Advanced Computing

The MSc in Advanced Computing is a taught postgraduate course aimed at excellent students who have a substantial background in computing.

Applicants who want to study advanced computing concepts and technologies in more depth are the natural target for this course. The expectation of graduates is that this course enables them to have rewarding careers in Computing or in a profession that has Computing or IT as a core component.

The MSc programme consists of several integrated parts:

• Students select eight taught courses in total during the Autumn and Spring terms, each with lectures and associated coursework or laboratory work.
• Students may replace one of the eight courses with an individual study option (ISO), a course completed under supervision and leading to a report and presentation. An ISO can be undertaken in the Spring term only.
• Students must in addition complete a practical course, either Prolog or Software Engineering for Industry, which consists of practical assignments in the Autumn term.
• Students may complete both practical courses, the second replacing one taught course.
• Students complete an individual project in the Summer term, containing an element of original work.
• Students may also freely attend any of the professional skills courses offered on the Imperial Graduate School's MasterClass programme.

Each course is timetabled for approximately 27 hours, either in the Autumn term (October - December), or in the Spring term (January - March), and students are expected to spend up to an additional 75 hours in independent study. It is usual that students on this programme study 4 or 5 courses in each term. All taught courses are examined by courseworks and a written examination. Autumn term courses are examined at the end of the Autumn term, in December, and Spring term courses are examined at the end of the Spring term, in March. The practical courses are examined by practical assignments, and in the case of Prolog by a laboratory-based test in January. 

In week 1 of the Autumn term all students attend a short introduction to Prolog and Matlab regardless of which practical course they eventually choose to do. A knowledge of Matlab is recommended for several courses later in the year. For Prolog, students can proceed from the short introduction to the full Prolog practical course. Prolog (as covered by the full Prolog practical course) is a prerequisite for some later courses and recommended for others. 

The choice of optional courses and projects available to students may, to some extent, be restricted by the schedule of lectures and the availability of staff. The list of options offered may be adjusted slightly from time to time. In addition to the eight examined courses, students may attend further taught courses not for examination, if they wish.

The individual project is started at the end of the Spring term. The project is undertaken full-time leading to submission of a thesis in the middle of September. The project is expected to contain some element of original work. Students may wish to complement the foundational material of the first two terms with practical, applied work during the project. It is possible for a project to involve informal collaboration with one of the many industrial organisations with whom the Department has contacts, and a period of up to three months may be spent outside the College, as long as regular contact is maintained with the project supervisor. Details must be agreed beforehand with the Course Director.

List of Courses

Compulsory

Autumn and Spring

• 534 Short Introduction to Prolog and Matlab

Summer

• 523 MAC Individual Project

Selective: Choose the equivalent of between five and eight full courses from the list below. Courses whose number ends in H are half courses.

Autumn

• 404H Separation Logic: Local Reasoning about Programs (Half Course)

• 405H Computing in Space with OpenSPL (Half Course)

• 406H Concurrent Processes (Half Course)

• 407H Medical Image Computing (Half Course)

• 408H Privacy Enhancing Techniques (Half Course)

• 421 Computational Neurodynamics

• 424 Machine Learning and Neural Computation

• 438 Complexity

• 471 Advanced Issues in Object Oriented Programming

• 477 Computing for Optimal Decisions

• 491 Knowledge Representation

• 499H Modal Logic (Half Course)

Spring

• 409 Cryptography Engineering

• 410H Scalable Distributed Systems Design (Half Course)

• 417 Advanced Computer Graphics

• 422 Computational Finance

• 429 Parallel Algorithms

• 436H Performance Analysis (Half Course)

• 470 Program Analysis

• 474 Argumentation and Multi-agent Systems

• 493 Intelligent Data and Probabilistic Inference

• 495 Advanced Statistical Machine Learning and Pattern Recognition

• 512 Independent Study Option

Selective: Choose the equivalent of between one and two full courses from the list below. Courses whose number ends in H are half courses.

Autumn

• 531 Prolog

Spring

• 475 Software Engineering for Industry

Optional: Choose the equivalent of between zero and two full courses from the list below. Courses whose number ends in H are half courses.

