Course information
UK fee £10,950
International fee £23,650
Taught by Computing
Admissions and course enquiries
+44 (0)116 252 5281
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Course description
Course description
Cloud computing offers scalable computing resources on demand, providing solutions and challenges for science and business. Amongst others, the opportunities include a low cost entry point for small companies, more economical use of computing resources and the capability of handling very large data sets. Challenges for practitioners include the design and use of suitable algorithms, the design and implementation of suitable architectures and understanding of risks and opportunities. This MSc will provide a sound understanding of designing, analysing and engineering of systems for handling big data in a distributed environment based on dynamically scalable architectures.
What's the difference?
The PGDip includes the same modules as the MSc but without the final project.
Duration
The regular degree takes 12 months if you start in September, or 16 months if you start in January. The 'With Industry' degree takes 24 months if you start in September, or 28 months if you start in January.
NB. If you start your course in January, you will take Semester 2 before Semester 1.
Entry requirements
Entry requirements
2:1 degree (or equivalent) in a relevant subject with a substantial element of Computing. Relevant work experience may also be considered.
English Language Requirements
IELTS 6.0 or equivalent. If your first language is not English, you may need to provide evidence of your English language ability. If you do not yet meet our requirements, our English Language Teaching Unit (ELTU) offers a range of courses to help you to improve your English to the necessary standard.
International Qualifications
Find your country in this list to check equivalent qualifications, scholarships and additional requirements.
Countries listFees and funding
Fees and funding
UK Students
Starting in September 2025
- MSc: £10,950
- PGDip: £8,760
- MSc with Industry: £10,950
An additional fee of £3,520 will be charged if a placement is secured.
If you are resident outside the UK and the Republic of Ireland, you will need to pay a deposit of £3,000 to secure your place. This will be subtracted from your total tuition fee.
Find out more about scholarships and funding.
Did you know you can apply for a Government Postgraduate Loan? Find out if you’re eligible. (MSc or MSc with Industry only; not available for PGDip.)
International Students
Starting in September 2025
- MSc: £23,650
- PGDip: £18,920
- MSc with Industry: £23,650
An additional fee of £3,520 will be charged if a placement is secured.
You will need to pay a deposit of £3,000 to secure your place. This will be subtracted from your total tuition fee.
Find out more about scholarships and funding.
Careers and employability
Careers and employability
All our postgraduate Informatics degrees are available 'with industry': stimulating your creativity and capacity to innovate, and ensuring that you acquire key transferable skills. These courses will allow you to develop into a highly skilled professional, well versed in advanced methods and tools. Colleagues from industry participate directly in the delivery of some of the modules, including hands-on tutorials that allow you to use some of the tools and methodologies that are shaping the software development landscape.
We have an open approach to collaboration with industry. We undertake joint projects, provide consultancy services, and organise events to connect you with potential employers. We also run an Industrial Advisory Board: its members are computer scientists who hold successful careers in industry and who help us ensure that your training is industrially relevant.
Our Career Development Service is here to support you, with advice on interviews, CVs, work experience, volunteering and more. From Freshers’ Week to Graduation and beyond, they are here to help you reach your professional goals.
Related courses
Related courses
Course structure
Semester 1
Semester 1
Core modules
- Advanced Web Technologies
- Internet and Cloud Computing
- Mobile and Web Applications
- Personal and Group Skills - this can be taken in either Semester
Option modules
Choose one option module from:
- Computational Intelligence and Software Engineering
- Software Measurement and Quality Assurance
- Advanced C++ Programming
- Technology and Innovation Management
- Agile Cloud Automation
- Internet and Cloud Computing
- Interaction Design (ID) and User Experience (UX)*
- Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing*
* Students can only choose one of Interaction Design (ID) and User Experience (UX) and Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing, they cannot choose both.
Modules shown represent choices available to current students. The range of modules available and the content of any individual module may change in future years.
