Courses & curriculum 2023 - 2024

Year 1

The first year of the programme teaches you the basics of Computer Science. You will learn how to program and how computer systems work. Additional mathematics courses complete your first year of training as a computer scientist. If you are wondering why, consider that ‘to compute’ means ‘to calculate’. Computers follow the rules of mathematics and logic, so these topics shape the way you program one.

During year 1, you follow the same mandatory courses (‘core courses’) as everyone else in your year. You also participate in two semester-long group projects. These projects build upon the knowledge you obtain from the courses. Such a project initially runs alongside your courses, and ends with a course-free period that is fully dedicated to wrapping up the project.

Year 2

Year 2 continues your training with a number of mandatory core courses. These courses deepen your Computer Science knowledge and provide basic understanding of related fields, such as Human-Computer Interaction.

With year 1 under your belt, you now know enough about Computer Science to start customizing your curriculum through choice modules. Modules consist of one elective course with a corresponding project. You can choose between modules that explore the following topics:

• Intelligent Interaction, or Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning in Semester 3
• High Performance Computing, or Cybersecurity & Internet of Things in Semester 4

Year 3

Year 3 is the most flexible year of the programme. It’s up to you to either deepen or broaden your knowledge, including with topics from other fields.

Semester 5 is a so-called elective semester, where you can choose between one of three options:

• 6 elective courses with a Brightlands Campus Project
  If you want to deepen your knowledge, we offer an elaborate list of Computer Science courses for you to choose from. In addition, the Faculty of Science and Engineering offers various courses in related fields, like physics, that you can select. If you go for elective courses in Semester 5, we offer you a special project in collaboration with the Brightlands Smart Services Campus. A local company or organization will put forward a real business case for you to crack during this semester’s group project.
   
• Minor in Education
  Minors are carefully crafted mixes of courses, assignments and other experiences. They allow you to gain experience in a completely different field of study. We offer a minor in Education: a Dutch-speaking minor that results in a formal qualification to teach computer science  at selected levels in Dutch high schools.
   
• Semester abroad
  We offer a limited number of places to study abroad at one of our European partner universities. Options for instance include Denmark, Italy, and Iceland. 

Semester 6 offers core courses that match your knowledge level as a nearly graduated computer scientist. The rest of this semester is reserved for your bachelor’s thesis. You choose the topic and supervisor for this final achievement, for which you carry out a research project and write up the results. The bachelor’s thesis is an individual assignment.