Courses
- Each student has to complete 60 ECTS for coursework and 60 ECTS for the thesis so as to graduate. The students have to take special care to fulfill this requirement while selecting the courses.
- MS program course stage consists of 7 technical courses + CmpE579 (MS Seminar). The course stage has to be completed in four semesters with a GPA higher than 3.00 to continue the program. During this time, the semester type must be NORMAL.
- Students have to complete 60ECTS from the courses. This requires half of the course load to be from CmpE5xx and CmpE6xx courses because the ECTS of CmpE graduate courses is 10. The remaining load can be filled from all programs provided that the course is related to the thesis work, the advisor approves and the following conditions hold:
- Students can take at most two 4xx courses. ECTS of CmpE4xx courses is 6.
- Students can take 5xx and 6xx courses from other departments. ECTS of other 5xx courses is usually lower than 10.
- Students can take at most two courses from another university. In this case, they have to directly apply to the Institute of Science and Engineering for approval. Note that BÜ does not allow a course to be taken from another university if that course is offered in BÜ. Grade is transferred as P or F but ECTS is transferred as it is.
- Each student is expected to complete 9 credits in the first semester, 15 credits at the end of the second semester and 21 credits (i.e., all coursework) at the end of the third semester.
- Courses with F/CC/CB grades can be repeated with another course.
- The maximum course load per semester is five.
- Technical courses are expected to be in alignment with the chosen research area. The advisor may ask the student to take as many non-credit courses as necessary. Note that non-credit courses do not count in the GPA, but must be repeated if failed. If the advisor approves, certain non-credit 5XX courses that are otherwise offered for credit can be converted to a course with credits until the end of the add-drop period of the following semester.
- CMPE599 is a 4-credit course in which the student can start research and prepare the MS Thesis proposal under the guidance of his/her advisor. The student has to register to the related section of the advisor. CMPE599 cannot be taken after the student gets a TP from CMPE690.
Thesis
- Every student has to register for CMPE690: MS THESIS starting from the second semester. The student has to register to the related section of the advisor. If no courses are taken, the semester type should be THESIS.
- The thesis proposal has to be prepared by the student under the guidance of his/her thesis advisor.
- For graduation, the thesis work should also be submitted as a scientific paper to a peer-reviewed conference or a peer-reviewed journal or a patent evaluation.
- The maximum program duration is six semesters.
- A thesis book has to be written under the guidance of the thesis advisor. The thesis book has to be evaluated by the advisor to check ethical and scientific correctness, completeness of the work and compliance with thesis book formatting guideline. Note that this is an iterative process which may take several months. If some parts of the thesis book get published prior to the thesis defense, then it is the student’s responsibility to check the copyright policies of the publisher. This link summarizes the policies of renowned publishers in early 2021. Complete guideline for the thesis book preparation is here.
- The advisor decides whether the thesis book is ready. Note that this is an iterative process.
Thesis Defense
- Before the defense, the thesis book has to be submitted to the Thesis Defense Jury (TDJ), which is formed by three or five full-time professors*. The thesis advisor is a natural member of TDJ. At least one TDJ member has to be from another university. If there is a co-advisor and the co-advisor wants to be present in the defense, then TDJ will be composed of exactly five members.
- The Thesis Defense has to take place within one month after the thesis book is given to TDJ. It has to be properly announced at least fifteen days before the defense. The advisor also has to inform the Institute of Graduate Studies in Science and Engineering (FBE) about the defense time and place by dropping an e-mail to fbe
boun.edu.tr - The Thesis Defense is an oral presentation open to TDJ, other faculty members, students and experts in the field of the thesis work. After the presentation, TDJ asks questions to evaluate the thesis work and the candidate.
- After the defense, TDJ can directly accept the thesis or grant at most three months to the candidate so that he/she can complete some additional work asked by TDJ. If the thesis work is still found unsatisfactory after this period, then the student has to leave the program.
- If the scientific paper from the thesis work is under peer-review at the time of graduation, it also has to be submitted to the Graduate Studies Coordinator.
For all other rules and regulations, please read the Bylaws of Graduate Studies in Bogazici University:
*: A full-time professor is a faculty member with the title of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor or Professor.