Autumn

• 312 Advanced Databases

• 316 Computer Vision

• 320 Complex Systems

• 382 Type Systems for Programming Languages

• 395 Machine Learning

Spring

• 303 Systems Verification

• 304 Logic-Based Learning

• 318 Custom Computing

• 331 Network and Web Security

• 332 Advanced Computer Architecture

• 347 Distributed Algorithms

The minimum qualification for admission is normally at least an Upper Second Class Honors
degree from a UK academic institution or an equivalent overseas qualification, together with
some computing experience. Where an applicant has a lesser degree qualification but has
several years of relevant experience, the MSc Admissions Tutor may submit a special case for
admission to the College.

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Imperial College Master's Scholarship scheme

APPLICATIONS FOR 2014–15 ENTRY ARE NOW CLOSED. Please revisit this page in the new year for updates relating to 2015 entry.

The Imperial College Master's Support Scheme was part of the HEFCE Postgraduate Support Scheme, which offered an outstanding opportunity for students applying for our taught Master's programmes.

The Imperial scheme provided financial assistance totalling £1.5 million to academically excellent Home undergraduate students or recent Home graduates who might otherwise have been deterred from postgraduate study because of financial constraints.

Successful applicants in their final year as an undergraduate or recent graduates with a strong desire to undertake a taught Master’s programme at a world class institution, were selected to receive support for tuition fees and, in some cases, a stipend to help with living expenses. Self-funded students on MRes courses were also eligible.

Value of the award

Successful candidates with a household income of £25,000 or less will receive full tuition fee support up to £10,000 and a £5,000 stipend.

Successful candidates with a household income of between £25,000 and £42,611 will receive full tuition fee support up to £10,000.

Eligibility

To be considered for this Scheme applicants had to:

• Hold an offer, as a Home fee paying student, to study a full time taught Master's degree starting in October 2014 in the Faculties of Natural Sciences, Engineering or Medicine.

• Have been assessed as eligible for a government maintenance grant (e.g SFE, SLC, NHS, etc.) in the final year of their undergraduate study in one of the following years: 2011/12, 2012/13 or 2013/14.

Evidence of government maintenance grant eligibility was required as described above:

• Imperial College undergraduate or graduate, were required to notify the Student Financial Support team of their intention to apply for this scheme. We liaised with the relevant funding authority (e.g. Student Finance England) to confirm their household income level. 

• Undergraduates or graduates from any other university, were required to send a copy of their Final Notification Letter provided by their funding authority to the Studen

• Financial Support team. 

• Applicants in their final year and awaiting final degree classification, were required to send confirmation of their final degree classification to the Student Financial Support team as soon as they receive it from their institution. 

Selection process

Successful scholars will have a household income of less than £42,611 and will be selected based on academic excellence.

Terms and conditions

Scholarships and bursaries

Both scholarships and bursaries are sources of funding offered by Imperial. In general, undergraduate scholarships are for those who are both academically excellent and/or in financial need, whereas postgraduate scholarships are primarily awarded based on academic excellence.

Bursaries are awarded based solely on financial circumstances.

Before applying

1. You must quote your College Identifier (CID) number when corresponding with the College.

2. The scholarships we offer are limited and highly competitive. You must have sufficient funding in place before enrolling on your course.

3. Unless otherwise stated, the scholarships advertised are only available to prospective students applying for full-time courses.

4. The award period will generally commence on the first day of the academic year which you have applied for (e.g. 1 October 2012).

5. Scholarship applications will only be considered following an offer of admission. Only if you fulfil all the eligibility criteria (that is, if you meet the requirements) of the scholarship, will you be considered.

6. If there is no separate scholarship application form to be submitted, we will use your admission application form and references provided. These documents may therefore also be passed to stakeholders involved in the selection process.

