Curriculum for the Nordic Master in Sustainable ICT Solutions, 2024

1: Preface

Pursuant to consolidation Act 778 of August 7, 2019 on Universities (the University Act), the following is established. The programme also follows the Joint Programme Regulations and the Examination Policies and Procedures for Aalborg University.

2: Basis in Ministerial orders

The Master’s programme is organised in accordance with the Ministry of Higher Education and Science’s Order no. 2285 of December 1, 2021 on Full-time University Programmes (the University Programme Order) with subsequent changes, Ministerial Order no. 247 of March 13, 2015 on International Programmes at Universities (the Ministerial Order of International Study Programmmes) with subsequent changes and Ministerial Order no. 2271 of December 1, 2021 on University Examinations (the Examination Order) with subsequent changes. Further reference is made to Ministerial Order no. 69 of January 26, 2023 (the Admission Order) and Ministerial Order no. 1125 of July 4, 2022 (the Grading Scale Order).

3: Campus

The programme is offered partly at Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT), Finland and partly at Aalborg University Copenhagen.

4: Faculty affiliation

The Master’s programme falls under the The Technical Faculty of IT and Design.

5: Study board affiliation

The Master’s programme falls under the Study Board of Electronics and IT.

6: Affiliation to corps of external examiners

The Master’s programme is associated with the Civil engineering corps of external examiners.

7: Admission requirements

Applicants with a legal right of admission (retskrav):

Applicants with the following bachelor’s degree are entitled to admission:

• Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Engineering (IT, Communication and New Media), Aalborg University

Applicants without legal right of admission

Bachelor’s programmes qualifying students for admission:

• Electronic and IT (AAU)
• Computer Enigneering (former Internetteknologier og computersystemer) (AAU)
• Cyber and Computer Engineering (AAU)
• Softwareteknologi (DTU) (BSc or BEng)
• Netværksteknologi og IT (DTU) (BSc)
• IT-Elektronik (DTU) (BEng)
• IT og økonomi (DTU) (BEng)

Only applicants holding a Bachelor of Science in Engineering, a Bachelor of Engineering (diplomingeniøruddannelse) or a Bachelor of Natural Science degree can be admitted to a Master of Science in Engineering programme. 

Assessment of qualifications obtained from other technical or natural science bachelor educations will emphasize qualifications in mathematics, computer science, computer engineering, and software engineering, corresponding to a total of 60 ECTS credits. Equivalent qualifications can be accepted, although for the emphasized topics certain specific minimum requirements apply:

• Mathematical competences at BSc level equivalent to at least 10 ECTS, covering two or more of the subjects linear algebra, calculus, discrete mathematics, probability and statistics, optimization, algorithms and data structures.
• Computer science or computer engineering competences at BSc level equivalent to at least 25 ECTS, covering experience with declarative or imperative programming, e.g., Java, C, C++ , C# and Python, and other topics such as software and requirements engineering, user experience, application development, AI, distributed systems, and software architectures.
• Competences at BSc level equivalent to at least 5 ECTS, covering one or more of the following topics: communication technologies, cyber security, and business understanding.

In order to get the optimal benefit of the MSc programme, it is recommended that elective parts of the bachelor education are used to build up the right prerequisites for admission.

All applicants without a legal right must prove that their English language qualifications is equivalent to level B (Danish level) in English

8: The programme title in Danish and English

The Master’s programme entitles the graduate to the designation: Civilingeniør, cand.polyt. i innovativ kommunikationsteknik og entrepreneurskab med specialiseringen Nordic Master in Sustainable ICT Solutions. The English designation is: Master of Science (MSc) in Engineering (Innovative Communication Technologies and Entrepreneurship with the specialisation Nordic Master in Sustainable ICT Solutions)

9: Programme specifications in ECTS credits

The Master’s programme is a 2-year, research-based, full-time study programme. The programme is set to 120 ECTS credits.

10: Rules concerning credit transfer (merit), including the possibility for choice of modules that are part of another programme at a university in Denmark or abroad

The Study Board can approve that passed programme elements from other educational programmes at the same level replaces programme elements within this programme (credit transfer).

Furthermore, the Study Board can, upon application, approve that parts of this programme is completed at another university or a further education institution in Denmark or abroad (pre-approval of credit transfer).

The Study Board’s decisions regarding credit transfer are based on an academic assessment.

11: Exemptions

The Study Board’s possibilities to grant exemption, including exemption to further examination attempts and special examination conditions, are stated in the Examination Policies and Procedures published at this website: https://www.studyservice.aau.dk/rules

12: Rules for examinations

The rules for examinations are stated in the Examination Policies and Procedures published at this website: https://www.studyservice.aau.dk/rules

13: Rules concerning written work, including the Master’s Thesis

In the assessment of all written work, regardless of the language it is written in, weight is also given to the student's formulation and spelling ability, in addition to the academic content. Orthographic and grammatical correctness as well as stylistic proficiency are taken as a basis for the evaluation of language performance. Language performance must always be included as an independent dimension of the total evaluation. However, no examination can be assessed as ‘Pass’ on the basis of good language performance alone; similarly, an examination normally cannot be assessed as ‘Fail’ on the basis of poor language performance alone.

The Study Board can grant exemption from this in special cases (e.g., dyslexia or a native language other than Danish).

The Master’s Thesis must include an English summary. If the project is written in English, the summary can be in Danish. The summary is included in the evaluation of the project as a whole.

