Each programme consists of modules and study activities. Study activities are specific courses and projects that can fill out a module, and in order to fulfill the requirements in your curriculum, you must fill out all modules. The study activities that are available can change each semester, but the modules are always available.
Some courses are mandatory, some you chose as electives and for some electives you can decide to convert the ECTS into an elective project.
Mandatory Courses
Some modules are filled with mandatory courses. Mandatory courses are courses that you have to take at specific points in a specific order during the course of your studies. The courses are often divided into lectures or class teaching and following exercises.
You are automatically registered for the mandatory courses on your current semester.
Some modules are reserved for electives. The electives and the master’s thesis offer opportunities for shaping your own profile. You decide on the courses yourself but you must choose electives that are within the objectives of your programme.
You can use the electives to further shape your profile and together with the Research Project prepare for your thesis.
Courses to choose from
You choose from the course list in LearnIT. The courses are all approved as electives for your programme . The courses are considered to be within the curricula of your programme and they are chosen from the perspective that the majority of students on the programme will have the basic qualifications to succeed on the course.
Always check the pre-requisites
However, it is always important to check the prerequisites and course descriptions for courses approved and offered. Some courses belong to a different study programme and they can require specific knowledge you might not have.
In order to follow a course and sit for the exam, you must sign up for the course in the registration period.
See the courses that have been approved as electives for KDS students here.
Be aware that if you are on an older curricula, some courses might not be approved for you.
You can also apply for pre-approval of a course at another university in Denmark. For more information on this, please go to Pre-approval of Courses.
Useful information concerning courses
You can find descriptions of the current courses in the course catalogue in
LearnIT / All courses. From October/April, you will be able to see a list of course titles for the coming semester. Full descriptions of the courses are available in November/May[date may be changed].
Teaching runs from Monday in week 5 and 35. Each course is taught for 14 weeks, though the course periods run for either 15 or 16 weeks, depending on bank holidays.
The details for each course are available through
LearnIT one week before the semester starts at the latest. You must be registered for a course in order to access it.
Courses may have mandatory activities that you need to pass in order to sit for the exam. Descriptions of the mandatory activities are available in the course base.
Each semester, you evaluate all your courses. You have ample possibility of sharing your opinion in the two-step
Course evaluation.
One ECTS corresponds to 27.5 hours of work for the students which is in line with the official Bologna process
A 7.5 ECTS course therefore represents around 206 hours of activity in total. It is difficult to be more specific when speaking about all courses, but it serves as a basis for calculation. Assuming it will take 40 hours to prepare for exam in a 14 week course, this leaves an average of 11.8 work hours per week in those 14 weeks.
Project work is an important part of the MSc programme. It offers the opportunity to delve deeper into specific areas that interest you or your project group. Project work also allows for a more in-depth engagement with case organisations.
There are different kinds of projects on a MSc programme:
- Thesis (30 ECTS). Learn more about the Thesis
- Research project (7,5 ECTS)
- Individual projects / Elective projects (7,5 or 15 ECTS).
- Summer Projects. (7,5 or 15 ECTS)
- Projects as part of a course
You can use elective modules for writing a project under supervision, rather than taking an elective. You register for the project in the registration period. You can chose to work on your own project entirely, collaborate with a company or do a group project.
The research project is intended as preparation for your thesis. It allows you to focus very narrowly and in great detail on the particular sub-topics of your studies that will then be used in your thesis.
The research project is formally a project like any other, however, we do offer some help and guidelines for finding a supervisor. The content of the project is not limited, but is intended to feed into your thesis. The research project is typically a project that answers a set of research questions within data science. This might include a theoretical project focusing on a survey that prepares you for your thesis project, or a baseline implementation.
See here for more information about the Research Project