Learning Formats

The following overview summarizes common teaching and learning formats in the study programs. It is not an exhaustive list of all modules offered in the course catalogue.

Lectures

Lectures with in-person attendance are a core teaching format in our study programs. They introduce students to central concepts, methods, theories, and applications in computational linguistics and language technology.

All lectures are supported by the OLAT learning management system, which provides access to relevant course materials and discussion forums. Many lectures are complemented by tutorials or exercise sessions.

Tutorials and Exercise

Tutorials and exercise sessions accompany lectures and help students review, apply, and deepen the lecture content. They support the development of practical skills, for example through problem sets, programming tasks, data analysis, discussion of examples, or preparation for assessments.

Tutorials and exercises may also be used to assess students’ understanding of the course material, depending on the module.

Seminar

Seminars teach and practice the independent treatment of a scientific problem. Students work on a topic, write a seminar paper, present their results orally, discuss and defend their work, and evaluate presentations by other seminar participants. For this reason, seminars cannot be replaced by other types of courses, such as lectures or tutorials.
Information about the number of required seminar papers, the conditions for completing a seminar, and instructions for writing a seminar paper can be found under  Seminar Papers.

Bachelor's Thesis

The Bachelor’s thesis is an independently written paper on a topic agreed upon with a supervisor from the Department of Computational Linguistics. Both theoretically oriented work and programming-oriented work are possible.
The Bachelor’s thesis comprises 15 ECTS credits and is graded. The topic must be agreed with the supervisor before booking the module.
Please note the information and deadlines provided by the faculty!

The thesis must be submitted to the supervisor by 1 December in the fall semester or by 1 June in the spring semester at the latest. If the submission deadline is missed, the module is recorded as failed.

Information on the structure and assessment of the Bachelor’s thesis can be found under Bachelor's Thesis Assessment.

Master's Thesis

In the Master’s thesis, students independently investigate a scientific question in computational linguistics or language technology. They review and synthesize the relevant state of the art, apply or extend existing methods, and evaluate their approach according to disciplinary standards. The thesis follows established conventions of scientific writing and documentation.

The Master’s thesis comprises 30 ECTS credits and is graded. The topic must be agreed upon with a supervisor before booking the module. Faculty regulations and submission deadlines apply.
Detailled information  on the completion process can be found under Master's thesis process and organization.

Tutorial

A tutorial introduces students to basic didactic skills. It requires a reflective understanding of subject-specific content and involves the preparation of learning materials, the review of lecture topics, and the design and grading of exercise sheets.

This module may be taken for 3 or 6 ECTS credits. The number of credits is determined in consultation with the module coordinator.

Internships

Internships give students practical experience in scientific, technical, or professional contexts related to computational linguistics and language technology. They may be carried out either internally at the Department of Computational Linguistics or externally at a company, public institution, research-oriented organization, or other organization connected to language technology. Swiss and foreign organizations are both possible. More information can be found under Internships.

Internal Interships: Practical Training In-House

Internal internships usually take place in the context of scientific projects at the department. Students gain practical experience in research-related work, such as reading scientific literature, preparing and annotating data, applying statistical and machine learning methods, contributing to evaluation processes, and supporting workshop or conference publications. In-House internships are unpaid.

External Internships: Practical Training Off-Site

External internships take place in professional settings outside the department. Students apply knowledge from their studies to practical tasks, gain insight into organizational structures and processes, and work on tasks connected to computational linguistics, language technology, or a closely related field. An external internship can be paid or unpaid. 

Students must independently find a supervisor or internship placement. External internships must be clarified with the module coordinator before the internship begins. Internal internships can be credited with 6 or 9 ECTS; external internships can be credited with 3 or 6 ECTS. The number of credits is determined in consultation with the module coordinator.

Programming Project

Programming projects serve to consolidate programming knowledge and acquire skills required in the context of software engineering. Students, either individually or in small groups, carry out software projects in the area of language technology.

Students may propose their own topic or work on a predefined topic. Suitable topics may arise from current research projects at the department, open thesis topics, interdisciplinary study interests, or practical needs in existing software projects. Bugs, missing features, or extensions in open-source projects can also provide good inspiration.

Programming projects can be credited with 3, typically 6, and at most 9 ECTS. The number of credits is determined in consultation with the module coordinator.

More information can be found under Programming Projects.

Excursion

Excursions offer students the opportunity to gain insight into the everyday work of computational linguists. In contrast to external internships, the focus is not on carrying out concrete work in an organization, but on understanding and assessing the problems, methods, and fields of application of computational linguistics through direct contact.

Excursions help students explore practical areas of work, reflect on their own interests, and identify possible future fields of employment. Students prepare for excursions by researching the relevant context and studying appropriate literature.

This module can be booked to credit participation in excursions.

Summer Schools

Summer schools give students an in-depth insight into specific subject areas. They help students consolidate what they have learned, expand their knowledge of core theories and methods, and understand new approaches in a compact format.

Summer schools also give students the opportunity to engage with current trends, exchange perspectives with students from other universities, and become familiar with the international academic community.

This module can be booked to credit attendance at summer schools related to computational linguistics, language technology, or natural language processing. Summer schools can be credited with 3 or 6 ECTS. The number of credits is determined in consultation with the module coordinator.

• European Summer School in Logic, Language and Information (ESSLLI)
• North American Summer School in Logic, Language, and Information (NASSLLI)
• Lisbon Machine Learning School (LxMLS)
• Machine Learning Summer School (MLSS)
• Eastern European Machine Learning Summer School (EEML)
• LOT Summer and Winter Schools in Linguistics
• LSA Linguistic Institute
• Corpus Linguistics Summer School, University of Birmingham
• Leiden Summer School in Languages and Linguistics
• DGfS Summer School
• European Summer University in Digital Humanities “Culture & Technology”