Focus, educational goals
The Master's program Big Data Technologies is designed to provide students with the latest knowledge and skills in the field of data science, with a primary focus on the analysis and management of big data. With the exponential growth of data in today's digital world, the program is designed to meet the demands of the widest range of companies and organizations requiring qualified professionals who can effectively manage and analyze large volumes of data.It provides a unique opportunity for students to acquire the expertise necessary to achieve excellent results and practical skills in this exciting and rapidly developing field, while preparing them to meet the highest international standards.The program lasts 3 semesters, with the last semester dedicated to project work in various applied areas and the development of a thesis.Program Training and the development of the theses is carried out at on the most modern IT infrastructure in cooperation with leading software companies (SAP Labs, VMware, Ontotext, etc.) and prestigious international universities (Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, University of Milano Bicocca, Italy, University of Twente, Netherlands, etc.). Bulgarian and foreign professors and experts are invited as guest speakers for individual topics.
Applicants must have successfully completed an undergraduate program in which they studied information and communication technology and/or mathematics, engineering and economics majors. There is no restriction on the university from which the bachelor's degree was obtained. Due to the limited number of places in the Master's program Big Data Technologies, all applicants for training (with a government subsidy or for a fee) must have passed a concourse.
Training (knowledge and skills)
The Master's program Big Data Technologies is aimed at training modern specialists in the field of big data and artificial intelligence, who are able to realize themselves in dozens of professions, giving the shape of the modern knowledge economy in all its dimensions. Master's graduates will be able to work effectively as data analysts and engineers, machine learning and natural language processing specialists, data scientists, and more. A sufficient volume of up-to-date and attractive courses are planned, with which knowledge and skills for analysis, integration, processing and management of big data are acquired.
The various aspects of working with data and the trends in the development of technologies in this field, which is extremely dynamic and challenging, will be mainly considered. In the planned internships, laboratory exercises and seminars, students will have the opportunity to learn the technologies for the practical applicability of the models they create, and the experience of leading companies in this field will allow them to gain reasonable confidence that they are fully prepared for the most diverse real-world scenarios in the realm of data. They will gain professional competence and skills in data management and the development of various systems based on big data and artificial intelligence. This will allow these specialists to occupy a wide variety of positions, incl. those of leaders at various levels of the management of national and international organizations from all industries, who have recognized the need to work with big data and artificial intelligence as a strategic one.
Professional competence
Graduates of the Master's program Big Data Technologies should be competent to:
- know the characteristics of big data, the types of big data and their most common areas of application, as well as to perform various activities related to the processing of big data for subsequent analysis such as transformation, cleaning, integration, etc., and also identify trends , patterns and relationships in large data sets and interpret and present the results of data analysis;
- use, develop and improve intelligent computer algorithms and tools to be robust, flexible and scalable and to be able to specify, train, test and improve machine learning models on relevant data;
- create conceptual models to support and improve the decision-making process and apply relevant theories, practices, tools and state-of-the-art methods to the specification, design, development and evaluation of systems working with big data and artificial intelligence;
- be able to generate infrastructure for data processing in the cloud using scripts, using resource specification languages, create and configure containers for executing software components using containerization tools;
- apply algorithms and methods required for searching and retrieving from collections of textual documents and the web and master approaches to natural language processing and implementation of systems supporting the user to analyze and process text, as well as to apply advanced image analysis methods, incl. geospatial data;
- build trust, as well as understand and be able to explain to diverse audiences the main ethical considerations in building systems based on big data and artificial intelligence;
In addition to the competencies listed above, students will acquire skills to:
- make short, clear and convincing presentations to different audiences about different technological problems and their solutions;
- work effectively as members of teams of varying size and complexity;
- define and formalize practical problems that can be solved using data science;
- manage their own learning and development, including time management and organizational skills.
Professional realization
The future Masters from the Big Data Technologies program will have the opportunity for a wide professional exposure in Bulgarian, foreign and mixed companies and projects. They will be able to apply the studied avant-garde practices and modern technologies for the construction, implementation and effective operation of various systems intended for work with big data and artificial intelligence. Given the ever-expanding palette of economic and social applications of big data, in the near future there will no longer be a profession or specialty that does not need such expertise, and it is no coincidence that the shortage of specialists in the field of data has seen double-digit growth every year.
Master's graduates will be able to occupy various positions in organizations developing projects in the field of data, as well as in business organizations or in public administration, being prepared for both research and teaching activities. Apart from professions such as analysts, administrators and database programmers, they could also successfully realize themselves as data processing designers or managers, executive directors or management personnel in institutions, companies and other organizations related to intensive data processing, working across the entire socio-economic spectrum, and their number will undoubtedly grow at high rates in view of the trends of the digital economy and the transformation of the labor market.