MICAP, the Master’s degree in HPC associated with CiTUS, earns a quality mention from the Galician Regional Government

The Galician Regional Government (Xunta de Galicia) has recently granted its prestigious Quality Mention to the inter-university Master’s Degree in High Performance Computing (MICAP), in recognition of the excellence of this postgraduate qualification. The news was met with satisfaction by those responsible for this degree, who are confident that this recognition will boost the Master’s appeal, contributing to strengthening research capacity and development in the field and attracting talent.

Several sector-related institutions are participating in the Master’s Degree, and in which CiTIUS, a member of the CIGUS Network, plays a leading role. “So much so, that practically all the staff teaching in the USC’s MICAP are or have been associated with the centre at some time…including myself”, joked the degree’s current coordinator, USC professor Pablo Quesada, who recalls his days as a PhD student at CiTIUS, and more recently as a collaborating researcher at the centre.

“In addition to all the teaching staff it provides, CiTIUS also contributes with computing resources, such as HPC clusters and GPUs, which cover Master’s Degree dissertations tutored by professors associated with the centre,” continued Quesada. “On the other hand, both students and professors have access to the centre’s training programme, which includes courses on research or transversal competences, such as talks on entrepreneurship or technology transfer.” CiTIUS also collaborates by offering internships for Master’s Degree students, providing not only the facilities, but also a number of material and human resources”, explained Quesada, who stressed that “this mention of excellence is the result of the efforts of the various professionals that have coordinated the Master’s Degree since it was created: when all is said and done, I am a new arrival; the work behind this mention had already been carried out”, he explained.

Apart from CiTIUS, a number of other institutions participate in the interuniversity Master’s Degree. Examples include the agreement for the dual degree programme with Cergy Paris Université (France). “Other key contributors include the Galician Supercomputing Centre (CESGA) Torus Software Solutions and the Information and Communication Technologies Research Centre (CITIC), which, like CITIUS, is a member of the CIGUS Network”, Pablo Quesada concluded.

Five years investing in training

The Interuniversity Master’s Degree in High Performance Computing (MICAP) has been taught since the 2018/2019 academic year. Its mission is to provide in-depth and detailed training in the various technologies employed in the area of High Performance Computing to future professionals and researchers in the field. Right from the start, the focus has been on hybrid teaching, in which face-to-face and distance classes are taught simultaneously.

MICAP has a dual degree agreement with the Mathematical Engineering Degree of the Cergy Paris Université (CY). The teaching staff include 24 lecturers from the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) and the University of A Coruña (UDC).