Saarland University introduces new bachelor’s degree courses in computer science taught entirely in English

In the 2021/2022 winter semester, Saarland University will launch two new bachelor’s degree courses that will be taught entirely in English: computer science and cybersecurity. This makes it the first state university in Germany to offer English-language bachelor’s degree courses in the field of computer science. The move boosts the international profile of Saarland University and makes it even more attractive to students from both Germany and abroad.

It is no coincidence that the new degree programs have been established in the Department of Computer Science. During its over 50-year history, computer science in Saarbrücken has always been characterized by its international orientation. For the last 15 years, all teaching from the third year of studies onwards has been in English. Currently more than half of all students on the master’s degree programs in computer science come from abroad. Today, 2100 students and 800 scientists from over 80 nations conduct research, teach and study at the Saarland Informatics Campus.

“Hardly any other subject has such a major impact on our daily lives and is as international as computer science,” says Sebastian Hack, professor of computer science at Saarland University and responsible for the new bachelor’s courses “computer science”. “Opening up our bachelor’s course is essential if we want to attract even greater numbers of talented young researchers from all over the world to our vibrant informatics campus. And our German students will be even better prepared to enter a globalized work environment, in which English is of paramount importance,” Sebastian Hack continues.

In the field of cybersecurity too, the range of degree courses offered at Saarland University has been expanded to include a degree course taught in English. Christian Rossow, professor responsible at Saarland University and researcher at the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security, says, “Cybersecurity is one of today’s defining issues – politically, economically and socially. In broadening the training of excellent cybersecurity experts, we are making an important contribution to society, and from Saarland we are having an impact on the whole world.”

The new degree courses offered at Saarland University further enhance its international orientation, since students without prior knowledge of German can now also be admitted to the bachelor’s program. First-year students will have to attend German classes at the Welcome Center for international students as part of their studies. Saarland University was awarded the title of “European University” in 2020 as part of the Transform4Europe project. Furthermore, the university has already been involved in the cross-border “Universität der Großregion” association since 2008. Saarland University enjoys global connections thanks to the above-average number of international and cross-border courses with double degrees as well as the Erasmus+ program and numerous degree courses outside Europe.

“At Saarland University, research and teaching has never be restricted by national borders. Since its foundation, our university has stood for international cooperation and knowledge transfer. It is in keeping with this world view that we are now the first state university in Germany to take the step of offering bachelor’s courses in computer science taught in English,” says University President Manfred Schmitt.

 

Further Information:
The deadline for applying to the limited-admission degree courses for the coming winter semester is 30 July. All information can be found on the websites for the relevant degree course at https://saarland-informatics-campus.de/en/computerscience-course/ and https://cysec.uni-saarland.de/bachelor/cybersecurity/

 

Questions can be directed at:

About the program „Computer Science“

Prof. Dr. Sebastian Hack
Email: hack@cs.uni-saarland.de
Tel.: +49 681 302 57520

About the program „Cybersecurity
Prof. Dr. Christian Rossow
Email: rossow@cispa.de
Tel.: +49 681 87083 140

 

Background Saarland Informatics Campus:
800 scientists and about 2100 students from more than 80 nations make the Saarland Informatics Campus (SIC) one of the leading locations for computer science in Germany and Europe. Five world-renowned research institutes, namely the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), the Max Planck Institute for Computer Science, the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems, the Center for Bioinformatics and the Cluster for “Multimodal Computing and Interaction” as well as Saarland University with three departments and 24 degree programs cover the entire spectrum of computer science.