Masters of
Software Engineering
The Masters of Software Engineering is an English-taught program
delivered jointly by the two largest Universities in Estonia: University of
Tartu (UT) and Tallinn University of Technology (TUT). Upon successful
completion of the program, students will receive a joint degree signed
by both universities.
The program is meant for future software engineering professionals who
wish to acquire a broad range of software engineering skills, ranging from
how to write reliable and maintainable software, up to how to manage
software engineering teams, how to set up quality management processes
and how to make compelling business cases for software projects.
In addition to providing advanced software engineering and
management skills, the program allows students to specialize in one
of two major application domains: enterprise systems and embedded
real-time systems.
The Master’s of Software Engineering starts with a core module
where you will acquire general software engineering skills. Students
then choose one of two specialization modules: enterprise software
(delivered by University of Tartu) or embedded & real-time software
(delivered by Tallinn University of Technology). A range of elective
and free-choice courses allows students to further specialize or to
broaden their horizons, depending on their interests and career path.
During the second year, students put the acquired skills into use, first
via an internship or an entrepreneurship project, and secondly via a
research or engineering project leading to the defense of a Master’s
thesis. Professional practice and research represent almost half of
the curriculum’s volume.
All courses in the curriculum emphasize teamwork. Throughout their
studies, students will complete mini-projects and assignments in teams.
During preparation of the Master’s thesis, students will immerse themselves
in one of the research groups at University of Tartu or Tallinn University of
Technology and work together with renowned international researchers in
the field of software engineering.
With over a quarter of students coming from all corners of the world, and a
third of international staff members, the Master’s of software engineering
provides a cosmopolitan environment, allowing students to develop
international connections that often prove valuable in future stages of
their career.
FINLAND
Tallinn
ESTONIA
Tartu
RUSSIA
SWEDEN
LATVIA
software.cs.ut.ee
LITHUANIA
The curriculum consists
of the following components:
2. SPECIALIZATION MODULE (24 ECTS)
4. ELECTIVE COURSES (18 ECTS)
To be chosen among two available specializations:
The elective courses can be chosen from all of the courses
listed below either in Tallinn or Tartu:
Option 1: Enterprise software engineering –
taught at UT
The compulsory courses in this module are:
• Software Testing
• Enterprise System Integration (6 ECTS)
• Advanced Algorithmics
1. CORE MODULE (24 ECTS)
Advanced Programming (taught at TUT)
Systems Modelling (taught at UT)
The objective of this course is to expose students to advanced
programming methods and practices that allow software
developers to produce well-structured, maintainable and
testable code. The course puts an emphasis on functional
programming concepts and shows how these concepts can help
programmers to solve challenging programming problems in
an elegant way. The course has a practical component where
students apply functional programming techniques to realworld business and scientific computing tasks.
• Business Process Management (6 ECTS)
A student who has successfully completed this course:
This course aims at imparting in-depth knowledge of softwareintensive systems modelling. The course will also impart
methodological skills for using models to plan, build and maintain
large-scale software systems.
On successful completion, students should be able to:
1. Demonstrate advanced mastery of standard system modelling
techniques.
2. Understand major issues that arise in the process of
translating fuzzy business requirements into a model that
is precise enough to be used for implementing a software
system addressing such requirements.
3. Understand how to use models to drive the development and
maintenance of large-scale software systems.
This course will impart in-depth knowledge of software-intensive
systems modelling techniques. The practice sessions will develop
skills required by system analysts and software architects.
Software Economics (taught at UT)
This course will provide students an overview of economic
aspects surrounding software development, packaging and
distribution activities. The course will consider economic
aspects of software development projects as well as economic
drivers and business models of companies involved in software
development or commercialisation of software.
On successful completion of this course, students will able to:
1. Apply well-known techniques to estimate the effort required
by a software development project.
2. Develop and assess a business case for a software
development project.
3. Apply economic concepts to assess the value of existing
software and to analyse design decisions in software
development projects.
• Has a clear understanding of functional programming
concepts that are applicable in any programming language.
• Can write elegant and well-structured code.
• Can test functional programs.
• Is familiar with the application domains where functional
programming is a natural fit and can decide when to use
functional programming
• Can write programs using an asynchronous or reactive
approach.
• Can write data-parallel programs.
Software Quality and Standards (taught at TUT)
The objective of this course is to provide an overview of the
problems and methods of software verification and validation
and quality management. The course introduces different
testing methods and principles of testing management, and
gives an overview of planning, performing, and documentation
of testing.
On successful completion of this course, students:
1. Know the problems and methods of software verification
and validation and are able to apply the methods.
2. Know the major testing methods and principles of testing
management.
