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Structure overview
For the European Academy for Semantic web Education (EASE) a single
coherent structure is prescribed. It is based on
- common and compulsory foundational modules comprising 36
ECTS credit points at minimum, which are taught at each partner
institution,
- selected advanced modules comprising at minimum 36 ECTS credit
points, which are based on the specific strengths in research and
teaching of the partner institutions. Thus, they can vary from
partner to partner,
- a research master thesis project with a minimum of 36 ECTS
credit points.
Courses are distributed over three semesters. They amount to a total
minimum of 72 ECTS credit points. In addition a minimum 36 ECTS credit
points are assigned to the master's thesis and its defense in the
fourth semester. The minimum figures gives some indication how much
effort should be spent by students in the different modules and
provides the necessary flexibility which each partner needs to
implement EASE. But EASE still results in a 2-year program of 120 ECTS
credit points which is guaranteed by each partner.
The basic modules are offered in the first year by all partner
institutions with the common aim of bringing the students to an
equivalent level of skills and knowledge. In EASE five basic modules
are defined:
Courses in the Catch-up module are mainly to fresh up the knowledge of
the student with material which are the base for EASE. These include
logics, databases, and artificial intelligence. Furthermore especially
designed bridging courses integrated into the basic modules offered in
the first semester shall help 3rd country students and students from
other but related professions in their adaptation to a Masters Course
of European educational level. Perhaps additional courses must be
taken by these students in order to reach the starting requirements of
EASE. The Catch-up module has no minimal ECTS credit points in order
to be flexible with respect to the basic knowledge of the students
from each institution. The courses in the Catch-up module ensure that
the next courses can build upon the same knowledge for all students.
The basic representation languages for the Semantic Web are covered by
the courses in the Basic Semantic Web Technologies. Obviously this
includes the introduction into XML, RDF, RDFS, and OWL. For the
courses in this (and the following) modules a minimum of 8 ECTS credit
points is required. Catch-up has no minimal ECTS credit points in
order to be flexible with respect to the basic knowledge of the
students from each institution.
All representation languages in the Basic Semantic Web
Technologies module base on formal knowledge representation. A
deep understanding of the underlying logics is essential for these
representation languages and communicated in the courses of the
Formal Foundations of Knowledge Representation module (8 ECTS
min). Courses in this module cover the basic knowledge on logic,
formal methods, knowledge representation and reasoning, and theory
of computing.
The next two modules complete the basic modules with topics strongly
related to the Semantic Web. The Web Infrastructure module (8 ECTS
min) cover the basic knowledge on distributed systems, network
technologies, Internet technologies, mobile services, and security,
i.e. knowledge about the basic infrastructure for the Semantic Web.
The last module, Information and Knowledge Systems (8 ECTS min),
focuses on the more classical approaches for information retrieval.
Courses in this module may cover the basic knowledge on knowledge
management, information systems, advanced database technologies,
and semi-structured data.
Each partner is allowed to implement these basic modules
site-specific. Courses are not prescribed and may differ from site to
site; i.e. EASE does not stipulate the courses. But the five modules
specify the minimal agreement and teaching material which must be
covered by the basic modules. The courses associated to one module
must commit to a minimal educational material in that modules.
Furthermore the courses in one module must at least include 8 ECTS
credit points.
Ours conjoins specialization with expertise in core Computer
Science knowledge is not available at undergraduate level yet. The
student's specialization (advanced modules and master project)
during the second year can also be pursued with all partner
institutions, but varies from place to place according to local
strengths in teaching and research. It is the central idea of the
shared master that the student chooses the advanced module of that
EASE partner university which corresponds to his interests --
with the consequence to move to that university. It should be
obvious the EASE partner university for the advance module has to
be different from the EASE partner university for the basic
modules.
In particular the following emphases of the EASE
partners are
- Knowledge representation and advanced database
technologies (KRADT) [FUB]
FUB is a leading research and teaching center on
knowledge representation and advanced database technologies. Topics
of study are focused in particular on formalisms for solving several
problems concerning Conceptual Data Modelling and Ontology Design,
Intelligent Information Access and Query processing, Information
Integration, Peer to Peer systems, Semistructured Data, Distributed
and Web Information Systems, Computational Logic, and Logic-based
Computational Linguistics.
- Intelligent Systems on the WWW & The Semantic Web (ISSW)
[UKARL]
UKARL puts an emphasize on developing applications with Semantic Web
technologies. This includes engineering and maintaining of
ontologies along a well-defined life-cycle as well as deploying such
applications in business scenarios. A typical application scenario
is knowledge management where Semantic Web technology supports among
other things knowledge sharing and reuse.
- Semantic Web Applications (SWA) [UPM]
UPM is focused on developing Semantic Web applications (such as
natural language processing, e-commerce, etc.). At this moment, UPM
puts also efforts in the Semantic Grid area.
- Semantic Web Services - Ontology Heterogeneity (SWS-OH)
[UniTn]
It
will be possible for students to take an advanced module concerning
mainly Semantic Web Services and Ontology Heterogeneity.
- Web intelligence & Information SciencE (WISE)
[VU]
The intelligent Semantic Web techniques from the basic courses are
applied in practical situations. This includes ontology engineering
and innovative Semantic Web applications where amongst others a
small but real Semantic Web application will be implemented.
Furthermore the Semantic Web basics are extended by related
techniques like distributed reasoning (e.g. with multi-agent
systems) which support the nature of Web and Semantic Web.
In the final master's thesis the candidate should demonstrate his
capability to solve independently a problem in the area of
Semantic Web.
The distribution of the modules and courses (basic and advanced) over
individual semesters and partner institutions is listed in the detailed list of courses web
page. The goals of the individual modules, their prerequisites and
the dependencies between modules are also given.
The general structure of this study program is not invented from
scratch but we adopted the structure of the established ``Shared
master Program for Computer Linguistics''. Good experiences with
that study program motivated us to adopt their structure.
However, EASE is an open study program in general. In order to
provide the required flexibility for a shared master program new
partners can join EASE. Openness also implies that modules can be
outsourced. For example, if another university offers a
particularly strong program in Semantic Web, then it may offer a
module in this area which could then be accepted in our masters
program. In other words, the conceived structure allows for
sufficient flexibility such that
the best students will study with the best experts
in Semantic Web.
For further information check the menu at the left
of this page, or contact the
.
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