Courses & research | Operations Research

During your Master’s in Applied Mathematics, you will collect a total of 120 EC within two years. In addition to the three compulsory courses that form the core of this Master's, you will follow additional courses within the specialisation Operations Research. The second year consists of an internship and your master’s thesis.

European Credit Transfer System

Student workload at Dutch universities is expressed in EC, also named ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System), which is widely used throughout the European Union. In the Netherlands, each credit represents 28 hours of work.

Contents of year 1

First year
Compulsory courses for the Master's in AM	17 EC	Continuous Optimization Scientific Computing Pioneers of Applied Mathematics
Specialisation courses You choose at least three out of eight advanced courses of the specialisation in Operations Research.	15 EC	Discrete Optimization Game Theory Mixed-Integer Optimization Measure and Probability Markov Decision Theory Stochastic Processes Queueing Theory Applied Queueing Models
Elective courses You will fill up the rest of your first year with elective courses.	28 EC	Complex Networks Limits to Computing Scheduling Information Theory and Statistics Spatial Statistics
Total EC first year	60 EC

or meet online with a student and gain first-hand experience!

Contents of year 2

Second year
Internship	20 EC	In the second year, you will do an internship preparing you for the professional field.
Master's thesis	40 EC	In the final three quarters, you will join a research group to complete your master’s thesis.
Total EC of second year	60 EC

Internship

In the second year of your Master’s in Applied Mathematics, you will do an internship. That way, you can apply the knowledge and skills you have acquired during your studies at a company that focuses on mathematical applications in real-world problems. The EEMCS faculty at the University of Twente has connections with numerous research institutes and industry-leading organisations where you can do your internship.

Examples of internships previous students have done are:

Improve the surgery schedule in Medisch Spectrum Twente using Stochastic Optimization
Develop methods for helping the Central Agency for Statistics (CBS) detect collusion based on insights from reinforcement learning
Predict traffic flow in the Netherlands with Dat.mobility, part of Goudappel Groep
Design train schedules to optimise passenger punctuality with NS

Master's thesis

You will complete your Master’s by writing your master’s thesis. The choice of your thesis topic is largely up to you. You will have the opportunity to contribute to high-end research at UT. Your article might even get published, as proven by the numerous publications of our former students.

As part of your master’s thesis, you can undertake a research project such as:

Optimising geriatric care capacity by modeling the transition from the hospital to geriatric care institutions as a network of queues.
Devising charging schemes for electric vehicles to cooperate with the electrical grid.
Developing Game theoretic models for the optimal deployment of security forces.
Mapping cellphone sensor data to the most likely travel trajectory and mode of travel.

Career perspectives

Contents of year 1

First year

Contents of year 2

Second year

Internship

Master's thesis