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MSc Advanced Computer Science

Why choose Herts?

  • Industry Accreditations: Accredited by the British Computer Society (BCS) and the Chartered Institute for IT on behalf of the Engineering Council, enabling you to prepare for registration as a chartered engineer.
  • Employment Prospects: Our graduates work as software engineers, developers and project managers for organisations including IBM and Microsoft.
  • Work-Related Learning: You have an option to undertake a placement of up to one year conditional on course requirements. Placements may be paid or unpaid depending on the employer organisation.  Students have secured placements with organisations including Hewlett Packard, BT and Vodafone.
  • This course is up for review

    To ensure this course continues to be cutting-edge and enables you to be ready for the modern workplace, it is due to be reviewed by March 2025.

    Our website will typically be updated within a month of the review confirming any enhancements, including:

    • module titles (and whether they are core or optional)
    • expected contact hours
    • assessment methods
    • staff teaching on the course
  • Entry requirements and key information

    For admission to MSc Computer Networks and Systems Security, the normal requirement is a good honours degree (or equivalent) in computer science or cognate discipline. The choice of award title students may be accepted on to will be determined by the award applied for and the prior learning of the student as demonstrated by the transcript for existing qualifications held by the applicant.

    Applicants whose first language is not English must demonstrate sufficient competence in English to benefit from the Programme. This is normally demonstrated by recognised awards equivalent to an overall IELTS score of 6.0. Candidates who do not satisfy these requirements will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

    The programme is subject to the University's Principles, Policies and Regulations for the Admission of Students to Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate Programmes (in UPR SA03), along with associated procedures. These will take account of University policy and guidelines for assessing accredited prior certificated learning (APCL) and accredited prior experiential learning (APEL).

    Institution code

    		 H36

    Course length
  • Full Time, 1 Years
  • Full Time, 18 Months
    		•

    Location
  • University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield
    		•
  • Employability

    What job can I get?

    Our master's programme is designed to give Computer Science graduates the specialist, up-to-date skills and knowledge sought after by employers, whether in business, industry, government or research.

    The MSc Advanced Computer Science course will equip students with in-depth knowledge and practical skills in at least two specialist topics of computer science to advanced depth.

    Successful graduates may pursue a career in areas such as programming, artificial intelligence and robotics, computer networks, cyber security, data science, or software engineering, pending on the knowledge and skill set gained through the optional modules the graduates choose and complete.

    Work placement

    This MSc is available with an optional one year industry placement. The 'with placement' programmes give you additional industrial experience by applying the skills you have learned throughout your studies.

    Placements give you the opportunity to undertake work experience of up to one year conditional on course requirements and may be paid or unpaid depending on the employer organisation. During the placement, you will be able to gain further insight into industrial practice and skills that you can take forward into your individual project.

    We will provide excellent academic and personal support during both your academic and placement periods together with comprehensive careers guidance from our very experienced dedicated Careers and Placements Service.

    Although the responsibility for finding a placement is with you, our Careers and Placements Service maintains a wide variety of employers who offer placement opportunities and organise special training sessions to help you secure a placement, from job application to the interview. Optional one-to-one consultations are also available.

    In order to qualify for the placement period you must pass all the first 60 credits of your study in your first attempt.

Professional Accreditations

Accredited by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT for the purposes of partially meeting the academic requirement for registration as a Chartered IT Professional.

BCS logo

About the course

One of a range of degrees from the taught master's Programme in the Department of Computer Science.

This award is targeted at those who have a good Honours degree in computer science or a very closely related discipline, and who wish to extend and deepen their knowledge in two or more different sub-discipline areas. This course will enable you to enhance your career prospects or prepare for a programme of research that requires knowledge of one or more of these sub-discipline areas. You will have a wide range of taught modules from which to choose, and will be expected to complete a major project that extends and applies what you have learnt in one or more of the taught modules they have taken.

The programme offers three award routes that you can choose to study:  

Why choose this course?

  • This MSc is available with an optional one-year industry placement. The 'with placement' programmes give you additional industrial experience by applying the skills you have learned throughout your studies.
  • One of a range of advanced courses within our postgraduate master's programme in Computer Science, this particular course provides you with a specialism combining theoretical knowledge and practical skills in advanced computer science.
  • This MSc will help you develop skills using and critically evaluating a range of methods and tools currently employed in at least two specialist topics of computer science to advanced depth.
  • Taught by a highly-regarded and long-established computer science department with strong links to business.Computer Science saw 90% of its research ranked as world-leading.
  • Computer Science saw 90% of its research ranked as world-leading (Research Excellence Framework, 2021).

What will I study?

Classes consist of lectures, small group seminars, and practical work in our well-equipped laboratories. We use modern, industry-standard software wherever possible. There are specialist facilities for networking and multimedia and a project laboratory especially for masters students. In addition to scheduled classes, you will be expected a significant amount of time in self-study, taking advantage of the extensive and up-to-date facilities. These include the Learning Resource Centres, open 24x7, with 1,500 computer workstations and wifi access, Studynet our versatile online study environment usable on and off campus, and open access to our labs.

Where will I study?

Learn in our new School of Physics, Engineering and Computer Science building (SPECS), where you’ll experience a range of experiential learning zones.

The computer science labs are home to telecommunications, robotics and UX empathy labs, with a variety of research spaces that range from dark rooms to clean rooms, and sample prep labs to calibration and assembly labs.

You will also benefit from our Academic Support Hub, which is aimed at helping you build your employability and academic skills. Plus, have access to industry mentors who will provide you with pastoral support, vocational guidance, and career progression opportunities.

Spectra also provides space to collaborate, with plenty of workshops, social and meeting spaces available. Even better, the building has been designed with the University’s net zero carbon target in mind, and forms part of our plan to replace or upgrade older sites that are energy inefficient.

  • Level 7
    ModuleCreditsCompulsory/optional
    Measures and Models for Software Engineering30 CreditsOptional
    Programming for Software Engineers30 CreditsOptional
    Software Engineering Practice and Experience30 CreditsOptional
    Distributed Systems Security30 CreditsOptional
    Artificial Life with Robotics30 CreditsOptional
    Neural Networks and Machine Learning30 CreditsOptional
    Theory and Practice of Artificial Intelligence30 CreditsOptional
    Advanced Computer Science Masters Project60 CreditsCompulsory
    Foundations of Data Science30 CreditsOptional
    Wireless Mobile and Multimedia Networking30 CreditsOptional
    Computational Algorithms and Paradigms30 CreditsCompulsory
    Team Research and Development Project15 CreditsCompulsory
    Responsible Technology15 CreditsCompulsory

    • Further course information

    Course fact sheets
    MSc Advanced Computer Science Download
    Programme specifications
    MSc Advanced Computer Science Download
    Additional information

    Sandwich placement or study abroad year

    n/a

    Applications open to international and EU students

    		 Yes

    Student experience

    At the University of Hertfordshire, we want to make sure your time studying with us is as stress-free and rewarding as possible. We offer a range of support services including; student wellbeing, academic support, accommodation and childcare to ensure that you make the most of your time at Herts and can focus on studying and having fun.

    Find out about how we support our students

    You can also read our student blogs to find out about life at Herts.