Masters of Software Engineering
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q1. I am not happy with the grade I achieved in the first exam of course X. I got a D, but I think if I could re-do the exam, I could get a C or B. Can I come to the retake exam of course X?
In Tallinn, yes, you can take an exam multiple times in the same course, but only the result counts. So if you obtained a grade of B in the first exam and a grade of C in the second exam, you will get a C. So be careful when taking an exam a second time...
In Tartu, no. A retake exam can only be taken if you failed the course after the first exam. If you passed the course, that's it, you should keep moving forward in your curriculum. If you fail the course, you can have a second try (retake) and maybe pass the course the second time. Importantly, the grade you obtain in the retake exam will not erase the grade you obtained after the regular exam. If you got an F after a regular exam, this F will stay in your transcripts and will be counted in your GPA. The grade of the retake exam is recorded as a separate line in the transcripts, but does not erase the previous grade.
Also, please note that taking a retake exam is not compulsory. If you failed the first exam and you think you have no chance of passing the course in the retake, you can simply not register to the retake.
Conversely, if you failed a course and you want to come to the retake, you must register to the retake exam in the study information system at least 3 days before the retake exam takes place.
Q2. The first semester has ended, I completed 30 credits but I cannot apply for scholarship using the study information system.
Answer: The most probable reason for this is because you have indeed completed 30 credits but the courses are not allocated to the modules correctly. Instead some courses might be appearing as "courses outside the curriculum" when you open the screen "Academic results within curriculum". If you notice that the course "software economics" appears in the "courses outside the curriculum", it is probably because you have not selected your specialty module. You should select the specialty "enterprise software engineering", save and then open again the screen "academic results within curriculum". The course "software product management" should now be inside your "specialty module" and then you should be able to apply for scholarships. In any case, the issue at stake is that the only thing that counts are the courses that are assigned to modules in your curriculum. What's outside does not count.
Q3. I have found an internship but I don't know how to get the credits for the Practical Training.
Answer: If you are doing the enterprise systems specialization, you should obtain your practical training credit points from TUT. The procedure for getting the Practical Training credits from TUT can be found here: https://courses.cs.ttu.ee/pages/Master_of_Science_in_Software_Engineering#Practical_training
If you are doing the embedded systems specialization, you should obtain your practical training credit points from UT. The procedure for obtaining credit points for practical training at UT can be found in the slide decks: https://courses.cs.ut.ee/2017/praktika/Main/Lectures
Q4. I don't have an internship yet. Where can I find one?
Answer: The normal time for doing the internship is in the third semester. We will organize an event called "Institute of Computer Science Career Day" in Tartu in about 6-8 weeks time (you will all receive the invitation). TUT maintains a list of internships. The link can be found here: <https://courses.cs.ttu.ee/pages/Master_of_Science_in_Software_Engineering#Practical_training>
Additionally, UT's Institute of Computer Science is organizing the Career's Day on 14 February in Liivi 2. Further information will be sent in a separate email soon.
Q5. How many credit points do I need to have at the end of the second semester to apply for scholarships?
Answer: To apply for scholarships, you need to have: - 30 credits inside the curriculum by the end of the first semester - 60 credits inside the curriculum by the end of the second semester - 90 credits inside the curriculum by the end of the third semester
Please note that only the courses assigned to modules in your curriculum count. Also, please note that if you have more credits in a module than the amount required, the excess amount does not count. So say for example you have 15 credits in the Electives module. The electives module only requires 12 credits. Hence, only 12 of these 15 credits count. The excess 3 credits are not counted in the total (the grade you got in the "excess" course still counts in your GPA, but the credit-points don't count for the purposes of obtaining a stipend or retaining your tuition-waiving scholarship).
Q6. My grade in "Advanced Programming" or in "Software Quality and Standards" is not correctly shown in Tartu's study information system, but it shows correctly in TUT's one. For example: I got a "B", but Tartu's study information system says I got a "C".
Answer: This problem happens when the lecturer of a course in Tallinn enters an initial grade (say "C") and then later you make an appeal and the lecturer changes your grade (say to a "B"). In this case, the updated grade is not propagated to Tartu's study information system, and instead your old grade remains. If you have made an appeal to a lecturer in Tallinn and they have changed their grade, please check if the modified grade has been propagated. If not, pls drop an email to Liis Tamm <Liis.Tamm@ut.ee> to indicate her the issue.
More generally, whenever you find something that does not "add up" in Tartu's study information system, do not hesitate to drop an email to Liis Tamm.
Q7. Can I count the "Seminar on Bioinformatics" in the seminar module of my Masters programme.
