A UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, in a relevant subject such as computer science and informatics, physics, mathematics, engineering, biology, chemistry and geosciences.
You must be a competent programmer in at least one of C, C++, Python, Fortran, or Java and should be familiar with mathematical concepts such as algebra, linear algebra and probability and statistics.
We will also consider your application if you don’t have formal programming training (e.g. if you are primarily self-taught), or if you have a 2:2 honours degree with high marks in computational courses and/or additional relevant work experience. Your application should clearly demonstrate your relevant experience.
For 2020 entry we accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified*:
IELTS Academic: total 6.5 with at least 6.0 in each component.
TOEFL-iBT (including Special Home Edition): total 92 with at least 20 in each section. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
PTE Academic: total 61 with at least 56 in each of the Communicative Skills scores.
CAE and CPE: total 176 with at least 169 in each paper.
Trinity ISE: ISE II with distinctions in all four components.
For 2021 entry we will accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified*:
IELTS Academic: total 6.5 with at least 6.0 in each component.
TOEFL-iBT (including Special Home Edition): total 92 with at least 20 in each section.We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
CAE and CPE: total 176 with at least 169 in each paper.
Trinity ISE: ISE II with distinctions in all four components.
*(Revised 21 February 2020 to remove PTE Academic from 2021 entry requirements. Revised 21 April 2020 to include TOEFL-iBT Special Home Edition in 2020 and 2021 entry requirements.)
Your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the programme you are applying to study, unless you are using IELTS, TOEFL, PTE Academic or Trinity ISE, in which case it must be no more than two years old.
You will study at EPCC, the UK’s leading supercomputing centre and a Centre of Excellence within the University's College of Science and Engineering. EPCC is a major provider of high performance computing (HPC) training in Europe with an international reputation for excellence in HPC education and research.
HPC is the use of powerful processors, networks and parallel supercomputers to tackle problems that are very computationally or data-intensive. You will learn leading-edge HPC technologies and skills to exploit the full potential of the world’s largest supercomputers and multicore processors. This is a well-established programme that has been successful in training generations of specialists in parallel programming.
Data science involves the manipulation, processing and analysis of data to extract knowledge, and HPC provides the power that underpins it. You will learn the multidisciplinary skills and knowledge in both HPC and data science to unlock the knowledge contained in the increasingly large, complex and challenging data sets that are now generated across many areas of science and business. Our staff have a wealth of expertise across HPC, parallel programming technologies and data science.
This is an applied and practically-focused programme where you will develop and run software using a range of programming languages and techniques. A core set of courses requires knowledge of one of C, C++, or Fortran; prior knowledge of any of these is not required as students are introduced to them at the start of the programme. Students should already be competent programmers e.g. in Java, Python, or one of the above-noted languages (see entry requirements, below), and keen to learn new programming approaches.
EPCC is the UK’s leading supercomputing centre with staff who are experienced HPC practitioners. EPCC is a major provider of HPC training in Europe with an international reputation for excellence in HPC education and research and a well-established on-campus MSc programme that has been successful in training generations of specialists in parallel programming. Students benefit from access to advanced HPC systems with recent examples including ARCHER (the UK national Tier 1 supercomputing service with over 100,000 cores) and Cirrus, an heterogeneous system EPSRC Tier-2 National HPC Facility.
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Compulsory courses:
Fundamentals of Data Management (Semester 1)
Message-Passing Programming (Semester 1)
Programming Skills (Semester 1)
Threaded Programming (Semester 1)
Data Analytics with High Performance Computing (Semester 2)
Software Development (Semester 2)
Project Preparation (Semester 2)
HPC Optional courses (at least 2 of):
Numerical Algorithms for High Performance Computing (Semester 1)
Design and Analysis of Parallel Algorithms (Semester 1)
HPC Architectures (Semester 1)
Advanced Parallel Techniques (Semester 2)
Advanced Message-passing Programming (Semester 2)
Parallel Design Patterns (Semester 2)
Performance Programming (Semester 2)
Data Science Optional Courses (maximum two or three of, depending on credit-amount, access may be subject to enrolment limits, meeting individual course prerequisites set by the School of Informatics and individual courses may not run in an individual year):
Machine Learning Practical (Semester 1 & 2)
Bioinformatics 1 (Semester 1)
Extreme Computing (Semester 1)
Image and Vision Computing (Semester 1)
Text Technologies for Data Science (Semester 1)
Advanced Topics in Foundations of Databases (Semester 2)
Bioinformatics 2 (Semester 2)
Distributed Systems (Semester 2)
Probabilistic Modelling and Reasoning (Semester 2)
Reinforcement Learning (Semester 2)
One 10 credit SCQF Level 11 course from the College of Science and Engineering
Dissertation
After completing the taught courses, students work on a three-month individual project leading to a dissertation.
Dissertation projects may be either research-based or industry-based with an external organisation, with opportunities for placements in local companies.
Industry-based dissertation projects
Through our strong links with industry, we offer our students the opportunity to undertake their dissertation project with one of a wide range of local, national and even international companies.
An industry-based dissertation project can give you the opportunity to enhance your skills and employability by tackling a real-world project, gaining workplace experience, exploring potential career paths and building relationships with industrial partners.
Find out more about compulsory and optional courses
We link to the latest information available. Please note that this may be for a previous academic year and should be considered indicative.
Our graduates are employed across a range of commercial areas, for example software development, petroleum engineering, finance and HPC support. Others have gone on to PhD research in fields that use HPC technologies, including astrophysics, biology, chemistry, geosciences, informatics and materials science.
