Course of Study at Saarland University wins Saarland State Prize for University Teaching

The winners of the Saarland State Prize for University Teaching, Prof. Bernd Finkbeiner (left) and Prof. Andreas Zeller. © Universität des Saarlandes

Studying T-Security and founding a company at the same time – this is what the master’s course “Entrepreneurial Cybersecurity” at Saarland University offers. In just four semesters, students develop a founding idea for IT security and bring the first prototypes to market maturity. For the best ideas, there is start-up assistance and appointments with investors. The Saarland state government has now awarded this unique concept the Saarland State Prize for University Teaching.

The award-winning master’s degree program is still young: it was launched in October 2018. Right from the start, students work in groups on a business idea in the field of IT security. “They refine it together with mentors from science and business and regularly present their ideas to juries of scientists and sponsors, who decide on their progress – and on possible participation,” explains Sebastian Hack, Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science at Saarland University. Behind the course are Bernd Finkbeiner, Professor of Computer Science at Saarland University, and Professor Andreas Zeller, who are both researching at the CISPA Helmholtz Centre for IT Security.

“It’s great that our new course is attracting so much attention, even outside the academic world. It motivates us to make further efforts,” explains Sebastian Hack, pointing out that Entrepreneurial Cybersecurity is no longer the most recent computer science course on the Saarland computer science campus. Since this winter semester, students at Saarland University can also take the Bachelor’s degree course in “Data Sciences and Artificial Intelligence”. Since the mountains of data are now growing in all areas (Big Data), the way in which they are processed and prepared and evaluated using methods of artificial intelligence and machine learning is becoming increasingly important.

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Further information:
Master’s degree in “Entrepreneurial Cybersecurity”:
www.uni-saarland.de/studium/angebot/master/cybersecurity.html

Questions can be directed at:
Professor Sebastian Hack
Saarland Informatics Campus E1.3
Saarland University
Phone: 0681 302-57520
E-mail: hack@cs.uni-saarland.de