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Please review this material on plagiarism first. It is essential you understand and adhere to our policies. The University has issued general guidance on plagiarism.
The degrees are each split into two halves: two semesters of
lecture-based teaching, followed by a major individual project in a
chosen area of specialisation. Together, these span a full twelve month
period. The lectures are followed by examinations in December and April/May. Thereafter,
students pursue their project work and write a dissertation on the
project which is assessed in August/September. Details of arrangements for
projects will appear on the project pages.
It is possible to request a change of degree. First ensure that your change is allowed by your funders and that your course and specialism choices are allowed under the next degree. Then submit an ITO Contact request stating the change and confirming that this is allowed by your funding agency (if appropriate). Note that college do not allow multiple changes so only submit a request if you are very sure.
For help any any administrative issue contact the ITO which is best done through the support contact form
If you run into any difficulties during your course here (e.g. health, personal, financial) then you should contact your MSc Directors of Studies (Michael Rovatsos or Bob Fisher see http://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/teaching/years/msc/ for details of which specialism is assigned to which DoS). This is extremely important. They will look to see what support we can offer and importantly make sure any appropriate measures are put in place at the Boards of Examiners (this is done in confidence). If we are not made aware of issues before the Board of Examiners and ideally as they happen we are not allowed to consider them until after an appeal which will result in lengthy delays to your study. The Directors of Studies maintain a high level of confidentiality and so any problems you discuss will not be aired openly, your DoS will report that there is a 'problem' and its severity, not discuss the details in any of the boards.
In addition to the feedback forms there is a regular staff-student meeting hosted by the Director of Teaching with the year representatives. Year reps are recruited at the start of the year, look out for emails on this if you want to get involved.
If you have an issue with a specific course, the normal action would be to raise this directly with the course lecturer. We are open to suggestions and comments. If you feel unable to contact the lecturer directly, talk to one of the year reps or if required the Course Organiser.
| M.Sc in Artificial Intelligence | Intelligent Robotics, Knowledge Representation and Reasoning, Learning from Data, Natural Language and Language Engineering. |
| M.Sc in Cognitive Science | Natural Language and Language Engineering, Neural Computation and Neuroinformatics. |
| M.Sc. in Computer Science | Analytical and Scientific Databases, Computer Systems and Software Engineering, Fundamentals of High Performance Computing Systems, Theoretical Computer Science. |
| M.Sc in Informatics | No restrictions apply, you may choose any specialism as major. |
For all degrees, there is no restriction on the minor you choose. The following specialisms can be taken as both major and minor: Bioinformatics, Systems and Synthetic Biology, Fundamentals of High Performance Computing Systems, Neural Computation and Neuroinformatics, Learning from Data, Computer Systems and Software Engineering.
Note this breakdown means that if you want to major in
Bioinformatics, Systems and Synthetic Biology, Music Informatics or Geoinformatics then you MUST be
registered for the MSc in Informatics.
On the form you will have to choose 60 points worth of courses per semester. Several selections will have been made for you already. All MSc students must take the compulsory courses IRR and IRP. In addition all students should check the programming requirement to check if they need to take IJP (Java) or LP (Prolog). Beyond these rules, course choice will follow your specialisms and interests:
You must take at least three courses from your major specialism and at least two courses from your minor specialism, which should be core courses (in bold) where possible. If you are taking one of the specialisms as both major and minor, then you must take at least five courses from the expanded list (see below), again core courses where possible.
In addition to the courses of direct interest for particular specialisms, there is a set of programming courses and a number of courses of general interest.
Each course is assigned a Level. M.Sc. courses are all level 11. In the timetable you will be able to choose from a restricted list of level 9 and level 10 courses (these are in italics). These are specifically designed for third year and fourth year undergraduates but would be of interest and value as part of an M.Sc. degree. You are limited to a maximum of 30 points worth of these courses. If you want to take a level 9 course that is not listed anywhere in this document you should request permission from the Course Organiser. You do not have to take any.
Each lecture course normally consists of up to twenty one-hour lectures (two per week for one semester) together with associated coursework and background reading. A few courses may also have tutorials, labs or a different structure. All courses have associated assignments. Part of this is assessed during the course - you will be given assignments to complete by deadlines set by the course lecturer. The relative weightings of the assignments and examination in the final mark for each course are given in the detailed course descriptions. Remember also that a substantial part of the assessment for most courses is by an exam which may ask questions related to any aspect of that course.
Each Lecture course will be worth either 10 or 20 points (nominally equivalent to 100 or 200 hours' student effort). Most courses in Informatics are 10 points but some 20 point courses are available. You can take a maximum of two 20 point courses, again you do not have to take any.
You should select 60 points' worth of courses per semester including the compulsory courses.
Deadlines and changes
You may change course choices after the initial selection but there are deadlines. These are:
Semester 1 courses: initial selection by end of week 1, final choices (i.e. no changes) by wednesday of week 4.
Semester 2 courses: initial selection by week 1, semester 1, final choices by friday of week 2, semester 2.
