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MSc and PG Diploma/Certificates

Course Content and Structure

MSc and PG Diplomas are offered for all courses and require 120 credits corresponding to Personal and Group Skills and taught modules worth 105 credits. MSc degrees require in addition an individual project as explained below. Postgraduate Certificates require 60 credits of taught modules and are offered for Advanced Computer Science only.

There are three kinds of modules in the programme:

CO7210: Personal and Group Skills (15 credits)

This module is offered in both semesters and provides students with skills that are way up the value chain of any IT employer. Students attend a series of seminars given by researchers from universities or companies followed by group discussions moderated by a member of staff. Each group prepares a joint essay based on the seminar and the discussions. Students also attend workshops organised by the Student Learning Centre on topics like project planning, writing and presentation skills, as well as careers in general.

Taught Modules (15 credits each)

Each course except Advanced Computer Science requires 4 or 5 core modules, marked in red, and 2 or 3 additional modules chosen among the whole menu. Students on the Advanced Computer Science course can compose their own pathway. Students cannot take more than 2 modules from the supplementary list (1 for a Certificate). There might be some additional constraints due to timetabling and details of the programme regulations.

Software Engineering for Financial Services is offered in conjunction with the Department of Economics. In addition to the modules listed below, students will take EC7084 (Principles of Finance) as core, and can take EC7061 (Corporate Finance), EC7093 (Principles of Banking) and EC7075 (International Money and Finance) as options. Note that SFS students may not be able to take all the modules below due to timetable clashes with Economics modules.

Course codes are ACM (Advanced Computational Methods, ADS (Advanced Distributed Systems), ASE (Advanced Software Engineering), SET (Agile Software Engineering Techniques), SFS (Software Engineering for Financial Services) and WAS (Web Applications and Services).

CO7201: Individual Project (60 credits)

Candidates for the MSc undertake, after examinations, an individual project on an approved topic, leading to the submission of a 15,000 word dissertation. The project is expected to contain some element of original work, and may involve informal collaboration with other organisations, subject to the previous approval of the project supervisor.

Timetable and Progression

Admissions are in September and January.

• Students admitted in September follow Semester 1 modules until December. In January, after examinations, they follow Semester 2 modules. Examinations are taken again in May. Students who wish and are permitted to proceed undertake their individual project during the summer and submit their dissertation by the middle of September.
• Students admitted in January start by following Semester 2 modules. There are no precedence rules between the two semesters. Examinations are taken in May. Students then break during the summer period and resume in September for Semester 1 modules. Examinations are taken in January after which those who wish - and are permitted - to proceed start their project. Dissertations are then submitted towards the end of May.

Students may transfer from any of the specialised courses (ACM, ADS, ASE, SET, SFS, WAS) to Advanced Computer Science with the permission of the programme director under advice of the personal tutor.

Progression and Awards

MSc

To be awarded a master's degree a candidate must:

1. obtain at least 90 credits at 50% or above in the taught modules and no more than 15 credits below 40%;
2. have satisfactorily completed all coursework requirements in the taught modules; and
3. achieved a mark of 50% or above in the dissertation

To be awarded a master's degree with merit a candidate must:

1. obtain at least 60 credits at 60% or more in the taught modules;
2. achieve a mark 60% or above for the dissertation; and
3. have no fail marks

To be awarded a master's degree with distinction a candidate must:

1. obtain at least 90 credits at 70% or more in the taught modules and a mark of 60% or above in the dissertation; or
2. obtain at least 60 credits at 70% or above in the taught modules and a mark of at least 70% in the dissertation; and
3. have no fail marks

Exceptionally talented students are recognized by the department by the award of a number of prizes.

Postgraduate Diploma

To be awarded a Postgraduate Diploma a candidate must:

1. obtain at least 90 credits at 50% or above with no more than 15 credits below 40%; and
2. have satisfactorily completed all coursework requirements

To be awarded a Postgraduate Diploma with merit a candidate must:

1. obtain at least 90 credits at 60% or above; and
2. have no fail marks.

To be awarded a Postgraduate Diploma with distinction a candidate must:

1. obtain at least 90 credits at 70% or above; and
2. have no fail marks.

Postgraduate Certificate

To be awarded a Postgraduate Certificate a candidate must:

1. obtain at least 45 credits at 50% or above in the taught modules and no marks less than 40%; and
2. have satisfactorily completed all coursework requirements.

Failures

If you fail a module, you may be allowed to resit the final written examination of that module, under some circumstances. At this stage, it probably does not make sense for you to get into the details of the resits procedure, but the main points are as follows.

• Resits are not automatic, but are granted by the MSc Board of Examiners.
• You cannot resit the coursework of a module, only the final written examination.
• The MSc Individual Project and Personal and Group Skills do not have a final examination, and so cannot be resat. Any other module can be resat at most once.
• If you resit, then the module mark you get will be capped to a maximum of 50%.
• Resits are only given to students who are failing the taught part of the MSc, i.e. students who have not "obtained at least 90 credits at 50% or above in the taught modules and no more than 15 credits below 40%" — if you fail some modules, but still pass the taught part, you will not be allowed to resit.
• A student will only be considered for resits by the MSc Board of Examiners once the student has taken all eight taught modules.
• Resit exams for Computer Science MSc modules are offered in January and June.
• Resitting students will typically complete their studies later than students who do not have to resit. For international students, the University has a procedure in place to ensure that that appropriate visa arrangements can be made in case a student has to do resits; this procedure may involve temporary suspension of the student's registration.

Although the MSc Individual Project may not be resat, if a student has a narrow failure following the submission of the dissertation and other core deliverables of the MSc Individual Project, then the student may be allowed to revise and resubmit their Project at the discretion of the Board of Examiners. If the failure is not narrow, the student fails the project and will not be eligible for the MSc degree (but may obtain a PG Diploma).

If you want further details, these can be found in the MSc Handbook. If you have already been accepted on to one of our programmes, you will have been assigned a pre-tutor. The pre-tutor would be happy to clarify any issues you may have.

Entry Requirements

Candidates should have, or expect to gain, at least a good second class honours BSc degree or qualification of equivalent standard recognised by the University in a subject with a substantial element of Computing. Applications are treated on an individual basis, however, and so alternative qualifications may be considered, especially in the case of candidates with relevant work experience.

Applications

Applications are handled by the graduate office. The University accepts applications online or in paper form.

If you choose the online application process, your application form will be with us very quickly; we then await the supporting material (transcripts, references, etc) before making a final decision. If you want to apply online, please follow these instructions.

If you prefer to apply offline through the post, then download the application form. Note that this is a pdf file and you will need Acrobat Reader to read and print the form.

If you feel that you would rather have some printed information sent to you by post, send a message to the MSc admissions tutor with your request. He will also be happy to answer any queries that you may have.

The university has specific information available for International and EU students here. Specific information on welfare is also available here.

• Contents:
• Course Content and Structure
• Timetable and Progression
• Progression and Awards
• Entry Requirements
• Applications

• Programmes
• Advanced Computational Methods
• Advanced Computer Science
• Advanced Distributed Systems
• Advanced Software Engineering
• Agile Software Engineering Techniques
• Software Engineering for Financial Services
• Web Applications and Services

• Up: Advanced Postgraduate Programmes

Author: Computer Science MSc Admissions (csmsc@mcs.le.ac.uk).
© University of Leicester 26th May 2005. Last modified: 30th September 2010, 15:01:07.
CS Web Maintainer. This document has been approved by the Head of Department.