1. MSc in Advanced Computer Science Induction 2016/17
Dr Marc Roper
Course Director
LT14.13 1

2. Course Aim
To provide graduates with computer science degrees (or equivalent) with an advanced course, going beyond the material of a Bachelors degree; taught material is shared with the 5th year of our MEng in Computer Science
The emphasis is on Future Computing Systems:
mobile
reliable
secure
distributed
autonomous
information rich
Grounded in theory but with a very strong practical emphasis 2

3. Named Degrees
There are two named MSc degrees your can take as well as the general MSc in Advanced Computer Science:
MSc in Advanced Software Engineering: teaches the techniques needed for creating large, reliable, secure software systems
MSc in Enterprise Information Systems: designing and creating Enterprise Information Systems and Enterprise Information Services 3

4. Semester Dates
Semester 1 runs up to Christmas and consists of 13 weeks: 11 weeks of teaching (starting on 19th September) and 2 weeks of assessment/exams (starting 5th December).
Friday 16th December-Friday 6th January - holiday
9th January: Development week (may be assessments)
Semester 2 teaching starts on 16th January 2016 and runs for 11 weeks
3rd April-14th April Spring Break holiday
17th April-19th May: Formal assessment period (exams)
Then in the third semester, you do your project. 4

5. Curriculum
You do 120 credits of taught classes, spread over two semesters, followed by a 60 credit project
There are two compulsory classes for all degrees:
Information Law (10 credits, Semester 1)
Research Methods (10 credits, Semester 2)
The remaining 100 credits are made up of a mixture of 10 and 20 credit classes (depending on your choice)
Details of all classes can be found on our local web pages: 5

6. Classes for EIS Fixed curriculum (no choices to make):- Semester 1
CS 951 Information Systems Architecture (20 cr)
CS 976 Information Retrieval (10 cr)
MS 418 Project Management (20 cr)
Semester 2
CS 549 Distributed Information Systems (20 cr)
CS 556 Data Analytics (20 cr)
CS 975 Business Analysis (10 cr) 6

7. Classes for ASE Select 100 credits from :- Semester 1
CS 547 Advanced Topics in Software Engineering (20 cr)
CS 548 Designing Usable Systems (20 cr)
CS 951 Information Systems Architecture (20 cr)
One of:
MS 418 Project Management (20 cr)
CS 409 Software Architecture and Design (20 cr)
Semester 2
CS 549 Distributed Information Systems (20 cr)
CS 551 Mobile Software Applications (20 cr) 7

8. Classes for ACS Select 100 credits from :- Semester 1
CS 547 Advanced Topics in Software Engineering (20 cr)
CS 548 Designing Usable Systems (20 cr)
CS 951 Information Systems Architecture (20 cr)
CS 976 Information Retrieval (10 cr)
One of:
MS 418 Project Management (20 cr)
CS 409 Software Architecture and Design (20 cr)
Semester 2
CS 549 Distributed Information Systems (20 cr)
CS 551 Mobile Software Applications (20 cr)
CS 556 Data Analytics (20 cr)
CS 975 Business Analysis (10 cr) 8

9. Choosing your classes Choices submitted on Pegasus
Feel free to discuss them with me
Feel free to try classes for a week or so
Can change later but don’t leave it too long (can be very difficult to catch up with missed work) 9

10. Assessment
You get a mark for each class, and the pass mark in MSc classes is 50%
To proceed to the project, you need to get the pass mark in at least 100 credits of your taught classes at first attempt
In other words, you can only afford to fail 20 credits: the best advice is to pass everything!
Lots of useful information at:
Keep in contact with me and feel free to ask any questions 10

11. Other announcements
CS951 tutorial and lecture are both cancelled in week 1
First CS951 classes will be Fri Sep 30th as timetabled
Student Inauguration Ceremony
Attendance expected
Tuesday 20th September so CS548 lecture will be cancelled
First CS548 class will be Tuesday 27th September 11