Master of Science in Information Technology (Software Systems)

at Heriot-Watt University - Edinburgh Campus United Kingdom

Our four year BSc Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence) Honours degree is oriented to constructing robust and useable systems. We aim to teach people not just how to deploy cutting edge tools and techniques, but how to build the next generation of software tools that other system constructors will use. This course aims to give a well integrated balance of theoretical underpinnings and practical experience, strongly informed by the research expertise of our academic staff.

All Year 3 students take part in a year-long group project, where they co-operate in tackling a large, realistic problem. Year 4 students conduct a major, year-long, individual dissertation project.

The Artificial Intelligence specialism is gained through taking prescribed courses from the final year options (two of the following: Biologically Inspired Computation, Data Mining and Machine Learning, Intelligent Robotics) and having an approved AI topic for the final year project.

Construction Project Management at Heriot-Watt University is one of the longest-running courses of its kind in the UK, equipping graduates with the theoretical knowledge and practical and technical skills to manage people and projects within the construction industry.

To enhance your career prospects and international experience, we are now offering our established and standard one year Construction Project Management Masters over two years through offering a ‘with Industry Placement’ alternative.

This ‘with Industry Placement’ option offers a practical experiential element over the traditional one-year degree structure, allowing you to reflect on theory and practice.

This degree is delivered by the Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Design, a leading body recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering. This is one of four such centres established at UK universities that jointly form a national network to demonstrate and exchange best practice in teaching and research for the sustainable built environment.

Our Structural Engineering course is aimed at graduates and practising engineers. It’s designed to help improve your knowledge of structural and foundation engineering. The degree’s been developed together with a wide range of employers in the sector. So there’s a strong relationship between the course and the engineering industry. The course also builds directly on staff research activities, which include experimental, numerical and theoretical work. You’ll have access to excellent practical and advanced computer and networking facilities too.

This programme prepares candidates for entry into the malting, brewing or distilling industries, or to conduct research. It covers a broad range of subjects, from brewing science and chemical engineering, to business studies and production management.

The quickly developing craft industry, both in brewing and distilling, requires graduates with knowledge of modern instrumentation and this programme will ensure you build the skills and know-how required to perform successfully in the industry.

Our series of ‘Fit for work’ events held on campus include seminars, talks, networking and recruitment exercises and involve a range of industry professionals from graduates with their own companies, to representatives from the major breweries and distilling companies.

We are ranked 5th in the UK for Town and Country Planning in the Complete University Guide 2021.

Studying urban planning and property development at Heriot-Watt prepares you for a professional career in real estate investment, development, or urban planning and design. It brings together theoretical, practical and policy content from both town planning and real estate.

Our Urban Planning and Property Development course combines real estate management with urban and regional planning and design to provide a broad knowledge of the sector. You will learn key field work skills in surveying, mapping and key research skills whilst learning core modules in statistics and data analysis. Cross disciplinary working helps students acquire a mutual understanding between professions.

Sandwich year:

• A sandwich year option is available, giving students the opportunity to spend one year in a paid placement before completing the final year of study.

The postgraduate course in Urban Strategies and Design is delivered jointly by the Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ESALA) of the University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University.

This course addresses the current need for interdisciplinary knowledge. It encourages the adoption of a comprehensive approach towards the delivery of socially-sustainable urban transformation, from local-specific to strategic metropolitan and regional interventions. Students study the wide and diverse range of social, economic, and political processes that determine the contemporary urban environment, and acquire the tools and skills to propose urban projects of diverse scales and specificities.

The City of Edinburgh offers an urban laboratory for project- and site visit-based exploration of current urban design issues in the UK. Furthermore, the city’s historic 'Geddesian' planning links, and contemporary international links with urban-focused institutions and bodies provide a strong platform from which to support student-led, location-based research projects.

Challenging global market conditions continue to dominate the building and construction industry. Key to success are skilled employees, who can manage complex construction project issues, a rare resource nowadays.

