Application Period Winter semester 2026/27 is closed.
The Master’s program in Data Science will not admit new students in the upcoming semester. Students who are already enrolled in the program will continue their studies as planned; however, no new students will be admitted.
Application Period Winter semester 2025/26
The application period for admissions in winter 2025/26 has ended. Admissions will reopen again from 1st April, 2026 till 1st June, 2026 for the winter semester 2026/27. You can find the requirement and application procedure for applying on our application page here
Total Applications received this time: 1548
PULS processing complete.
Selection procedure finished.
Response to accepted students were sent.
Rejected candidates will receive their rejection notification later than 15th August, 2025.
Connect: Please join the DISCORD and SLACK channel. Real names welcome.
Preliminary Semesterticket
You are in the special case that youhave paid your semester fees already but you are waiting for your PUCK (student ID) to be generated, the current semester already started and you need to use the public transportation provided by VBB:
There is the possibility to get a "Vorläufiges Semesterticket" (preliminary semesterticket) from AStA, such that you do not have to pay for public transportation!
Procedure:
Get a proof of your payment (e.g. money transfer print)
Visit AStA during their office hours (AStA Bürozeit, left column) or get an appointment outside opening hours (AStA contact) and ask for "Vorläufiges Semesterticket"
Take your "Vorläufiges Semesterticket"
Study Regulation
The most important document you should know, including an overview of modules and their respective ECTS can be found here:
Please read this document (and possibly existing recent amendments - see here ).
Be aware that there has been an untranslated change to the study regulation on July 03, 2019 where the phrase under §5 "The student must select either the “A” or “B” version of a module, not both." was removed. That means you can now take also both versions of a module in case you want to specialize in a certain field.
Each semester this document is created but unfortunately not provided in English language. Nevertheless, you can find an overview of courses in this PDF:
Recommended study plan with bridge module foundations of computer science
Foto: University of Potsdam
Recommended study plan with bridge module foundations of stochastics
Modules
Modules are containers that can be filled with courses; often, several alternative courses are linked to a module and can be selected. In order to take any course, you have to book the course under a module in the University of Potsdam's study-program management software PULS. In many cases, you can log into PULS and navigate to the node "Vorlesungsverzeichnis / Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Informatik und Computational Science / Master of Science / Data Science" to see which courses are available for each module. Additional courses can be added on request.
It is worthwhile to browse the complete course catalog of these departments and faculties for courses that relate to the topic of a module but are not linked to the module in PULS. If the faculty member who is responsible for the module agrees that the course is a fit, then the course can be taken. To find out who holds responsibility for a chosen module please talk to the lecturer. The person responsible for the module has to verify your allowance in an e-mail to the Data Science Program Coordinator and the course will be linked to a adequate module. This, however, is only possible in the first two weeks of each semester.
The following paragraphs provide an overview of courses taken under some specific modules, including the semester in case courses are not offered on a regular basis.
We recommend that you complete your coursework, and then determine you have accumulated 78 or 75 credit points; the result depends on the number of 6 and 9 credit-point modules you booked. Choose the research module that lands you at 90 credit points; your master’s thesis will win you the final 30 points.
In order to find a research module, get an appointment with any collaborating faculty member at the University of Potsdam (see Departments and Faculty section as well as Institute of Geosciences, Biology/Biochemistry, Physics) whose course you enjoyed and who works on topics that you are interested in. Discuss possible topics and agree on how you will carry out your project under their supervision. Generally one would hand in a report and give a presentation. Supplementary, weekly attendance of seminars in research groups can also be required.
Quick guideline
Find a supervisor and topic. To find a supervisor, get an appointment with any collaborating faculty member at the University of Potsdam whose course you enjoyed. Discuss and agree on your topic. If you are unsure please email to study counsellor with the topic, the supervisor contact and the corresponding module identifer.
Registration for the examination can be done independent of PULS enrollment deadlines and therfore may be carried out any day throught the semester. Make sure you register to the exam under the corresponding module identifer with YOUR supervisor and examination date. If you register for the wrong exam/supervisor you will risk to fail the course.