Answer: No. The only seminars you can count in your Seminar Module are: - ITX8301 Masters Seminar 1 (Tallinn) - 3 ECTS - ITX8302 Masters Seminar 2 (Tallinn) - 3 ECTS - MTAT.03.270 Seminar on Enterprise Software (Tartu) - 3 ECTS in each semester you take this seminar
The reason for this apparent inflexibility is that the seminars of the Software Engineering curriculum have a different purpose than those of UT's Computer Science masters (e.g. bioinformatics and computational neuroscience seminars). The seminars of the Software Engineering Masters are designed to prepare you for your Masters thesis project, whereas the seminars in the Computer Science Masters are there to allow you to learn about new topics, usually unrelated to your Masters thesis.
HOWEVER: - You can still take the Seminar on Bioinformatics (or some other seminar) and count it as an elective or optional course. - While you do not have a wide choice of seminars in the software engineeering programme, the seminars in the Software Engineering masters are very flexible. If you are passionate about AI, machine learning, natural language processing, or bioinformatics, you are welcome to take a topic in one of these areas during your Masters seminar. The seminar's lecturer will encourage you to take a topic that you really want to study, and that you want to pursue potentially as a Masters thesis down the road.
IMPORTANT: At the end of your study programme, you must have 6 credit-points in the Seminar Module. Any combination of the above seminars is fine, so long as you get 6 credits on the end. In general, this means that you need to take a seminar course in two semesters.
Q8. I want to leave in an Erasmus exchange or other bilateral exchange to another university in the third semester. Can I?
Yes sure, we encourage you to do so. But when you come to ask for my signature (or Juhan's signature), we will ask you the following question: Have you completed your Practice module, and if not, how do you intend to complete your Practice module? In general, students who leave on Erasmus coursework exchanges do their Practice module durign the second semester, or else during the summer (but getting summer internships is tricky because many companies are on holidays in July and don't take interns during that month).
Further information about the Erasmus exchange programme can be found here: https://www.ut.ee/en/erasmus
Another option you might consider is to do an Erasmus Traineeship. This means that during the third semester, you will be working as an intern in a foreign company (elsewhere in the EU), and this internship will give you the credit points for your Practice module. Furtner information at: https://www.ut.ee/en/studies/studyabroad/erasmus/erasmus-traineeship-grant
And TUT's Erasmus exchange opportunities can be found here: <https://www.ttu.ee/studying/exchange-studies/exchange-studies-outgoing/b_erasmus-partner-universities/erasmus-school-of-information-technologies/>
If you want to go on Erasmus traineeship, I recommend you to take more than 30 credits in the second semester (e.g. 36 credits), so that you are ahead of schedule with your coursework. If you have at least 66 credits by the end of the second semester (in-curriculum), and you have completed both the core and the specialty modules (and the first part of the seminar module), we can have a meeting and come together with a plan on how you can do an Erasmus traineeship.
The trick of an Erasmus traineeship is to find a (good) company that is willing to take you on board.
Q9. If I take 15 credits of Optional courses in a semester (e.g. foreign language courses), will all these credits count?"
No. This Masters curriculum is structured in terms of modules. Each module has a number of required credit points. You can sometimes take more credits in a module than what is required. But the "excess" credits you take on top of the requirements of the module do not count, neither for tuition-waiver purposes, nor for the purposes of applying to stipends (e.g. specialization or merit stipends).
Let me give you an example. Imagine that at the end of the second semester, a student has completed the following amount of credits:
- Core module: 18 credits
- Specialty module: 18 credits
- Practice module: 0
- Seminar module: 3 credits
- Optional courses module: 15 credits
- Electives courses module: 15 credits
- Masters thesis module: 0
The optional courses module has a requirement of 6 credits, while the electives module has a requirement of 12 credits. Hence, when counting the total number of credits, the following will be counted:
- Core module: 18 credits
- Specialty module: 18 credits
- Practice module: 0
- Seminar module: 3 credits
- Optional courses module: 6 credits
- Electives courses module: 12 credits
- Masters thesis module: 0
Hence the total amount of credits in-curriculum is: 18+18+3+6+12=57 credits.
Hence the student in question cannot apply for a stipend in the third semester. To apply for a stipends in the third semester, you need to have 60 credits in your curriculum.
The same rules apply when counting credits for the purposes of determining if you need to pay tuition fees or not. The only thing that is different with respect to stipends, is that to avoid paying tuition fees, you need to have the following amount of in-curriculum credits:
- At the end of the first semester: 24 credits
- At the end of the second semester: 54 credits
- At the end of the third semester: 84 credits
- At the end of the fourth semester: all coursework credits must have been completed, and hopefully, you are ready to defend and graduate.