Access to the Master’s Degree Programme in Computer Engineering requires one of the following qualifications obtained in an Italian university, or another qualification obtained abroad and deemed equivalent: Three-year University Degree or Diploma, Specialist Degree or Master’s Degree, pursuant to MD 509/1999 or MD 270/2004, five-year Degree (previous to MD 509/1999). In addition to the basic subjects (Mathematics, Physics, and Information Technology) that are typical of Engineering, students are required to possess knowledge of the subjects that are distinctive of Computer Engineering with specific reference to the Information Processing Systems. A basic knowledge of the broader area of Information Engineering is also desirable for students, who therefore will have a basic knowledge of Electronics, Telecommunications, and Automated controls. More specifically, applicants holding an Italian study qualification need at least 90 university credits (CFUs) gained in any university programme, in the following scientific disciplinary sectors: The distribution of CFUs between the fields is detailed in the programme teaching regulations. The curriculum requirements for the enrolment of applicants with a foreign qualification will be evaluated by a Board - appointed by the Degree Programme Board - based on the study curriculum submitted. A specific Board decides whether curricular integrations are needed, by providing a supplementary study programme to be completed before the assessment of the student’s academic background. Assessment of the academic background is compulsory for enrolment on the programme and is carried out through verification of the degree grade or the weighted average of grades from the previous career, as described in detail in the degree programme regulations.For the verification of the academic background, knowledge of English at a level not lower than B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages will be required and failure to meet it means that the student must acquire the language skills before the final degree is awarded.

As resolved by the Degree Programme Board of Computer Engineering, students must possess the following curriculum requirements beforehand: at least 90 CFUs (university credits) obtained overall with a minimum number of CFUs for each SDS obtained in the following groups:
- MAT/xx, FIS/xx = 30 ECTS credits
- INF/01, ING-INF/xx = 57 ECTS credits (of which INF/01 + ING-INF/05 >=18)
- L-LIN/12 = 3 ECTS credits
The preparation is also considered adequate if the student has obtained a degree mark of 85/110 or higher.
In the case of a foreign qualification, the final mark must be higher than 3/4 of the maximum prescribed or, failing that, the weighted average of the marks must be higher than 3/4 of the maximum prescribed.

Artificial Intelligence Specialist
The Artificial Intelligence Specialist has the skills to:
1) Plan and implement projects for innovation and product development in the field of Computer Engineering and in particular in the field of Artificial Intelligence, starting from the definition of specifications, through design, definition of production and service tools and technologies, testing and certification;
2) operate in ever-changing production and service sectors that require a high degree of specialisation in artificial intelligence methods and tools, and are therefore capable of dealing with the design, implementation, adaptation and management of highly innovative products and services;
3) moving in interdisciplinary contexts and fostering innovation in the working environment, whether in company operations or in research and development centres;
4) provide his/her expertise to support the technical and commercial structures of companies operating in the artificial intelligence or related fields.


Security, distributed systems, network and cloud analyst and designer
The master’s graduate computer engineer analyst and designer for security, distributed systems, networking and cloud has knowledge of distributed systems, existing attacks, weaknesses in network hardware/software elements, and technical and organisational security components. Thanks to skills sheets, s/he is able to:
- defining the specifications of the requirements and architecture of the system,
- choose hardware and software components,
- define specifications and make new components to be integrated,
- identifying and solving performance and scalability issues in complex systems,
- ensure that the system and user requirements that characterise distributed systems are met,
- analyse and quantify the risks of an IT system, both on paper and through experimental tests
- evaluate different IT architectures according to their greater or lesser exposure to risks,
- define security architecture to protect existing or developing systems,
- provide security guidelines for application architects, software developers and IT system managers,
- assessing for an IT system the fulfilment of security requirements imposed by national or international legislation,
- identify specific security and protection needs of distributed systems.


Data analyst and software application designer
The Data Analyst and software application designer has the ability to perform requirements analysis, design systems and data analysis processes, thanks to knowledge of distributed systems and relational and NoSQL databases used to collect, store and analyse large masses of heterogeneous data, the ability to solve data-driven problems, knowledge of methodologies and programming languages used to build big data applications, and knowledge of machine learning and data mining algorithms used for data analysis. In addition, s/he is able to perform requirements analysis of a complex system, evaluate alternative solutions with respect to functional and non-functional requirements (reliability, ergonomics, performance, cost), define the architecture and design software systems, evaluate and choose development languages and technologies, select software libraries and components, and perform software verification and testing.

