Hello I'm Dr. Gavin McArdle I'm the
director of the MSc Computer Science
conversion programme at UCD. The programme is
a skills conversion graduate programme for
individuals who hold a primary degree in
another discipline and would now like to
enter into an IT related career. Other
disciplines include: arts, music,
engineering and business. Applicants
should have an upper second-class
honours degree in a discipline other
than Computer Science. They should be
able to demonstrate a good knowledge of
mathematics, this can be through the
results of school or university
examinations. Applicants whose first
language is not English must also
demonstrate English language proficiency.
The full details of the entry
requirements can be found in the
brochure for this programme. The programme runs over 16 months and consists of 120
credits. Students commence the programme by taking 60 credits of core Computer
Science modules. They then complete a
research practicum before taking a final
30 credits of taught modules. Typically
in the first trimester, which is the
Autumn trimester, students take modules
in: programming, in particular in Python;
Relational Databases & Information
Systems, Operating Systems, Web
Application Development and
Computational Thinking. In the second
trimester, which is the spring trimester,
students continue studying: Data
Structures & Algorithms, Networks &
Internet Systems, Computer Architecture &
Organisation, they're also introduced to
a second programming language which is
Java. Projects in software engineering
and data analytics are also provided. In
the third trimester, which is the summer
trimester, students complete a 30
credit research practicum. This is
essentially a research and development
project students complete in groups.
After completing the research practicum
students continue their studies by
completing the final 30 credits of
taught modules or modules offered by the
school.
Topics include Data Science, Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence and
Cognitive Science. Graduates of the
programme have gone on
to have careers in many international
and national companies, in roles such as,
software engineers, developers and data
scientists. The programme will commence in
September 2020. UCD is responding with
flexibility and imagination to the
current COVID-19 crisis. We recognise that face-to-face contact may be minimised or
limited in the year ahead and so we've
developed a variety of mixed delivery
options. These will ensure that students
experience participating in class driven
learning in a vibrant community that is
UCD and the School of Computer Science.
EU applicants can apply directly online
now, however, the programme is not taking
further Non-EU applications for 2020 at
present. Thank you for your interest in
this programme.
