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European Master in Language and Communication Technologies

The Faculty of Computer Science at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy, and the Department of Computational Linguistics and Phonetics (CoLi) of Saarland University, Germany, offer a distributed European Master in Language and Communication Technologies, as part of their individual Master of Science Programmes in Computer Science (Laurea Specialistica in Informatica) and Language Science and Technology (M.Sc.), respectively. Students of the European Master enrol in one of the two universities and are required to spend at least one semester at the other university; both universities adopt the ECTS credit system. In the context of the European Master Programme the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano co-operates with ITC-irst of Trento, while the Saarland University cooperates with the German Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI); these centres are connected by more than 10 years of close partnership.

Human communication is at the heart of the information society and, in a richly multilingual area such as the European Union, full participation requires multilingual facilities for creating, exchanging and accessing information across language borders, throughout Europe and beyond. During the last few years, Language and Communication Technologies have seen a rapid increase in development at both research and industrial levels due to the fast growth of the Internet, of speech-based technologies, and the success of mobile communication. This has caused an acute need for continuous advancements in multilingual human language processing, cross-lingual information access, and multimodal human computer interaction. New expertise, skills and professional profiles are needed which can answer the growing requirements of our societies in the Human Language and Communication Technologies area.


The study programme at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano

The European Master in Language and Communication Technologies is designed to meet the demands of industry and research in this rapidly growing area. It offers advanced courses taught by leading scientists in topical areas such as Computational Linguistics, Speech Processing, Information Retrieval, and Intelligent Interfaces. The programme is part of the Master in Computer Science (Laurea Specialistica in Informatica) and it has various strengths that make it unique amongst Italian universities:

  • Curriculum taught entirely in English: The programme is open to the world and prepares the students to move on the international scene.
  • Possibility of a strongly research-oriented curriculum.
  • Possibility for project-based routes to obtain the degree and extensive lab facilities.
  • Other specialisations with streams in the hottest Computer Science areas, such as Web Technologies, Information and Knowledge Management, Databases and Software Engineering.
  • International student community.
  • Direct interaction with the local and international industry and research centres, with the possibility of practical and research internships that can lead to future employment.
  • Excellent scholarship opportunities and student accommodations.

The application deadline at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano to the European Master in Language and Communication Technologies is the ** 27 August 2004 **. Details can be found at http://www.inf.unibz.it/msc/


The study programme at the Saarland University

Beginning in October 2004, CoLi at the Saarland University offers a new international Masters programme in Language Science and Technology, completely taught in English, leading to the degree Master of Science (M.Sc.) in 18 months. Saarbruecken is one of the world's leading centres for language science and technology with faculty and students coming from many countries. An active program of basic, applied and cognitive research combines with state-of-the-art facilities to provide students with a rich and stimulating environment for their research. The programme cooperates closely with various departments and facilities of related disciplines, where lectures and classes are open to our graduate students. The course of studies can be personalised by setting an individual research focus. In addition to the general degree Master of Science in Language Science and Technology, students have the option of specialising in the following areas: Computational Linguistics, Computational Psycholinguistics, Language Technology, and Phonetics and Speech Technology. Technical support facilities available to students in the programme include:

  • State of the art computing infrastructure
  • Computer lab with facilities for the visually impaired
  • Eye-tracking lab
  • Speech labs
  • Dialogue and usability lab
  • Video conferencing lab
  • In-house Institute library

Applications at the Saarland University to the European Master in Language and Communication Technologies will be accepted starting from the academic year 2005-2006. Details can be found at http://www.coli.uni-sb.de/msc/


Free University of Bozen-Bolzano

The Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, founded in 1997, boasts modern premises in the centre of Bozen-Bolzano. The environment is multilingual, South Tyrol being a region where three languages are spoken: German, Italian and Ladin. Studying in a multilingual area has shown that our students acquire the cutting edge needed in the international business world. Many of our teaching staff hails from abroad. Normal lectures are complemented with seminars, work placements and laboratory work, which give our students a vocational as well as theoretical training, preparing them for their subsequent professional careers. Studying at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano means, first and foremost, being guided all the way through the student's educational career. South Tyrol, due to its enviable geographical position in the centre of the Dolomites, also offers our students a multitude of opportunities for spending their free-time.


ITC-irst

The Centre for Scientific and Technological Research (ITC-irst, http://www.itc.it/irst/ ) is a public research centre of the Autonomous Province of Trento, Italy. Founded in 1976, it conducts research in the areas of Information Technologies, Microsystems, and Material Sciences. ITC-irst is one of most active and internationally renown research centres for Human Language and Communication Technologies, with more than 80 people working in this area. The extensive lab facilities and a strong commitment to higher education render ITC-irst a dynamic research institute with all the relevant resources to foster creativity and innovation.


Please note that this newsitem has been archived, and may contain outdated information or links.