Degree Objectives

The role of the software engineering stream, in the MSc in Computer Science is the development of quality software, coupled with the transfer of this knowledge to industry. Topics include requirements engineering, system design, testing strategies and software development primarily using Java, with an overall emphasis on the development of reliable software systems.

The primary emphasis in this stream is on the principles of good scientific software engineering practice, grounded in a hands-on understanding of the applicability of these practices, so that successful participants will be able to lead major software engineering projects. Consequently, this stream entails significant involvement of industry, including the opportunity of completing an industrial based project where the student will obtain experience of the software industry. (for more general information see our Postgraduate Prospectus).

Entry Requirements

Admission will normally be restricted to graduates who have achieved a 1st class honours degree, or better, in Computer Science or a closely-related discipline.

Very highly-qualified applicants from other disciplines may be considered. Ideally, applicants will be currently working in the software industry, either in Ireland or abroad. Participants may work in their own companies for the industrial placement module of the degree.

Applicants from Ireland's other universities and Institutes of Technology are welcomed.

Note that this degree requires students to have a very good initial knowledge of Computer Science.

Applications can be made through the online postgraduate application system – PAC here. 

International students should supply evidence of their ability for the English Language (e.g. IELTS) and may obtain information regarding visas etc from the International Office at NUIM.

Degree Structure

The degree is run as a series of modules - with at least eight modules offered per year. In general each module consists of:

• five days of full-time lectures followed by
• five days for the completion of marked assignments (which may be done off-campus).

The module lectures run from mid September to December, and from the end of January to the end of April. Exan=mination periods are typically in January and May of each year, during which modules offered in the previous semester are examined. Each module is run only once per year and the modules offered will vary from year to year. Some of these modules will be taught by staff of the Department of Computer Science, NUIM; and some will be taught by other Irish and International experts.

The degree can be taken full-time over a single year or part-time over two or on a modular basis over more that two years. Part time and modular student need to arrange their availability to attend lectures from 9.30- 5pm Monday-Friday during the lecture day of modules that they wish to attend.

Modules List 2011/2012

The course for 2011/2012 will consist of the following 11 modules. (Modules may be substituted or additional modules added from time to time at the discretion of the Department of Computer Science.)

Work Placement

There is a minimum requirement of six months work placement. Placements commence from May onwards. Students can apply for a placement position through the computer science Industrial Placement Office. Students may also arrange their own placement and in this instance a job description, company details, contact name of the line-manager and human resources manager must be supplied to the computer science department industrial placement office before the student can be allowed to take up their position.

The industrial placement office is available to students throughout the year, both before and during placement and will assist with visa renewal, interview preparation, CV preparation etc.

Assessment: A successful report is required to be submitted. Details will be circulated by the course director via the course website.

Dissertation

All participants will be required to contribute to the execution of a non-trivial software engineering project. This project work will develop each student's ability to work effectively on a challenging topic: to research alternative solutions, develop a solution, and to evaluate both the usefulness of the solution and the process that lead to it.

The thesis topic may be proposed by either the student or a member of staff and should be approved by the course co-ordinator. The dissertation submitted may be either research or industrially based. It must be directly pertaining to the MSc specialisation that the student is undertaking. A Thesis Proposal Form (sample provided) should be completed  and emailed to the course co-ordinator by the July after which the student has commenced the course. Dissertation must be completed by the end of the following January. Details and exact dates will be circulated by the course director via the course website.

The marks for the dissertation contribute to 33% of the final degree mark (counting as 4 modules). The marking scheme is as follows: work placement dissertation and the research article marking scheme.

Sample MSc Dissertations: Research Paper (140kb) ; Work Placement Thesis (550kb) Another Work Placement thesis (1.731Mb.) Some recently submitted dissertations are available for viewing in the course directors office.

Important : The deadline for submission of a draft dissertation for review before 5pm on Dec 1 each year. Drafts submitted after this date can only be submitted on agreement with the supervisor and there will be no onus on the supervisor to review the thesis. This date allows the supervisor an adequate period to review the dissertation, to provide feedback and to allow the student to prepare a final draft by the submission date of before January 31st.

  Rules and Regulations

The course is worth a total of 90 credits; 60 credits are allocated to the taught modules, with each having the same credit value. 22.5 credits are allocated to the dissertation module and 7.5 credits are allocated to the work experience module.

