Am I eligible?
Information für Bewerber mit einem Bachelor-Abschluss der Universität Bonn
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Eligibility criteria
Successful candidates have a bachelor of science degree with a solid background in computer science, mathematics and IT security plus a good to very good final result. Our Master's program builds upon our German-language Bachelor's program in cybersecurity, which means that we expect applicants from other universities to have a similar background as our own bachelor graduates.
Please note: The Cybersecurity programme has very few places and must apply the eligibility criteria strictly. Please check your qualifications carefully before you apply. Out of those who are qualified, we can select at most ten candidates per semester.
Please note: for residents of many countries it typically takes more than half a year to obtain a visa. If you live in such a country, you must have applied for a visa **long before** you apply to our programme, otherwise you cannot arrive in Bonn on time to take your spot.
The Master's programme is in English and German. Knowledge of English is required. It is possible to complete the programme without knowledge of German, but some electives cannot be taken in that case.
Before you apply, please check that you fulfill ALL of the following requirements:
- you have a very good bachelor's degree in cybersecurity, computer science or a related field from an internationally high ranked university.
- your final transcript proves that you have earned at least 24 ECTS in foundations of IT security subjects, at least 9 ECTS credit points in theoretical computer science subjects, 18 ECTS credit points in mathematics, 18 ECTS credit points in foundations of programming, software technology and information systems, and 10 ECTS credit points for your bachelor's thesis.
If you do not fulfill all of the above-mentioned requirements, you are not eligible to apply. Please make sure that your official bachelor's transcript either shows credit points according to the ECTS credit point system or else attach a diploma supplement that explains the credit point system of your university.
If you are unsure if you are eligible or not, please have a close look at the information on the compulsory modules of our bachelor's program (in German).
Courses in foundations of IT security are courses that have a focus on IT security or on topics with a special relevance to security (such as human-computer interaction) that go beyond mandatory courses of a typical computer science curriculum. Examples of such courses are the following courses from our Bachelor's programme:
- IT security
- reactive security
- usable security and privacy
- network security
- modern cryptography and its application
- applied binary analysis
- digital forensics
- foundations of human-computer interaction
Courses in theoretical computer science typically comprise the following topics: algorithms, automata theory, graph theory, computational complexity, formal languages, data structures, NP-hard problems, recursion. If you have not covered more than half of these topics in your undergraduate studies, you are not encouraged to apply. Your transcript has to clearly show that you have covered the above-mentioned topics. The following modules from our Bachelor's programme count as courses in theoretical computer science:
- algorithms and computational complexity I and II
- randomised algorithms and approximation algorithms
- linear and integer optimisation*
- introduction to discrete mathematics*
- foundations of computational geometry
- algorithmic foundations of machine learning
- graph algorithms
*) Courses by these names are not automatically courses in theoretical computer science. In this case they are, because of their specific contents.
Courses in mathematical foundations of computer science may include courses on, for example, logic, discrete structures, linear algebra, analysis, numerics and stochastics.
Courses on foundations of programming, software technology and information systems may include courses such as the following from our Bachelor's programme:
- algorithms and programming
- data-based computer science
- software technology
- communication in distributed systems
- introduction to computer graphics and visualisation
- relational databases
- foundations of artificial intelligence
- computational intelligence
- intelligent vision systems
- web and XML technology
- algorithmic foundations of machine learning
- introduction to data science
- introduction to deep learning for visual computing
- medical image analysis.
Please also see our FAQ.