14: Requirements regarding the reading of texts in a foreign language

It is assumed that the student can read academic texts and use reference works, etc., in English.

15: Competence profile on the diploma

The following competence profile will appear on the diploma:

A Candidatus graduate has the following competency profile:

A Candidatus graduate has competencies that have been acquired via a course of study that has taken place in a research environment.

A Candidatus graduate is qualified for employment on the labour market based on his or her academic discipline as well as for further research (PhD programmes). A Candidatus graduate has, compared to a Bachelor, developed his or her academic knowledge and independence so as to be able to apply scientific theory and method on an independent basis within both an academic and a professional context.

16: Competence profile of the programme

The graduate of the Master's programme:

Knowledge:

• has knowledge on information and communication technologies (ICT) that, in selected areas, is based on the highest international research
• has knowledge on sustainable ICT solutions based on the highest international research
• understands the relevance of the needs of the end users, their use of ICT, and the mechanisms that influence the user experience and the acceptance of new technologies
• has in depth knowledge about requirement engineering in development of sustainable ICT solutions
• understands how ICT services and solutions are used in different environments
• has in-depth knowledge of service enablers, personalization and the use of context information for enrichment of services
• has knowledge on identity and access management, user experience and ethics, green ICT and machine learning algorithms and their applications
• has knowledge in one or more of the following fields: Privacy Engineering, Data mining, IoT and Cloud Security, Communication Systems, Internet Technologies and Service Architectures, and Algorithmic Content Exposure
• has in-depth knowledge and understanding of ICT-related sustainable business models and green solutions

Skills:

• can identify scientific problems within the field of ICT
• can evaluate and select among scientific theories, methods and tools, and – on a scientific basis – advance new analyses and solutions within applied ICT
• can apply research design principles in the development of semester projects
• can efficiently communicate research-based knowledge and discuss professional and scientific problems with both peers and non-specialists
• can produce scientific writing: Articles, reports, documentation, etc.
• can apply scientific methods, tools and general skills within the field of ICT
• can identify and select among relevant standards, technologies and methods for development of sustainable ICT solutions and services
• can assess the ethical aspects of ICT solutions
• can develop innovative services, applications and solutions at a conceptual level, which are relevant in a user perspective
• can apply machine learning techniques to analyse and process data as part of a service
• can develop Green ICT solutions

Competences:

• can manage work and development situations that are complex, unpredictable and require new solutions
• can independently initiate and implement discipline-specific and interdisciplinary cooperation and assume professional responsibility
• can independently take responsibility for own professional development and specialization
• has competencies in project work and problem-based learning in a global/multicultural environment
• has technological competencies to transform the potentials of new ICT technologies into new sustainable solutions and services with an engineering approach
• has competencies in sustainability that can be used to formulate strategies exploiting the potentials of new ICT technologies to develop state-of-the-art ICT solutions

17: Structure and Contents of the programme

The programme is structured in modules and organised as a problem-based study. A module is a programme element or a group of programme elements, which aims to give students a set of professional skills within a fixed time frame specified in ECTS credits, and concluding with one or more examinations within specific exam periods. Examinations are defined in the curriculum.

The programme is based on a combination of academic, problem-oriented and interdisciplinary approaches and organized based on the following work and evaluation methods that combine skills and reflection:

• lectures
• classroom instruction
• project work
• workshops
• exercises (individually and in groups)
• self-study
• teacher feedback
• reflection
• portfolio work

Apart from these modes and methods of teaching the Nordic Maser in Sustainable ICT Solutions will utilize the potential of digital technologies and use distance-learning methods to enable collaboration in teaching and project supervision between AAU and LUT

18: Overview of the programme

 The Nordic Master in Sustainable ICT Solutions will follow the structures depicted in the following figure.

In total, 90 ECTS out of 120 ECTS are common for alle students. The common part consists of:

• All courses and projects on the first and second semester
• The thesis project on the fourth semester

The first semester is offered at LUT, however, as the education is based on PBL all students who have not participated in Aalborg University’s PBL introductory course during their Bachelor’s degree must follow the PBL workshops from AAU in the beginning of the semester.

Electives: The remaining 30 ECTS can be obtained by choosing elective courses and projects in the third semester as descripted below. Note that  elective courses might not be offered if less than 10 students sign up.

The master thesis project is carried out at the university, which is chosen for the third semester.

All semester projects as well as the master thesis project have joint supervision from AAU and LUT.

All modules are assessed through individual grading according to the 7-point scale or Pass/Fail. All modules are assessed by external examination (external grading) or internal examination (internal grading or by assessment by the supervisor only).

19: Additional information

All students who have not participated in Aalborg University’s PBL introductory course during their Bachelor’s degree must attend the introductory course ”Problem-based Learning and Project Management”. The introductory course must be approved before the student can participate in the project exam. For further information, please see Department of Electronics System’s website.

The Study Board can grant exemption from the requirement that the student must complete compulsory courses abroad if there are special circumstances.

20: Commencement and transitional rules

The curriculum is approved by the dean and enters into force as of 1 September 2024.

The Study Board does not offer teaching after the previous curriculum from 2023 after the summer examination 2025.

The Study Board will offer examinations after the previous curriculum, if there are students who have used examination attempts in a module without passing. The number of examination attempts follows the rules in the Examination Order.

21: Amendments to the curriculum and regulations