General overview

 
The Master 2 of Computer Science of Rennes, Science of InFormatics (SIF) track is dedicated to the students interested in a career in Research in Computer Science. This research-oriented is backed by IRISA and Inria/RBA, which together make the largest Computer Science laboratory in France. Thanks to this backing, the Master 2 SIF offers a wide choice of cutting-edge courses from various active research domains in Computer Science.

As few select exemples, students can learn advanced machine architecture with André Seznec, distinguished with a prestigious Intel Oustanding Researcher Award, computer graphics with Maud Marchal, recipient of a very selective European ERC grant, but also domain-specific languages with Jean-Marc Jezequel, a CNRS Silver Medal.

In order to welcome foreign students, all lecture notes and most lectures are in English.

The SIF master is administered by a consortium of the main computer science universities and graduate schools in Brittany : University of Rennes, ENS Rennes, National Institute of Applied Sciences, Rennes (INSA) and CentraleSupélec. This consortium of institutions, with the support of renowned laboratories, offers students training at the cutting edge of computer science research. The program is supported by an agreement with Inria.

Common syllabus: methodological approach to research

The methodological part of the program comprises a bibliographic study, training in oral expression techniques which will be applied through participation in the colloquium of the master, a series of lectures and seminars, and work experience in a research team (internship).

  • Methodological courses, an intensive week on how to assess a research hypothesis by valid and reproducible experiments.
  • A bibliographic study, essential in any research work, is carried out on the subject of the student’s internship. This bibliographic study is evaluated by a review committee, which presents its remarks to the student on how the document can be improved. This exercise is organized like scientific article submission.
  • The colloquium of the SIF master gives all students the opportunity to present a scientific paper in a set amount of time. This work is organized in three stages: training in oral presentation techniques, practice sessions and the colloquium itself. The content of the presentation is based on the bibliographic study.
  • The curriculum also contains a professionalization course unit, compulsory for all students. This course unit contains a series of conferences, in which various speakers give presentations on the techniques of oral or written scientific communication, on careers in public and private research, the organization of research, intellectual property and specific research fields. The course unit also contains an in-depth presentation on the writing of scientific publications.
  • The research internship is 5 months long, usually taking place from February 1 to the end of June (except for special cases such as internships abroad). A wide range of internships are available each year in the research laboratories of the partner institutions, but the internship can also be carried out in high-tech industries, or within a research team–industry partnership. The internship is completed with a written report, reviewed by external professionals, and an oral defense of a set length before a panel.

Specialized courses

The SIF master is offered in Rennes and Lannion. It offers a wide choice of exciting courses from various domains of active research in Computer Science. The students have to make a selection of 7 courses to define their curriculum. See the Courses section for more details.

The courses can be organized in 5 areas:
  • AI, Data, Image
  • Cybersecurity
  • Virtual Reality, Interaction, Robotics
  • Architecture, cloud and networks
  • Foundations of Computer Science

Hosting Laboratories

Each year, several internships are proposed by the teams of the host laboratories: