Practical information for students

Attention:

The information below are not legally binding, but only a guidance for M.Sc. GI students. The only institution that provides legally binding information is the examination office!

QISPOS?

QISPOS is the University of Muenster's course booking system. It shows which course can be credited in which module. If you take part in an exam without QISPOS registration we cannot credit the exam, i.e. in that case you have to do the exam again.

QISPOS registration

You have to register in QISPOS for each course with your student account. Only courses for which you have registered can be credited for the master program. The application phase will be announced on the website and will typically extend from mid April - mid June in the summer term and mid October - end of November in the winter term.

Registration is not possible due to technical problems

Please register for the courses at the beginning of the QISPOS application phase. If it is not possible to register for a certain course please send an email to the study course coordinator with information on the course title, course number and lecturer in order to solve the issue.

ECTS wrong in QISPOS?

Sometimes it may happen that a course is credited with the wrong number of ECTS. In this case, please send an email to the study course coordinator with information on the course title, course number, lecturer and correct number of ECTS in order to solve this issue.

Courses

Flexible credits for courses?

The workload for each course is determined at the beginning of the semester. It is not possible to e.g. credit a 3 CP course as a 4 CP course. The credit points for modules and courses are specified in the module description.

List of courses in QISPOS

To get an overview about the current courses, please visit QISPOS. Follow this path to the course list:
"Geowissenschaften" > "[...] Studiengang Geoinformatics Master of Science (PO 2012)" > Click through the modules to see all courses applicable for it.

Modules

Examination regulations and module description

All students who joined the MSc Geoinformatics after SS 2012, study according to the examination regulations dating from August 2012. A detailed module description can be found here.

Module grades

Most modules conclude with one or two module specific examinations at the end of the semester. The grade of the module specific examination counts towards the MSc GI examination.

Module reassignment

QISPOS tells you which course can be credited in which module. When you register in QISPOS for a course, you take a decision in which module this course will be credited. It is not possible to assign the course to another module when the QISPOS application phase has expired. For further questions please contact the study advisor of the MSc Geoinformatics program, Prof. Dr. Edzer Pebesma or Katharina Henneböhl.

ECTS vs. Semesterwochenstunden

The ECTS determine when a module is filled, not the “Semesterwochenstunden” (SWS).

Additional courses

If you attend more courses than you need to complete the MSc GI program these courses can be listed on the transcript of records. Please contact the examination office for details.

External semester

The external semester of the master’s program in geoinformatics is scheduled for the third term. There are two external semester modules which you can choose from.

External studies or external industry/government project?

If you plan to study and/or work in a research project at a university abroad please find more information about “External Studies” here. If you plan an internship in industry or governmental institution (usually not a university) please find more information about “External Industry or Government Project” here.

External Industry or Government Project

If you plan an internship in industry or governmental institution the module “External Industry or Government Project” is the right choice.

Module Responsible

Prof. Dr. Edzer Pebesma

Requirements before you start

For this module you need a supervisor at the institute for geoinformatics, and a supervisor at the industry or government partner visited.

Before you start the external semester, you need to write a learning agreement that contains the following information:

your personal information (name, matriculation number, postal address, email...)
in which institution or company do you complete your internship (postal address, email, website...)
when do you complete your internship (date from ... to)
what do you plan to learn; what will be the content of your activities; what will be the time planning of the activities, possibly including the working hours agreed upon
who will be the supervisor at the industry or government party; who will be the supervisor at the institute for geoinformatics
for each supervisor, the frequency of supervision meetings that has been agreed upon
whether the supervisor at the industry or government party will (i.e., has agreed), or will not write a short evaluation report that will help the supervisor at the institute for geoinformatics to grade the module,
and due date of the external semester report.

Finally, each party (external supervisor, ifgi supervisor and student) should sign the learning agreement.

Before the external industry of government project starts, the learning agreement shall be sent in a single email to the following four persons:

the supervisor at the industry or government party visited
the supervisor at ifgi
the module responsible (Prof. Dr. E. Pebesma)
study course coordinator Karsten Höwelhans

Grading

The final grade for the external industry or government project will be given by your ifgi supervisor based on the written project report with self assessment (10 pages). If the external supervisor writes a short evaluation report, this will be taken into account.

Wrap-up Seminar

To complete the module, it is necessary to take part in the wrap-up seminar which usually extends over half a day. Attendance is mandatory. The wrap-up seminar will be held once per semester, in July during the summer term and January during the winter term. The date (usually the last or second-last Friday of the lecture time “Vorlesungszeit”) will be announced on the ifgi website and in QISPOS where you have to register for the wrap-up seminar.

