Frequently Asked Questions

As many interdisciplinary programmes of study, visual computing is not particularly simple, since it requires a profound knowledge from many fields. Unexperienced people often underestimate the difficulties: Modern image analysis and synthesis methods are very sophisticated and can involve a lot of applied mathematics. In conclusion, obtaining a M.Sc. degree in Visual Computing at Saarland University is at a comparable level of difficulty as obtaining a M.Sc. degree in Computer Science or in Mathematics. However, it can also involve a lot of fun, since you can immediately see how your models and algorithms perform, and you have the fascination of working in a real interdisciplinary area.

Master students in computer science are supposed to focus almost completely on computer science lectures and have no minor. Visual computing, on the other hand, has a much stronger interdisciplinary focus. It requires to fill some personal gaps of knowledge in fields like mathematics, mechatronics or physics. This includes lectures with a total amount of 18 credit points, which is in the same order of magnitude as a minor during our bachelor studies in computer science.
Moreover, if you hold a master degree in visual computing, you prove that you have specific qualifications in this field. This may give you advantages when you apply for a job in the visual computing area.

Yes. All visual computing lectures that are offered by the Computer Science Department do also count as regular computer sciences classes. However, you should be aware that you have to write two master theses, and that visual computing lectures from other departments may not be part of your computer science studies, since our computer science master has no minor. As a consequence, the duration of your studies may be extended by one or two semesters.

Yes. You can start either in the winter or in the summer term, since most of our classes are non-consecutive and there is no specific set of compulsory lectures. Typical lecturing periods in the winter term range from mid October to mid February, and in the summer term from mid April to mid July.

No. Visual Computing is an international course of studies that can be studied entirely in English. When living in Germany, it is of course useful and recommendable to learn some German. This can be done in language classes offered by the university, and you can even use up to 6 credit points from language classes within our Visual Computing Master Programme. Moreover, some non-compulsory classes in the master programme are offered in German, mainly in the supplementary areas such as mathematics or physics. Thus, knowing some German broadens your range of selection possibilities even further. However, you can be assured that in all categories sufficiently many classes are available in English.

Saarland University charges an administration fee of about 140 EUR per semester. In return, as a student you can get subsidised food at the university refectory and free public transport within the entire Saarland region, so it's a good deal. In case you decide to inscribe to an additional consecutive master programme (such as Computer Science), no extra fees are charged. Domestic and international students pay the same fee. Some grants for very gifted students are provided by the International Max Planck Research School for Computer Science. When applying to our master programme, you automatically apply for such a grant without any additional bureaucracy.

Located in the south-west of Germany, very close to the French boarder, Saarland University is a campus university offering an extensive range of taught courses and internationally networked state-of-the-art research. International students receive excellent supervision and can enjoy a comprehensive range of sports and leisure activities while studying at the university. Our International Office provides many services for students from abroad.

The visual computing master course of studies is coordinated by the Computer Science Department of Saarland University, one of the leading computer science departments in Germany. It has a tradition of teaching all master courses in English, and a significant percentage of its master students are from abroad. It is supported by the Departments of Mathematics, Mechatronics, Physics and Computational Linguistics, as well as by the Max Planck Institute for Computer Science, the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems, the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering, the Fraunhofer Institute for Nondestructive Testing, and the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence. This provides a unique environment for excellent studies and research in visual computing.

Many of the professors involved in the visual computing programme are internationally recognised experts in their area. This is documented by numerous awards: For instance, in 2003 Professor Hans-Peter Seidel, director at the Max Planck Institute for Computer Science, received the Leibniz Prize, which is the highest German award in science. Professor Philipp Slusallek has been awarded the 2005 European IST Award for developing a highly advanced real-time ray-tracing system. Members of the group of Professor Joachim Weickert have received the 2004 Longuet-Higgins Prize, the highest European computer vision award, for the world's most accurate algorithm for motion analysis. Professor Günther Fuhr, who directs the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering, received the Philip Morris Award in 2002.

Visual Computing at Saarland University is in an almost unique position within Germany. A M.Sc. programme called Computational Visualistics is offered by the universities of Magdeburg and Koblenz-Landau. Although there is some overlap, Computational Visualistics puts a stronger emphasis on humanities (e.g. aspects of aesthetics), while Visual Computing is more dedicated to the mathematical, algorithmic and technical foundations of visual information processing. Other related programmes of study are Computer Vision and Computational Intelligence offered at the Fachhochschule Südwestfalen (Iserlohn). Their programme has a more applied and less research-oriented focus. A course of studies that is closest in spirit to Visual Computing at Saarland University is the German master programme Bildinformatik offered at the University of Siegen. Their slightly different focus reflects the local constellations.

The specific features of Visual Computing at Saarland University are the benefits of being embedded in a highly ranked Computer Science Department with a documented experience of teaching all master classes in English, the participation of a large number of internationally recognised institutes, a strong interdisciplinary focus, and a very flexible programme of study that offers a maximal amount of liberty in specialisation.

A Master of Science in Visual Computing is an internationally recognised degree. It offers excellent job perspectives in growth sectors such as machine vision, optical industry, medical imaging, automotive industry, robotics, surveillance, telecommunications, multimedia, computer games and media design.

To illustrate this by a single example, consider the numerous machine vision companies within Germany. Many of these small and mid size companies are looking for highly qualified visual computing experts. The machine vision industry is an industry with annual growth rates of more than 10 percent for more than a decade. This holds even in times of economic recession when issues of automation and quality control are of vital importance for remaining competitive. In Europe, industrial vision systems constitute a market with an estimated annual volume of 1,500,000,000 EUR. The German vision industry has a share of about 70 percent of this market.

With a top-ranked Computer Science Department, two Max Planck Institutes, two Fraunhofer Institutes and the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, there are various Ph.D. opportunities for excellent candidates.

If you only hold a B.Sc. degree, however, you are expected to go though our master programme first. This also allows you to judge our (high) scientific expectations in a better way. In case you hold a M.Sc. degree from another university, your documents are evaluated by a panel that judges if they are equivalent to our M.Sc. degree in Visual Computing. It can happen that you have to start from scratch in our M.Sc. programme (frequently), or that some of your M.Sc. classes are transferred (at most 50 percent), or that you are admitted directly to our Ph.D. programme.

Ph.D. grants are provided e.g. by the Graduate Studies Programme on Quality Guarantees for Computer Systems or the International Max Planck Research School for Computer Science. Feel free to contact them directly, if you hold an excellent M.Sc. degree from a good university and consider yourself highly qualified. It can also be recommendable to contact a professor at Saarland University who matches your research interests best.

Your application will be examined by us very carefully. Also, we may request additional letters of recommendation. Because of this, a decision about your application will typically take about six weeks.

For additional information, please consult

Prof. Joachim Weickert
Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science
Saarland University, Building E1.1
66041 Saarbrücken, Germany
http://www.mia.uni-saarland.de/weickert/index.shtml