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Education Master's and PhD degree programmes Voice Technology
Header image Voice Technology

Voice Technology

Gain the expertise you need to contribute to cutting-edge practices in voice synthesis and speech recognition. Enroll in one of the few studies in Europe where you can study voice technology!

Whenever you dictate a message on your smartphone, you are using voice technologies. But this is only the beginning! Soon, speech technologies will be present in the field of health, cybersecurity, language learning, and much more. For now, people with scientific expertise in the domain of Voice Tech are in short supply. We aim to fix that!

✔️ Connect with guest speakers from speech tech start-ups, multinationals, and research labs around the globe

✔️ Create your own voice tech demo as your final project


✔️ Turn your passion for tech into a meaningful contribution to society


Want to meet our students & alumni?
→ Check out our blog stories!

The programme was developed in consultation with partners from Silicon Valley, local start-ups and universities worldwide to ensure you acquire expertise in voice synthesis and speech recognition and have the requisite mastery of programming, machine learning, and speech sounds to make an impact when you graduate.
→ Keep me posted!

Facts & Figures
Degree
MSc in Voice Technology
Course type
Master
Duration
12 months (60 ECTS)
Croho code
60472
Language of instruction
English
Start
September
Faculty
Campus Fryslân
Why study this programme in Leeuwarden?

Leeuwarden is a medium-sized vibrant student city and the capital of the province of Fryslân. This is a city of innovation, home to many start-ups and established companies, including established game and tech businesses which could collaborate on voice technology applications. The city hosts universities, colleges, research institutes, and language-related NGOs. Voice technology is even recognized by the province as a crucial domain of regional interest, indicating strong political support for

You should consider studying this programme because:
  • this is the only graduate programme dedicated to voice synthesis and speech recognition
  • it is interdisciplinary in nature and students from diverse backgrounds collaborate with each other and industrial partners
  • it offers the opportunity to develop speech recognizers, make synthetic voices, and execute empirical experiments
  • it creates space for you to showcase your expertise by making a demonstrator as your thesis project
  • it is located in Leeuwarden, a multilingual reality with locals speaking the Frisian language alongside Dutch, English and a number of others. It is, then, an interesting test-bed for voice technology developments involving less-resourced languages, multilingualism and code switching.
Programme

The curriculum is aligned across four blocks.

1: The courses in this block lay the foundations for the MSc. Voice Technology with essential content needed for the rest of the programme. This includes an introductory course into voice technology (in which you will develop your first application). Students also learn Python programming for voice technology and become familiar with the scientific study of speech sounds.

2: This block provides subject-specific courses on voice technology. The knowledge and skills learned in the 1st block are used together with Machine Learning within the courses Speech Recognition I and Speech Synthesis I, both of which start from the humble beginnings of voice technology, and give students an inside, hands-on view on some of the first attempts to automatically recognize and synthesize voice up to current systems.

3: Speech recognition and synthesis are taken to a higher level in Speech Recognition II and Speech Synthesis II as students learn about state-of-the art systems and real-world challenges, augmented with guest lectures given by industrial partners. The Thesis Design course educates students on experimental protocol and research ethics and guides them through the development of a pilot study and prototype demonstrator.

4: Students combine knowledge and skills from the previous blocks and use them in their Thesis Project. Building on the pilot study and prototype developed in the last block, students write their thesis and polish their prototype to create a demonstrator suitable for their thesis defense. They also prepare to present results at the end of the year.

Semesters
CoursesCourse Catalog >1a1b2a2b
Introduction to Voice Technology (5 EC)
Programming (5 EC)
Speech Sounds (5 EC)
Machine Learning (5 EC)
Speech Recognition I (5 EC)
Speech Synthesis I (5 EC)
Speech Recognition II (5 EC)
Speech Synthesis II (5 EC)
Thesis Design (5 EC)
Thesis Project (15 EC)

Study abroad

  • Study abroad is unaccommodated
Entry requirements

Admission requirements

Specific requirementsMore information
language test

Sufficient English language proficiency is required, except for native speakers of the English language from the following countries: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, The Netherlands, United States, United Kingdom.

To prove your English language proficiency, you can provide one of the following documents:

  • Full English Bachelor's degree,* where the only language of instruction is English;
  • TOEFL: a minimum score of 90 with a minimum of 18 on reading and listening, 20 on speaking and 21 on writing;
  • IELTS: a minimum score of 6.5 with a minimum score of 6.0 on all items;
  • Cambridge: C1 advanced or C2 Proficiency with a minimum score of 180.
  • English-taught bachelors from the following countries are valid as proof of English proficiency: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, The Netherlands, United States, United Kingdom.

An exemption can be given by the Admission Board.

Application deadlines

Type of studentDeadlineStart course
Dutch students01 July 202401 September 2024
01 July 202501 September 2025
EU/EEA students01 May 202501 September 2025
non-EU/EEA students01 May 202501 September 2025

PLEASE NOTE: your application deadline is determined by the country where you obtained your diploma, not your nationality. For example: 'Dutch students' means students with a Dutch diploma; 'EU/EEA students' means students with a diploma from a EU/EEA country; 'non-EU/EEA students' means students with a diploma from a non-EU/EEA country.

