Degrees in higher education
Information on my degrees achieved, fields studied and universities attended.
Graduate diploma in Entrepreneurship
| Norwegian title: | Gründerskolen |
| Institutions: |
Cornell University (CU) University of Oslo (UiO) Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) |
| Duration: | 1 semester with an expected workload of 70 hours/week (30 ECTS-credits) |
| Average grade: | A (Excellent / Outstanding) on the ECTS grading system |
| Description: |
Gründerskolen is a master-level specialization programme in entrepreneurship. The students will experience the entrepreneurial drive in a start-up company at their destinations. The academic part of the program includes a pre-course in Norway and lectures abroad at acknowledged universities. A introduction course will prepare the students for the summer program by teaching economic terms, accounting principles, financing, marketing, sales, patenting and IP rights, team building, presentation techniques etc. The students learn how to use this knowledge in order to develop a business plan. The aim of the main course abroad is to expose the students to different environments, different levels of stress and to give a close understanding of the work involved in start-ups. We aim to give the students a different outlook and inspire them to think innovatively. |
| Comments: |
While writing my masters thesis I felt a need to learn more about entrepreneurship, so after hearing about Gründerskolen I gave it a shot. After applying and beeing evaluated on a motivational essay and an interview I got to be one of the 23 who was accepted for the 2006 summer-programme in San Francisco. Gründerskolen is a joint effort between several highly acclaimed institutions in Norway and abroad. The programme is organized by the University of Oslo (THES ranking no.101 worldwide), while the introductory course for technology students, Venture Cup, were taught at NTNU (see below for rank). The main lectures abroad were taught by Cornell University (THES ranking no.14 worldwide) at their west-coast campus in Silicon Valley where we attended the course High-tech Start-ups |
Master of Science in Communications Technology / Telematics
| Norwegian title: | Sivilingeniør i Kommunikasjonsteknologi |
| Institution: | Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) |
| Duration: | 4 semesters / 2 years with an expected workload of 48 hours/week (120 ECTS-credits) |
| Average grade: | C (Good / Credit) on the ECTS grading system |
| Description: | The goal of this programme is to provide a broad technological background in construction, operation, development and maintenance of communications-networks, -systems and -services, as well as beeing able to dimension and evaluate their properties. Students will realize both theoretical and practical skills, and the ability to handle technological and multidisciplinary challenges in cooperation with others. |
| Subjects: | Network Intelligence and Mobility, Access and Transport Networks, Internet network architecture, Dependability and Performance with Discrete Event Simulation, Dependable Systems, Engineering Distributed Real-time Systems, Distributed Processing and Mobility, Information Security, ICT Organization and Markets, Digital Communication and Organizational Challenges, Networked Services and Multimedia Systems, Specialization Project Assignment, Masters thesis. |
| Comments: | Upon completion of my Bachelors degree I applied to and was accepted for a Masters program at NTNU. It is the most well-respected institution for engineering degrees in Norway, and among the top 200 best universities in the world, and the 85th best in technology according to THES (2004). I followed the Telematics branch of study, with my main course-profile focused on Networks and Services. In addition to this I also did a range of business-related electives. My specialization project was about URD, an agenda system for mobile absentee marking and group scheduling, and I wrote my masters thesis on Multimedia Distribution Networks. |
Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science
| Norwegian title: | Høgskoleingeniør i Datateknikk |
| Institutions: | Sør-Trøndelag University College (HiST) Queensland University of Technology (QUT) |
| Duration: | 6 semesters / 3 years with an expected workload of 42 hours/week (190 ECTS-credits) |
| Average grade: | B (Very Good / Distinction) on the ECTS grading system |
| Description: | Engineers create something, they solve problems through the practical application of theoretical knowledge. Many of todays common tools and toys contain software that is useable by anyone, which means there are tight requirements for useability, and often for reliability and security as well. All of these systems and their software are created by computer-engineers. Most of the work is organized in projects and solved in cooperation by a project group consisting of people with different skillsets and backgrounds. To reflect this reality the key points for students in this programme is projectwork, systems-engineering and cooperation. |
| Subjects: | Engineering Mathematics, Discrete Mathematics, Statistics, Physics, Chemistry, Management and Communications, Managerial Economics, Project Management, Computer Systems, Data Communications, Communication Standards, Programming C++, Linux Server Management, Web Design, XML Technology, Web Applications, Network Planning, Network Services, Concurrent and Distributed Systems, Information Security, Digital Libraries, Bachelors Project. |
| Comments: |
After the foundation program I got accepted to a Bachelors-program in Computer Engineering at HiST (unranked). Due to having completed many of the introductory subjects in computer-science already,
I took a wide range of electives in addition to my degree-requirements. After two years at HiST I moved to Brisbane, Australia
to complete my final year of the program as a study-abroad student at QUT. By Asiaweek (2004) ranked no.25 among AsiaPacific universities in SciTech, and by THES ranked 118th in the World and 67th in technology. Here I also completed a major Bachelors-project, named "An Interaction Interface for Networked Robots". My elected branch of study for this degree was a specialization in 'Computer Systems'. The grade average for this degree is calculated from grades given in 3 different grading systems, so depending on the conversion used the average will vary between the grades B (Distinction) and C (Credit). |
Foundation Diploma in Informatics
| Norwegian title: | Grunnfag Informatikk |
| Institution: | Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) |
| Duration: | 2 semesters / 1 year with an expected workload of 50 hours/week (76 ECTS-credits) |
| Average grade: | 3.0 (Good) on a decimal scale from 1.0 (Outstanding) to 6.0 (Fail) |
| Description: | Informatics is the lore of gathering, preparing and working with information and knowledge with the tools provided by computer-technology. Computer programs is constantly moving the limits of possibility through the people who invent, develop and maintain complex computer-systems. Computers has become a ubiquitous tool for many people and the storage, treatment and presentation of text, pictures and speech has become a premise for many important functions of our society. Insight into the possibilities and limitations of computer systems is necessary to be able to develop good solutions and to hold a sensible and critical view to how this technology is beeing used today and will be in the future. |
| Subjects: | Introduction to IT, Introduction to Programming, Algorithms and Datastructures, Object-Oriented Programming, Database-systems, Systems Engineering I, Introduction to Philosophy, Philosophy and Science. |
| Comments: | When entering into university studies I first started on a foundation programme in Informatics at NTNU in addition to the courses 'Introduction to Philosophy' and 'Philosophy and Science' that are mandatory during most university level programs in Norway. I focused the diploma on programming courses instead of human-interaction subjects as I wanted my credits to be applicable to an engineering degree later on. |
Notes on the above details
Details on the various subjects I have studied as part of these degrees can be found here. The workload given in hours/week is the expected workload at the university in question multiplied by the amount of ECTS-credits I achieved divided by the amount of ECTS-credits expected to be completed per year. University rankings are where available applicable to the year I attended the institution in question. The grades and grade-descriptions used in the summaries above rank and compare according to the following table:
| ECTS grade | ECTS label | Description | Expected spread | Decimal grade |
| A | Excellent | Outstanding | 10% | 1.0-1.8 |
| B | Very good | Distinction | 25% | 1.8-2.5 |
| C | Good | Credit | 30% | 2.5-3.0 |
| D | Satisfactory | Pass | 25% | 3.0-3.5 |
| E | Sufficient | Low pass | 10% | 3.5-4.0 |
| F | Fail | Fail | - | 4.0-6.0 |
