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Details of the recognition procedure for Edinburgh courses can be provided by the respective local coordinators at the two universities. This section contains some remarks regarding general rules that apply.
Generally speaking, as Trento and Aachen Master degrees are worth 120 ECTS, you will most likely want to transfer all eligible courses to that university (otherwise you will have to pass more than 40 ECTS of taught courses at that university to graduate).
One important constraint that applies to both Aachen and Trento, is the general rule that no credit can be given in Aachen or Trento for courses with an overall mark of less than 50%. If students achieve lower marks in some modules while in Edinburgh (which is admissible up to 20 ECTS across the whole 90 ECTS of a curriculum equivalent to a normal Edinburgh MSc), additional courses may have to be taken in Aachen or Trento as marks below 50% cannot be given credit for (even if the overall result is acceptable from an Edinburgh perspective - the guidelines for the non-EuMI Informatics MSc apply here, see this page). The reason for this is that re-sits are not allowed at MSc level in Edinburgh, therefore you will not get a second chance to improve your mark so that it can be given credit for in Aachen or Trento.
Furthermore, the IRP course cannot be given credit for in Aachen. IRR is accepted by Aachen as replacement for one "seminar" (in Aachen terminology), but the mark given for this course (which is pass/fail in Edinburgh) will be the weighted average of all other courses taken in Aachen (thus not affecting your overall average). Note that therefore, you might be able to improve your overall degree mark by taking another seminar course in Aachen and not transferring credit for IRR. For students with 2008/09 as their first EuMI year whose mobility includes Aachen, it is strongly recommended to take the Technical Writing course in Aachen and replace IRR by two normal taught courses in Edinburgh which can be fully recognised in Aachen.
Further details regarding topics such as examinations, assessment, plagiarism, programming requirements, etc. are available from the general Informatics MSc course guide. While EuMI has its special rules, the Edinburgh side can be mostly viewed as similar to the Edinburgh Informatics MSc with a certain percentage of credits recognised from either Aachen or Trento (10 ECTS of taught courses if Edinburgh is the main university, and 10 ECTS for taught courses and 30 ECTS for the project and dissertation if Edinburgh is the partner university), and most rules and regulations of the Informatics MSc apply in that sense to the EuMI degree as well.
A noteworthy exception to this is that there is no Diploma regulation for EuMI, i.e. you have to pass the course at MSc level as described in the MSc course guide, otherwise no other form of qualification will be awarded by Edinburgh.
Disclaimer: The information contained on the RWTH Media Informatics web site http://mi.b-it-center.de/ should be regarded as definitive as concerns Aachen requirements. The description provided here summarises the main Aachen MSc requirements and is merely intended to help students with making appropriate course choices while in Edinburgh taking these requirements into account.
EuMI currently supports only the Net-Centric/Media Informatics specialism for the Edinburgh-Aachen combination. In Aachen, the curriculum is part of the Media Informatics MSc programme offered by RWTH Aachen, therefore you will find that the course descriptions often refer to Media Informatics courses. The information contained on the Media Informatics site should be regarded as definitive as concerns Aachen requirements.
The central requirements for an MSc in Media Informatics in Aachen are as follows:
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| Data Communication and Internet Technology | Computer Networking (CN) |
| Object-Oriented Software Construction | Software Engineering with Objects and Components (SEOC) |
| Computer Graphics | Computer Graphics (CG) |
| Designing Interactive Systems 1 | Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) |
Note that the rule that no two equivalent courses should be taken in both universities applies also to non-compulsory courses. Also note that "equivalent" means that a compulsory course in Aachen can be replaced by the respective course in Edinburgh but does not imply that the Aachen number of credits will be obtained. Taking such courses in Edinburgh simply releases the student from the requirement of taking the compulsory course in Aachen, but of course only the Edinburgh number of credits can be awarded for the course.
Specialism course classification: Further, the following table shows which Edinburgh modules belong to the Aachen CCT, MMT and MMUI subject areas and can be recognised as valid courses from the respective area to fulfil the Aachen requirements:
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| Advanced Databases (ADBS) | Computer Graphics (CG) | Human Computer Interaction (HCI) |
| Logic Programming (LP)/ | Document Management (DM) | Informatics Entrepreneurship 1 (IE1) |
| Applied Databases (AD) | Intelligent Autonomous Robotics (IAR) | Informatics Entrepreneurship 2 (IE2) |
| Automated Reasoning (AR) | Knowledge Modelling and Management (KMM) | Informatics Research Methodologies (IRM) |
| Cognitive Modelling (CM) | Knowledge Representation and Inference (KRI) | |
| Computer Networking (CN) | Multi-agent Semantic Web Systems (MASWS) | |
| Design and Analysis of Parallel Algorithms (DAPA) | Text Technologies (TT) | |
| Distributed Systems (DS) | Visualisation (VIS) | |
| Intelligent Autonomous Robotics (IAR) | Machine Translation (MT) | |
| Fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence (FAI) | Advanced Natural Language Processing (ANLP) | |
| Introduction to Java Programming (IJP) | Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) | |
| Modelling and Simulation (MS) | ||
| Parallel Architectures (PA) | ||
| Parallel Programming Languages and Systems (PPLS) | ||
| Software Architecture, Process, and Management (SAPM) | ||
| Software Engineering with Objects and Components (SEOC) | ||
| Software Testing (ST) | ||
| Intelligent Vision & Robotics (IVR) |
Usually courses not contained in any of these lists belong to the CCT category. Please check with your local coordinator in Edinburgh or Aachen if in doubt.
A list of further courses offered in Aachen can be found at this page. Prospective students please note that some courses may not be offered each year and that the curricula of the partner universities are being constantly revised.
Disclaimer: The information contained on the University of Trento Department of Informatics web site course list should be regarded as definitive as concerns Trento requirements. The description provided here summarises the main Trento MSc requirements and is merely intended to help students with making appropriate course choices while in Edinburgh taking these requirements into account.
The central requirements for an MSc in Computer Science in Trento are as follows:
Course equivalence rules: For students participating in EuMI, the following table of courses describes which of the compulsory Trento courses courses are considered equivalent (this implies that they can be taken at any of the two universities but not at both universities):
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| Mathematical Logic | Automated Reasoning (AR) |
| Computational Complexity | Computational Complexity (CMC) |
| Concurrency theory | Design and Analysis of Parallel Algorithms (DAPA) |
| Machine learning | Machine Learning and Pattern Recognition (MLPR) |
| Data mining for biological data | Data mining and exploration (DME) |
| Modelling of Biological Systems | Models and Languages for Computational Systems Biology (MLCSB) |
| Performance Evaluation | Modelling & Simulation (MS) |
| Advanced networking | Computer Networking (CN) |
| Distributed Systems: Theory | Distributed Systems (DS) |
As with Aachen, note that "equivalent" means that a compulsory course in Trento can be replaced by the respective course in Edinburgh but this does not imply that the Trento number of credits will be obtained. Taking such courses in Edinburgh simply releases the student from the requirement of taking the compulsory course in Trento, but of course only the Edinburgh number of credits can be awarded for the course.
It is also strongly recommended for students who spend their first year in Edinburgh and the second year in Trento that equivalent courses for as many compulsory Trento courses as possible should be taken during the first year (while in Edinburgh), since students often perceive it as unfortunately that they have to take "fundamental" courses in their second year in Trento when they would like to specialise in a particular area.
Specialism course classification: In terms of the 42 ECTS required from the specialism area by Trento, the lists of recommended courses provided under the "Edinburgh side" section of this document define which modules fall into which specialism category.
Complete lists of current Trento courses are available from this page (follow link "Courses and Exams"). As with Aachen, these are likely to change in subsequent years.
Currently EuMI operates under a double degree scheme, i.e. you will be awarded two separate degrees from the two institutions you have visited, equivalent to national Master's degrees. However, a transition to a joint degree scheme is currently underway and we hope to be able to award a single, joint degree awarded by both institutions soon (hopefully even for students who start in 2007/08).
Regardless of the type of degree(s), the overall rule is that all degree requirements that apply to the two national degrees must be fulfilled by each student. Also, a distinction can only be awarded if the distinction criteria of both institutions are fulfilled.
Over the course of your studies, you will notice that there are differences between the local degree requirements but also the styles of administration and course delivery that vary across the different countries. The most important of these are:
The total study duration of the EuMI programme is two years, with the additional requirement that at least 40 ECTS are completed during the first year of study. Extensions can be granted for up to one further semester upon formal, written request directed to the secretary of the EuMI school in Trento, and are assessed on a case-by-case basis, i.e. they are not granted automatically and require strong reasons, e.g. the necessity to take further resits (that were not available during the normal study period) or serious illness. Note that such extensions may incur additional tuition fees that have to be covered by the student, and it is also the student's responsibility to handle any consequences this may have on their visa status. Also, as stated above any student that takes more than a few weeks longer that expected will not be able to graduate from Edinburgh until June of the following year (due to the Board of Examiners meeting schedule described above) even if the extension was approved. Students who have not completed all degree requirements within an approved total period of study will not be eligible for award of the EuMI degree.
Participation in the EuMI programme may require several trips to the both institutions at different times. While the School will be happy to provide students with letters to support any related visa applications, students are responsible for ensuring that they have a valid visa for the countries they intend to visit. Students will also be liable to cover the cost of visa applications. Please also consult the pages of the International Office of the University of Edinburgh for further advice (note that the EuMI team and the School of Informatics as a whole are not allowed to give advice on immigration-related issues).
An important detail is that you should remember to inform University Accommodation Services as soon as possible that you will not be staying for the whole academic year if this is the case and they are providing your accommodation.
EuMI is a complex, multi-institutional and international postgraduate study programme. It is therefore only natural that many questions and difficulties may arise in the course of your studies, considering, in particular, that you have to adapt to two different systems under the time constraints of a very demanding programme. It is important that you keep the local coordinators at both universities that you are studying at informed at all times if you encounter any problems. Most of these problems can usually be fixed, but it is imperative that we know about them so that we can provide assistance and guidance.
The primary contact for EuMI-related matters in Edinburgh is Michael Rovatsos (EuMI local programme coordinator/course organiser and Director of Studies for all EuMI students). For administrative matters, please contact Neil McGillivray. For teaching-related administrative issues, the course secretary Gillian Watt is usually the most appropriate contact.
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