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Courses and Specialist Areas

Courses and Specialist Areas

The MSc programmes offer access to a broad range of courses, covering all aspects of the Informatics curriculum. We ask students to identify a specialist area prior to the start of Semester 1 to help choose a cohesive set of courses.

A standard lecture course normally consists of up to twenty one-hour lectures (two per week for one semester) together with associated coursework and background reading. A few courses may also have tutorials, labs or a different structure. All courses have associated assignments, mainly assessed during the course - you will be given assignments to complete by deadlines set by the course lecturer. The relative weightings of the assignments and examination in the final mark for each course are given in the detailed course descriptions. Remember also that a substantial part of the assessment for most courses is by an examination which may ask questions related to any aspect of that course.

Each course is assigned a level, MSc courses are all level 11. In the timetable you will be able to choose from a restricted list of level 9 and level 10 undergraduate courses. These are specifically designed for third year and fourth year undergraduates but may be of interest and value as part of an MSc programme. You are limited to a maximum of 30 credit points worth of these courses. If you want to take a level 9 course that is not listed anywhere in this document you should request permission from the Year Organiser. You do not have to take any level 9 or 10 courses.

The Informatics lecture courses are worth either 10 or 20 credit points (nominally equivalent to 100 or 200 hours' student effort). Most courses in Informatics are 10 credit points but some 20 point courses are available to MSc students. You can take a maximum of two 20 point courses, again you do not have to take any.

Choosing courses

Students are required to be registered for strictly 180 credit points at all times (no more and no less). All MSc students must take the Informatics Research Review course in Semester 1 and Informatics Research Proposal course in Semester 2. These courses have no exams and follow a different format (in particular, make sure you attend the introductory IRR lecture in week 1). They are designed to introduce you to the research activity specific to your specialist area. Informatics Research Review gives you an opportunity to survey literature on a particular topic within your specialist area. Informatics Research Proposal allows you to build towards your summer research project. These courses have a simple PASS/FAIL grade only.

Normally students take 60 credit points in Semester 1 (including IRR), 60 credit points in Semester 2 (including IRP) and the final MSc Dissertation which is also worth 60 credit points. Furthermore, all students must satisfy the programming requirement (see below).  Finally, you are strongly recommended to select at least five courses from your specialist area. Once these constraints are satisfied, you are free to add further courses of your choice, including external level 9/10/11 (depending on your other choices and the rules described above) from other Schools, as long as the organiser of that course is happy to accept you on their course.

In summary, you should:

  • choose IRR (Semester 1) and IRP (Semester 2), each worth 20 credit points
  • choose 50 credit points worth of courses from your specialist area
  • choose further courses to a total of 120 credit points, including Introduction to Java Programming (unless exempt)

If your interests span specialist areas, please talk to the advisor of the specialism closest to your interests, and check that your course selection makes sense. Your choices will usually be approved if they satisfy the "DPT" regulations for your degree, and go well enough together to prepare you for a project and your future career. If your choices do not satisfy the DPT, you might consider changing MSc programme.

Deadlines and changes

You may change course choices after the initial selection but there are deadlines. These are:

  • Semester 1 courses - initial selection by week 1, final choices (i.e. no changes) by Friday of week 2, Semester 1.
  • Semester 2 courses - initial selection by week 1, final choices by Friday of week 2, Semester 2.
Please note, this final deadline in Semester 2 cannot be moved. All course choices after that date are final.

 

The 2012/13 specialist areas are listed below. The programme of study you are registered for usually restricts your course choices to certain specialisms as shown below. Please contact your Specialist Area Advisor for further advice on course selection, prior to completing your course registration form.

MSc in Artificial Intelligence

 

MSc in Cognitive Science

 

MSc in Computer Science

 

MSc in Informatics

No restrictions apply, you may choose from the full list of specialist areas:

 

Remember that the compulsory courses count as 40 credit points of your total 120 credit points. Students are responsible for making sure that their course selection is compatible with the published course timetable, many of the School's level 11 courses are scheduled together, meaning you can't fully participate in two courses that occupy the same timetable slot. We can do very little to avoid these clashes, but have made every effort to keep courses from the same specialist area apart.  Please let us know if this turns out not to be the case, helping us avoid problematic clashes for future years.

Finally, course survey results and introductory videos may help you make your choices.

Courses of Interest To Everyone

The Informatics Entrepreneurship and Digital Marketplace course run by the Business School is relevant to all MSc Specialist Areas and is particularly relevant for students who wish to start their own business or have a general interest in entrepreneurship and business.  Please note that this course is available in a 10-point and 20-point version, both run in Semester 2.

Programming Requirement

All MSc students should be able to program by the time they leave the School of Informatics. This requirement will be normally fulfilled by taking Introduction to Java Programming in Semester 1, which covers Java, unless you are exempt from it (see exemptions below). Several specialisms have additional or different programming requirements:
  • Students taking the Natural Language Processing specialist area are required to register for the PPLS Computer Programming for Speech and Language Processing course (Java, though recommended, is not required).
  • Students taking the Knowledge Management, Representation & Reasoning specialist area should be able to program in Prolog (Java, though recommended, is not required).
  • Those registered for the MSc in Cognitive Science may substitute Prolog for Java if they wish (i.e., either Prolog OR Java is sufficient).

For those students required to (or wishing to) learn Prolog, this is taught in Logic Programing which is also taught in Semester 1.

Beyond these basic requirements, your choice of programming course(s) will depend on your prior experience, the other courses you wish to take (e.g. Prolog is required for some other courses, particularly in the areas of language, cognitive modelling and reasoning), and the type of project you expect to do in the second half of the course (some will require a specific language).

Exemptions: Students who already satisfy the above requirements (at least to the extent that they would have no problem doing their MSc project in the relevant language) may be excused from taking one or more programming courses. Some students may enter the MSc already familiar with what we will consider as Java-equivalent (other object-oriented languages such as C++) or Prolog-equivalent (other AI-specific languages such as Lisp) and these can also be grounds for exemption from one or both language requirements. 

Students who wish to claim exemption from the programming requirement, should obtain the approval by email from the appropriate specialist area advisor. In your email requesting exemption you should describe your past experience which you believe qualifies you for an exemption. The faculty member may ask you to go for a talk in person in some cases.