Admission requirements

Specific requirementsMore information
language test

Sufficient English language proficiency is required, except for native speakers of the English language from the following countries: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, The Netherlands, United States, United Kingdom.

To prove your English language proficiency, you can provide one of the following documents:

  • Full English Bachelor's degree,* where the only language of instruction is English;
  • TOEFL: a minimum score of 90 with a minimum of 18 on reading and listening, 20 on speaking and 21 on writing;
  • IELTS: a minimum score of 6.5 with a minimum score of 6.0 on all items;
  • Cambridge: C1 advanced or C2 Proficiency with a minimum score of 180.
  • English-taught bachelors from the following countries are valid as proof of English proficiency: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, The Netherlands, United States, United Kingdom.

An exemption can be given by the Admission Board.

Language requirements

ExamMinimum score
C1 Advanced (formerly CAE)C1
C2 Proficiency (formerly CPE)C2
IELTS overall band6.5
IELTS listening6
IELTS reading6
IELTS writing6
IELTS speaking6
TOEFL internet based90

Registration procedure

The MSc VT allows direct entry for anyone with a bachelor's degree from a recognized university and a sincere interest in the topic. That said, a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Artificial intelligence and Applied Linguistics (and familiarity with Python) would be an asset.

Application deadlines

Type of studentDeadlineStart course
Dutch students01 July 202401 September 2024
01 July 202501 September 2025
EU/EEA students01 May 202501 September 2025
non-EU/EEA students01 May 202501 September 2025
  • PLEASE NOTE: your application deadline is determined by the country where you obtained your diploma, not your nationality. For example: 'Dutch students' means students with a Dutch diploma; 'EU/EEA students' means students with a diploma from a EU/EEA country; 'non-EU/EEA students' means students with a diploma from a non-EU/EEA country.
Tuition fees
NationalityYearFeeProgramme form
EU/EEA2024-2025€ 2530full-time
non-EU/EEA2024-2025€ 20800full-time

Practical information for:

After your studies

The MSc. in Voice Technology prepares you for a meaningful career in the industry of speech technology. The combination of programming and machine learning skills with linguistics knowledge is a very attractive feature for the labor market. The skills you acquire throughout this master's will enable to work in speech labs of the bigger tech companies, both in Europe and beyond. If you wish, you can also choose for an academic career.

Job prospects

Throughout the programme we invite several guest speakers from industry. That way students will get a good impression of the various possibilities ranging from developing speech recognizer, synthetic voices, automatic detection of pathologies from speech, the use of voice technology in robotica and/or dialogue systems, etc. The voice technology industry is a fast-growing market which provides lots of opportunities for graduates.

Job examples

  • Voice Forensic Specialist
  • Speech Analyst
  • Research Engineer
  • Entrepreneur
  • PhD Researcher
  • Speech Scientist
Research

Research

The MSc. Voice Technology is embodied in the “Culture, Language and Technology” research department. Which consists of an international, multidisciplinary team of PhD's and postdoctoral researchers working on topics as diverse as voice-based disease recognition, multilingualism and the brain, voice synthesis for under-resourced languages, multilingual ethnography, and more.

Some of these young scholars may make a guest appearance in your lectures and provide opportunities to connect to doctoral research projects, co-authored publications, or one of our multiple EU-subsidized research grants.

Apply nowBrochureEventsContact

Contact

  • Marijke Huisman-Wolters (General inquiries Voice Technology programme & application)
    Email: cf-vt rug.nl
    Telephone: +31 (0)6 31 98 24 13
  • 
						Testimonial of Tatsu Matsushima

    During my master's studies, I mastered the fundamental theories and practices of deep learning, speech recognition, and speech synthesis. Given the rapid advancement of deep learning, staying updated on state-of-the-art approaches is a lifelong skill.

    – Tatsu Matsushima
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Study associations

Nobis Cura Futuri

Nobis Cura Futuri is the Study Association and the official embodiment of the international student community at Campus Fryslân.
Founded in 2020, we aim to provide plenty of fun, social and academic events (think of Pub crawls, talent shows, travels, guest-speaker evenings). All in the spirit of Nobis Cura Futuri: “The Care of the Future is Ours”, meaning we strive to provide activities that are aimed at making the most of your student life by adhering to our values of responsibility, diversity, sustainability and development.
https://www.rug.nl/cf/studeren-bij-cf/nobis-cura-futuri
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Student profile

The Voice Technology MSc attracts students interested in topics like A.I., computer science, human/machine interaction, linguistics, and/or digital humanities. Our students are curiosity-driven, collaborative, creative people passionate about science & tech. Many will pursue a career at a tech company or start-up, others are entrepreneurs or doctoral candidates. The programme appeals most to students interested in a hands-on, highly engaged, interdisciplinary programme on voice technologies.