Study location	United Kingdom, Birmingham
Type	Master courses, full-time
Nominal duration	1 year
Study language	English
Awards	Masters/MSc

Entry qualification

Undergraduate diploma (or higher) At least a Bachelor degree or postgraduate diploma from a UK university or equivalent. The degree must be in a relevant subject The minimum entry requirement for admission is a Lower Second class degree (or an international equivalent). Applications are accepted from able graduates from all subject areas. Students with a computing degree cannot be considered for this course and should apply instead for the MSc Advanced Computer Science programme. The entry qualification documents are accepted in the following languages: English. Often you can get a suitable transcript from your school. If this is not the case, you will need official translations along with verified copies of the original. Upload documents in original language and translations. Take originals along when you go to study.

Language requirements	English Accepted proof of proficiency: FCE, CAE or CPE, IELTS 6.5+ or TOEFL 90+ IELTS : Score 6.5 with no less than 6.0 in any band. Or Cambridge English(CAE): Advanced Minimum overall score of 176, with no less than 169 in any component. Please note: TOEFL IBT test will not be accepted for September 2015 entry.

Other requirements	At least 2 reference(s) should be provided. Two academic references (or if appropriate to the programme applied for, one could be from your employer).

More information	birmingham.ac.uk/..e/computer-science.aspx

Overview

Interested? To learn more about this study programme, entry requirements and application process, please contact one of our consultants in a country nearest to you.

Programme structure

Computer security is about designing systems that resist attack. As computers become ever more prevalent and ever more connected with each other, the opportunities for attackers become even greater, and the need to resist them becomes more urgent. Computing infrastructure is now vital for communication, government, commerce, and control of our physical environment, and is a potential target of terrorist and criminal attacks. Graduates who understand the computer security technologies that underpin products and practices to secure it will be in great demand.

This is a one-year full-time degree programme for graduates in a computing-related discipline. It covers the theory and practice of designing and building secure systems and gives you a firm grounding in cryptography, network security and secure programming, with optional refresher modules in topics such as operating systems, safety-critical systems, distributed systems and databases.

The programme also gives you practical experience with technologies and toolkits for building internet-based software. All students undertake a large, personally supervised project in the final months of the course.

Our curriculum has been developed with the involvement of key individuals in the computing security industry. As well as advising us on the skills they seek when recruiting graduates, they also contribute directly to the MSc programme through guest lectures and project supervision. In recent years, we have had guest lecturers from Microsoft, Vodafone, Siemens, IBM and Hewlett Packard.

Career opportunities

Most students graduating from this programme move into industry to work on software development. Others use their new found skills and technical expertise to enhance their employment prospects in work related to their first degree. Each year some students join sales and software support teams in industry and commerce or start their own companies. A few embark on a PhD programme with us.

Examples of employers
Credit Suisse
Innovise
Atos
BAe Systems
Bank of America
J.P. Morgan
Logica
Tessella
Morgan Stanley
QinetiQ

Examples of occupations
Software Engineer
Software Developer
Technical Analyst
Applications Developer
Cyber Security Consultant
Design Engineer
Junior Programmer
Software Consultant
Technical Consultant
Technology Analyst

Further study – examples of courses
MSc Computer Security
MSc International Business
MEng Aeronautics & Astronautics
MSc Computer Science
MSc Artifical Intelligence
MSc Operational Research
MSc Imbedded Systems
PhD – Physical Sciences in the Biomedical Imaging
PhD – Computer Science