degree program natural language processing (master)
Length of study: 4 semester
Type: Master of Science
Numerus clausus (NC): none
Start of studies: Winter semester | Summer semester
Language of instruction: English
Automation is bringing about profound changes in all areas of social and professional life, including science. A core technology that is driving this revolution is Artificial Intelligence and specifically Natural Language Processing. The degree programme Natural Language Processing enables students to accompany and shape these changes. It is interdisciplinary and deals with digitally-mediated language in its entire breadth: from written texts to audiovisual and social media.
For whom is Natural Language Processing?
- Do you have a Bachelor’s degree from a computer science, data science, communication science, linguistics, or artificial intelligence related course of studies and are you ready to adopt new computer science skills?
- Are you interested in digital media and communication, especially in how textual content can be managed, analyzed and generated using computer science methods?
- Do you want to automatically access, analyze and understand large amounts of textual and multimodal content and make it usable for humans and machines?
- Do you want to use the latest digital methods from artificial intelligence, knowledge graphs, machine learning and deep learning, e.g., Large Language Models like ChatGPT?
- Do you want a course of study that teaches practical skills and involves working with real data?
- Do you want to acquire technical skills and work in an application-oriented manner in interdisciplinary, international teams right from the start?
- Do you want to acquire expertise that will give you access to a broad spectrum of highly demanded occupational fields in automation and artificial intelligence?
Competences
A Master of Science in Natural Language Processing with a focus on Artificial Intelligence and Computational Linguistics at the University of Trier provides skills that are in high demand on the modern job market:
- Interdisciplinary: Understanding of modern technical methods of artificial intelligence for the interdisciplinary analysis and generation of language and media, as well as annotation of textual data and their content integration beyond document collections.
- Practical: Ability to develop, implement and use computer science methods using existing software libraries, and to experimentally and theoretically evaluate these methods in various language and media-based application scenarios.
- Reflected: Ability to evaluate these methods and their use in relation to industry, society, politics and science. The NLP degree programme is particularly suitable for those who are interested in language, communication and media as well as in technical and scientific methods.
- Research-oriented: Understanding and skills go beyond its well-established applications towards researching new methods and conducting novel experiments in a fast growing research area.
Course content
With Natural Language Processing, the Computational Linguistics and Digital Humanities department offers a modern Master's degree programme that provides a specialization in Artificial Intelligence, specifically Machine Learning and Large Language Models like ChatGPT for the analysis, management and generation of text and media. It is interdisciplinary, by combining studies in linguistics with artificial intelligence and offers a wide range of elective modules like Digital Humanities and Digital Libraries. In addition to central theoretical foundations courses on mathematics, computer science, the programme imparts problem-solving and practical competence. The AI literacy – the deep understanding of and the ability to reflect on the use of such methods – is also promoted.
The new Master of Science degree programme Natural Language Processing is offered from winter 2021 and integrates data science methods with language, media and communication sciences.
The course contents at a glance and in detail:
Prerequisites
A Bachelor’s degree from a computer science, data science, communication science, linguistics, or artificial intelligence related course of studies is required for this master's program. The decision is made by the examination board on a case-by-case basis.
Also a proof of proficiency in the English language as required by the Enrollment Regulations of the Trier University in its current version is needed.
Further information on application, admission and enrolment is summarised on the Application page.
Internships & Abroad
An internship is not compulsory in this programme.
Nevertheless, it is recommended to make contact with employers through internships at an early stage and get to know the future working world. The university supports internships in Germany and abroad through information and offers posted on Career Services.
A study/stay abroad is not compulsory but is recommended.
The university supports study abroad and internships abroad through numerous exchange programs. Further information on these programs and contacts:
Career Prospects
A degree in Natural Language Processing provides students with qualifications that are currently in high demand on the labor market from employers in business, public institutions and research institutes. The master's programme specifically prepares for work in research and development.
Algorithmic processing of language and media is in demand both in computer science related areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and knowledge representation and in interdisciplinary collaboration with all other disciplines such as engineering, humanities, social sciences, law, economics and medicine.
Primary employers in this field are IT companies, especially in the areas of search engines, media, internet, advertising, social networks and dialogue systems. This ranges from the large digital corporations to innovative tech start-ups. However, there is also strong demand from all companies with large digital textual databases that need to be analyzed automatically, e.g., for information management, inside enterprises, such as maintenance reports, or in customer service. There is currently also considerable demand from public institutions that work with digitized textual data, such as libraries and public authorities. In fact, large language models are not only being used for interfacing between humans and computer systems, but also inbetween different computer systems and thus will play a crucial role in most enterprises and institutions.
When graduating with a Master in Natural Language Processing you are specifically suited for a career in academia and in research departments and institutions. This sector is currently looking intensively for qualified personnel, as artificial intelligence has opened up numerous new fields of research.