******* M.Sc. Advanced Information Systems ******

******* ADVANCED STUDY WITH FUNDING AVAILABLE ******


The M.Sc. in Advanced Information Systems is a challenging and powerful
postgraduate course which provides up-to-the-minute high-level expertise in
the range of complex computing systems at the heart of modern media and
enterprise.

Extremely marketable skills are developed through advanced postgraduate
study achieving a flexibility in thinking and technical expertise which is
welcomed in a rapidly changing industry as well as providing preparation
for future postgraduate study. AIS Graduates are very well qualified for
research or development work in industry, commerce, or the public sector.

The course is taught in a top-rated research environment by international
experts in their fields and overseen by an industrial board to ensure
sustained industrial relevance.

We are looking for recent Computing Science graduates with good degrees who
want to build on their first degree.  For such students, EPSRC
scholarships are available. Progression to PhD is possible.

The course is organised into an initial 5 month modular taught component
followed by a 6 month project. Modules on offer for 1999-2000 academic year
will be:

	* Technical foundations for creative media
	* Information retrieval
	* Building interactive information systems
	* Persistent and distributed systems


*******

Richard Cooper, Course Director, will answer questions regarding the course.

email: [log in to unmask]

*******

Background information is available at
http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/courses/MScPhD_AIS/.

Application packs are available by e-mailing [log in to unmask]

******

Here is a profile from one of our current students:

My first degree  was a mixture of psychology and computing subjects.

My postgraduate study is a Master of Science degree in Advanced Information
Systems. The course is partly taught and partly research. The
first six months consists of lectures in Information Retrieval, Interactive
Systems, Persistent and Distributed Systems and Technical
Foundations of Creative Media.

This is followed by a project which can be chosen from one or more of these
areas. I have chosen to do my project in the area of Information Retrieval
and am looking at methods of improving the performance of Internet search
engines.

The first part of the course involved a lot of time spent in lectures, then
tracking down papers in the library and preparing presentations to be
delivered to the rest of the class. Now, most of my time is spent in the
AIS lab, where we have access to a mixture of Windows NT,Macintosh and Unix
machines.

I chose this course because of the reputation of the department for the
quality of its research (it is one of only 6 in the UK to achieve the
prestigious 5* rating for research of international standing). The Masters
course gave me the
opportunity to get a wide view of the research being done at Glasgow before
I had to commit myself to doing research in a specific area.

Choosing further study rather than going out to work was a difficult
decision. However, I feel the extra year will increase my long-term
prospects
and studying the Masters has helped me get interviews with several top
companies. The course has a powerful supporting Industrial Board.

The Masters has also given me the chance to see if I would prefer an
academic career. IT has taught me a lot about what is involved and has put
me in a good position to continue to do further research. Several of the
final projects on offer give you the opportunity to produce papers of
sufficient merit to be published in academic journals.

The biggest change from undergraduate study is the fact that the course is
assessed solely on the basis of your project. You choose the project
from a wide range suggested by members of the department or you can suggest
your own. This means you can finally follow your own interests rather than
having to worry about what someone else wants you to learn for an exam.

I'd recommend the course to anyone who is interested in working in any of
the areas covered by the course.


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%