Usability Engineering, M.Sc.*

Why choose Usability Engineering?

Aren´t we all familiar with those situations where devices or software applications leave us desperate because they are far more difficult to use than they should be?
Luckily enough we are not their fools anymore. Industry is well aware of the fact that the success of their products more than ever depends on their “user friendliness”. There even is a catch phrase for products that work better for their users:

Usability

Successful, innovative products have to be tailored to business and individual users' needs. They have to meet their high demand for quality and efficiency and must adapt to ever changing work conditions, tasks or workflows. Accordingly, companies are seeking well and interdisciplinary trained specialists who are able to make strategic use of their knowledge during the entire development and design process.

Our master´s degree programme is taught in English and provides you with a skillset that is highly prized in industry and for academic research as it focuses not only on strategic and methodical knowledge, but also equips you with the practical skills to realize your ideas in a broad range of application domains. A very important part of your study is therefore based on interdisciplinary approaches.

What you will study

This course is a three-semester master´s degree programme.

The first two semesters will provide you with the theoretical and practical grounding vital to your future career.

All courses are designed to offer you enhancement and consolidation of knowledge through lectures and tuition in seminars. Practical trainings and applications on real-world projects are integral parts of every module as they will help you to advance your key qualifications and gain additional personal and social skills.You will develop substantial skills in areas of human factors, psychology and intercultural management as well as in fields of usability analysis techniques, visualisation and advanced human-computer interaction. At the same time you will get familiar with international standards and learn how to apply them in your future professional and scientific career.

We produce graduates who are able to apply and establish their skills and knowledge in various kinds of operational structures. This is why we are especially committed to the development of additional competences in the fields of strategic management, usability consulting and targeted communication.

In your third semester you will develop your master´s thesis in cooperation with a professor at the University and a company, if possible. Again a high academic standard as well as the availability for use in practice are of major importance.

Career prospects

By putting a special emphasis on innovative problem solving methods considering interdisciplinary and international approaches, our degree programme aims to equip you for a career that matches future labour market needs and trends.

Complementing the individual skills you have gained in your bachelor´s degree, our master´s degree will strengthen your employability in all areas in which interactive systems are designed and developed. Your employment will be beneficial wherever products are required for the use by people.

Entry requirements

Our master’s degree programme has been designed for computer scientists, psychologists and designers with experience in software application who would like to advance their subject specific skills and knowledge by gaining expertise in the field of usability engineering.

For acceptance onto our English speaking master’s degree programme you will need:

• a bachelor´s degree (or diploma) in psychology or a discipline closely related to computer science or design.
• an overall mark of at least 2.5 in your bachelor’s degree.
• a minimum of 210 credit points or ideally 7 semesters of full-time study. Applicants who have got less than 210 credit points when starting their master’s degree programme, have to achieve the missing credit points by passing suitable examinations in modules of other degree programmes.
• at least a C1 (or equivalent) level in an approved test in English.

When and how to apply

Application guidelines for international applicants

Application deadlines

During the application period you can submit your application online by using our application portal or uni-assist in case you do not have a German undergraduate degree.

Please contact us for more information and advice

Kamp-Lintfort Campus
Friedrich-Heinrich-Allee 25, Germany
47475 Kamp-Lintfort
Tel.: +49 2842 90825-0
Email: info@hochschule-rhein-waal.de

Head of Degree Programme
Prof. Dr Karsten Nebe
Email: karsten.nebe@hochschule-rhein-waal.de

For questions about the application process, admission requirements, and enrolment, please contact studienberatung@hochschule-rhein-waal.de

Prospective students can find a contact form and FAQs here.

Rhine-Waal students can find a contact form and FAQs here.

Exchange students please contact our International Office.
Email: international-office@hochschule-rhein-waal.de

* The degree programme is suitable for part-time study in accordance with §62a HG NRW.