Prerequisites & constraints

Required knowledge

  1. Programming. It would be good to have an affinity with programming or to have ever programmed in any language. The programming in the minor will be in Python. If you have never programmed before then it may still be just fine, but in addition to the (beginners) programming course in period 1 you will want to subsequently self-study online for instance on DataCamp to become really proficient.
  2. Maths. We require that you have had at least a background on the level of ‘Wiskunde B’ (high school) or equivalent, by the start of the minor. This is not only useful for getting the most out of the minor, but also a formal requirement for registering as a student for the minor, as it is part of the B.Sc. Informatica.

    A more or less exhaustive list of topics covered in Wiskunde B can be found here or here, for example. More specifically for the minor, we recommend basic knowledge in three directions when you start the courses in period 2, listed below. As formal preparation in case you lack the Wiskunde B background you may want to have a look at a summer course on ‘Wiskunde B’ (no EC awarded; you still need 6 EC regular math course work in period 1) or any other training program on this topic (there are many), such as this Winter course on ‘Wiskunde B’ (English). Roughly speaking the minimum background we require contains the following topics:

    1. Calculus. Think of simple integrations and derivatives such as exponential growth, derivative of the logarithm, or indefinite integral of a polynomial.
    2. Probabilities. Think of binomial and Poisson distribution, cumulative distributions, joint probability, and simple descriptive statistics such as median and percentiles.
    3. Linear algebra. Think of basic knowledge of matrices and vectors, converting one vector (space) into another, angle between vectors, dot product, vector norm, eigenvector and eigenvalue.

Language

All courses are taught in English and all course material is in English, or is also available in English.

Note that the minor as a whole is listed as Dutch because it is formally part of the B.Sc. Informatica program, which is a Dutch program, but all of its courses are actually listed as English.

General requirement regarding registering for courses in the Minor

The Minor and most of its courses are formally part of the B.Sc. program of Informatics. Therefore, to register for its courses you must satisfy its entry requirements. These are listed here (in Dutch because it is formally a Dutch program, however we as Minor also accept non-Dutch speakers). Note that, if you are currently following a different B.Sc. program, you may also use courses you have followed so far to reach an ‘equivalent’ entry level as compared to what is listed on that website, but you need to make sure yourself that you can sufficiently demonstrate it, especially for the ‘Wiskunde B’ requirement.

Entering the minor as HBO (higher vocational university / university of applied sciences) student

Requirement (in Dutch): “een HBO diploma of HBO propedeuse behaald met Wiskunde B op eindexamen VWO-niveau (of aantoonbaar vergelijkbaar niveau middels Staatsexamen Colloquium Doctum).” You must of course also adhere to the requirements above.

Constraints

If the mandatory curriculum of your B.Sc. program already covers some of the courses in the minor then you may not count them towards the 30 EC required to obtain the minor. You must then propose replacement courses to the minor coordinator and request approval prior to the start. (You may still follow those courses as electives but they will not count toward the minor.)

In particular, if you follow the B.Sc. Informatics then you are not allowed to take Modeling & Simulation in period 2 because it overlaps too much with the mandatory course Introduction to Computational Science. Also the period 1 course on programming cannot be taken. Therefore it is not possible to follow the minor as a whole for B.Sc. Informatics students. Nevertheless, individual courses from the minor can still be taken as electives.

Further questions

For further questions about formal admission requirements, please contact vakaanmelding-fnwi@uva.nl.