ALaRI - Scholarships

Admission rules

The Master of Science in Embedded System Design is open to students who have acquired at least 180 ECTS (European Credit Transfer Systems credits or equivalent) in a scientific or technological University study track.
Typically (but not exclusively), this grants possibility of access to students having obtained a Bachelor degree under the Bologna Scheme of studies, or having completed at least the third year of a University study track in a scientific or technological area and therefore having acquired the 180 credits.
Applicants should have completed the corresponding exams by the time of the class opening in September (application is allowed also if they still have to pass their final diploma exam, in which case they will be conditionally admitted). Applications will be examined and evaluated by an Admission Committee, that will decide based on each student's Curriculum Vitae. Students coming from any University that does not adopt the ECTS system should specify the number of lecture and practice hours corresponding to each course they have followed (these candidates are invited to send the requested documentation as soon as possible). To obtain satisfactory results from their ALaRI MSc studies, students should have (among the 180 ECTS above indicated) competences corresponding to the following specific credits:

At least 20 credits in Mathematics, including basic competences in calculus (differential and integral calculus) and in linear geometry;

At least 7 credits in the areas of Physics, Chemistry, Biology, of which at least 5 in Physics;

At least 36 credits in Computer Science Fundamentals, Control Theory Fundamentals, Electronics Fundamentals, Telecommunication Fundamentals;

At least 18 credits in subjects broadly concerning (in a comprehensive way) humanities, economics, socio-political competences, general engineering competences;

They should moreover be proficient in their knowledge of the English language, as all courses are held in English.

The Admission Committee will consider also applicants who have not obtained all the entry credits listed above (who have some 'debts'); a student whose Curriculum is deemed interesting although some debts are present may be admitted with the provision that he/she will acquire the 'missing' credits within the first semester of studies. To this end, as soon as admission has been decided, the ALaRI Director will suggest to the student which credits he/she should acquire, will indicate suggested readings for obtaining them, and provide tutoring to support the study; professors connected with ALaRI will evaluate whether the requested competence has been achieved.
Moreover, the Admission Committee when examining a student's Curriculum will determine whether he/she has already acquired part of the credits contributing to the ALaRI teaching project; such credits will be balanced against possible 'debts', so that the student will only have to follow courses that have not been recognized from previous studies. The balance between credits and debts must not exceed a total of 60 debts remaining after balance computation. At the end of the MSc studies, the student will need to have acquired all in all (bachelor + Master studies) no less than 300 credits.

Let us consider a couple of possible examples:

1^ example: A student has a Bachelor degree in Computer Science; she has the requested 20 credits in Mathematics, 10 credits in Systems Theory, 10 credits in basic Computer Networks courses, 100 credits in various Computer Science subjects including all the requested entry ones plus 5 credits in Language Theory and Compilers and 5 credits in Computer Architectures, 20 credits in the general areas of economics, humanities and social sciences. She lacks credits in Physics and Electronics. The 15 credits in Language Theory and Compilers, Computer Architectures, and Theoretical Computer Science and Formal Verification will be recognized for the ALaRI courses in Compiler Fundamentals, Computer Architectures, Validation and Verification, respectively (the student will not need to follow such courses), and offset the missing credits in Physics and in Electronics, that the students will have to acquire within the first semester.
2^ example: A student has completed the first three years of a four-year track in Physics, obtaining among others - 50 credits in Mathematics (including 10 credits in Statistics and Probability Theory and 5 credits in Numerical Analysis), 25 credits in Physics (including electro-magnetism and thermal physics), 15 credits in Computer Science Fundamentals, 5 credits in Electronics Fundamentals, 5 credits in Signal and Transmission Theory, 5 credits in Economics Fundamentals. The student will not need to follow either of the two Mathematics courses in the MSc teaching schedule; his credits in Mathematics will cover the corresponding 10 credits) and the competences acquired in physics will be deemed to offset competences in broadly-defined 'engineering' areas as well, contributing together with the credits in Economics to balance the 18 credits requested in the areas of humanities, economics, socio-political competences, general engineering; he will be requested to acquire the missing credits in Control Theory Fundamentals and in Computer Science.

Each case will be analyzed individually and, whenever appropriate, the applicant will be personally contacted to clear possible problems and find a suitable solution. Applicants should provide any further information concerning their competences (besides the ones formalized in their Academic transcript) that may be of help to the Admission Committee in making their decisions.
Please carefully read the details provided within the Application Form . Interested persons are strongly encouraged to contact the Scientific Director or the Program Manager of ALaRI as soon as possible to check, in an informal way, on possibilities granted by their curriculum and on suggested preliminary readings.

Master of Science will officially start September , 2011