In summary, you should:
For further advice, please contact your specialism advisor
All M.Sc. students must take the Informatics Research Review course in Semester 1 and Informatics Research Proposal course in Semester 2. These courses have no lectures and no exams and follow a different format. They are designed to introduce you to research activity in Informatics in your specialism area from the start of the degree. Informatics Research Review gives you an opportunity to survey literature on a particular topic within your degree specialism. Informatics Research Proposal allows you to build towards your summer research project. These courses have a simple PASS/FAIL grade only.
See also the programming requirement section as you may be required to take a course in programming skills.
The constraints on your choice of course for each MSc area is shown
below. You can find links to detailed course descriptions on the main MSc page. Core courses (in bold typeface)
are ones which we suggest you take in preference to any of the other courses
listed for that specialism. Recommended courses (non-bold
typeface) are ones which are particularly compatible with a specialism
but are not considered essential to that specialism
. You must register for 60 points of courses in Semester 1 and 60 points
of courses in Semester 2. These must include 3 courses for your major
specialism and 2 courses for your minor specialism, with the remainder
coming from the pool of available courses (shown on the main MSc page). Remember these compulsory courses count as 40 points of your total 120 points.
You should make sure that you do not choose courses which clash in the
lecture timetables.
Please note that we always end up with some clashes between courses. We
can do very little to avoid these but please let us know of any so we
can try to avoid them in future years.
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Note: For a Minor in Learning from Data, a student may choose to substitute Machine Learning and Pattern Recognition for the required course Introductory Applied Machine Learning (IAML).
The Music Informatics specialism gives an opportunity to study the structure, behaviour and interactions of natural and engineered systems engaged in musical activity. This can be done from the view of physical modelling of musical sounds and insstruments; machines analysis of music, in real time or otherwise; using computers in many ways in the production of music and sound in general; and in studying musical interaction between (natural or artificial) performers.
For the combined major/minor, students should take, in addition to IRR and IRP, at least 30 points of courses from Informatics/PPLS, and 30 points from the school of Arts, Culture and the Environment (ACE). There may be restrictions on numbers taking some ACE courses. Courses in ACE count for 20 credit points.
| Semester 1 | Semester 2 |
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Sound Design Media [ACE] Sonic Structures [ACE] Real-Time performance strategies [ACE] Musical Applications of Fourier Analysis [ACE] Introductory Applied Machine Learning Probabilistic Modelling and Reasoning Computer Graphics Fundamentals of AI HCI Introduction to Cognitive Science Speech Processing [PPLS] |
Interactive Sound Environments [ACE] Digital Media Studio Project [ACE] Non Real-Time Systems [ACE] Electro-acoustics Composition [ACE] Automatic Speech Recognition Multi-agent Semantic Web Systems Machine Learning and Pattern Recognition |
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The programming courses you will need to take depend on your capabilities at the time you enter the course. There are two programming courses, all in Semester 1: Introduction to Java Programmes covers JAVA and Logic Programing covers Prolog. Your choice of programming course(s) will depend on your prior experience, the requirement describe above (but see exemptions below), the other courses you wish to take (e.g. Prolog is required for some other courses, particularly in the areas of language, cognitive modelling and reasoning), and the type of project you expect to do in the second half of the course (some will require a specific language).
Exemptions: Students who already satisfy the requirement (at least to the extent that they would have no problem doing their MSc project in the relevant language) may be excused from taking one or more programming courses. Some students may enter the program already familiar with what we will consider as Java-equivalent (other object-oriented languages such as C++) or Prolog-equivalent (other AI-specific languages such as Lisp) and these can also be grounds for exemption from one or both language requirements. Students claiming exemption should produce documentary evidence of coursework or programming experience, or be prepared to affirm in writing that they have the relevant experience, show it to their specialism advisor who grants the exemption, and ensure that the ITO has a copy of this evidence or affirmation.
If you wish to claim exemption from the programming requirement, you
should obtain the approval by email from your specialism advisor. In
your email requesting exemption you should describe your past
experience which you believe qualifies you for an exemption. The
faculty member may ask you to go for a talk in person in some cases.
You should also provide copies as indicated above to the ITO.
The course Fundamentals of AI (FAI, Semester 1), Cognitive Modelling (CM, Semester 2) and Text Technologies (TTS, Semester 1) will be of interest to everyone but especially those students wanting to get their MSc degree in Artificial Intelligence or Cognitive Science.
The School also runs two courses on Informatics Entrepreneurship (IE1 and IE2) that are open to all MSc students.You may also be interested in courses taught by another School, a sample of these courses appears here.
The MSc is examined
on its taught component comprising coursework and examination and on the dissertation which you start
immediately after the May exams. You must pass both the taught part and dissertation to pass on the MSc overall. If, for example, you achieve only Diploma level on the 120 point taught component of the course then you will not be allowed to undertake a project.
Coursework is delivered during the semester and where a course has 30%
or less of the marks you should receive feedback and marks at the time.
If the course has more than 30% of the marks from coursework, it will
be treated as a term paper and not returned. All marks returned during
the semesters should be treated as provisional until after the Board of
Examiners meets after the main examination period.