• User Interface Design
• Data Mining (6 ECTS)
• Software Engineering Management
• Secure Programming Techniques
• Seminar on Enterprise Software (6 ECTS)
• Text Algorithms
Option 2: Embedded real-time software engineering –
taught at TUT
• Principles of Secure Software Design
The compulsory courses in this module are:
• Schedulability Analysis Using Formal Methods
• Foundations of Embedded Real-Time Systems (6 ECTS)
• Agent-Oriented Modelling
• Real-time Operating Systems and Systems Programming
(6 ECTS)
• Requirements Engineering
• Formal Methods in Embedded Real-Time Systems
Development (6 ECTS)
• Real-Time Software Engineering (6 ECTS)
• Social Informatics
• System Reliability and Fault-Tolerance
5. FREE-CHOICE COURSES (6 ECTS)
The free-choice courses can be chosen from any of the
courses taught either in Tallinn or Tartu.
3. PRACTICE MODULE (18 ECTS)
The practice module provides an opportunity to apply the
acquired knowledge in practice. Normally, the practice
module takes the form of an internship of 3 months in a
software company or in the IT department of an organization.
Alternatively, students may combine a shorter internship
(2 months) with a software project or teaching practice. Each
spring a Career Day takes place at the Institute of Computer
Science at UT. With more than 30 companies represented at
this event, this is an excellent opportunity to see the offers
from IT companies and to land an internship.
See www.cs.ut.ee/en/careerday for more information.
6. MASTER’S THESIS (30 ECTS)
Information about thesis and defence can be found at
http://www.cs.utee/en/en/studies/thesis
TOTAL: 120 ECTS
Additional information:
University of Tartu
www.ut.ee
Institute of Computer Science at UT www.cs.ut.ee/en
International Student Service at UT
www.ut.ee/studies
Master’s of Software Engineering
software.cs.ut.ee
Addresses for inquiries:
Prof. Marlon Dumas, Program director
Institute of Computer Science University of Tartu
J. Liivi 2, Tartu, Estonia
marlon.dumas@ut. ee
4. Explain the relative advantages and scope of applicability of
different business models of software companies.
3. Understand the principles, methods, and frameworks of IT
quality management, standardization, and auditing.
5. Explain the concepts, theories, and best practices associated
with international business models and business partnerships.
4. Know how to design, perform, and document tests.
Institute of Computer Science University of Tartu
The course has been divided into two parts. The first part
(approximately 60% of the volume) addresses the methods
and management of software verification and validation:
testing (the principles of software testing, white box,
functional, other methods), static methods (inspections,
reviews and walkthroughs, program correctness proving), and
the frameworks for testing management. The second part
(approximately 40% of the volume) provides an overview of
the software quality management concepts and standards:
the principles of quality management and standardization,
software process quality, and software quality criteria and
metrics. The prerequisite for this course is familiarity with
basic concepts of software engineering and ability to program
in at least one programming language.
J. Liivi 2., Tartu, Estonia
eva.pruusapuu@ut.ee
6. Compare business models centered on software products
with business models based on services, as well as hybrid
models.
7. Compare alternative distribution channels for a given
software product or service in an international market.
Topics covered by the course include: cost estimation of
software projects; business cases for software projects; software
valuation; value-driven software design; economic drivers of
buy-versus-build and software outsourcing decisions; business
models of software companies; international software product
distribution channels; electronic software distribution; business
partnerships involving software companies.
Eva Pruusapuu, Project assistant
software.cs.ut.ee
ESTONIA
Population: 1.3 million
Capital: Tallinn
Official language: Estonian
Area: 45 227 km²
• Member of European Union and NATO
• Just a short flight from London, Paris,
Moscow
• Country of 1500 islands and 1000 lakes
UNIVERSITY OF TARTU
Founded: 1632
9 faculties, 4 colleges
Students: 17 000
International students: 800
• 9 international Master’s degree programs
• About 100 doctoral degrees awarded annually
• In world’s top 1% citations in Environment/Ecology,
Clinical Medicine, Plant and Animal Science
•
WHY ESTONIA,
WHY TARTU:
Technology-driven innovation.
• A pioneer in electronic identity and electronic voting.
• Safe, fast and flexible exchange of private and state information.
• Vigorously adopted mobile technology, online banking and
electronic government services.
• Home to internationally successful IT innovations.
• A groundswell of IT ventures and start-ups with enviable potential.
• Tartu is a student town – 20% of the population are students.
• Modern residence halls, affordable accommodation.
• Free wireless internet almost everywhere: universities, parks,
caffees, libraries and sometimes even in forests.
• Home to UT, ranked in the top 3% in the world
(THES 2011-12 World University Rankings).
• International students rate Estonia as the #1 place to stay
(Erasmus Student Network Survey).
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