University of Basel

Department of
Mathematics and Computer Science

FAQs Bachelor’s degree programs

Knowledge of computer scicence and programming is not required. A familiarity with using computers is, however, advantageous.

Registration takes place online with the university’s Student Administration Office. Go to registration

We recommend acquiring your own laptop at least by the second semester. But all problem sets can also be worked on in the department’s PC rooms. Enrolled students have the opportunity to acquire laptops with a rebate through the Project Neptun twice a year. Project Neptun

You can begin the bachelor’s program every fall semester.

To complete the bachelor’s program, you must earn 180 credit points. You can earn them in three years if you study full time, but you can also earn them over a longer time period so that you are able to work while you study or to extend the time of your studies for family reasons. There is no maximum duration for your studies.

The languages of instruction in the bachelor’s program are German and English.

The program is designed so that one can already go into industry after a bachelor’s degree.

After starting their studies, all students automatically become members of the Fachgruppe Mathematik und Informatik (FMI, Student Association in Mathematics and Computer Science). Interested students are active in the student-association committee, as student representatives or by organizing projects. The Student Association supports students through advice and actions and represents their interests before the doctoral students, the dean’s office, and the university administration.FMI

Advanced students can work on research projects in the framework of a paid position (student assistant). You can find information about this on the websites of the research projects or directly from the doctoral students. No credit points are awarded for paid work.

FAQs Master’s program

You can begin the master’s program both in the fall and the spring semesters. If you want to move on from a bachelor to a master of computer science at the University of Basel, you can already take courses in the master’s program before completing your bachelor’s degree and then count the credit points you earn toward the master’s degree.

Completing the master’s program requires that you earn 90 credit points. This can be done in one and a half years if you are a full-time student, but you can also earn them over a longer period of time so that you are able to work while you study or to extend the time of your studies for family reasons. There is no maximum duration for your studies.

The language of instruction in the master’s program is English.

There are two areas of specialization: machine intelligence and distributed systems.

Master’s students can work on research projects in the framework of a paid position. You can find information about this on the websites of the research projects or directly from the doctoral students.

FAQs Organization and administration


Students’ work is measured in credit points according to ECTS (European Credit Transfer System). One credit point (ECTS) corresponds to 30 hours of work (time present in courses plus individual work to prepare or study the content of the courses).

Yes! In addition to credit points, which only serve to measure students’ work quantitively, students also receive a qualitative assessment based on an oral or written exam, a presentation, or another task. Depending on the course, the assessment can be in the form of a grade or in the form of pass/fail.

Pass/fail means that a course can either be passed or not passed and the grade cannot be differentiated further.

All students enrolled at the University of Basel have to register online for the courses they want to attend. To do so, you use the online service My Online Account (MOnA). You will be automatically informed of registration deadlines by e-mail.

After each semester, you will receive a transcript of the credit points you have earned from Student Services. You additionally have the possibility of printing out a so-called academic-progress summary at any time on your online account (MOnA). On the academic-progress summary, you can see all the credit points you have earned so far.
You should store your transcripts carefully since they are official certificates of the work you have done at the University of Basel.

If you do want to attend any courses this semester because you, for example, are writing your master’s thesis, then you do not have to attend any. But you still have to pay tuition.

You can interrupt your studies for one or two semesters without having to exmatriculate by taking a leave of absence. During the leave of absence, you are exempted from paying tuition, but you also can’t make use of any university services. That means you are not allowed to take any exams or to earn any credit points.

A learning contract (LC) is a study contract that is arranged when a student wants to earn credit points outside of a course for individual work. This can be, for example, an internship, attending a course at another university, preparing and holding a tutorial, or producing a final thesis. The details of such individual student work are recorded on a form by a professor and the student, signed by both, and then forwarded to the head administrator of degree programs.

Certain lectures are “core lectures” and end with an examination. This examination can be oral or written. If an examination is not passed, it can be repeated at most one time within a year. Examination

On petitions to postpone military service, please contact Patricia Krattiger. Frau Patricia Krattiger.

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