Study Outcomes and Competencies

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o Study Outcomes
o Study Competencies

Study Outcomes
The content of this Master's program lie primarily in the field of computer science and in this
case specifically the Internet technologies and information systems as well as related areas.
Thereby, ITIS has a significantly stronger research focus in comparison to the other master's
degrees in computer science offered at the participating universities. It can be particularly
characterized by the appeal on international students and their direct involvement in (mostly
also internationally minted) research groups. This is also reflected by the implementation of
all courses held in English, as well as by the specific introduction to a subsequent PhD
phase.
In detail, the objectives are:

By focusing on Internet technology and information systems, a depth of technical

knowledge and a degree of specialization will be reached, which cannot be provided in
the broader programs of the participating universities. To prevent over-qualification,
this specialization will be achieved in a strongly growing market segment with an
excellent job potential for highly qualified applicants.

In practice, ITIS aims to classify the in-depth technical content in an economic

informatics and law context. Clear goals are the provision of mechanisms from the eBusiness such as digital product design, demand planning or evaluation of business
models, but also the assessment of legal consequences in the field of
telecommunication and informational self- determination.

To strengthen practical research, the goal in both the module selection and the
research project is the understanding and practical use of "cutting-edge" technologies
from the computer science research. While the technical modules will focus more on
the current methodology in research, e.g. protocol engineering, algorithm engineering,
machine learning or data mining algorithms, the research project practices those
applications on real existing problems.

The scientific goals of ITIS are targeted in an introduction to a PhD thesis or

subsequent academic work. Of course, each master's degree program in principle,
allows a subsequent PhD thesis; however, important academic skills are mostly not

foregrounded there. The ITIS research project firmly aims at the preparation of a
technical report to, if possible, participate in first publications including the important
processes: academic team work, peer review, experiment planning or structured
knowledge transfer. Through downstream PhD theses offered by the participating
institutions, graduates can even continue their research work from the Master's
program.
These objectives are achieved through a particularly intense and close integration of
students at the participating institutions plus in their research projects. Especially during the
module "Research Project" students gain valuable life experiences of university research and
hands-on learn many of the soft skills and abilities graduates of most other study programs
would not learn before their PhD period.
However, due to the different target groups and thematic conceptions there will be no
competition with the existing computer science master's degree programs; rather than that,
extraordinary students are to be obtained, which would otherwise have opted for an
internationally oriented degree program at another university.

Study Competencies
Through close integration into current research projects graduates of this Master's program
are supposed to learn the stand-alone as well as the collaborative scientific work in
international teams. In this way, in addition to the in-depth expertise the necessary social and
intercultural skills are taught which are nowadays necessary for advanced research in
computer science. Supportive, the course offers soft skills modules for scientific
communication and scientific writing.
The thematic focus on Internet and information technologies provides students with special
challenges because of the high relevance of topics and strong penetration of the related
technologies in all areas of both the economic and social life. It requires a strong integrative
discussion of the relevant technical and theoretical problems, especially with the social
implications of technologies and research results.
To this end, computer science related courses are offered in three groups of modules:
"Theoretical Foundations", "Data and Information" and "Networking and Communication".
The learning contents consist of both an introduction to the current technologies and
procedures that form the basics of the Internet, as well as in project-oriented practice of the
skills which are necessary for the successful development of Internet-based systems.
The learning objectives of these three module groups are:
1. With essential Theoretical Foundations (such as modules over formal languages,
foundations or principles of efficient algorithms distributed algorithms), especially
specific problems from the Internet are addressed, such as the distribution or
efficiency aspect.

o Due to the solid theoretical training, students can analytically evaluate

important properties such as efficiency of algorithms or parallel programming
models.
o In addition, students can abstract the essential parameters of real problems
and model them formally.
o Students can evaluate solution strategies and heuristics, and thus develop
promising solution approaches.
2. Another essential topic is the processing of and interaction with Data and Information,
such as the extraction, indexing, manipulation and search of data on the Web
(covered by modules on information retrieval techniques, web search engines and
multimedia databases).
o Students know current procedures and methods in data and information
processing and can link them together as well as adapt them to different
problems.
o Students can critically discuss and present the solution proposals with regard to
the underlying data base.
o Students can create individual coordinated relationships (such as data or user
models) on demand and develop it for a technical implementation.
3. The third necessary topic Network and Communication is formed by basic technical
components and procedures (such as multimedia networks, peer-to-peer networks
and mobile communications).
o Students know technological basics as well as current practices, methods and
standards for communication within or between technical systems.
o Students can critically reflect and discuss strengths and weaknesses of
communication protocols and appropriate standards.
o Students can further adapt and (self-) develop communication protocols and
standards.
These learning objectives are enhanced by economic informatics and legal aspects
(Business and Law, such as Cooperate Communications, E-commerce, and Multimedia and
Telecommunications Law). Namely these aspects are becoming more important within the
increasing penetration of different areas of life through the Internet, as discussed above. This
module group contains the following learning objectives:

Students are able to assess given application scenarios or technical implementations

in terms of legal risks.