Artificial Intelligence Specialist
The Artificial Intelligence specialist holds high-profile scientific, technical and/or managerial positions in contexts that require in-depth knowledge of Computer Engineering disciplines with particular reference to artificial intelligence-based systems. S/he can operate in the fields of research, design, development, engineering, production, innovation, operation and maintenance, management of artificial intelligence solutions and technologies, and their utilisation in areas ranging from automation of complex business processes, mobility, citizen service management, finance, health and the environment.

Security, distributed systems, network and cloud analyst and designer
The master software engineer analyst and designer of security, distributed systems, network and cloud designs and implements complex computer systems based on networked computers and devices, such as enterprise systems, systems of telecommunication operators and service providers, Edge computing systems and IoT (Internet of Things). It can operate at different levels, from infrastructure (e.g. design and dimensioning of corporate IT networks) to applications (design and development of software systems operating on internet networks, intranets and cloud and/or edge computing platforms). S/he is in charge of analysing the risks of an IT system or a specific application, defining a security architecture to protect data and/or systems from risks that are considered unacceptable, supervising the implementation and management of the security architecture, and periodically checking the architecture and adapting it if necessary.

Data analyst and software application designer
The data analyst and software application designer is familiar with the latest application development methodologies, and is able to apply them in the planning, design and development of complex software applications. Modern systems may in fact have a user interface component (web, mobile or traditional), complex business logic and a large database; they use available and generally standard platforms (hardware and operating systems), and are composed through the integration and adaptation of software components available on the market or created ad hoc. The interaction and interoperability of these components requires close attention in the choice and design of components. Strong data analysis skills are then required to analyse the requirements of data analysis systems and processes, to design IT systems and processes for extracting, storing and analysing large volumes of heterogeneous data, to develop IT processes for data analysis, and to use machine learning and data mining techniques and algorithms for this. The application areas are those of high-level applications supporting the operational operation and management systems of companies, organisations, and public administration.

Artificial Intelligence Specialist
Thanks to a training offering that emphasises significant laboratory activity in various application and industrial domains, the typical occupational outlets of the Artificial Intelligence specialist are relevant to both corporate operational sectors and research and development centres, in particular:
- companies in the design, development, engineering, production and operation of intelligent solutions and systems and their applications;
- manufacturing companies, agri-food companies, civil engineering companies, public administration sectors and service companies in which computer systems based on artificial intelligence are used;
- companies involved in the acquisition, processing and transmission of information (data, voice, images and video);
- automation and robotics industries, manufacturing companies using process automation systems and plants;
- companies active in the design and development of embedded systems and digital platforms for autonomous and intelligent systems;
- companies from different sectors that need expertise in the development and use of artificial intelligence-based systems to support internal organisation, production and marketing;
- companies in the service and advanced tertiary sector, operating in particular in the areas of design, supply, maintenance of services provided via online networks, internet and web;
- companies producing and/or using computer components and systems;
- companies providing facilities and services for computer systems and networks;
- software engineering company;
- research and development centres, both public and private;
- third-cycle studies and advanced master programmes.


Security, distributed systems, network and cloud analyst and designer
- IT departments of medium to large companies
- IT and other consulting companies
- Cloud and edge computing companies
- IoT system integrators
- Supporting realities for Industry 4.0
- Telecommunications operators and service providers
- Supervisory and certification bodies
- Third-cycle studies and advanced master programmes.


Data analyst and software application designer
IT departments of medium to large companies and public administration
IT and other consulting companies.
Software development companies.

