StudyQA — Master: Artificial Intelligence

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The MSc in Artificial Intelligence is a one-year taught programme run by the School of Computer Science. The course consists of two semesters of taught modules followed by an 11-week project leading to the submission of a 15,000-word dissertation in August.

Highlights

The MSc in Artificial Intelligence is a specialist course but retains some flexibility, allowing students to pursue other areas of computer science alongside the compulsory specialist modules.
Students undertake a significant project, including a wide-ranging investigation and a substantial software development, leading to their dissertation, which enables them to consolidate and extend their specialist knowledge and critical thinking.
Students have 24-hour access to modern computing laboratories, provisioned with dual-screen PC workstations and group-working facilities.

The taught portion of the MSc programme includes eight modules: five compulsory and three optional from a wide range available. Teaching methods include lectures, seminars, tutorials and practical classes. Most modules are assessed through practical coursework exercises and examinations. Class sizes typically range from 10 to 50 students.

All students are assigned an advisor who meets with them at the start of the year to discuss module choices and is available to assist with any academic difficulties during the year. A designated member of staff provides close supervision for the MSc project and dissertation.

Compulsory modules

Masters Core Skills: equips students with essential skills in a range of topics including technical writing for computer science and information technology, presentation skills, research skills and project planning, all reinforced by practical assignments.
Object-Oriented Modelling, Design and Programming: introduces and reinforces object-oriented modelling, design and implementation to provide a common basis of skills, allowing students to complete programming assignments within other MSc modules.
Artificial Intelligence Principles: foundational knowledge of artificial intelligence (AI) with an overview of AI and its philosophy.
Artificial Intelligence Practice: practical design and implementation of artificial intelligence (AI), covering techniques in the areas of AI reasoning, planning, doing and learning.

And one or both of:

Language and Computation: covers the major aspects of natural language processing and speech understanding.
Constraint Programming: introduces constraint-based reasoning as a powerful mechanism for knowledge representation and inference.

Optional modules

Masters Programming Projects
Software Engineering Principles
Software Engineering Practice
Critical Systems Engineering
Software Architecture
Human Computer Interaction Principles and Methods
Interactive Software and Hardware
User-Centred Interaction Design
Information Visualisation and Visual Analytics
Large-Scale Systems
Database Management Systems
Web Technologies
Information Security Management
Green Information Technology
Information Technology Projects
Knowledge Discovery and Datamining

Additional optional modules

Computer Graphics
Distributed Systems
Programming Language Design and Implementation
Computer Architecture
Computer Security
Concurrency and Multi-Core Architectures
Multimedia
Video Games

Dissertation

During the second semester, students work with staff to define and agree upon a topic for the extended project, which they will work on during the final three months of the course, and which culminates in a 15,000-word dissertation. Dissertation projects may be group-based or completed individually (students are assessed individually in either case).

The dissertation typically comprises: a review of related work; the extension of existing or the development of new ideas; software implementation and testing; analysis and evaluation. Students are required to give a presentation of their work in addition to the written dissertation.

Each project is supervised by one or two members of staff, typically through regular meetings and reviews of software and dissertation drafts.

If students choose not to complete the dissertation requirement for the MSc, there is an exit award available that allows suitably qualified candidates to receive a Postgraduate Diploma instead, finishing the course at the end of the second semester of study.

Requirements

Postgraduate candidates will be expected to hold a Russian Bachelor’s degree - Diplom Bakalavra/ Bakalavr Diploma or a Specialist Degree issued by the Russian Federation - Specialist Diploma / Diplom Specialista. In either case, students should have completed their degree with an average mark (grade) of 4 or higher on the Russian 5-point marking scale. Students with higher level qualifications such as Magistr, the Kandidat Nauk, would also be considered for postgraduate study.
CV
Letter of intent (300 to 500 words)
Two original signed academic references
Academic transcripts and degree certificates
IELTS 7.0