Study programme

The two-year Master's programme in Artificial Intelligence consists of compulsory core courses, restricted-choice and free-choice courses and a thesis. In your first year you take the seven compulsory core courses. In the second year you work on your specialisation in the area of your choice and on your thesis.

The curriculum and courses

The curriculum of the Master's Artificial Intelligence leaves ample space for you to explore what you find interesting in and around the field of AI. You can specialise in one of the UvA research areas or you can design your own path that combines research fields.

The programme consists of the following elements:

Core courses (42 EC)
Restricted-choice courses (30 EC)
Free-choice elective courses (12 EC)
Master's thesis (36 EC)

Year 1
Core courses (42 EC)
These courses are taught by leading researchers in their fields and provide you with a solid basis and understanding of current AI research.

Machine Learning

Deep Learning

Computer Vision

Natural Language Processing

Information Retrieval

Fairness, Accountability, Confidentiality and Transparency in AI

Reinforcement Learning

Restricted-choice and free-choice elective courses (18 EC)

After the core courses you are free to select restricted-choice courses and free-choice electives in an area of your choice.
Year 2
In the second year of the Master's programme you are free to select restricted-choice courses and free-choice electives in an area of your choice. These courses work towards a Master's thesis through research with an UvA research group or in a company with an industrial problem.

This year consists of:

Restricted-choice and Free-choice elective courses (24 EC)

Master's thesis AI (36 EC)
Good to know: the annual UvA Thesis fair brings together industry experts and students of informatics, aiming to create innovative MSc thesis projects. Find out more about the UvA Thesis Fair.

Detailed course information

For detailed information regarding the curriculum and courses, please see the UvA Course Catalogue via the link below.

UvA Course Catalogue - MSc in Artificial Intelligence

No pre-Master's programme Artificial Intelligence

Due to an enormous increase in interest and applications in the Master's programme Artificial Intelligence, we do not offer a pre-Master's programme.

Distance education

The Master's programme Artificial Intelligence does not offer the possibility of distance education, since students need to attend lectures and practicals in order to complete the programme successfully.

Elective courses

In some cases it is possible to follow specific courses of your interest. Information and conditions about electives can be found here. Please note that due to the limited capacity of the courses students of the Master's programme Artificial Intelligence have priority.

Bring your own device

All students enrolled in the Master's programme AI are requested to bring their own laptop, due to the nature of the programme. More information on specific system requirements can be found here.