Application Guide

This is the application guide for the master‘s degree programmes in Computer Science, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Mathematics and Computer Science, Embedded Systems and Visual Computing at Saarland Informatics Campus. For other programmes please check this site.

 

1. Do you meet the basic prerequisites?

Admissions are very competitive and you should make sure you have achieved, or will achieve, at least the minimum graduate admission requirements (items a-c listed below) to apply. Satisfying these minimal standards, however, does not guarantee your admission!

An individual check of eligibility cannot be offered in advance to the application.

 

a) Eligibility for the master‘s degree programme

Please select the desired programme:

 

b) Necessary language skills

The teaching language of the master’s degree programme is English. All applicants from all countries must provide a proof of advanced proficiency in English (level C1 of the Common European Framework).

The following certificates will be accepted:
_ IELTS (academic test): min. 7.0 out of 9
_ TOEFL (internet based): min. 95 out of 120
_ TOEFL (paper based): min. 600 out of 677
_ Cambridge English Certificate: C1 Advanced (CAE) or C2 Proficiency (CPE)
_ PTE Academic: min. 76

The English certificate is a mandatory part of the application. A confirmation of your university or a MOI (Medium of Instruction) is not a sufficient equivalent.

Only native speakers from Australia, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the USA, or applicants who have studied in one of the above mentioned six countries are excluded from this rule. In these cases, please enter native speaker from [country] or studied in [country] into the form and upload a high school and/or bachelor’s degree certificate from that country as proof.

For German applicants, a basic English course up to the general qualification for university entrance (Abitur) is sufficient. In that case, please enter Abitur in the form.

Knowledge of proficiency in German is not required.

 

c) Recommendations by academic members in the subject

Two letters of recommendation written by referees who know the applicant academically (ideally one from the supervisor of your Bachelor thesis, letters should be from faculty members or members of research labs).

 

The criteria listed above will be used to assess the aptitude of the applicant in terms of the academic profile and requirements of the respective Master’s degree programme. The decision whether the programme admission requirements have been met is made by the Examination Board.

2. Fill in the online application form

Applications for our postgraduate programmes have to be submitted online in the application system of the computer science department! You’ll find the link to the application system at the end of this section.

Incomplete applications cannot be considered. You are responsible for making sure that all required documents, including references, are submitted on time and meet the university’s requirements. Complete applications that are received after the deadline will be considered automatically in the decision making round for the next semester. Do not register more than once in the application system!

 

Application Deadlines

For all degree programmes described on this site the following deadlines apply:

The application deadline for the winter semester (lectures start in mid-October) is May 15th. A decision can be expected the latest by mid-July. Applicants who apply by November 15th for the following winter semester are expected to receive a letter of admission by mid-February, if the respective Master’s commission makes a positive decision.

The application deadline for the summer semester (lectures start in mid-April) is November 15th. A decision can be expected the latest by mid-January. Applicants who apply by May 15th for the following summer semester are expected to receive a letter of admission by mid-July if the respective Master’s commission makes a positive decision.

 

Required Application Documents

During the application process, you need to submit the following documents with your application in order to be considered for admission. Please note that we only accept files in the PDF file format.

Please check all documents you upload carefully, as you will not be able to upload revised versions after submitting your application.

 

Transcripts (Academic Records):

_ a copy of your university entrance qualification
_ copies of your 3 most recent degrees* (with certified translation, if the original language is not English, German or French)
_ a certified list of all attended courses with the respective grades, including an explanation of the grading system

*If your current degree is ongoing, please include a recent transcript showing your current progress.

Minimal prerequisite is a cumulative undergraduate grade point average of 75% and ranking in the top 10% of the graduating class. Do not apply if you do not satisfy this requirement!

 

Curriculum Vitae (CV)

including information on your areas of interest in research, as well as any projects or publications

 

Letters of Recommendation

A complete application includes two complete review forms by recommenders appointed by the applicant. These recommenders can optionally upload an additional recommendation letter.

It is your responsibility to ensure that your referees have the information they need to provide a reference and submit it by the deadline.

It is extremely important to enter valid email addresses of your referees! An email will be sent to your recommenders with information on how to proceed. Please check them before submitting your application.

We do not accept letters of recommendation sent by mail or any other means.

 

APS certificate

Applicants who have obtained their university degree in China, India or Vietnam are required to submit the original (digitally signed) APS Certificate issued by the Academic Evaluation Center (Akademische Prüfstelle) in the corresponding country with the application.

 

Additional Certificates:

Please list other qualifications that may be relevant to your application here. Other documents could include among other things:

_ GRE test: To better assess your skills, we advise a GRE Test (general and/or computer science). However, proof of participation in this test is not mandatory.

3. Your application will be evaluated in the admission procedure

After the application deadline, the committee needs a few weeks to evaluate the applications in detail. You can check the status of your application online. Please refrain from asking by mail on the status of your application.

You will be automatically notified by email when a decision has been made.

If you have applied for more than one degree programme you will receive a separate decision for each. If you have been admitted to the program, you will need to present your documents for enrollment in the Office of Student Affairs. These will be compared to the electronic documents from your application.

4. Contact

Due to a large number of applicants, please make sure that you have read the given information in this application guide and in our FAQ carefully before contacting us.

Please use only the following email address for additional information concerning your application: master@cs.uni-saarland.de