Advanced Computer Science MSc
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I would never want to be anywhere else. It's a wonderful and super-friendly place with a great reputation and amazing lecturers.
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Master
In St Andrews
Description
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Type
Master
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Location
St andrews (Scotland)
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Duration
1 Year
The MSc in Advanced Computer Science offers students with a strong undergraduate background in Computer Science an opportunity to follow their interests in studying the subject at an advanced, research-led level. Students have the flexibility to choose from a wide range of modules in advanced topics including artificial intelligence, human computer interaction, networks and distributed systems, and software engineering.
Facilities
Location
Start date
Start date
About this course
The course is designed to be flexible to allow students the freedom to pursue their own interests within computer science.
Students are able to easily change to other specialist MSc programmes offered by the School.
Students undertake a significant project, including a wide-ranging investigation and a substantial software development, leading to their dissertation, which enables them to consolidate and extend their specialist knowledge and critical thinking.
Students have 24-hour access to modern computing laboratories, provisioned with dual-screen PC workstations and group-working facilities.
Alumni of Computer Science MSc programmes have gone on to work in a variety of global, commercial, financial and research institutions, including:
Amadeus
Amazon
Atlas
Avaloq
Barclays Capital
BP
BT Openreach
Capricorn Ventis
FactSet
Hailo
Hewlett Packard
Hitachi Data Systems
Microsoft
OpenBet
Rockstar
Royal Bank of Scotland
Sky
Skyscanner
Symantec
TriSystems.
A good 2.1 Honours undergraduate degree in Computer Science, or strongly related discipline.
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I would never want to be anywhere else. It's a wonderful and super-friendly place with a great reputation and amazing lecturers.
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This centre has featured on Emagister for 13 years
Subjects
- Software Engineering
- Engineering
- Communication Training
- Artificial Intelligence
- Programming
- Design
- Systems
- Communication systems
- Systems Engineering
- Visualisation
Course programme
The modules in this programme have varying methods of delivery and assessment. For more details about each module, including weekly contact hours, teaching methods and assessment, please see the latest module catalogue, which is for the 2018–2019 academic year; some elements may be subject to change for 2019 entry.
Complusory Modules
- Object-Oriented Modelling, Design and Programming: introduces and reinforces object-oriented modelling, design and implementation to provide a common basis of skills, allowing students to complete programming assignments within other MSc modules.
The following modules are optional for Computer Science programmes. Not all combinations of modules will be available for all programmes, and some modules are subject to pre-requisites being satisfied. Please consult the relevant course catalogue for available options.
Students choose up to seven optional modules. In the 'Additional modules' lists below, students can only take up to two of the modules in each list. See the module catalogue for further descriptions.
- Advanced Topics in Computer Communication Systems
- Artificial Intelligence Practice
- Artificial Intelligence Principles
- Critical Systems Engineering
- Data-Intensive Systems
- Human Computer Interaction Principles and Methods
- Information Visualisation
- Interactive Software and Hardware
- Knowledge Discovery and Datamining
- Language and Computation
- Masters Programming Projects
- Principles of Computer Communication Systems
- Practice in Computer Communication Systems
- Software Architecture
- Software Engineering Practice
- Software Engineering Principles
- User-Centred Interaction Design
Additional modules
Students may take up to two of the following:
- Computer Graphics
- Computer Architecture
- Computer Security
- Concurrency and Multi-Core Architectures
- Constraint Programming
- Distributed Systems
- Logic and Software Verification
- Programming Language Design and Implementation
- Signal Processing and Perception for Digital Media
- Video Games
Students may take up to two of the following:
- Database Management Systems
- Green Information Technology
- Information Security Management
- Information Technology Projects
- Web Technologies
During the second semester, students work with staff to define and agree upon a topic for the extended project, which they will work on during the final three months of the course, and which culminates in a 15,000-word dissertation. Dissertation projects may be group-based or completed individually (students are assessed individually in either case).
The dissertation typically comprises: a review of related work; the extension of existing or the development of new ideas; software implementation and testing; analysis and evaluation. Students are required to give a presentation of their work in addition to the written dissertation.
Each project is supervised by one or two members of staff, typically through regular meetings and reviews of software and dissertation drafts.
If students choose not to complete the dissertation requirement for the MSc, there is an exit award available that allows suitably qualified candidates to receive a Postgraduate Diploma instead, finishing the course at the end of the second semester of study.
Additional information
Advanced Computer Science MSc