MSc in Cognitive Systems
Aglantzia, Cyprus
MSc
DURATION
12 semesters
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2026
TUITION FEES
EUR 5,125
STUDY FORMAT
Distance Learning
* 15 May 2026, 12:00 pm (Cyprus local time)
Fast-track counseling
By contacting the school, you'll get access to free priority counselling for any study and application questions.
Key Summary
This is a distance-learning program taught exclusively online in collaboration with the Open University of Cyprus and the Department of Psychology of the University of Cyprus. The program is taught in English.
Cognitive systems form a new generation of systems that aim to collaborate with their users at a level cognitively compatible with a non-computing expert to provide personalized and adaptive services, with each party, system and human, learning and adapting to the capabilities of the other. The need for developing such cognitive systems has been widely recognized. The Watson machine opened up the area of Cognitive Computing and we see today the development of the first Cognitive Assistants such as Siri, Cortana, Alexa, Google Assistant and others from every major computing company in the world.
Students are required to take:
- 3 first courses under the Foundations theme (COS511, COS512, COS513), where at least the two introductory courses (COS511, COS512) are expected to be taken during the first semester.
- Electives among all other courses, as long as at least one-third of the courses come from Cognitive Psychology (CP), and one-third of the courses come from Computer Science (CS).
Scholarship in Memory of Michalis (Mike) Polydorou for Master/PhD Level Students of the Department of Computer Science
For Master/PhD Level Students - Department of Computer Science: two tuition-fee scholarships each for the sum of €5125 (or €4.000/€6.500 depending on the fees of the programme). Eligible candidates are Master/PhD level students of the Department of Computer Science who are carrying out or will carry out their master's or doctoral thesis on any topic of Computer Science.
Accepted candidates are then required to submit electronically the relevant application (attached) to the Department of Computer Science together with all the necessary certificates at out email from 10.9.2025 until 15.10.2025. It is clarified that the amount of the tuition fees that were paid will be returned to the student.
Scholarship for Undergraduate or Master or PhD degree of the Department of Computer Science
One (1) scholarship of €7.500 offered by Bank of Cyprus, for an undergraduate or postgraduate student. The criteria are academic.
Scholarships for Undergraduate or Master or PhD degrees of the Department of Computer Science
Six (6) scholarships, each worth €1.000 offered by Huawei Cyprus, for undergraduate or postgraduate students. The criteria are academic, but other factors are also taken into consideration (e.g., extracurricular activities, distinctions, awards, additional certifications or special skills, and the overall profile of the candidate).
For the successful completion of the joint Master’s degree programme in “Cognitive Systems”, students must complete the academic requirements of:
- Twelve (12) semester-long Modules
- Nine (9) semester-long Modules, and also complete a Master’s Thesis.
The Programme offers its Thematic Units as stand-alone modules so that interested candidates can take any module without the need to register for the joint Master’s degree.
Program of Study Layout
Common for all Specializations
- COS511 Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
- COS512 Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
- COS513 Computational Intelligent Systems
- COS514 Computational Neuroscience
- COS521 Cognitive Knowledge Acquisition
- COS522 Learning and Memory in Humans
- COS523 Human Perception and Attention
- COS524 Natural Language Processing
- COS613 Cognitive Agents and Reasoning
- COS614 Adaptive and Interactive Systems
- COS621 Experimental Psychology
- COS622 Cognitive Neuroscience
- COS623 Cognitive System Design
- COS624 Topics in Data Science
- COS699 Master Thesis Induction
- COS701A Master Thesis I
- COS701B Master Thesis II
Industry Placement
- COS695 Industry Placement (1st)
- COS696 Industry Placement (2nd)
To teach the new paradigm of cognitive computing, the M.Sc. Program in Cognitive Systems brings together two main scientific areas: Cognitive Psychology, and Artificial Intelligence in Computer Science. Aiming, on the one hand, for the prospective students to understand the basis for human cognition, the Program is strongly influenced by Cognitive Psychology and includes learning modules that explore the fundamentals of perception, learning, mental representation, and reasoning in humans. Aiming, on the other hand, for the prospective students to be able to design cognitive systems, the Program places its emphasis on the investigation of computational methods and tools for understanding and designing cognitive systems, and includes learning modules from Connectionist and Symbolic Artificial Intelligence, from Machine Learning, and learning modules on recent developments in Cognitive Computing.
Every major computer company in the world is today actively involved in Cognitive Computing and the development of Cognitive Systems. The Programme applies to graduates or professionals, seeking to combine interdisciplinary scientific fields in a challenging and developing area, exploring new and innovative ways of interface between humans and computers. Graduates can pursue careers in the fields of computer science, robotics, cognitive psychology, human-computer interface design, and artificial intelligence.