Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Computer Science

The bachelor degree is the first of three degrees available in computer science (the other two being the master's degree and the doctoral degree, also known as a PhD). When you choose to do a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, computer science will be your main area of study, your major, and most of your courses will be from computer science or mathematics.

At the same time, you complement your studies with a minor in another subject (for example, biology, history, law etc). This means that a certain number of the courses that you take for your bachelor degree will come from this second subject. You are free to choose the subject of your minor from any of the subjects available at the university.

Please note that the courses in our Bachelor of Computer Science program are only taught in French or German.

• Why Computer Science?

  Computer science is an exciting and varied field of study with lots of potential for creativity. Computer scientists are constantly imagining and developing new technologies, technologies that are all around us and make our lives safer, easier and more fun, and you too can become a part of it!

  Additionally, computer science can be a challenging academic subject. How do you get a computer to talk? What is information? How do we know that there aren't any errors in a pilot's airplane controls? How can global teams work together on projects effectively and successfully? The number of questions that computer scientists try to answer is very large and diverse.

  Finally, computer science is a very a sought-after profession, particularly in Switzerland. Swiss businesses and industries have an extremely high demand for computer scientists - a demand that at the moment is far higher than the number of computer science graduates that enter the work force - a well-paid job is almost guaranteed.

• Why in Fribourg?

  As with all other Swiss universities, our teaching staff are highly qualified scientists. However, one of the particular advantages of studying at the University of Fribourg is that our staff-student ratio is very favorable compared to most other universities. This means that the teaching staff is much easier to reach, and much more readily available for meetings and consultations with students than in other universities. Most bachelor students find this very helpful as they learn to navigate and study in a new university environment since they can have their questions and concerns addressed quickly, and develop better interpersonal working relationships with the staff.

  Another advantage that is particular to our university is that while pursuing their computer science degree, in which computer science will be their primary discipline or major, students also pursue a minor degree in another subject at the same time. In practice, this means that a majority of their courses will be in computer science or mathematics, and the remaining courses will be from the chosen 'minor' discipline. In Fribourg, students are free to chose their minor subject from any of the disciplines taught at the university (art history, law, theology, biology etc).

  Finally, our bachelor program is bilingual - some courses are taught in French, and others in German. There are two main advantages to this. First, it gives students the opportunity to improve their language skills in either language, both through the classes themselves, and through interaction with other students in social and academic settings. Second, bilingual employees are attractive to future employers, particularly in Switzerland, since they can more easily integrate into multilingual teams, or consult with clients from different regions in Switzerland.

• Additional information

  The Bachelor of Computer Science curriculum at the University of Fribourg consists of lectures, exercises and projects worth 180 ECTS credits. ECTS stands for European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System, and 1 ECTS corresponds to about 25-30 hours of work for a course, where a single course is usually worth around 4-5 ECTS. The total number of ECTS credits needed for the Bachelor degree is divided between the 'major' that you study, in this case computer science, which is worth 120 ECTS, and the 'minor', worth 60 ECTS.

  The 'minor' is a complementary field of study which allows students to pursue academic interests other than computer science in any discipline offered by the University of Fribourg (e.g. art history, law, biology, economics etc). Once all of the credits necessary for both the major and the minor have been acquired, you will earn your Bachelor in Computer Science degree and can either directly enter the workforce, or continue your studies at the master level.

  To get an idea of the types of courses that we offer at the bachelor level, have a look here.

  For an overview of the BSc Curriculum, have a look here.

  If you have additional questions about our bachelor program in computer science, please make an appointment by email with the study advisor, Prof. Ulrich Ultes-Nitsche.