This GA programme develops high-quality employees capable of playing key- and leadership roles in leading organisations across the construction industry, general contracting and consultancy.

The Construction and the Built Environment GA is aimed at employment in the areas of Architectural Technology, Building Surveying, Construction Buying and Procurement, Construction Management, Estimating and Tendering, Facilities Management, Planning and Development, Programming, Project Management, Property Surveying, Rural Surveying, Valuation and Quantity Surveying.

This GA programme is also fully accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) meaning that apprentices are on a pathway to becoming Chartered construction professionals.  Depending on the individual’s career development, this is most likely to be through the Quantity Surveying and Construction pathway or the Project Management pathway.

If you are looking for a career in the world of finance and love mathematical challenges, then Financial Mathematics is the degree for you. Just as civil engineering deals with the design, construction and maintenance of buildings and roads, financial mathematics is concerned with the design, construction and maintenance of financial products. It is well known that careers in financial mathematics offer some of the best salaries of all professions and graduates working in this area thrive on being offered many interesting challenges on a day-to-day basis.

Our Financial Mathematics programme develops the skills and knowledge required by the modern investment and asset management industry, where structured finance and relative value trading strateges dominate. The emphasis is on developing a range of practical skills relevant to the increasingly mathematical and ever-changing world of contemporary finance.

Financial Mathematics isn't just for aspiring bankers. The UK Government is the single biggest user of structured finance, through the Private Finance Initiative. Graduates are also attractive to the treasury function of international corporations and to the trading arm of commodities companies.

Students on the Financial Mathematics degree follow the same programme as Actuarial Science students for the first two years. The programmes diverge in third year and in the fourth year Financial Mathematics students will be able to study courses alongside Master's students on the Quantitative Finance and Mathematics programme. The aim is for Financial Mathematics graduates to achieve a skill set comparable to those graduating with a Master's degree.

Our MSc International Business Management with Project Management programme is aimed graduates who have little or no business or management background in their first degree and who wish to gain a broad based business qualification to enhance their future career prospects, or at those looking to develop business management knowledge and skills to allow them to change or further their careers.

This is a Conversion MSc
MSc International Business Management with Project Management is a conversion degree programme led by academics from Edinburgh Business School. It introduces the study of business and management to graduates and professionals from non-management backgrounds who wish to enhance their careers.

This degree introduces vital business knowledge to those with limited academic experience in the subject and provides an opportunity to develop versatile management skills in just one year of study. Coupled with specialist learning in the area of project management, it develops modern management skills to complement existing knowledge and prepare graduates for a career shift or management role.

Gain specialist skills to tackle global environmental challenges in human and physical geography. We are ranked 5th in the UK for Town and Country Planning in the Complete University Guide 2021.

Studying geography at Heriot-Watt covers human geography, physical geography, social policy, economics and modern studies. It combines theory and practical work drawn from these main subject areas to create an inherently interesting and broadly defined university degree.

Our Geography BSc focuses on physical geography, studying the processes that shape the natural environment including hydrology, geology and geomorphology. You will develop field work skills in surveying, mapping and site assessment with field work and site visits as a key strand in your learning.

You will develop important research skills through core modules in statistics, data analysis and research methods which you will apply to your final year research dissertation. Throughout your degree cross-disciplinary and problem-based working helps students acquire the skills needed to work in multi-disciplinary teams and solve real-world problems.

Highlights:

• You can participate in residential field trips in years 1, 2 and 3 – visiting locations in Scotland, the UK and beyond, plus shorter one-day trips and site visits. These trips provide important opportunities to deepen practical skills in field survey, site observation, data collection and analysis.
• You can experience links to practice and industry – hearing from visiting speakers and professionals working as chartered geographers, surveyors and planners.
• In year 3, all students are given the opportunity for mentoring by a practitioner, someone working in industry who can discuss career choices, graduate job opportunities and professional membership routes.