AI master’s programme at UCy

A new Artificial Intelligence master’s programme at the state University of Cyprus will start in September with the aim to provide students with hands-on AI experience and prepare them to set up their own start-ups, the Cyens centre of excellence has announced.

The 18-month programme “aims to provide a modern graduate degree that is characterised by a strong interdisciplinary element, as required by modern human-centred, interpretable and accountable artificial intelligence,” the announcement said.

It includes compulsory courses on AI and ethics, as well as on AI and entrepreneurship, while providing career advice to students is a high priority, with the aim of helping all graduates to successfully pursue a career related to AI and potentially set up their own start-ups.

Starting in September 2022, the programme was recently accredited by the Cyprus quality assurance and accreditation body for higher education and will offer 20 student places.

The development of the new postgraduate programme is funded under the MAI4CAREU project, whose cooperation network includes four European universities (University of Cyprus, University of Bologna, Technical University of Dresden and Angel Kanchev University of Rousseau), the CYENS Centre of Excellence and four high-tech SMEs (Nodes & Links Labs, 3AeHealth Ltd, INJENIA SRL, MLPS AD).

“Building on the expertise of the consortium partners, MAI4CAREU will follow a highly practical approach that will provide students with hands-on experience, opportunities for close collaboration with business partners and experiential learning,” the announcement added.

The network of partner institutions provides students with the opportunity to participate in an AI Camp, collaborate with students from other universities, pursue industrial internships or even be hosted in online courses at other universities.

The network said Europe’s initiative to fund new graduate programmes in AI demonstrates the importance Europe attaches to recent developments in this field, providing solutions to global problems related to every aspect of human life and thus contributing to growth and competitiveness.

“Europe urgently needs more AI professionals, entrepreneurs and researchers capable of paving the way for new innovations for the benefit of society and pushing the boundaries of the field towards new challenges,” the announcement added.

Applications are accepted until May 31, 2022 through the UCY’s website at https://mai4car.eu/. For more information, people may contact  [email protected].