimonials in case of illness during exams, theses etc.
• Registration for the thesis
• Handing in the thesis

Normally, none. Please only ever contact the Dean of Studies directly if you would like for a specific course to be included in Campus for a future point in time, i.e. before the course has actually started. In this case, please make sure you are using your official University of Tübingen e-mail account.

Personally, none. If you are in need of an extension for your thesis, your supervisor must apply for it with the head of the Board of Examiners. This requires compelling reasons.

Please note that the Examinations Office does not advise or counsel students. If you need advice, please contact the Students’ Advisory Service. 

Please refer to the respective pages of the Department of Computer Science.

Prof. Michael Menth

Please refer to the pages of the Faculty of Science here

Please refer to the respective pages of the Department of Computer Science.

The Board of Examiners is in session four times each year, at the start and end of each semester. Specific dates are published on the pages of the Department for Computer Science in a timely manner, to be found here.

You can find all current courses and the studies programs for which they will be recognized in the course catalog, which can be found in the University of Tübingen’s Alma portal.

The number ECTS credits a module accrues is established by its teacher, and credits are recognized as advertised. The numbers are given in Alma or in the studies program’s module handbook.

Please follow the procedures laid down in the pages of the Department of Computer Science here.

Yes.

Expanded Perspectives (EP) modules are intended to, as the name says, expand our students’ horizons. They are intended to give you the opportunity to focus on some intellectual endeavours outside of the ML Master’s program’s field of topics.
Therefore, you can register any module taken at the University of Tübingen as an EP module (except in sports), provided that: a) the module in question is graded, b) the department at which you intend to attend the module allows this for capacity reasons.
Many departments of the University of Tübingen already have an agreement with the Department of Computer Science to that effect, and others will likely agree if you notify both departments of your interest beforehand.
Note that any modules offered at the Department of Computer Science can also be registered as EP modules.
Further note that grades earned in EP modules do not enter into the calculation of your overall Master’s degree grade. They do appear in your transcript of records, however.

Generally speaking, any given course’s teacher decides whether a student can take an exam in that course. The Board of Examiners is the sole authority on whether an exam will be recognized for the studies program.

All exams, even practicals/internships, must be registered beforehand. For the winter semester 2019/2020 the registration for exams has to be done at the examination office. From summer semester 2020 this will be possible via Alma. If courses are not available in Alma, please use the relevant form found on our website’s Studies/Downloads section here for registration with the examination office.

No! The so-called standard period derives from the studies plan based on the examination regulation (Prüfungsordnung). It is possible and consequence-free to take longer than the standard period for completing your studies.

You may take a maximum of seven semesters for completing your Master’s degree.

Please direct all questions regarding the curriculum to the Students’ Advisory Service.
If you would like for a course to be included in Alma for a future semester – making it eligible for you and all students of the ML Master’s program – please contact the Dean of Studies, using only your official University of Tübingen e-mail account. 

The supervisor (Betreuer = Erstgutachter) of your thesis must be an authorized examiner for the ML Master’s program. This includes all professors and lecturers at the WSI. If in doubt, please contact the Board of Examiners. A Master’s thesis requires a second reviewer besides your supervisor.

Yes. However, there are several important points to keep in mind if you wish to complete your thesis externally:

•  The thesis has to be supervised and assessed by at least one professor from the Computer Science department. A professor from the Computer Science department has to have agreed to supervise the thesis before the work on the thesis has started.
• Theses are not financially compensated employment. Unusual expenses above and beyond what regular students at the University of Tübingen face, may be reimbursed upon presentation of receipts or other legal proof.
• Theses are published through the department library.
• For the assessment of externally completed theses, the host company/institution will have to provide an informal quality assessment 3 weeks after submission of the thesis at the latest.
• For theses completed externally, the host institution or company must accept these stipulations.

The above items must be signed by the student and the host company on a form called "Boundary conditions for external theses", which can be found in the Department of Computer Science’s download section. The candidate must submit a signed copy of this form together with the thesis registration form to the Examinations Office.

Registrations for Master’s theses take place at the Examination Office.
You do not have to hand in the relevant registration form in person, it is enough to put it into the Examination Office’s postbox (making sure the address is correct). Any documents entering the Examination Secretariat this way receives a timestamp to confirm the date of submission.