It is possible to account for a research module if you are working on a research project at external research institutions related to the field of Data Science. Please find the adjusted guideline below.
Find a research institute, topic, and an external supervisor from that institute.
Find an internal supervisor at University of Potsdam. To find a supervisor, get an appointment with any faculty member at the Department of Computer Science or Department of Mathematics at the University of Potsdam whose course you enjoyed and who works on related topics. Discuss and agree on your topic. If you are unsure please email to study counsellor .
It is possible obtain credit for an internship if you are working on a suitable research project in industry or external research institutions related to the field of Data Science. It is not possible to award you credits only for your job position.
Guideline:
Find a company or research institute and a topic for your internship.
Find an internal supervisor at University of Potsdam. To find a supervisor, get an appointment with any collaborating faculty member at the University of Potsdam whose course you enjoyed and who works on topics that are related to your internship. Discuss and agree on your your internship topic.
At the end of your internship, hand in your report and give a presentation to your internal supervisor.
This module in general does not require to obey PULS deadlines and you can simply follow the guidlines for the research module. In particular that holds for internships outside University of Potsdam. Be aware that Uni Potsdam allows you to partly reduce your semester fees if you are doing an external internhip for an entire semester. Given you cannot take any courses then more information can be found here.
Study Organisation
Freiversuch - "Joker"
Most likely you have already heard about the "Freiversuch" or non-binding exams. Here you will find more information: Freiversuch.
Be aware that in the first semester you can basically fail each first exam trial of a module. It will erase your exam fail and will not effect the amount of exam trials you have in general for a module (3 trials). But it will be shown in your transcript that you made use of it.
For the Master program Data Science you additionally have 1 Freiversuch which you can use throughout the first 4 semesters (regular study period) in order to have another exam trial or to improve a grade. It can only be used for one module!
All students who were enrolled during the summer semester 2020 and/or winter term 2020/21 can still use their non-binding exam option as defined in the discipline-specific study and examination regulation for an examination that was taken in a regular semester of study (“Fachsemester”) following the end of the standard period of study.
Example to clarify:
A student has been studying in a Bachelor’s program for the standard period of study of six semesters as of the summer semester 2020. Contrary to the provisions in Section 13 (3) BAMA-O/BAMALA-O, the student can still use their non-binding exam option in the winter semester despite having reached their fifth semester of study by following the usual procedure. Students who had already surpassed their standard period of study by one semester in the summer semester 2020 and winter semester 2020/2021 will be informed separately at a given time.
How to book rooms for group work
If you want to choose the room yourself:
1) It is possible to check here: TIMEEDIT which rooms are free. Unfortunately, it is only provided in German but google translate will help. 2) Then you choose a room and compare the room capacity (corona) here: Capacity. This document is only accessible from Uni Network. Best get a VPN. 3) You can then book the room here: Lerngruppe.
Other then that you get a random room only following part 3).
According to BAMA-O §30 (3) you have the right to nominate but it is no guarantee that your proposed supervisors will be accepted. The final decision in respect to supervision is made by the examination board. External examiners supervisors are admissible, but the following rules have to be met.
At least one of the supervisors has to be a professor and the other supervisor must be qualified to be an examiner.
At least one supervisor has to be a member of the Department of Computer Science or the Department of Mathematics of the University of Potsdam.
If you have an external supervisor (not from the Department of Computer Science or the Department of Mathematics of the University of Potsdam), please present your topic idea to an internal supervisor (similar to a research project or internship). Once you found two supervisors and a topic please fill out the thesis assignment form below. It has to be signed by you first, then by both supervisors, and then by the head of the examination board who will send it to the central examination office. The form has to be filed before you start working on the thesis. The minimum writing period is 2 months (plus one week of registration duration via central examination office).
Most courses use Moodle to distribute teaching materials and announcements. Please register for the courses that you want to take.
Current Job Offers
With your university account you will be able to explore current Job positions in University, well known research institutes or in industry. Job postings include student jobs (WerkstudentIn/Hilfswissenschafliche Mitarbeit), internships or positions with finished degree. Good Luck!
