Admission requirements
None.
Description
The Master Class for Computer Science students takes place every second week and is mandatory for all students who are in their second year, i.e., in their research year (Specialisation courses and the Master's Thesis Research Project). The Master Class aims at stimulating 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. In addition, we will discuss topics such as the structure of a Master's Thesis, writing scientific publications, presenting a scientific paper, time management and other soft skills. In addition to these there are a number of guest lectures from companies, PhD students and entrepeneurs to prepare you for the job market after you graduate.
The Master Class is of course also open to LIACS staff members and thesis supervisors.
Course objectives
By attending this mandatory class in the second year of the Master's programme in Computer Science (including all specializations), students:
report about the progress of their research, discuss their research with other students, and training giving presentations about their research,
learn by examples how to write a master’s thesis,
understand the grading principles applied by their supervisors for grading a research project and a master’s thesis,
understand the organizational process involved in graduating and learn how to plan their graduation systematically,
discuss principles of good scientific practice and relevant sociopolitical implications of computer science for society as a whole,
have opportunities for giving feedback about the master study and discussing with staff members, and
are provided with project topics for research and master’s thesis projects by scientific staff members.
Timetable
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 track).
Assessment method
The Master Class is not graded, but participation is required.
The teacher will inform the students how the inspection of and follow-up discussion of the exams will take place.
Reading list
Not applicable.
Registration
From the academic year 2022-2023 on 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.
Please note that it is compulsory to both preregister and confirm your participation for every exam and retake. Not being registered for a course means that you are not allowed to participate in the final exam of the course. Confirming your exam participation is possible until ten days before the exam.
Extensive FAQ's on MyStudymap can be found here.
Contact
Master Class coordinator: dr. Niki van Stein