PROGRAMME INFORMATION

Admissions:
Admitted are students holding a bachelor's degree with a minimum of 180 ECTS. The number of places is 25; in case of too many applicants, entrance exam takes place. After the application procedures, interviews are held with applicants in order to gain insight into the structure of students’ background education, interests and to help students design their curriculum for the first and second semester.

Mentors/Supervisors:
A mentoring programme supports students in their individual reflections and choices, helping them focus and find their way through the curriculum towards their specialisation. Students also have the option of having a second master’s thesis supervisor from the joint degree network.

Tutoring:
All modules of the integrative kernel dedicate ECTS-credits to teamwork, where students discuss important concepts of cognitive science, ethical questions, social implications, as well as their problems, interests, research projects and future possibilities under tutorial supervision. In addition, tutors are available to students at all other times via email or special appointments when necessary.

Project-orientation and Teamwork: 
At different stages of the programme, students engage in projects and teamwork, working in interdisciplinary and international environments (in the exchange semester). At the beginning of the first semester, students form teams to cooperate on homework assignments, seminar work, paper writing, presentations and projects throughout the first year of the study programme.

Interdisciplinarity: 
The integrative kernel serves as a locus of integration, discussion and reflection, providing an epistemological and conceptual framework. The MEi: CogSci curriculum is interdisciplinary and intercultural, therefore special care is given to the creation of an atmosphere of openness and mutual respect, hopefully contributing to the personal development of students and teachers involved.

The introductory phase: 
This phase enables students to orient themselves in the field of cognitive science and provides a foundation for interdisciplinary research. Students entering the programme differ greatly in terms of their disciplinary backgrounds and research interests. A central challenge of the programme is not only to bridge the different disciplinary approaches thus enabling communication and cooperation among the students but also to turn these differences into a potential for interdisciplinary cooperation. In the first year, students become familiar with theoretical concepts as well as research methods from the core disciplines of cognitive science and get accustomed to different scientific cultures. Moreover, students are introduced to the current work of research groups and institutions in Ljubljana as well as the MEi: CogSci network. The introductory phase mainly takes place at the students’ home institutions.

The phenomenon oriented phase:
This phase builds on the interdisciplinary foundations laid in the first year. Students gain specialised knowledge of a chosen topic focusing on a cognitive phenomenon through the integration of research methods and perspectives from multiple disciplines.

Student mobility: 
Based on their research topic chosen individually, students select one of the universities participating in the network in line with the areas of expertise of the respective partner universities. Mobility is planned for the third semester with the possibility of extending it to the fourth semester – if the student has a co-supervisor of his/her master’s thesis from a partner university.

Master’s thesis: 
The fourth semester of the study programme is dedicated to students’ master’s theses – at the home or partner university – with the support of Master’s thesis seminar. Students have to present their master’s thesis (or a draft) at the MEi: CogSci student conference.