How to pass at MSc level: To continue onto the MSc project you must meet severa criteria:
Normally, you will not be allowed to submit coursework late.
If you have a good reason to need to submit late, you must do the following.
1. Read this section carefully, especially the "good reasons" for late submissions.
2. Request an extension (i.e. a specific length of time in days) and identify the affected course.
3. Submit the request via the ITO Contact Form
"Good reason" for an extension means something that, in the judgement of the member of staff responsible, would prevent a competent, well-organised, conscientious student from being able to submit on time. Examples include:
You should always inform your Director of Studies of any such thing
that seriously affects your work, whether or not you ask for an
extension as a consequence. If you prefer, you can choose to discuss
details *only* with your DoS; s/he can advocate with other members of
staff for you without going into details.
Non-examples, things that would not be considered good reasons, include
anything you could have planned for or avoided: difficult clusters of
deadlines, attending social events, the demands of any job you
undertake during semester, last-minute computer problems, loss of work
through (your) backup failure, etc.
In general, you are expected to plan your time well and including contingency time. For example, if you expect a piece of work to take two days, you should begin it more than two days before its deadline.
Note that this policy varies in other schools and external courses may have different late submission rules.
Exams
Most examinations for the MSc courses in
Informatics take place at the end of Semester 2. A small number of
courses may examine in semester 1 and this may also be true of external
courses.
The correspondence between numerical scores, grades and their interpretation in terms of the MSc is given below.
| Score | Grade | Interpretation |
| >= 70 | A | Excellent |
| 60-69 | B | Very Good |
| 50-59 | C | Good |
| 40-49 | D | Satisfactory for Diploma but inadequate for MSc |
| < 40 | E | Unsatisfactory |
Written examinations take place in December and then during the first weeks of the summer. They can spread over three weeks or more so be careful to check when your exams take place before arranging any absences from Edinburgh. There is one examination paper per course and each paper typically lasts 2 hours. Each paper normally is set by the lecturer responsible for each course and is vetted by appropriate members of the Board of Examiners. Questions may be set on any aspect of the lectures or coursework.
The Board of Examiners comprises the External examiner, the Head of School, the Course Organiser and the lecturers on the course. Your overall coursework mark is decided at a Board of Examiners meeting, usually held in May. The Board has the freedom to aggregate marks in any way but normally each paper is given equal weighting. The Board may take mitigating circumstances (e.g. illness) into account so it is vital that you communicate these to the MSc administrative staff, along with substantiating evidence (e.g. a medical certificate), if you believe that your performance has been impaired significantly. If you are ill on or around the date of an examination then you must obtain a medical certificate from a doctor as soon as you are fit enough to do so. Your project mark is decided at a second Board of Examiners meeting in October, along with your overall mark for the course. The Board of Examiners can award distinctions to students who have performed exceptionally well on both coursework (close to or above 70) and project work (at least 70).
You have a right of appeal against a decision of the Board of Examiners. This must be made within six weeks of the release of results. The only grounds for an appeal are irregularities in the conduct of the assessment or the Board of Examiners not having all available information at the time of assessment without reasonable justification. If you have mitigating circumstances which would allow your results to be seen in a new light you should send these to the Exam Board (via the MSc administration) rather than waiting for an appeal. To appeal, contact the Chair of the Board of Examiners or your Director of Studies. Appeals should be directed to the Senatus Postgraduate Studies Committee.
IMPORTANT: you will not be allowed to proceed to a project unless you have passed your exams so it is vitally important that the Board of Examiners is aware of any circumstances in advance. Appeals will delay your project unless you get special permission to start in advance of an appeal by the College Postgraduate Studies Committee.
If you have some condition for which you might be granted extra time
in examinations (e.g. dyslexia), you should definitely contact the
Disability Office in order for you to be assessed by the relevant
University panel. It is also advisable to inform the Course
Organiser at the start of the course. Assessment takes some time,
so you should notify us as soon as possible.
For students who wish to leave early (immediately after the exams) or who do not achieve sufficient grades in their exams and coursework to proceed to an MSc project (still at least 40%) the degree of Diploma can be awarded. The Diploma course ends with the exams and there is no project or summer semester work.
The University has issued guidance on plagiarism
It is a natural and beneficial part of the educational experience for students to discuss their work with each other and to incorporate ideas from many sources into their work. However, there is an important difference between an acceptable use of other people's ideas and copying or sharing other people's work without attribution.
For further guidance on what is, and what is not, acceptable consult:For assessment to be fair, the extent to which submitted work is your own must be clear. You must not plagiarise other people's work, presenting it as your own.
Plagiarism is a serious offence. It is often easy to detect. The School will use a number of detection methods to screen coursework. When plagiarism is detected, penalties appropriate to the problem will be applied, the Head of School will be informed as well as the College of Science and Engineering, and your academic record may be amended permanently.
Deliberately allowing your own work to be copied undermines the assessment process. Where there is collusion between students, all students involved may be penalised or disciplined.
http://www.informatics.ed.ac.uk/admin/ITO/SchoolGuidelinesPlagiarism.html
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