The Master’s program “Big Data Technologies” is a joint initiative of GATE Institute and the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics of Sofia University  “St. Kliment Ohridski”. It is available from 2023-2024 academic year.

It is structured in four directions, which enable the systematic building of competences and professional skills to deal with the challenges of big data, using the latest achievements of artificial intelligence methods and the state-of-the-art of the modern technologies for processing structured, semi-structured and unstructured data – sensor measurements (IoT), text messages, transactions, images, documents, etc.

Three of the mandatory courses in the program (Big Data Management and Processing, Big Data Engineering, and Data Sharing Approaches) cover different key aspects of the big data life cycle. Along with the two foundational courses that introduce artificial intelligence as a theoretical basis for big data processing (Introduction to Data Science and Artificial Intelligence and AI for Big Data Systems), they form the five core courses of the program.

Most of the courses in the master’s program include practical exercises using the Java and Python programming languages in the unique for Bulgaria infrastructure of the GATE Institute.

This environment is based on commercial software from the big data technology leader Cloudera, running on GATE Institute’s private cloud under the control of the popular Kubernetes cloud container system.

GATE Institute offers an innovative learning environment with the most modern conditions for learning and development activities. The courses are led by prominent researchers in the field of data and artificial intelligence – Bulgarian and foreign guest-lecturers from prestigious universities in Europe, and an important part of the training is the solving of practical cases from real life in cooperation with leading IT companies from Bulgaria and abroad.

DeepMind scholarships provided by the GATE institute are available for the program, and scholarships from our other strategic partners will also be announced on an ongoing basis.

After completing their master’s degree, students will be able to work in industry, public and private organizations, as well as in research/scientific and educational institutions in various positions such as:

• Data engineer: Work as a programmer or engineer in software companies developing complete information systems or commercial software tools for data processing;
• Machine Learning Expert: Work as an engineer in software companies that develop systems with artificial intelligence components;
• Data Analyst: Work as a data analyst, expert or consultant for organizations processing large amounts of data in commerce, finance, banking, logistics, healthcare, government and telecommunications;
• Data Manager: Work as a data warehouse administrator, data schema designer, or data manager in large organizations generating and maintaining big data in the public and private sectors of industry and government;
• System Integrator: Work as a programmer, architect, or consultant in software companies and software divisions of large organizations developing and implementing data-intensive applications;
• Researcher: PhD student or researcher in universities, research institutes and data centers.

See more about the program and application HERE