Students are able to reflect and discuss given application scenarios or technical
implementations and their economic and social consequences.

The overall competence objective of the Master's program "Internet Technologies and
Information Systems" is to prepare the students for future employment in academic or
industrial research in the relevant areas of the Internet or information industry. In particular,
students are empowered as follows:

Technical skills
ITIS students are introduced to a wide range of existing technologies and solutions in the
field of Internet technology and information systems. They are able to understand, question,
adapt and develop these ones especially in their technical context, as well as competently
and independently develop new solutions and systems. These competencies can be
differentiated as follows:

Formal, algorithmic, mathematical competence: ITIS students have a broad-based

training in Internet and information technology relevant theoretical and mathematical
foundations. They have the basic tools for the design, evaluation and differentiated
assessment of algorithms and system solutions in a professional and formally correct
form.

Analysis-, design- and realization competencies: Analysis skills primarily include

the ability to rapidly incorporate into new application areas. This capability is especially
trained by the exemplary insight into different areas of application as well as by the
familiarization of context and solution patterns. Design competencies extend the
analysis skills. Here, students will learn the independent modeling and designing of
strategies to previously analyzed problems. The realization competencies ultimately
allow students to turn the designed solution strategies into a usable product that
solves the posed problem comprehensively and in all relevant requirements.

Technological competence:The technological competencies cover a wide range of

expertise and underlying scientifical and information technology principles and
methods from the field of Internet and information technology. This mainly includes
various problem areas of information and Internet technology as well as the
explanation of these technologies, their functions, principles and underlying
paradigms.

Methodological competencies: The methodological competence is highly pivotal to

the research orientation of the ITIS course and includes the independent elaboration
of problem areas under application of scientific principles. Especially, the transfer of

knowledge and concepts and the independent development of unknown problem

areas are emphasized.

Vocational qualifying competencies:

ITIS students acquire a wide range of interdisciplinary, in particular vocational qualification
skills that will allow them to responsibly develop information technology linked results in
science, industry and society. However, the degree program is targeted at the solid
acquisition of research-related skills, particularly through conveyance of:

Project management skills: ITIS students are particularly trained to work

cooperatively in international teams and to take over planning and minor management
tasks at an early stage. This includes the planning of projects and their follow-up and
implementation, but also the solving of social conflicts and dealing with colleagues and
superiors. This is primarily done during the research project, in which students are part
of a diversely-staffed scientific working group.

Scientific and social skills: ITIS students are able to work and publish independently
in the field of computer science. This is generally achieved by the theoretical, technical
and social foundations, which are mediated in the degree program. In addition, all
particularly important soft skills will be promoted that are necessary for a successful
scientific career. Primarily, these are the ability to work in a team, communication skills
(both within the research team as well as for the presentation and defense of scientific
results to professional audiences), the ability to prepare scientific elaborations and
publications as well as general knowledge of the research enterprise in industry and
academia. ITIS students learn the correct and critical research of relevant literature,
the construction and analysis of research problems and the development of strategies
for their solution as well as the ability to critically evaluate solutions. Skills for both
written elaboration of scientific problems and their presentation will be imparted.

ITIS students can be integrated in industrial and academic research teams with little effort
and work independently. However, this competency goal is not primarily anchored in the
research project, but also in the seminars/lectures and in the Master's thesis.

Self-competence: Self-competencies describe the personality development. They

mainly include teamwork, but likewise communicative and language skills in various
forms. These skills are needed to variedly solve problems, to create and present
solutions plus to discuss them actively and critically. The teaching of these skills is
also largely anchored in the research project and the integration into an existing
project group.

Economic, legal and ethical competence: Internet technology has far-reaching

effects on the state, economy and society. Through the modules in "Business and
Law", ITIS students are equipped with important basic knowledge in law and
economic theory, have critically studied the positive and negative effects of new
technologies and are able to question current trends in technology in terms of their

social impact. It thus creates the basis for qualification on civil society engagement in
the modern internet age.
Moreover, graduates who decide (before or after a possible PhD thesis) to pursue a career in
commerce, present a valuable asset due to their acquired professional and selforganizational skills (especially in international companies).