University of Limerick, Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Reviewed on Jul 10, 2025(Enrolled 2021)What Students Say
Likes
- Campus: Campus is huge, UL is the 2nd largest in Ireland after UCD in terms of size. Surrounded by trees, lakes, fountains and lawns.
- Good Professors: I had a pleasure to interact with many great professors such as Dr Nikola S. Nikolov and Dr Ciarán Eising, who also mentored for my Master's thesis.
- Learning Materials: We had access to great leraning facilities both Online learning, Library services, Learning Hubs, academic support etc
Dislikes
- Subjects: There were specific subjects which were not much related to my interest and carrier growth, but I had no option to choose different subjects, for instance AI for Games.
- Access to hardware: As a senior Machine learning and AI Engineer (Nvidia) I know how much important is the access to servers and clusters which were not provided to us during the course of my masters, we had to reply on personal laptops and Google collab for running experiments.
- Faculty: Some faculty were not that expert in the respective fields and it was a bit difficult to follow them, we also made a formal complaint to the director (Dr Nikola) about this and he ensured to fix this for the future batches so hopefully this will be resolved.
Course Curriculum
10
- It was intermediate; the first semester was mostly an introduction to each subject, like Data Engineering, NLP, and Machine Learning in general. It was a mix of both; we had theoretical materials as well as practical lab assignments each week, some modules also had quizzes.
- Most positive aspect was the hands-on coding with practicals and labs. Negative aspect was that it was basic; I wanted to try some advanced concepts like Deep learning and advance python programming that are required during the interviews.
- It depends on the subject; many were totally online, others were a mix of online and face to face, each lecture would be 1 hour and later the professor would provide us resource materials to learn it online for the rest of the week for assignments. There were few sessions arranged during the week if someone had any queries or was stuck with an assignment. We could constantly chat on the online learning portal if we are stuck and needed help; lecturers were always available to respond. There were also lab assistances, phd students working under that professor who would respond to our query.
- Average number was 30. Indian students were 20.
Admission Experience
- I applied to the following universities: UCD, TUD, Trinity, UL, NUIG, UCC
- Status: I was shortlisted by three major ranking universities: the University of Limerick (UL), TUD and Trinity College Dublin (TCD). UCD, NUIG and UCC were already full and were not accepting new applicants.
- Confirmed admission: UL, TUD and TCD; UCD, NUIG: We're already full of students
- As I said, it was already full and was not accepting applicants. Also, I specifically wanted AI and ML masters, so I did not apply to most of the colleges in Ireland.
- UL was first to respond to my application; I also received a response from the Director Dr Nikola regarding my interest and courses. It had most of the courses I was looking for like Deep learning and Reinforcement Learning. Lastly, they offered me a Scholarship of 4000 Euros.
- First I had to fill out the form and submit it to them, followed by the SOP and LOR. I applied with the help of GO Ireland in India so they guided me in the entire process. I received the acceptance and condition letter from UL.
- Some experience in AI and ML, Statistics, Mathematics and Computer Engineering. IELTS above 6.5 band. Some of my friends were able to submit a Duolingo exam certificate and they accepted it during that time because it was Covid-19, but now I think they only accept IELTS.
- Overall experience was really good; we were advised and supported at every step during the admission process in India. UL also has a counsellor in New Delhi, who got in touch with us once we had an offer letter from the UL. The main challenge was covid-19 and vaccines, since we had Covaxin, and it was not WHO recognised at that time, but later luckily India was removed from the red list so we did not have to pay for the Hotel reservation for Isolation at the Dublin airport, which was mandatory for Indian students at that time.
- 2021 September intake. Factors like scholarship, fewer fees, and courses of my choice.
- My application process started in March 2021 and by the end of March 2021 I already had an unconditional offer letter from the UL.
- Steps involved:
- Go to the specific course you wish to apply for at the UL website: https://www.ul.ie/gps/artificial-intelligence-machine-learning-msc and click on Apply
- Start by clicking new user online application and enter all the details requested on that web page
- Next, fill in all personal details, contact information, agent details (if applied through an agent), and qualification details, and upload documents and supporting documents.
- Complete the required application and pay 50 Euros application fee.
- I started this application on 9th of March 2021
- I received an email from UL, to submit a supporting document requesting me to upload my bachelor's marking scheme certificate on 19th March, which i provided.I received an unconditional offer from UL on 5th April 2021. So, the overall process took less than a month.
Faculty
10
- There was 1 main professor and 2-3 lab assistants for each module/subject. The main professor would coordinate the module and lectures, while the lab assistants would coordinate the assignments queries and questions. For a batch of 30 students, this was a decent ratio, as we usually got our responses very quickly, and they were very flexible with us when it came to the timings.
- Teaching methodology was mostly online and self-learning with the resource materials uploaded to online portals of the university; some also shared youtube video tutorials for some courses. I don't think this is sufficient to secure a job; that is altogether a very different and difficult approach. I secured a job based on my experience at Nvidia, from my college, the only thing the recruiters asked was for my master's Thesis and Internship, which were my strong points for securing a job in Ireland.
- My professor, Dr. Ciaran Eising was very helpful and instrumental for me and he referred me to Protex AI which was started by one of his PhD students, Ciaran O'Mara, but the only reason I was able to secure that was due to my previous experience at NVIDIA and my interview with them. I also referred my friends at the UL but they never responded to them. Dr Ciaran Eising, Dr Nikola Nikolov and Professor JJ Collins.
