The Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence taught by the UPM has a total of 231 alumni who have graduated over the nine academic years during which it has been taught from 2010/11 to 2018/19. The distribution of alumni over the different academic years is shown in Table 1.
Table 1. MSc in Artificial Intelligencedistribution graduates
Of the total number of alumni, we managed to contact 218 either via LinkedIn (199 graduates) or by electronic mail and other web pages (19 graduates) (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Sources of information for MSc in Artificial Intelligence alumni
Figure 2 shows information on master’s programme alumni who are currently taking a PhD versus graduates who are working at a company or looking for employment, as well as students who are studying for a PhD while working at a company.
Figure 2. Alumni studying for a PhD against alumni in employment
Alumni who embark upon a PhD after completing their MSc in Artificial Intelligence account for 28.14% of the total (some while in alternative employment). This means that although the MSc in Artificial Intelligence is a research-oriented programme, doctoral studies are not the only prospects for alumni. In fact, most graduates immediately find work at companies or centres related primarily to research in artificial intelligence.
Table 2. shows information about the programmes that the 65 alumni who are pursuing doctoral studies are taking.
Table 2. PhD programmes taken by MSc in Artificial Intelligence alumni
Most of the MSc in Artificial Intelligence alumni who are studying for a PhD (42 out of 65) are students of the PhD in Artificial Intelligence programme organized by the Department of Artificial Intelligence at the UPM’s School of Computer Engineering.
Note also that four alumni are studying for a PhD abroad, six in European Union countries and one in the USA.
With respect to MSc in Artificial Intelligence alumni who immediately joined the labour market, Table 3 shows the private companies or public organizations where they are currently employed. It also shows that two alumni are working as self-employed consultants.
Table 3. Private companies and public organizations
Finally, we analysed the percentage of alumni who are pursuing their professional career (either as a doctoral student or practitioner) in Spain or abroad (see Table 4)
We found that 19.05% of programme alumni are currently working or studying for a PhD abroad.
Table 4. Geographical location of MSc in Artificial Intelligence alumni
