M.Sc. Program Requirements

Timeline

M.Sc. students are encouraged to finish their Master's program within 2 years.

M.Sc. Thesis-Based Timeline M.Sc. Course-Based Timeline

Thesis-Based Masters Requirements

Most students complete these requirements in their first year. Minimum requirements include:

• Four computing science graduate courses (either 500 or 600 level)
  • You may only include one "special topics" course (CMPUT 605)
  • Exceptions for obtaining credit for non-CS courses must be discussed with the Associate Dean Graduate
• One course on Teaching and Research Methods (CMPUT 603)
  • TA Training Requirements: We require that graduate students attend our TA Training Workshop (offered early in September). This is considered part of a requirement for CMPUT 603. We encourage graduate students to also take FGSR sessions on teaching during FGSR's Graduate Teaching and Learning week in late August or early January.
  • The Ethics and Academic Citizenship Requirement is required by FGSR. Beginning in Fall 2022, the Ethics and Academic Citizenship Requirement will replace the former Academic Integrity and Ethics Training Requirement. The new Ethics and Academic Citizenship Requirement will consist of two zero-credit, self-paced online courses: INT D 710: Ethics and Academic Citizenship (for both master's and doctoral students) and INT D 720: Advanced Ethics and Academic Citizenship (for doctoral students). There are no instructional fees associated with these courses. This requirement is handled by:
    • Successful completion of INT D 710 for all MSc students and both INT D 710 AND INT D 720 for all PhD students
• Professional Development Requirement
  • Individual Development Plan must be completed within the first 12 months of your program. To meet this requirement, complete the workbook and review this with your supervisor.
  • Eight hours of professional development activities - these hours are covered by CMPUT 603. The topics covered in this course normally include career development (communication, networking, collaboration), professional practice, entrepreneurship and/or intellectual property, teaching skills.
  • Fill out the Individual Development Plan and Professional Development Requirement Form
    • On the form: Description of Professional Development activity input: CMPUT 603
    • On the form for the Time (hours) input: 8 hours
    • On the form for the date complete (term you completed CMPUT 603) input: TERM, YYYY (ex: Fall 2021)
    • On the form: the total hours input: 8
    • Remember to sign the form
    • Once you have met with your supervisor to discuss your IDP workbook, your supervisor needs to also sign the form.
    • Then submit the completed form.
    • The Computing Science Graduate Program Administrator will review the IDP/PD form and verify the requirements have been completed. We will contact you if there are any issues with your IDP/PD form.
    • If CMPUT 603 has been waived for you, talk to the department about how to complete your PD requirement.
• Maintaining a minimum GPA of 2.7 on a 4.0 point scale
• Residency requirement: You must be present (in the Department at the U of A) for at least 2 terms of full-time study

Note: Students enrolled in Statistical Machine Learning have their own set of course / thesis topic requirements.

Seminar

You will present a technical seminar, based on your thesis research, to the Department prior to the final oral exam.

Assuming all members of the committee agree, students are allowed to combine this seminar presentation with their defense by defending immediately after the presentation. As long as all committee members will be in attendance, the student will NOT be required to begin the defense with a 15-20 minutes summary.

Seminar Guidelines

Dissertation (Thesis)

To demonstrate that you are capable of doing research that results in high quality publications, Master's students must produce a written dissertation. A M.Sc. thesis typically consists of a:

• Thorough, integrated literature survey in a specific technical area
• Critical analysis of approaches and results
• Discussion of areas requiring further work
• Report on research undertaken by the student (this must be non-trivial, but not necessarily sufficiently original for publication in the open literature)

FGPS states: " A thesis is a piece of work which must embody the results of original investigations and analyses and be of such quality as to merit publication, meet the standards of reputable scholarly publications, and constitute a substantial contribution to the knowledge in your field."

Dissertation Guidelines

Final Oral Examination (Defense)

An examining committee will review your thesis to determine that it meets acceptable standards. The committee conducts an oral examination to test your knowledge of the thesis subject and related fields.

Final Oral Exam Guidelines

Course-Based Masters Requirements

The following information is for current students only: 

Students in the course-based M.Sc. program are not required to write a thesis, but are required to complete 30 credits in graduate courses (10 courses), including:

• 7 graduate classes
• A 6-credit capstone course
• One course on Teaching and Research Methods (CMPUT 603)
  • TA Training Requirements: We require that graduate students attend our TA Training Workshop (offered early in September). This is considered part of a requirement for CMPUT 603. We encourage graduate students to also take FGSR sessions on teaching during FGSR's Graduate Teaching and Learning week in late August or early January.
  • The Ethics and Academic Citizenship Requirement is required by FGSR. Beginning in Fall 2022, the Ethics and Academic Citizenship Requirement will replace the former Academic Integrity and Ethics Training Requirement. The new Ethics and Academic Citizenship Requirement will consist of two zero-credit, self-paced online courses: INT D 710: Ethics and Academic Citizenship (for both master's and doctoral students) and INT D 720: Advanced Ethics and Academic Citizenship (for doctoral students) There are no instructional fees associated with these courses. This requirement is handled by:
    • Successful completion of INT D 710 for all MSc students and both INT D 710 AND INT D 720 for all PhD students
• Professional Development Requirement
  • Individual Development Plan must be completed within the first 12 months of your program. To meet this requirement, complete the workbook and review this with the Associate Dean Graduate (as MSc course based students do not have a supervisor).
  • Eight hours of professional development activities - these hours are covered by CMPUT 603. The topics covered in this course normally include career development (communication, networking, collaboration), professional practice, entrepreneurship and/or intellectual property, teaching skills.
  • Fill out the Individual Development Plan and Professional Development Requirement Form
    • On the form: Description of Professional Development activity input: CMPUT 603
    • On the form for the Time (hours) input: 8 hours
    • On the form for the date complete (term you completed CMPUT 603) input: TERM, YYYY (ex: Fall 2021)
    • On the form: the total hours input: 8
    • Remember to sign the form
    • Once you have met with the Associate Dean Graduate to discuss your IDP workbook, they will need to also sign the form.
    • Then submit the completed form.
    • The Computing Science Graduate Program Administrator will review the IDP/PD form and verify the requirements have been completed. We will contact you if there are any issues with your IDP/PD form.
    • If CMPUT 603 has been waived for you, talk to the department about how to complete your PD requirement.
    • Students must obtain an average of 2.7 overall in the first year of study - if this requirement is not met, you may be asked to withdraw from the graduate program.
    • In order for international students to maintain full time status they must be registered in *9 per term. This may require the student to register for additional courses beyond the program requirements.
  • Students can transfer into the course-based M.Sc. program only after consultation with their graduate supervisor, graduate advisor and after obtaining written consent from the Associate Dean Graduate.

Convocation

The University of Alberta holds two convocations each year:

• Spring Convocation in June
• Fall Convocation in November

Convocation Deadlines and Details