The Master’s Degree Programme in Computer Engineering aims to provide the competences relevant for the design, realisation and management of information processing systems within the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) field. The Master’s Degree objectives also include the learning of theoretical principles, methodologies and technologies required to meet current and future requests coming from the Information Society. The purpose is to enable the development of projects and the realisation of products featuring a strong innovation and suitability to face the fast evolution that is typical of the Computer Engineering area.
In general, master graduates in Computer Engineering are required to have an in-depth knowledge of the theoretical and scientific aspects of the basic sciences and mainly of the Computer Engineering to interpret, describe and resolve also in an innovative way the complex issues of the Engineering that may also request an interdisciplinary approach. In addition, they must be able to design, plan, project and manage IT systems, complex and/or innovative processes and services, also taking into account the economic, social, and ethical implications associated with them; Master graduates shall be able to promote technological innovation, and to that purpose they shall be fluent, both in writing and orally, in English other than Italian, with reference also to disciplinary lexicons.
The Master's Degree Programme in Computer Engineering envisages a body of core teachings in the following learning areas: big data, IOT, artificial intelligence and machine learning, software design, operating systems, computer vision, multimedia, cloud computing, distributed applications, computer security, information systems and robotics.
In addition to the core subjects of the programme, the Master's Degree Programme in Computer Engineering gives students the opportunity of tailoring their educational path according to their professional aspirations, making choices that may lead the future Master's graduate to better complete their preparation.
In order to complete their preparation, students will have to identify further teachings, according to training programmes that are functional to the achievement of the programme's training objectives, ensuring that both related and supplementary training activities and those freely chosen by the student must be consistent with this training project. These choices will therefore cover scientific subjects, other engineering subjects and legal subjects, such as operations research, discrete mathematics, telecommunications, labour law and economics, CAD tools and quantum computing.
Therefore, in order to reach the training objectives listed above, the Master’s Degree Programme in Computer Engineering offers a sound cultural and methodological training programme that can be integrated with customised study paths aimed at providing a type of training focusing on both the access to the job market and the continuation of studies in advanced master programmes and/or PhDs.

The communication abilities required to a Master IT Engineer to be specifically refer to the ability of:
- effectively interacting with both specialist and non specialist counterparties of various application sectors, in order to understand the specific needs for the realisation of complex systems;
- describing in a clear and understandable way the information, ideas, issues and solutions to them, other than technical aspects;
- training collaborators, coordinating and participating in project groups, planning and carrying out training in the area of Computer Engineering;
- communicating on the topics of interest in an effective and fluent manner, both in writing and orally, in English other than in Italian, with reference also to disciplinary lexicon, and using multimedia tools where required.

Such abilities (in Italian) are ascertained both through written and/or oral examinations provided in the single teachings, and by taking up an internship or project activity, and in writing and presentation of the Master’s Degree thesis during the final examination.
On the other hand, with reference to the communication abilities in English, these may be tested in various ways: by taking some examinations abroad thanks to the opportunity offered by the Erasmus Programme, through the written and/or oral examinations provided in some teachings offered in English and an internship/project activity carried out abroad and subsequent Master’s Degree thesis written in English.

The future IT Engineers Master Graduates are required to possess:
- independent judgement in analysing and designing complex systems, evaluating the impact of IT solutions in the application context, both in application terms, and relating to the technical and organisational aspects, and proving the active participation in the decision-making process in contexts that may also be interdisciplinary.
- independent judgement in assessing the economic, social and ethical effects related to the solutions identified.

The Master’s Degree Programme in Computer Engineering is aimed at providing students with the suitable methodological and operational tools useful to independently and objectively deal with both the typical issues relating to the design and realisation of complex information systems, and the innovative challenges deriving from the fast evolution typical of the IT area.
The assessment of the expected results is carried out both in the single teachings and more specifically in those of the sector of the systems for the information processing (ING-INF/05), including laboratory activities, both in taking up an internship or a project activity, and in the final examination.

The future IT Engineers Master Graduates are required to possess:
- learning skills useful to effectively deal with the changing working issues relating to the innovation that is typical of the Computer Engineering.
- ability to recognise the need for independent learning throughout their life, given the high rate of technological and methodological innovation in the Computer Engineering area;
- ability to independently gain new specialist knowledge from the scientific and technical literature of the sector, both within the topics further explored in their training path, and in other fields of Computer Engineering;
- in-depth learning ability that are necessary to take on both subsequent studies as university advanced master programmes and/or PhDs, and scientific research.

