If you have problems with your studies (e.g. subject-related, organisational or personal), you can contact the Study Service. There you will receive support with questions about study planning, examinations or individual difficulties. There are also other support services such as our mentoring programme or the Computer Science Learning Centre.

You can apply for compensation for disadvantages via the responsible examination management. Get in touch with the Central Student Advisory Service before submitting your application. They will tell you which documents are required and which deadlines apply. It is important that you submit the application early, ideally before registering for examinations or at the beginning of the semester.

Are you on a semester abroad during the examination phase and therefore unable to take the exam? In this and similar cases, you can apply for an alternative form of examination. To do this, send an informal application by email to the Study Service with a request for an alternative form of examination. Important: We need proof that it is not possible for you to take the exam normally. The Study Service will then contact the examination management team and the examiner and request an alternative form of examination.

You can find information on scholarships and funding programmes on the Paderborn University website. There you will also find information on application deadlines and requirements.

Information on semesters abroad, partner universities and application procedures can be found on the study abroad pages of the Institute and the University. Contact details and deadlines are also listed there. Early planning is strongly recommended.

Talk to the members of the specialist groups or ask the professor directly. Students who are already working as SHKs often also know where SHKs are still needed. Job advertisements can be found on the websites of the specialist groups and on their information boards, especially at the beginning of the semester.

Jobs are also regularly advertised via the student mailing list.

There is a special jobs mailing list for the EIM faculty where you can register to receive all job offers. You can register at lists.upb.de.

The name of the job mailing list is Jobs-eim@upb.de. How to register for this mailing list and other sources of information for jobs are described on the website of the Computer Science Student Council.

You can find information on career entry and careers via the university's job and career portal, at job fairs (e.g. "LookIn") and via university job portals. Lectures, company contacts and alumni networks also offer orientation for the transition to a career.

The second study phase usually begins in the 5th semester. You choose modules from the compulsory elective modules provided. These are assigned to at least one of the following four areas: Software Engineering, Algorithms and Complexity, Computer Systems and Data and Knowledge. You must choose a total of four compulsory elective modules from at least two different areas.

You will also complete a proseminar and write a Bachelor's thesis.

For planning purposes, you should use the recommended study plan, get an overview of the modules offered at PAUL and take advantage of the information provided by the institute (e.g. on the proseminar programme).

In the Bachelor of Computer Science (examination regulations v5; from winter semester 24/25), you must complete 12 ECTS points in the General Studies programme. You can choose courses from the university-wide programme that are not part of the core curriculum of Computer Science and are not too "computer science-related".

You can find an overview of the courses on offer in the PAUL course catalogue under "Studium Generale and students of all faculties".

Your overall grade is calculated as a weighted average of the module grades. The individual module grades are included in the final grade with the weightings specified in the examination regulations. You can find the exact regulations in the examination regulations that apply to you.

To calculate the grade, multiply your own grade in the module by "weight for the grade" and then divide by the sum of the grade weights. Courses not listed here are not included in the grade.

Under certain conditions, you can take individual Master's courses during your Bachelor's degree. Whether this is possible depends on how far you have progressed in your studies and must be checked individually. Normally, if you have already acquired at least 151 credits relevant to your degree, you can be admitted to all modules of the Master's degree programme in Computer Science - with the exception of the Project Group and Key Skills modules - for one(!) semester with a total of 30 credits.

Please note: This is only valid for one semester. In particular, this can lead to problems if you complete your Bachelor's degree later than you expected. Therefore, always contact the Study Service in good time to discuss your individual case.

A failed examination may be repeated up to three times. You therefore have four examination attempts.

If you have already failed for the third time, you have the option of choosing a substitute oral examination as your fourth attempt. However, this is not graded over the full range of marks, but is limited to "sufficient" (4.0) and "unsatisfactory" (5.0).

Yes, even if you have completed your Bachelor's degree at Paderborn University, you must apply separately for the Master's degree programme in Computer Science. The application is made via the university's official application portal.

According to the Master's examination regulations, the externally acquired Bachelor's degree must be equivalent to the Paderborn Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. In the case of a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from a German university, it can generally be assumed that equivalence is given. However, in the case of minor deviations, access to the Master's degree programme may only be granted subject to conditions (catching up on Bachelor's courses).

In the case of Bachelor's degrees in computer science-related subjects (such as bioinformatics, business informatics, information technology) and/or from universities of applied sciences, vocational academies or similar, equivalence cannot be assumed from the outset. In these cases, an individual review of the prior achievements must therefore be carried out. These are typically recognised as Bachelor's achievements and a placement in a corresponding (high) semester in the Bachelor's degree programme is made, so that after one or two semesters in the Bachelor's degree programme, the Paderborn Bachelor's degree in Computer Science can be obtained and then the transfer to the Master's degree programme can take place.