Students will be required to pass (or compensate in) eight taught modules, a required dissertation module and a required work experience module. The taught modules must consist of three Required Modules (CS603, CS605 and CS613 in 2008/09) and five elective modules

The pass mark for all modules is 50%. In the case where the student does not obtain 50% in a module that is non-required, they may compensate with a mark greater than 39%, provided their overall average mark is 50% in the eight taught modules. No more than two non-required modules may be passed by compensation.

Students may only repeat failed modules with the permission of the course coordinator, provided there is availability of resources. There are no repeats in the Autumn examinations and students need to reapply in writing for the next academic year. Students who wish to repeat a failed module must repeat the entire module, including all course work and lectures. There is no guarantee that the same modules will be available in successive years.

On completion of the course work a dissertation must be submitted (see relevant section). It is weighted as 4 modules (33% of total) and must also be passed in order for the MSc to be awarded.

Any student failing to meet the pass requirements as stated above will be considered for a PostGraduate Diploma in Science (Software Engineering) where the requirements are an average of 40% in 8 modules. See the Postgraduate Diploma in Science (Software Engineering) page for further details. This postgraduate diploma was previously known as the "Higher Diploma in Science (Software Engineering)". Its new title reflects that this diploma builds on students previous undergraduate qualifications in computer science. 

Participants must complete -or have already completed- a period of between 6 and 12 months in an industrial setting. Our placement officer will assist you to find such an industrial placement, if required.

Copying or plagiarism as defined in the departmental handbook is completely forbidden and will result in disciplinary action, with potential expulsion from the course. Students are reminded to check the university calendar to ensure that prerequisite modules are taken prior to other modules.

The rules for students who registered prior to the academic year 2005/06 remain as in previous years (9 modules + dissertation weighted at 25%)

Part-Time Students

The taught component of each module is delivered during 5 days of intensive lectures, facilitating students from industry who wish to take this course part-time. In fact, this MSc course has been designed to accommodate students who are in full-time employment but who wish to take this course on a part-time modular basis.

Typically, students take the course over two or three years, gradually accumulating the required modules. This requires taking 20 days off work during each academic year, to attend the selected modules. Practical work for each module is normally completed off campus (during the evenings or at weekends) and does not necessitate additional time from work.Extra days of work are usualy required during the examination period.

Fees (academic year 2011/2012 expected)

Full-time EU nationals fees in 2011/12 is €2,750  as a result of support from the National Development plan (NDP) through the HEA (Higher Education Authority) New Graduate Skills Conversion Programme.

Part-time EU: national students pay €1,700 per year as a result of support from the New Graduate Skills Conversion Programme (expected).

The full time/part time tuition fee for Non-EU nationals was €13,500 per year (2010/11).

It should be noted that  students on work placements normally receive a salary. Further details on fees information is available from the fees office (fees website) around mid July each year.

Per-Module fee has not been announced yet.

Scholarship Information

Timetable 2011-12(Provisional):

MSc in C.S. (Software Engineering) Provisional Timetable (2011/2012)

Semester 1a timetable (Confirmed)

26th September - 21st October will consist of CS605 and CS613 delivered in block mode i.e one week of lectures followed by one week of practical work as follows:

• CS605 - will be lectured from 26th - 30th Sept with practicals from 3rd -7th October.
• CS613 - will be lectured from 10th - 14th Oct with practicals from 17th - 21st October.

Location: North Campus, Callan Building Extension, (#22 on the map below), Ground floor - Room 1.39a.

Map: http://www.nuim.ie/location/maps/north.shtml

Semester 1b timetable (Confirmed)

24th Oct - 16th December will consist of CS607 and CS603 each delivered for 1 day per week (with practicals being held on intervening days).

• CS607 - will start on October 24th 2011 and will be taught on 5 Mondays with practicals on Tuesdays from 9:30am - 1pm
• CS603  - will start on October 27th 2011 and will be taught on 5 Thursdays with practicals on Fridays from 9:30am - 1pm

For exact dates of lectures please consult your lecturer/course co-ordinator.

Note: CS608 has moved to semester 2(b). Details to follow later.

Semester 2a timetable (Confirmed).

Note: CS621 will not be offered this coming semester.

30 Jan - 9 March 2012 will consist of CS610 and CS615 each delivered for 1 day per week (with practicals being held on intervening days) over 6 weeks.

• CS615 - will be taught on 5 Tuesdays with practicals on Wednesdays from 2pm - 5:30pm
• CS610  - will be taught on 5 Thursdays with practicals on Fridays from 9:30am - 1pm

For exact dates of lectures please consult your lecturer/course co-ordinator.