Presentation of Industry or Government Project at the Wrap-up Seminar

During the wrap-up seminar, you will give a 10-minute presentation plus 5 minutes discussion on your external project. The presentation will not be graded („Studienleistung“).

When to submit the report?

The deadline for handing in the project report will be announced at the beginning of each semester. In WS 2012/13, the report due is March 31, 2013 by email to Prof. Edzer Pebesma and in copy to Karsten Höwelhans. Other due dates have to be agreed upon with the module responsible.

Is there a template document for the report?

ifgi does not provide a template document for the report. By formatting, structuring and selecting the contents, you show that you are able to prepare a project report according to the rules of scientific writing. Some guidelines for the content can be found here.

External Studies

If you plan to study and/or work in a research project at a university abroad, the module “External Studies” is the right choice.

Module Responsible

Prof. Dr. Werner Kuhn

Grading

The final grade for the 30 ECTS is a weighted average of the grades for the courses attended during your stay abroad. In agreement with your ifgi supervisor, your external studies may include a research project. In this case, a project report including a self assessment (5-10 pages) has to be written and the final grade is given according to the ratio between courses and project work. Note that you have to register in QISPOS for the external studies.

Wrap-up Seminar

To complete the module, it is necessary to take part in the wrap-up seminar which usually takes half a day. Attendance is mandatory. The wrap-up seminar will be held once per semester, in July during the summer term and January during the winter term. The date (usually the last or second-last Friday of the lecture time “Vorlesungszeit”) will be announced on the ifgi website and in QISPOS where you have to register for the wrap-up seminar.

Presentation of External Studies at the Wrap-up Seminar

During the wrap-up seminar, you will give a 10-minute presentation plus 5 minutes discussion on your external studies. The presentation will not be graded („Studienleistung“).

When to submit the report?

The deadline for handing in the project report will be announced at the beginning of each semester. In WS 2012/13, the report due is March 31, 2013 by email to Prof. Werner Kuhn and in copy to Karsten Höwelhans. Other due dates have to be agreed upon with the module responsible.

Is there a template document for the report?

Thesis

Find a topic

Information on currently available theses topics can be found on the websites of ifgi research labs:

A further possible supervisor is Torsten Prinz (Dr)

Supervisor

Any ifgi stuff member who teaches regular courses can supervise an MSc thesis. We recommend that the first supervisor of your thesis is a professor or a post-doc.

Thesis registration

Find a topic and a supervisor, and finalize a title.
Fill in the form for MSc thesis registration at the Prüfungsamt.
The thesis extends over six months and the working time will start at the day when the first supervisor signs the MSc registration form.
The examination office will confirm title, supervisor and submission deadline by sending you an official confirmation letter.

Disputation

All MSc GI students have to disputate their thesis. The grade of the disputation contributes 20% to the final grade of the master thesis module. The disputation has to take place BEFORE submission of the MSc thesis. The disputation lasts 20 minutes. The form of the disputation, e.g. time allowed for presentation and discussion, is determined by the supervisors. It is expected that MSc students attend each others disputations.

Once per semester, ifgi offers the opportunity to disputate theses. The date coincides with the wrap-up seminar for the external semester and will be announced on ifgi website (usually the second last Friday of the “Vorlesungszeit”, the lecture period, of each semester). In order to register, please follow this procedure: Make sure that your thesis is registered at the examination office (“Prüfungsamt”). It is not possible to defend a thesis that is not registered at the Prüfungsamt.

Contact your supervisors and inform them about the date because both supervisors need to be present during the defense.
Register for the thesis defense at latest two weeks in advance. Send an email with your name, student number, thesis topic and the names of your supervisors to the study course coordinator Karsten Höwelhans. If one or both of your supervisors are not available or if your thesis is at a very early stage, it is possible to agree upon an individual date for the defense.
With both of your supervisors, discuss how the thesis defense should proceed, i.e. how many minutes for presentation and discussion, is it necessary to submit a written draft before the defense, etc.

Thesis submission

A hard copy version of the thesis including a signed statement of authorship has to be submitted to the examination office before the working time ends. At the same time, the thesis has to be sent in one single email to the examination and ifgi study course coordinator in PDF format. Hard and soft copy need to be identical. The submission deadline is handled absolutely strictly. If you submit your thesis one or more days too late without a valid reason the thesis will be graded with “5.0” ( = fail).