If you have any questions, please contact the Study Service.

For international applications, the equivalence of the previous degree programme with the Paderborn Bachelor's degree in Computer Science must also be checked. This includes individual achievements, the overall degree programme structure and the university's classification. In these cases, it is usually not an option to catch up on credits as part of a Bachelor's enrolment, as the Bachelor's programme is only taught in German throughout. Further information can be found on the page Information for international students.

The examinations in the Master's degree programme in Computer Science are completed in modules. These include nine compulsory elective modules, a project group, key skills, general studies and the Master's thesis.

The compulsory elective modules can be chosen from the following five focus areas:

• Classical and Quantum Algorithm Design
• Computer and Communication Systems
• Data Science and Intelligent Systems
• Security
• Software Engineering

It is possible to specialise in the Master's degree. To do this, one of the Focus Areas becomes the Specialisation Area. At least three compulsory elective modules must be chosen from the selected Specialisation Area and at least one must not be from the Specialisation Area. The remaining modules can be chosen freely. The Master's thesis must also be written in the Specialisation Area.

The Project Group is a project group that runs for 2 semesters and works on a given topic in a group of usually 8 - 16 students. You can find more details on our websites.

The KeySkills programme starts with a course on academic writing and is followed by a seminar. Here, students work independently on a topic, then present it in a lecture and conclude with a written paper.

The current module handbook will help you plan the modules in the Master's degree programme.

If you have any questions about planning, please contact the Study Service.

The new Computer Science project groups are introduced each semester in the last week of lectures in the previous semester. The contact person is Dr. Matthias Fischer. You can find information about the project groups on the project group page. It also tells you exactly how to join a project group.

You can only start a project group if you are officially enrolled on the Master's degree programme (i.e. not as a prerequisite for the Bachelor's degree!).

If an examination is not passed, it can be repeated twice. You therefore have three examination attempts.

The following applies: A module examination that has been attempted once must either be passed or compensated for. Compensation is possible for a maximum of four modules. Compensation means that a module that has been passed and is booked under additional work can be exchanged for another examination that has not yet been passed or has been definitively failed. This must be requested from the examination management.

We recommend waiting until shortly before the Master's thesis to apply for compensation so that you do not have to swap modules back and forth several times. If you have any questions, please contact the Study Service.

No, other courses can also be chosen when repeating the module examination. It is also possible to compensate for an entire module, i.e. two courses (additional work, container), by choosing two other courses as examinations in the same module. Otherwise, the following applies in principle: an examination that has been passed cannot be repeated!

Think about which department you are particularly interested in and which you enjoy the most. News about Bachelor's and Master's theses can be found on the websites of the respective professors and their departments as well as on the information boards in the usual places.

An overview of open theses can also be found on the following website: https://cs.uni-paderborn.de/en/studies/study-components/open-topics-for-theses. If you are interested in a thesis on offer or in the subject area of a department in general, speak to a member of staff or go to the professor's office hours.

Yes, you can work in a company and develop or be suggested an idea for a thesis there. However, you then have to visit a professor with the idea (and preferably also a contact person from the company) and convince him/her that the topic is suitable for a thesis and that he/she will supervise it. Formally, only a university lecturer can supervise the thesis, but can be supported by a company representative. However, this does not formally play a role in the procedure.

The Bachelor's thesis can be registered if at least 110 credit points have been earned at the time of application for admission. It is recommended to complete the proseminar before beginning the Bachelor's thesis.

The Master's thesis can be registered if modules totalling 48 credit points have been successfully completed. If a specialisation is to be chosen, the topic of the Master's thesis must be selected in the Specialisation Area. The topic is assigned to a focus area by the first assessor. Any conditions imposed during enrolment for the Master's programme must be passed by the time you register for the Master's thesis at the latest.

In both cases, you must also have agreed a work plan (target agreement) with your supervisor. This plan describes the work and is therefore a kind of specification. It contains a description of the problem, motivation, objectives, structure of the work and time planning. Once the work plan has been finalised, admission to the thesis is applied for via PAUL. The supervisor must sign the application and then also enter the final start date.

More information on this can be found on the websites on the subject.

An individually justified application for an extension of the processing time must be submitted to the examination management.

The justification should make it clear that the delay in processing is not due to personal reasons but to factual reasons for which you are not responsible. For Bachelor's theses, you can apply for a one-off extension of the submission deadline by two weeks, for Master's theses by six weeks. This request must be submitted at least one week before the regular deadline and countersigned by the supervisor.