Semester 2b timetable (Provisional - to be confirmed in January).

12 March - 4 May 2012 will consist of CS608, CS619 and CS616 will be delivered 1 day per week (with practicals being held on intervening days) over 6 weeks. Note that 19th-23rd March is a study week and 9th -13th April is the Easter Vacation.

• CS608 - will be taught on Mondays with practicals on Wednesdays.
• CS619 - will be taught on Tuesdays with practicals on Wednesdays.
• CS616 - will be taught on Thursdays with practicals on Fridays.

For exact dates of lectures please consult your lecturer/course co-ordinator.

Exams - Timetable

All exams are 3 hours and will be held in January/ May each year. The official timetables will be published by the examinations office.

Course Feedback

Course feedback may be sought using the standard course feedback form. Forms should be returned to the course director. Some course lecturers may have their own course-specific feedback forms.

Policies Relating To Examination Results

The following policies are currently in place:
(1) Module practical exam marks from week 1 can be given to students prior to the module examination.
(2) Project exam marks will be given to students following an examination board meeting.
(3) Previous exam papers will be made available
(4) Copies of examination papers and scripts for the current year can only be given to students after the university exam board meeting, usually held in June.
(5) There are no repeat exams at the moment- consult the course co-ordinator for further information.

Important Dates (2011/2012) (provisional)

The Java programming workshop is expected to being for MSc(SE) students on September 12th, 2011. 
Term will officially commence on September 19th, 2011. However the first module is expected to begin on Monday September 26  at 09:30am in Lab 1.39a downstairs in the Callan Building.
Information regarding Registration is available here. Registration of incoming MSc in C.S. (Software Engineering) will be held on  September 21st at 9:30am 2011. Registration of incoming PG Diploma in C.S. (Software Engineering) will be held on  September 22nd 2011 at 11am.    

Graduation ceremonies are expected to be held in September and October each year.

Application

Applications are accepted throughout the year through the online Postgraduate Application Centre - www.PAC.ie.
Priority will be given to early applicants.
Please provide a full CV including a full Transcript Of Results for all university subjects you have taken. If relevant, please also list all modules you are studying in your current academic year. Please include all other relevant information that might assist in your application.

Contact Information (2011/2012)

Course Co-ordinator: Dr. Rosemary Monahan,
Application is via http://www.pac.ie/

The course co-ordinator can be contacted by:
Email --- smsc-cd at cs.nuim.ie
Phone --- +353 (0)1 708 3847
FAX --- +353 (0)1 708 3848

About NUI Maynooth – Location and Information

NUIM a constituent University of the National University of Ireland, with over 8,000 students including almost 1,800 postgraduates. NUIM is located in the University town of Maynooth, with a population of around 10,000 people - though this varies considerably during term time. Maynooth is also a commuter town for Dublin, enjoying excellent public and private bus operators, regular rail connection, and the M4 motorway.

See the NUIM location and transport information for details. Check out the variety of daily and weekly bus connections to various destination across Ireland.

See also our interactive map. Lectures will take place in the Computer Science Department, Callan Building (building 22 on the map of the North campus). Also, check out the image gallery created by some of our undergraduate students.

History of the National University of Ireland Maynooth (NUIM)

In 1795 Grattan's Parliament passed an Act which created an academy "for the better education of persons professing the popish or Roman Catholic religion". The new College, under the influence of the Duke of Leinster was to be founded in Maynooth and in time it became not only Ireland's national seminary, but also the largest seminary in the world. (see a description of Maynooth published in 1837).

In 1896 St Patrick's College Maynooth attained the status of a Pontifical University for its courses in Theology, Philosophy and Canon Law. Following the foundation of The National University of Ireland, Maynooth became a Recognised College of that federal structure in 1910. In 1966 St Patrick's College opened its doors to lay students and its population grew rapidly over the next three decades. In 1997 the Faculties of Arts, Science, Celtic Studies and Philosophy were united in a newly established constituent university of the National University of Ireland (NUI).

NUI Maynooth's traditional core strengths have been augmented by new developments in Finance, Computer Science, Software Engineering and Electronic Engineering, Business and Law. It sees itself as an institution which links a rich history with a distinct mission in a rapidly developing modern Ireland.

Maynooth Town

See NUI Maynooth local area information, the Wikipedia entry on Maynooth town  or the International Office's also lists useful links about Maynooth.

Computer Science Department , NUI Maynooth
Tel: +353-1-708 3847 | Fax: +353-1-708 3848| Email: admin@cs.nuim.ie