Campus Life
10
- There are many buildings on the UL campus and the specifics can be found on the UL website: https://www.ul.ie/style-guide/word-use-and-spelling/ul-place-names.
- For my courses I visited the buildings below.
- Computer Science Building
- Glucksman Library and information building
- Foundation Building
- Kemmy Business School
- Engineering Research Building
- Yes, UL has all sorts of facilities a student can imagine. Sports, Gym, Swimming pool, Grounds for sports like football and hurling, the postgraduate students union building, the Stables club for hangouts, Medical facilities, Coffee shops, Restaurants, Snacks counters like Spar.
- For Indians, UL had organised a Diwali party and a Holi celebration. Majorly happens at Stables club.
- All students are open to participate in many events across the campus for a number of sports, including football, archery, badminton, martial arts, swimming, rowing, boxing, etc.
Part Time Jobs
- Typically all the students eventually secure part-time jobs; it is not that difficult, you just need to keep looking. 5 students as TA, 2-3 as RA and 10-20 as DA from my batch, at least
- Most of the students prefer to work at stores like Dunnes, Lidl, tesco and other grocery shops. They are always open and supportive of providing part-time work for students.
- Pay range varies from 10 to 15 Euros per hour. I worked as a TA and got 13 Euros per hour. RAs may get even more maybe 20 Euros and DAs get the least, 10 to 12 Euros per hour.
- Library assistants, Club maintenance roles, and PDSL moderators. Varies from 12-15 Euros per hour.
- Maximum is 20 hours per week as a student
- It is a bit of work on campus; if you have someone you know already who can refer you, that increases your chances of getting a part-time job.
- Students can earn up to 10-15 Euro per hour. Students need to prepare a resume specifying their details and what college they are in and some info on why they need this job. There are many stores that need part-time workers where they can apply directly, or else they can even visit stores themselves and ask them if they are looking for part time students. So it is not that difficult since in Europe it is very common to do part-time work along with studies.
Placement
6
- Out of 30 students, 20 of them secured a job within 6 months.
- Salary depends on years of experience and skills, typically ranging from 50k Euros to 75k Euros
- Mostly through online platforms such as LinkedIn, Indeed, and IrishJobs.ie. Students can reach recruiters directly on linkedin and message them if they have any suitable roles. I highly recommend linkin premium since it allows you to chat directly with the recruiting consultants and increases your chances of getting an interview. There are independent consultants and agencies that look for talents who can be contacted directly as well; they are very helpful and provide necessary support.
- My batchmate applied for a job through LinkedIn, where their resume was shortlisted and they got a call for an interview. After that, they need to clear several rounds of interviews depending on the company they are interviewing with, followed by a job offer. Companies where they got placed: Version 1, MasterCard, Citibank, ICE, Protego technologies, AMCS group, Optum, Hubspot, Inscribe, and Deloitte.
Accommodation
Off Campus
10
- We took off-campus accommodation.
- We came across a few other students through UL's Indian student whatsapp group.
- My monthly rent was 350 Euros a month. A separate room with attached bathroom, common kitchen with basic kitchen appliances, washing machine, a dryer, fridge, water heater, gas heater for winter, bed with a mattress, tables, chairs, etc.
- It is very difficult to find accommodation in Ireland, specifically Off campus, since there is already a housing crisis in Ireland. We were lucky since the students we interacted with had friends already staying in Limerick and they helped us find accommodation. We were also able to connect with them on Linkedin. The usual process is to register yourself in daft.ie and send a request to owners and agents of properties specifying your details. If everything goes smoothly, we need to transfer them the rent and 1-month deposit amount in advance, followed by signing contracts online. It is advised to go via registered agents in Ireland for accommodation since there is a lot of fraud and you might get cheated.
- It was 3 kms away from the university, close to the bus stop. Most students prefer to stay in college accomodation which is safe and secure.
Exams
- IELTS 6.5 band above
- Statement of Purpose, LOR (2 LORs), CV, Marksheets from 10th, 12th and Bachelor's Degree Certificate, Bachers degree Transcript, Percentage certificate, English certificate from college (which says the taught course was in English)
- I never gave an interview with the UL. I believe my agent from GoIreland interacted with them on my behalf and explained all the details about me.
Fees
- My full fees were 14000 Euros, I did not stay in the UL hostel campus but from my friends I know it varies depending on the Hostel type and facility you choose and for 1 year it is from 7000 to 10000 Euros. Other expenses are food and travel, which are roughly 200 to 300 Euro per month. You also need student health insurance, which was around 400 Euros for a year
- For us it was half-yearly; at the beginning we had to pay half of the fees i.e 7000 Euros and later after the first semester.
- My rent was 350 Euros, Electricity + Wifi - 50 Euros, Food - 150 Euros, I had a bicycle so never used public transport, but for students, travel on public transport is cheaper since we get a student travel card (Leap card) so 0.65 Euros each time we travel so roughly 10 euros a month. In total 560 Euros each month could be the expenses. Also, Limerick is cheap as compared to Dublin.
Scholarship
- Yes, I was offered a scholarship of 4000 Euros. Indian students scholarships: https://www.ul.ie/gps/international-student/scholarships-international-students/indian-students-scholarships
- 4000 Euros. None that I remember. As per the website on UL the latest updates are 125 students and Euro 400,000: https://www.ul.ie/news/university-of-limerick-students-awarded-scholarships-totalling-eu400000