Semester 2
Semester 2
Core modules
- Service-Oriented Architectures
- Personal and Group Skills - this can be taken in either Semester
Option modules
Choose three option modules from:
- Analysis and Design of Algorithms
- Big Data and Predictive Analytics
- Foundations of Cybersecurity
- AI for Space
- Algorithms for Bioinformatics
- Service Design
Modules shown represent choices available to current students. The range of modules available and the content of any individual module may change in future years.
Optional Industry Placement
Optional Industry Placement
Studying a 'with industry' masters degree is the perfect way for you to enhance your career prospects and deepen your understanding of your specific area of expertise. By experiencing real-world scenarios and applying your skills and knowledge to business challenges, you will gain a unique insight into how your studies can be utilised in industry. This will not only showcase your abilities to future employers, but will also enhance your studies when you return to University to complete your programme.
Modules shown represent choices available to current students. The range of modules available and the content of any individual module may change in future years.
Individual Project
Individual Project
Your course will conclude with an Individual Project (after your industry placement, if you have taken one). Using the experience gained during your course/placement, you will choose a challenging problem to work on and explore it by privately studying under the supervision of a member of the academic staff. (Students studying for a PGDip don't complete a project.)
A Selection of Recent MSc Projects
Network Analysis with MapReduce
Data about interactions between different entities can often be modelled as a network (consider, e.g., social networks or protein interaction networks). Centrality metrics are often used to identify the most important nodes of a network. As network data sets have been increasing in size, their analysis requires increasing amounts of computation time and memory. This project developed and evaluated scalable, distributed implementations of centrality calculations using the Hadoop MapReduce software framework.
Robust and Energy Efficient Wireless Sensor Networks
Wireless sensor networks are a new technology with a wide range of applications (from environment monitoring to surveillance) but subject to a number of energy constraints, many-to-one flows, and redundant low-rate data. Many routing protocols have been proposed for sensor networks that aim at achieving energy efficiency, but with little or no attention to robustness and fault-tolerance. This project addressed fault tolerance in ad hoc sensor network routing, namely the design and development of a robust and energy efficient routing protocol that distinguishes between local and large-scale traffic. A new multipath routing protocol was proposed and simulated which follows the 'number of hops' metric and employs a waiting time before transmitting messages to sink.
Modules shown represent choices available to current students. The range of modules available and the content of any individual module may change in future years.
Why Leicester?
Most of our members of staff are actively engaged in research and are frequently guests of universities both in the UK and other countries to lecture on their work.
The School has three Staff-Student Committees - for undergraduates, postgraduates and PhDs - consisting of student representatives and members of staff. These provide a forum to discuss general issues and problems, and for staff to give feedback.
Computing at Leicester is a thriving academic community with extensive experience in delivering high quality courses and undertaking pioneering research.
Teaching and learning
Teaching methods include lectures, seminars, self-paced learning and practicals. Assessment is a mix of coursework - computer-based practicals, essays and small group projects - and exams
The compulsory 'Personal and Group Skills' module combines seminars, group discussions and collective essay writing on selected topics, as well as a series of workshops on transferable skills and career planning.
Your project and, where relevant, industry placement will be assessed separately.
Key dates
September 2025 start
- Application deadline: 8 September 2025 (Please note if you require a visa to study you will be required to submit your course application by 25 July 2025)
- Deposit payment deadline: 8 August 2025
- CAS request deadline: 5 September 2025
- 70% tuition payment deadline: 5 September 2025
Apply now
Course | Qualification | Duration | Start Dates | Availability |
---|---|---|---|---|
Course Cloud Computing | Qualification MSc | Duration 12-16 months full-time | Start Dates September each year | Availability Apply Now |
Course Cloud Computing with Industry | Qualification MSc | Duration 24-28 months full-time | Start Dates September each year | Availability Apply Now |
Course Cloud Computing | Qualification PGDip | Duration 9-12 months full-time | Start Dates September each year | Availability Apply Now |
My course has really broadened my knowledge of computer science and technologies. I was able to successfully apply the skills and techniques taught in the course during my placement year.