Admission requirements
None.
Description
The Master Class for Computer Science students takes place biweekly and is mandatory for all students who are doing the Master's Thesis Research Project. For students in the ‘Computer Science and Education’ or ‘Computer Science and Science Communication & Society’ specialisation, this is typically the second semester. For all other students, this is the second year.
Note that as of 2024-2025, we separate the students into two groups according to their start semester, but keep the biweekly rhythm for the students. That is, the class is taught every week, but students are presumed to join only every second week.
The Master Class aims at preparing students for finalising their Master’s programme, mainly focusing on two topics: (1) establishing your thesis and (2) career orientation.
For the thesis-related part, we:
discuss how to set up a thesis, find a topic, find supervisors, organise it formally, etc;
explain how the scientific machinery works with conferences, journals, etc, and what that means for your selection of literature, where to find what and how;
talk about experimentation, which is a fundamental part of most current CS theses; and
intensely deal with and train the necessary soft skills, as defining a structure, how to write a research proposal and a thesis, how to present (also to your supervisor), time management, and others.
Concerning career orientation, we:
invite a number of guest lecturers from companies (usually former students who now work there); and
describe the academic career path (PhD, etc), and talk about chances and differences between these two.
We strongly rely on constant student groups to stimulate active interaction of students with their classmates, discussing open problems, issues, etc., and helping students to stay on track. Each student is asked to give a brief presentation in the Master Class about their Master’s Thesis Research Project. About the research topic and goals, the status, and (expected) results.
Course objectives
After attending this mandatory class of the Master's programme in Computer Science (including all its specialisations), students are able to:
apply taught information and skills to write their Master’s thesis;
plan their graduation systematically (based on understanding the organizational process involved in graduating);
self-evaluate the progress of their research, discuss their research with other students, and train giving presentations about their research;
discuss principles of good scientific practice and relevant sociopolitical implications of computer science for society as a whole;
understand the grading principles applied by their supervisors for grading a research project and a Master’s thesis;
have opportunities for giving feedback about the Master’s programme and discussing with staff members; and
are provided with project topics for research and Master’s thesis projects by scientific staff members.
Timetable
Students who previously started in September will follow the Master Class biweekly in the uneven weeks (starting September 9th, continuing September 23rd etc.) and students who previously started in February will attend the Master Class biweekly in the even weeks (starting September 16th, continuing September 30th etc.).
The most recent timetable can be found at the students' website.
You will find the timetables for all courses and degree programmes of Leiden University in the tool MyTimetable (login). Any teaching activities that you have sucessfully registered for in MyStudyMap will automatically be displayed in MyTimeTable. Any timetables that you add manually, will be saved and automatically displayed the next time you sign in.
MyTimetable allows you to integrate your timetable with your calendar apps such as Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and other calendar apps on your smartphone. Any timetable changes will be automatically synced with your calendar. If you wish, you can also receive an email notification of the change. You can turn notifications on in ‘Settings’ (after login).
For more information, watch the video or go the the 'help-page' in MyTimetable. Please note: Joint Degree students Leiden/Delft have to merge their two different timetables into one. This video explains how to do this.
Mode of instruction
Oral presentations
Group discusssions
Guest speakers
Lectures
Two hours every second week in Semester 1 & 2.
The EC are included in the Master's Thesis Research Project (42 or 30 EC, depending on specialisation).
Assessment method
- The Master Class is not graded, but participation is required.
Reading list
Not applicable.
Registration
Every student has to register for courses with the new enrollment tool MyStudyMap. There are two registration periods per year: registration for the fall semester opens in July and registration for the spring semester opens in December. Please see this page for more information.
Extensive FAQ's on MyStudymap can be found here.
Contact
Master Class coordinators: Mike Preuss + Alexandra Blank