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Department of Mathematics

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Studying Mathematics at Karlsruhe

Master program in English

Study plan

The official descriptions of the program (in German) could be found in study plan and study regulations. Unofficial translation of these documents in English are study plan and study regulations.

Here we summarise the essential information informally.

Program of Study Master of Mathematics

The program of study "Master of Mathematics" is a continuation of the "Bachelor of Mathematics" program. The main goals are to gain knowledge in mathematical methods and results, to gain the ability for discovering and analyzing structures, to learn about new subjects independently, to deepen knowledge in subjects of own choice, to get to the front of current research in a chosen area of mathematics, and to learn about practical techniques for solving complex problems.

Academic Degree

Successful completion of the program results in the degree Master of Science (in short, M.Sc.).

Duration of Studies

The study program is designed to take four semesters with a minimum of 120 CPs (credit points). Credit points can be earned by successfully attending lectures (possibly with tutorials), seminars, and writing a Master Thesis.

Registering for classes

Typically there is no need to register for classes, but students must register for the exams later on. Show up for the first lecture of a class you are interested in and you will get specific information on how it is run. Most classes now are supported by the ILIAS platform, it contains class information, forum, assignment submission site etc. A few days before the lectures start, look at the open ILIAS pages for courses you are interested in and sign up. For seminars, students usually sign up at the end of the previous semester during announced organisational meetings. If you would like to take a seminar your first semester, please contact the respective instructors directly.

Required credit points

Altogether 120 credit points are required for the masters degree -- roughly equally distributed over 4 semesters. Each mathematics course offered belongs to one of the following subjects: Algebra and Geometry (Ag), Analysis (An), Applied and Numerical Mathematics (Nu), and Stochastics (St). A student should choose two main subjects (Fach 1, Fach 2), one of which must be Ag or An. In the first main subject at least 24 credit points must be obtained, in the second main subject at least 16 credit points must be obtained. Between 16 and 24 credit points should be acquired by taking courses in a supplementary subject (Fach 3) that is one of Ag, An, Nu, and St, but not chosen as the main subjects, or from the courses offered by one of the other departments: Computer Science, Physics, Economics, Mechanical Engineering, or Electrical Engineering. Between 14 and 22 credit points must be acquired by taking any courses from specialization subject (Fach 5) from Ag, An, Nu, and St. In total, specialization points and supplementary points should add up to at least 38. There must be two seminars (Fach 4) from Ag, An, Nu, or St taken, each worth 3 credit points. Another, third seminar could be counted towards specialization subject. Moreover, 6 credit points for key qualifications (Fach 6), should be obtained by taking for example language courses offered by the Sprachenzentrum, House of Competence, or ZAK Zentrum für Angewandte Kulturwissenschaft und Studium Generale. We recommend for students to do voluntary practical work in a company for example. It corresponds to 8 credits, which can be given provided there is a report and a presentation of the practical work. These credits are counted as "additional qualifications", they could not be counted towards 120 credit points for the degree, but they may be listed in the final certificate.

To describe the degree requirements more formally, let $Ag, An, Nu, St,$ $CS, Phys, Econ,$ $Mech.En,$ $Elec.En$ , and $KeyQual$ denote the set of master courses in respective subjects, let $Sem$ denote the set of non-graded seminars offered in the Mathematics Department.

Let $S_1$ and $S_2$ be two selected main subjects, i.e.,

$\{S_1, S_2\}\subseteq \{Ag, An, Nu, St\}$ ,

$\{S_1, S_2\}\cap \{Ag, An\}\neq \emptyset$ ,

$S_1\neq S_2.$

Let $F_1, F_2,\ldots, F_6$ be the sets of courses and seminars taken towards Master Degree (corresponding to Fach 1-6), such that

$F_1 \subseteq S_1$ , $F_2 \subseteq S_2$ ,

$F_3 \subseteq F \in \{Ag, An, Nu, St, CS, Phys, Econ, Mech.En, Elec.En\}$ - $\{S_1, S_2\},$

$F_5\subseteq (Ag \cup An \cup Nu \cup St \cup Sem)$ ,

$F_4 \subseteq Sem$ ,

$F_6\subseteq KeyQual$ .

Let $|F_i|$ denote the total number of credit points in $F_i, ~ i=1,\ldots,6$ . The following requirements must be satisfied:

$|F_1|+|F_2|+|F_3|+|F_4|+|F_5|+|F_6| \geq 90$ ,

$|F_1|\geq 24, ~|F_2|\geq 16,$

$22\geq |F_5| \geq 14,$

$24\geq |F_3|\geq 16,$

$|F_3|+|F_5|\geq 38,$

$|F_4|= 6,$

$|F_6|\geq 6,$

$|F_5\cap Sem|\leq 3,$

30 credit points should be obtained by writing a Master Thesis.

In addition, it is sometimes possible to obtain credit points towards $F_3$ by taking seminars in non-mathematics subjects. Credit points for graded seminars sometimes could be counted toward the credit points for the courses. Choosing courses in a non-mathematics subject and special seminars should be discussed with an advisor and sometimes must be approved by the examination board.