MSc Structure
MSc Structure
The MSc programme runs for one year (12 months) and combines a number of compulsory and optional taught units, offered over two semesters. Examinations in the taught units take place at the end of Semester 1 (January) and at the end of Semester 2 (May). Students who successfully achieve 120 units of credit will then embark on the research project and written 15,000 word dissertation, which is carried out over the summer.
The project is an independent and individual investigation into a specific problem in the research area of the MSc subject discipline and lasts for 13 weeks. It may be of a design, development, or research nature, and students have considerable choice over their topic. In all cases students are assigned to one of our relevant research groups. The individual project will be closely related to the work currently in progress in that research group, and will lead to the dissertation.
Students who achieve 60 credits in the semester examinations may exit the programme with a Postgraduate Certificate. Those who achieve 120 credits may exit with a Postgraduate Diploma.
If you pass the required examinations in semesters one and two, and achieve a satisfactory level on your project dissertation, you will be awarded an MSc after 12 to 16 months, even if you continue to PhD research.
Meet our students: Tim Stevens
I have worked in industry for 21 years, primarily designing the RF sections of radio products. During that time the role of signal processing has grown from a support function to the defining concept of many modern communications products.
The mathematical nature of the subject appealed to me but I was only managing to skim the surface by reading books in the evenings. Taking a year out was not an easy choice but Southampton offered an ideal MSc course. The lectures have drawn many aspects together to form a coherent view and are supported with notes and exercises. To date, I have especially enjoyed the Matlab assignments and I am looking forward to the next; the analysis of a digital communications system incorporating an adaptive equaliser.
Tim Stevens is doing an MSc Radio Frequency Communication Systems
Supervision
You will be allocated a PhD supervisor and research topic before starting the programme, in the same way that supervisors are currently allocated to standard PhD students. You will normally remain with the allocated supervisor throughout the four-year programme, in order to achieve integration between your MSc and PhD degrees.