Note: Some of the graphical elements of this site are only visible to browsers that support accepted web standards. The content of this site is, however, accessible to any browser or Internet device.
The Specialist pathway
Term 1
During the first week students attend a compulsory Prolog course, which is supplemented by a programme of laboratory exercises in the rest of the term. There is a practical programming test at the end of the term. In the second week all the other courses begin and each of these consists of specialist lectures and supporting tutorials. Students attend their specialist options from a list of about 30 courses, according to their interests and previous background. The choice of optional courses available to students may, to some extent, be restricted by the schedule of lectures and availability of staff.
Term 2
During the second term, students attend their remaining specialist lecture courses. and work on team programming projects. The team programming projects extend over the whole of the second term and involve groups of five to six students. A member of academic staff acts as a customer and technical consultant, and ensures that the work is properly structured with regular meetings and appropriate documentation of the decision making process. During the second term the students will be provided with the descriptions of all the individual projects and they are also given opportunities to propose their own project and discuss their feasibility and appropriateness with the staff. By the end of the second term students are allocated a project and a supervisor.Term 3
Written examinations are held during the first three weeks of the third term; during the months from May to September, students undertake an individual project culminating in the presentation of a thesis. This is a full-time activity and is expected to contain an element of original work. Students often choose to complement the material of the first two terms with applied work in the project. It is possible for this type of project to involve informal collaboration with one of the many industrial organisations with whom the Department has contacts. A project may involve a period of up to three months spent outside the College, as long as regular contact is maintained with the supervisor. Project assessment is based on a written dissertation and a demonstration to the supervisor and a second marker.
Rules:
1. Maximum of 5 courses from the A-list and a total of 8 courses in all.
2. Some course combinations are excluded. These are
Databases /Advanced Databases
Computer Networks and Distributed Systems/Distributed Systems
Software Engineering/Advanced Topics in Software Engineering
3. The Multi-Agent Systems course requires a previous course in Artificial
Intelligence.
A-list
Other courses
Written examinations
Individual Project
The individual project component of the
MSc course provides an opportunity
to undertake a substantial piece of software engineering
and application development. It allows the students to
advance their knowledge of new and state-of-the-art technologies
and further develop their specialisations. It usually involves
work covering the full range from requirement analysis
to system development and integration, systematic testing,
experimentation, evaluation and validation.
The project is undertaken under the supervision of
a member of the academic staff. There are opportunities
for industry-based projects providing joint specification
and supervision, allowing students to experience
realistic industry-based system and application development.