The students of the department normally start their university studies at the age of 19. Their goal is to receive a B.Sc. (Bachelor of Science) or M.Sc. (Master of Science) degree in computer science requiring three to four or five years of full time study. Beyond the first degree there are two alternative graduate degrees: Ph.Lic. (Licentiate of Philosophy) degree and Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy). The academic year has two semesters: the fall semester lasts from September 1 to December 20 (classes from September 11 to December 10), while the spring semester lasts from January 16 to May 31 (classes from January 16 to May 10, excluding one week of Easter vacation). It is also possible to study in summer. Intensive courses of 4-5 weeks covering introductory topics are offered in June and August. Graduate courses are also organized in cooperation with other Finnish universities during the summer. These courses typically last for one week and are intended for Ph.Lic. and Ph.D. students. These are often given in English by foreign visitors.
In order to obtain a B.Sc. degree a student must earn 120 units of academic credit. For 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 earn money. 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 from 50 to 60 lectures (a lecture lasts 45 minutes) and of from 20 to 30 hours of problem solving, discussion and repetition sessions in small groups of from 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 current literature is read, essays are written and oral presentations are given. A seminar group normally meets 2 hours per week yielding 2 credits per a semester.
In order to receive a M.Sc. degree in computer science, students are required to earn their credits as follows:
Computer science >= 95 c
Mathematics >= 26 c
Physics >= 15 c
General studies 9 c
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total >= 160 c
In mathematics the obligatory courses are calculus (11 c), algebra (5 c), logic (5 c), and probability (5 c). 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 c
Elective courses >= 28 c
Seminars >= 4 c
Project work 8 c
M.Sc. Thesis,
Scientific writing 20 c
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total >= 95 c
The obligatory computer science courses and laboratory work currently cover (academic year 1996-97) the following areas:
Pascal programming 6 c
Data structures 6 c
Operating systems and
hardware architecture 8 c
Information systems
and databases 10 c
Theory of computation 5 c
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total 35 c
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 orient himself according to his study goals, interests and talents towards, e.g., theoretical computer science, information systems, telecommunications software, distributed systems, operating systems, artificial intelligence, or programming languages.
To start studies for the graduate degrees Ph.Lic. (Licentiate of Philosophy) and Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy) in Computer Science, a student having shown good academic standing in his 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 School) for more details.
The requirements for the Ph.Lic. degree can be summarized as follows:
Elective courses and seminars
in computer science 20 c
in mathematics 20 c
Ph.Lic. thesis 50 c
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total 90 c
The elective courses in mathematics can be replaced with coursework in other subjects such as physics, economy, psychology etc. The Ph.Lic. thesis can be written in Finnish, Swedish (the two official languages of our university) or 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.