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******* M.Sc. Advanced Information Systems ******  
Computing Science Department 
University of Glasgow 
******* 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 flexibilty 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 6 month modular taught component
followed by a 6 month project. Modules on offer for 1999-2000 academic year
will be: 

* Technical Foundations of 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 isfollowed 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. 

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