Computer science and IT
Every year around 20,000 students undertake computer science related postgraduate courses. The discipline is wide ranging and involves everything from the study of computer languages, algorithms, databases and operating systems, to business process management issues and the psychology of how people interact and use computers.
Computer science is ingrained into almost everything we do and graduates with higher degrees in this area are highly employable across a wide range of companies and industries.
Microsoft, IBM and Google are the household names that always spring to mind when thinking about IT employers, but there are thousands of IT companies and pretty much every business in the UK uses IT in some capacity.
There are two main postgraduate study options for graduates with technical first degrees:
Masters
PhD
Masters (MSc, MRes)
Masters degrees can be either a one-year, taught course resulting in an MSc, or a research-based degree called an MRes. Graduates typically choose masters courses to specialise further in a particular area of technology, such as software systems engineering, bioinformatics, networking or animation design.
Doctorate (PhD, DPhil)
A doctorate is a research-based qualification. You'll need a good first degree and lots of commitment to your chosen subject as you will be focussing on it for three or four years. The aim of doing a PhD degree is to become an independent researcher, capable of generating interesting research ideas. The PhD degree is a higher level than a master degree and can open up many academic and industrial career possibilities.
Further postgraduate course advice and reading
Postgraduate IT conversion courses
Overview of common IT business areas
