Software Engineering for Financial Services

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Financial services are not only one of the most dynamic sectors of the economy but also one of the two largest customers of IT. This MSc is offered together with the Department of Economics in order to give you both a command of the software technologies that financial institutions require to 'embrace the challenge of change' and of the business context and organisational structures that IT systems need to support.

This MSc programme concentrates on architectures for building scalable financial software systems, thus preparing software engineers for a plethora of jobs in the financial industry. In particular it considers technologies and techniques that are particularly relevant for the challenges of the financial market, predominantly a need to migrate from mission-critical, monolithic legacy systems to more flexible architectures that allow speedy reaction to customer and business partners needs. The technical aspect must be seen in the context of the business environment, where software engineers typically interact with a world of financial jargon and departments with specialised roles and needs.

Duration and mode of study
12 months for October entry and 16 months for January entry.

Teaching and assessment methods
Teaching is by a variety of methods including lectures, seminars, self-paced learning and practicals. Assessment of taught modules is by coursework and examination. Coursework consists of a mixture of computer-based practicals, essays and small group projects. The compulsory Personal and Group Skills module combines attendance of seminars, group discussions and collective essay writing on topics selected for the seminars, as well as attendance at a series of workshops on transferable skills and career planning. The industry placement and project are assessed separately.

Course modules
Each course consists of five core modules and three option modules (at least one must be from List 1). Students progressing to an MSc also undertake a project.

Core Modules

* Corporate Finance
* Financial Information Systems
* Service-Oriented Architectures
* System Re-engineering
* Personal and Group Skills

Option modules are chosen from the following lists:
List 1

* Advanced System Design
* Domain Specific Languages
* Game Theory in Computer Science
* Generative Development
* International Money and Finance
* Networking and Distributed Computing
* Principles of Banking
* Software Measurements and Quality Assurance

List 2

* Analysis and Design of Algorithms
* Applied Numerical Mathematics
* Communication and Concurrency
* Compression Methods for Multimedia
* Cryptography and Information Security
* Distribution Systems and Applications
* Financial Mathematics
* Operations Research
* Systems Modelling
* Wavelets and Signal Processing
* Web Technologies

Plus some Economics modules as additional options.

MSc with industry
Industry placement

The industry placement is undertaken between the taught part of the course and the individual project. Its aim is to allow students to acquire industrial experience and, especially, develop an appreciation of how the skills acquired in the taught part relate to problems in industry. If for some reason students cannot or decide not to go on a placement, they revert to the normal variant of the course and proceed immediately to the individual project.

Individual project

An individual project is undertaken full-time after the industry placement. Using the experience gained during the placement, students choose a challenging problem to work on and explore it by privately studying under the supervision of a member of the academic staff.

Normally 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. English Language Requirements CAE score: (read more) Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) is part of the Cambridge English suite and is targeted at a high level (IETLS 6.5-8.0). It is an international English language exam set at the right level for academic and professional success. Developed by Cambridge English Language Assessment - part of the University of Cambridge - it helps you stand out from the crowd as a high achiever. 75 (Grade B)