Such abilities are assessed within the individual teachings, in particular those including a seminar component, of bibliographical research and development of both individual and group projects, other than in the development of activities relating to an internship or project activity and in the preparation and discussion of the master’s degree thesis.

Cloud and Cybersecurity
- Know and understand the methodologies for the design, realisation and testing of network applications with high performance and reliability requirements.
- Know and understand the main issues associated with the security of Web based systems, services, and applications.
- Know and understand the most common methods and technologies in the job market for the design and development of modern Web applications, based on parallel and distributed architectures, and edge computing systems.
- Know and understand every single level/manager of which an Operating System is made in terms of operating mechanisms and relating policies.
- Know and understand the main issues associated with the security of automotive systems, services, and applications based on connected infrastructures.
- Know and understand the relation and the differences between Embedded Systems and Real Time Systems, as well as the main relevant applications.


Data Engineering and Analytics
- Know and understand the main technological, scientific, and application trends relating to big data and the essential aspects of some platforms for data analysis.
- Know and understand the relational technology even in terms of implementation techniques other than the fundamentals of distributed databases.
- Know and understand the methodological tools for setting, organising and managing big software projects.
- Know and understand the different types of information systems that may be used in the company.
- Know and understand the techniques for managing multimedia data and relevant architectural supports.


Related and integrating subjects
- Know and understand the essential legal concepts related to the impact of IT on the management of the work relationship.
- Know and understand the essential mathematic fundamentals on discrete sets, highlighting the resolution and demonstration techniques related to their study.
- Know and understand the basic methods and the electric and electronic measuring tools.
- Know and understand the technologies, the interconnection devices and the main network infrastructures.
- Know and understand the application context deriving from the development (for 6 months) of a training internship or a project activity.
- Know and understand the essential mathematic concepts that govern the systems and algorithms of automatic learning.

Cloud and Cybersecurity
- Be able to analyse systems distributed on a local and geographical scale, even at performance level, and design Web servers.
- Be able to analyse the vulnerability of systems, networks and application, as well as the main types of direct and indirect attack; be able to apply the methodologies and mechanisms for the defence of network systems and design safe network systems.
- Be able to design complex applications on multi-level systems, with replication of critical components for performance and reliability reasons.
- Be able to identify the different functionalities of an Operating System, evaluate the most suitable choices based on their use and write competitive programmes in a global environment, using the Java programming language.
- Be able to analyse a system for the recognition of the Real Time and/or Embedded aspects, and design an Embedded and Real Time System by reducing the failure risk and management and meeting the safety and effectiveness restrictions.
- Be able to analyse the vulnerability of automotive systems, infrastructural networks and main types of direct and indirect attack.


Data Engineering and Analytics
- Know how to deal with issues relating to the data analysis and suggest approaches on how to resolve them; know how to use some important data analysis and data mining techniques.
- Be able to use the most advanced functionalities of the standard language for relational DBMS (SQL92) and design data warehousing systems and distributed databases.
- Be able to apply the state-of-the-art techniques for software design, with specific focus on the aspects of efficiency and result quality, and estimate times, costs and resources to exploit.
- Be able to analyse and design a corporate information system with specific focus on the associated costs, Semantic Web languages and Data Mining techniques.
- Be able to apply and change the algorithms for compressing and processing multimedia data.


Related and integrating subjects
- Be able to apply the knowledge on the implications of the introduction of IT systems into private companies and public administration in terms of a potential control on the working activity, consequences in terms of safeguarding the privacy of workers, consequences in terms of workers’ health and safety.
- Be able to apply the concepts relating to equivalence relations, prime numbers, issues of factorisation and modular arithmetic, and apply the main resolution techniques of recursive relations and the basic elements of the graph theory.
- Given the system specifications, be able to choose a commercial programmable logic circuit and programme it by means of a hardware description language, interpret the results of a simulation and carry out a static analysis of timing, interpreting the results.
- Be able to apply the concepts relating to the main network infrastructures: at local, metropolitan and geographical level, in optical and electronic and technology.
- Be able to work in a company or research laboratory.
- Be able to apply the concepts relating to varieties, matrix factorisation, immersions in highly dimensional spaces, use of kernels in support vector machines.