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2025-2026 / INFO9023-1

Machine Learning Systems Design

Duration

17h Th, 17h Labo., 18h Proj.

Number of credits

 Master MSc. in Computer Science, professional focus in computer systems security5 crédits 
 Master MSc. in Data Science, professional focus5 crédits 
 Master MSc. in Data Science and Engineering, professional focus5 crédits 
 Master MSc. in Computer Science and Engineering, professional focus in management5 crédits 
 Master Msc. in computer science and engineering, professional focus in intelligent systems5 crédits 
 Master MSc. in Computer Science, professional focus in management5 crédits 
 Master MSc. in Computer Science and Engineering, professional focus in computer systems and networks5 crédits 
 Master MSc. in Computer Science, professional focus in intelligent systems5 crédits 

Lecturer

Thomas Vrancken

Language(s) of instruction

English language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the second semester

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

We are at the beginning of the AI revolution, which will have a deep impact on many industries. There is a large demand for skilled engineers who are able to build ML applications.

Bringing a Machine Learning application to production requires many more efforts than solely the ML model development. Famously, there is a hidden technical debts in designing and implementing all the components coming around your model.

The course of Machine Learning System Designs (or MLOps) will enable students to build fully functional ML applications. It will look at the whole lifecycle of building a real world ML application, from a technical and functional perspective. At the end of the course, students will be familiar with key tools and frameworks of MLOps.

The material from last year can be found on Github (make sure to be on the correct version). 

Topics to be covered: 

  • Introduction to MLOps
  • Data preparation
  • Cloud development
  • API
  • Model serving
  • ML pipelines
  • Monitoring
  • CICD
Tools and frameworks to be covered (tentative and subject to change):

Agile, Docker, REST, Flask, Cloud, GitFlow, Github Actions, CICD, Pytest

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

At the end of the course, the student will have acquired a solid and detailed understanding of the main concepts of implementing and end-to-end ML applications. The student will have gain a base experience of the main tools and frameworks used by data scientists and ML engineers. This experience will be gained over a set of assignment and one larger project.

This course contributes to the learning outcomes III.3, III.4, IV.3, IV.4, V.1, V.2, V.3, VI.1, VI.2, VII.1, VII.2, VII.3, VII.4, VII.5. of the MSc in data science and engineering.

This course contributes to the learning outcomes III.3, III.4, IV.3, IV.4, IV.5, IV.6, V.1, V.2, V.3, VI.1, VI.2, VII.1, VII.2, VII.3, VII.4, VII.5, VII.6. of the MSc in computer science and engineering.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

Basic Machine Learning experience. 

Basic coding in Python.

Following "ELEN0062: Introduction to Machine learning" before taking this class is strongly recommended.

Following "INFO8010-1: Deep learning" before taking this class is recommended but not necessary.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

  • Theoretical lectures
  • Directed Work (Labs)
  • Project

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Blended learning


Further information:

Lectures and directed work will be taught face-to-face. Projects will be carried out remotely.

Some time will be kept after each class lesson for students to work together on their projects. During that time, the teaching staff will stay in the classroom to provide support to students.

Course materials and recommended or required readings

Other site(s) used for course materials
- Github (https://github.com/ThomasVrancken/info9023-mlops)


Further information:

Slides and all relevant reading material will be made available during the semester.

It will be available in the following Github repository: info9023-mlops

Exam(s) in session

Any session

- In-person

oral exam

Written work / report


Further information:

Evaluation divided between:

  • Exam (35%): Oral exam on the theoretical content of the course

  • Practical Work (15%): Pass/fail on practical exercises given at the end of classes. Each exercise counts for an equal share of the total score.

  • Project (50%): A group project carried out throughout the course. The final grade is assigned individually based on personal participation.

Work placement(s)

No official one. Industry experts will be linked to the course and can guide students towards contractual possibilities (e.g. at ML6).

Organisational remarks and main changes to the course

Contacts

Teacher: Thomas Vrancken (t.vrancken@uliege.be)

Support: Matthias Pirlet (matthias.pirlet@uliege.be)

Association of one or more MOOCs