7. Please do not send in supporting documents unless the scholarship application process specifically asks you to do so.

8. Funding deadlines are strictly adhered to and any application received after the closing date will not be accepted.

Successful award recipients

9. Agreeing to these terms and conditions and supplying your UK bank details

a) All scholarship and bursary payments will be made to the UK bank account details held on your Student e-Service account. You are able to log into your Student e-Service account and make changes to your bank details at any time after you’ve accepted your admissions offer.
b) By submitting your bank details via the Student Funding tab in Imperial’s Student e-Service portal, and/or bursary form, you are confirming that you agree with the terms and conditions of the award.
c) It may take a few weeks to set up your bursary payments and your UK bank account (if applicable); therefore you should bring sufficient funds to cover your living expenses during this time. Initial payment dates may vary; it is your responsibility to ensure you are aware of when payments will be made.
d) The award is subject to you fulfilling any outstanding conditions of admission.
e) Funds will only be released in line with your registration at College and you will need to ensure your bank details are up to date.
f) Payment Dates: Payments are normally made on the 7th day of each month; bank details should be updated before the 24th day of the preceding month to ensure payment is not delayed. Undergraduate payments will commence from 7th November. Postgraduate payments will commence on the 7th of the month following your registration.

10. Please make sure that you have completed all the steps necessary to register for the academic year in which you wish to receive payment. Please note that new award holders will also need to have fulfilled all of their conditions of offer before they are able to register.

11. All Imperial scholarships are subject to satisfactory academic progression. If the duration of your scholarship is longer than 12 months, it will be renewable annually.

12. Awards will not generally be made to those already holding a full scholarship from another source; please inform Student Financial Support, and/or any other department which has offered you an award, immediately if you are granted more than one award, even if you have already accepted our award. If you wish to hold several partial awards concurrently, this will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

13. Scholarships are not generally awarded to students who are writing-up.

14. Applicants wishing to study at UK partner institutions are not eligible for Imperial College London scholarships.

15. Undergraduate Financial Support / Imperial Bursary Package

a) To be eligible to receive an Imperial Bursary you must have been assessed for means tested funding from Student Finance England (or equivalent funding authority) and have a household income below the Imperial household income threshold for your cohort. You must contact us if this is not the case. Any previous study may affect your entitlement.
b) The College reviews household income information (which it receives from Student Finance England, etc.) on a continuous basis. A change in your household income may result in a change in your Imperial Bursary. Any overpayments will be reclaimed.
c) The Imperial Bursary is available for each year of your course excluding repeat years of study and NHS funded years for Medical courses. If you change from a 3 year to a 4 year course at Imperial you will be awarded a further year’s bursary. You should contact us about any course changes as soon as possible.
d) Students on paid placements might not be eligible for the Imperial Bursary.
e) To be eligible for the Imperial Bursary, we must receive your household income from the Student Loans Company by 1 May following the start of your academic year.

16. If you have been offered funding by the Research Councils, please ensure that you have read the most up-to-date postgraduate funding guide; you will need to adhere to the terms and conditions laid out there.

17. Deferrals, withdrawals and interruption of studies

a) You must inform the Student Financial Support team immediately of any interruptions to your study, particularly if they are likely to affect your attendance and registration status at College.
b) If you withdraw from your course or take an interruption of study (IOS) you must notify us immediately. If you take an IOS your bursary will be postponed until you re-register.
c) Bursaries and scholarships are not transferable. If you transfer to another institution or withdraw from the College, any payments due to you will be cancelled and any overpayments are recoverable.
d) We will not provide scholarship or bursary support for any period of repeat study.
e) Awards cannot be deferred.

18. Student Financial Support may at any time, at their discretion, withdraw or recover an award for breach of any of the above conditions.

19. The College reserves the right to place a limit on financial support where a student is in receipt of other funding.

20. Information on students is shared within the Imperial College community and donors (where applicable and relevant to your award) in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

a) Where awards have specific eligibility criteria (e.g. satisfactory academic progression), supporting evidence may be shared with named donors in order to verify continued eligibility.
b) Award recipients may be expected to meet with donors.

21. If you are in receipt of an award to study that is restricted to students on the basis of nationality or residency; please note that, in accordance with the Equality Act 2010, you must not intend to exercise in Great Britain skills you have obtained as a result of your training at the College and you must not be ordinarily resident in an EEA state.

22. These terms and conditions are the formal rules which regulate centrally funded awards. As such, there are no appeal procedures associated with funding from the Student Financial Support team.

A Postgraduate Certificate and Postgraduate Diploma are not available on this programme.

Academic requirements http://www.imperial.ac.uk/study/ug/apply/requirements/ugacademic/

Our department may generally ask for better grades for admission into our postgraduate courses than those required by our college.