Please find the correct form in the  download section of the Computer Science Department here.

Theses are handed in at the Examination Office ("Prüfungssekretariat"). You do not have to do so in person, it is enough to put it into the Examination Office’s postbox (making sure the address is correct). Any documents entering the Examination Office this way receive a timestamp to confirm the date of submission.

You will need to submit 3 bound copies of your thesis (unless your examiners state they do not need a bound copy, then you only have to submit 1 bound copy) and a USB stick containing your thesis.

The Examination Office ("Prüfungssekretariat") will, if you prefer it, provide English versions of your Master’s Certificate and Document in addition to the German ones.
For a translated Transcript of Records (ToR), please follow this procedure:

1. Fill in the “Formblatt Courses Attended” (found on the University of Tübingen’s website here) according to your German ToR.
2. Make a personal visit to the Infotheke of the “Studieren im Ausland” department and bring your filled-out “Formblatt” as well as your German ToR. Here you will receive the official signature and the University of Tübingen’s stamp.

Please note that this translation, while officially recognized by the University of Tübingen, is not a legally relevant, uncontestable translation. Should you need one, you will have to find a certified translation and incur the associated costs.

If you

1. have written an outstanding thesis (grade 1.3 or better) and
2. have completed your ML Master's degree with an outstanding grade (1.10 or better) and
3. have taken a maximum of 5 semesters to complete your studies,

then the Board of Examiners will award you a note of distinction. This takes the form of a separate letter, which will be handed to you automatically together with the Master's Degree Certificate and documentation on completion of your studies, without requiring action on your part.

Each university department has its own Erasmus Coordinator. You can find more information on the Easmus exchange program at the Department of Computer Science here (German only).

Besides excellence in your chosen field of studies, social engagement and commitment to a cause can be a very important criterion of distinction and increase your chances of obtaining a scholarship. Please find more information on stipends and scholarships at www.stipendiumplus.de and www.deutschlandstipendium.de.

The ML Master's program offers a practical module "Praktikum ML" as part of its "Diverse Topics" Studies Area. Moreover, all students can apply for a semester off in order to commit to a longer internship with a company or research institution. This is only possible after the third semester, and only if you have obtained at least 72 credits up to this point. Please find more information here. Please find internship positions on your own initiative.

Application for the ML Master's program requires a Bachelor's degree with a grade of 2.30 (German scale: 1 is best, 4 worst) or better.

Application for the program requires a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related subject. This could be a "hyphenated informatics" degree in such fields as bioinformatics, medical informatics, or media informatics. It could also be a degree in a different subject such as mathematics or physics. However, for all applicants, independent of their degree, we require certain knowledge in mathematics and computer science, see here for more details.

We require a high affinity for computer science and, specifically, machine learning of our candidates. This affinity must be visible in the candidate's letter of motivation and their transcript of records.
Specifically, a candidate's transcript must demonstrate their expertise in the following fields: one- and multi-dimensional calculus, linear algebra, and either numerical mathematics or probability theory. Similarly, knowledge in programming, algorithms, and data structure is required.
Good speaking and comprehension skills in the English language are a fundamental necessity for successful studies in this Master program. We accept any of the following proofs of such skills:

• German Abitur including at least 6 (G8) or 7 (G9) years of English, or
• TOEFL iBT test with at least 94 points, or
• IELTS test with at least a 7.0, or
• Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English (CAE), or
• university entrance qualification obtained in the UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia or New Zealand.

Please see here for more FAQ specific to the admission and application.

All courses that are part of the ML Master's program are taught in English, and we will ensure that it is possible to complete your studies taking solely English-taught classes.
It is optionally possible, however, to obtain up to 30 credits partly or completely in German-taught modules: 18 in the "General Computer Science" studies area, 12 in "Expanded Perspectives".

Please send your question to studierendensekretariat[at]verwaltung.uni-tuebingen.de

You just have to finish the application in ALMA. Afterwards no further documents have to be sent via mail or email. This is also stated at the end of the application process. You can ignore other information on the university webpages - there is currently a delay in the updates of the university webpages due to the Corona crisis.

Non-EU citizens have to pay 1500 Euros per semester in addition to the regular semester fees of about 158 Euros (this includes the semester ticket for the use of all buses in Tuebingen). A list of exceptions to these tuitition fees can be found here.