[DL] European Masters Program in Language and Communication Technologies (LCT)

[Raffaella Bernardi]

*** EUROPEAN MASTERS PROGRAM IN LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES 
***
http://www.lct-master.org/

The Erasmus Mundus European Masters Program in Language and
Communication Technologies (LCT) is designed to meet the demands of
industry and research in this rapidly growing area. It offers
education and training opportunities for the next generation of
leaders in research and innovation. It provides students with profound
knowledge and insight into the various disciplines that contribute to
language and communication technologies and strengthens their ability
to work scientifically.  Moreover, students can acquire practical
knowledge through their choice of modules in Language
Technology, Computational and Theoretical Linguistics, and Computer
Science.

The program requires students to study a year at two different partner
universities.  On successfully completing the program, the student
will obtain two Masters of Science/Arts degrees, one from each of the
institutions attended.

Duration: 2 years

Language of instruction: English

Summary of Study Program: The course consists of Compulsory Modules
and Advanced Modules in Language Technology and Computer Science,
complemented by a Project, and a Masters thesis, for a total of 120
ECTS credits.

The program is distributed among the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano
(FUB), Italy, the University of Malta (UoM), Malta, the University of
Nancy (Nancy 2), France, the Charles University in Prague, Czech
Republic, Saarland University (UdS; Coordinator), Germany, and the
University of Groningen, the Netherlands. Participating in the LCT
Program (but not in the EM scholarships scheme) are the University of
Amsterdam, The Netherlands, the Copenhagen Business School, Denmark,
the University Henri Poincaré (Nancy 1), France, Roskilde University,
Denmark, and Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

What makes this Program unique?

Erasmus Mundus Recognition

Its inclusion in the Erasmus Mundus Program is recognition of the high
quality of Masters level instruction the program provides.  Few
Masters degrees receive this recognition, and this program is the only
Erasmus Mundus Masters Program in the area of LCT.

Internationalisation

Students study in an international environment with colleagues and
teachers from all over the world. Moreover, all students
study at two different partner institutions of the consortium, and
hence in two different European countries.

Interdisciplinary Study Program

Students gain a background in Language Technology (LT),
Computational Linguistics (CL), and Computer Science (CS), and are
offered several specialisation paths based on their choice and
background. The study program consists of:

* Compulsory courses on the foundations of Language Technology (LT),
   Computational Linguistics (CL), and Computer Science (CS).

* Advanced courses on cutting edge topics in Language Technology,
   Computational Linguistics, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
   and Cognitive Science, which will improve research skills.

* Internships within the most renowned European industries: these
   offer the students valuable hands-on experience and prepare them for
   entering the market.

Among others, the topics are:
* Semantic web,
* Digital libraries,
* Computational semantics
* Question answering,
* Internet technologies,
* Discourse and dialog,
* Natural language generation,
* Machine translation,
* Information retrieval,
* Speech recognition and synthesis,
* Multilingual human language processing,
* Cross-lingual information access,
* Multimodal human computer interaction
* Psycholinguistics
* Cognitive modelling.

Job opportunities

Graduates of this European Masters Program will bring to businesses
and industry the expertise needed to improve the nexus between humans
and machines. They will know how to develop applications in
translation, voice recognition, automated e-mail response, search
engines and other pioneering language and communication technologies.

Scholarships

Erasmus Mundus Scholarships: In 2007 the European Masters Program in
LCT will offer several Erasmus Mundus scholarships for non-European
citizens. Each scholarship for each student amounts to 21,000 EUR per
academic year. The ranked list of non-EU students eligible for the EM
Scholarship will be submitted by the consortium to the EU Commission by
February 28, 2007.

The consortium has a tuition-waiver budget for reimbursing the total
tuition/enrollment fees to the students with the highest marks and who
do not already have a scholarship.

Other scholarship possibilities may be offered locally by the
partner universities.

If you are interested in the program, the information below is relevant
to you.

Check the consortium website for further details.

Deadlines
Students must pre-register with the program by the:

  ***15th of January 2007***:

Full applications must reach us by the:

  ***22nd of January 2007***:

EU students and non-EU students with residence in Europe are encouraged
to apply by the 15th of January 2007. Applicants in this category should
also check the website, where possible extensions to the application
deadline will be posted.

Prerequisites

* a three-year Bachelor's Degree or a comparable university-equivalent
   qualification in Computer Science, Computational Linguistics,
   Language Technology, Cognitive Sciences, Computer Science,
   Mathematics, Artificial Intelligence, or other relevant disciplines.

Bachelor's students with good grades so far who will graduate after the
pre-enrollment deadline are also encouraged to apply for this program.

* a language certificate in English. Since the medium of instruction in
   the Masters Program is English, students whose first language is
   not English must demonstrate competence in English. We recognise many
   different tests. In the most commonly available, the following
   minimum scores are suggested:

* TOEFL: 250 (computer-based test) or 575 (paper-based test)

* IELTS: Level 6.5

* Cambridge Proficiency Exam (pass)