Congratulations on obtaining your place to study at Canterbury Christ Church University. I am sure it will be an exciting time as you prepare to come to University and you may have questions that you would like answering. Please read the information provided and if you still have questions, do contact us. I hope this will be the start of a long relationship with the University and that it will be a truly beneficial experience.

Angela Richmond-Fuller
Course Director for MSc Data Intelligence

Key dates

Academic Calendar: Trimesters

View key dates for this Academic Calendar for 2024-25 including when teaching starts and finishes and when you break for holidays. 

Welcome

Your course is designed to bring those with or without Computer Science experience, but from a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics background together to collaborate and address real societal and employment gaps.

Each Trimester you will study three different modules covering different areas that bring Data Analysis and Artificial Intelligence together. You will study alongside students who are coming in with different degree subjects and experiences.

The spring trimester has a strong project focussed flavour; which is a core feature of the teaching of the School this course fits within. The summer trimester holds the opportunity of work placements. The autumn Trimester will involve you studying some computer programming in the Python programming language, and modules around data analysis and modelling through activities that are aimed at encouraging you to bring your previous experience along with what you are learning, together.

You will need to attend the Canterbury campus of Christ Church University three to four days a week to attend timetabled classes. The timetable will be given to you when it is finalised. There may be times when you need to work with others on other days, either face-to-face or remotely via technology. We recommend, where possible that you choose to live in an area where you can get to the Verena Holmes Building on the Canterbury campus by 9am.

It is recommended that you have your own computer. Otherwise there are laptops and PCs on campus that are available to use to do your coursework.

You may find it useful to explore the following resources prior to starting the MSc:

Programming in Python using either

or

or


Getting started

Other information

We recommend you do not buy any particular software as much of the software you will need over your degree will be available to you for free or a much-reduced price once you start. You will find having your own computer exceedingly useful. This will help you to do your assessments in your own time and attend any classes that are online. If you are looking to buy a computer then we would suggest that you look at reviews of different computers online as we find it hard to recommend a particular product.

As a computing student you will find that you will need a computer with an above minimum specification for the chosen operating system (look at what is required for Windows 10). We would suggest that you look at the recommended specification for Visual Studio Professional as an absolute minimum specification. Higher specifications will help safeguard you against future increases in minimum requirements, and higher processor speeds will help run multiple programmes at once. For hard disk space higher is required to fit on other software as well, and a minimum suggested size would be 256GB – particularly important if you plan to use solid state drives.

You should note that we use the Windows environment predominantly in the Department of Computing, so if you buy an Apple system then it would benefit from being dual boot Windows and MacOS. If you buy a Linux only system then you may find you will need to install a Windows operating system at a later date, and this is generally more expensive than buying a computer with Windows already installed on it. Having a web-cam, headphones and possibly even a second monitor are really useful. If you use a laptop, do consider a mouse and full-size keyboard. We have found that students who are trying to study at home appreciate having a good, stable internet connection, and you want to note that changing provider at the moment is taking longer than it has done previously.

Community

On the social side, the Student Union (CCSU) has a huge range of clubs and societies – all of which have unique social calendars of their own and offer endless opportunities to make lifelong friends and discover new hobbies. And you can always create your own society and cultivate your own community!

CCSU will be hosting their Freshers Fayre on Wednesday 18th September 2024. Make sure you keep checking the CCSU website for further details and how to get involved.

We understand that you may be nervous about your first few weeks on campus but rest assured - you'll be joining a nurturing and supportive environment where diversity, equality and individuality are part of everything we do.

You can find out more about our welcoming community and making friends here.

If you are an International Student joining us then please see our International Student Support pages for further information and guidance.

 

Pre-course reading

There is no particular reading we want you to do before you arrive, but it may be worth looking at the Technology pages of online news sources to see the common areas that are being talked about in the field of computing and business.

We suggest the following sites:

These are worth looking at once or twice a week if you are not accustomed to reading current affairs articles.

On the Data Analysis side these talks are very good at explaining why this area is so important - https://www.ted.com/speakers/hans_rosling

You may wish to keep track of what we are doing in the Department by following us on X @computing_cccu and also on our Faculty Instagram pages https://www.instagram.com/cccu_fsess/

 

 

International student success programme

International students: don't miss out! Make sure you register for our international student success programme which provides practical advice on preparing to live and study in the UK.

Contact details

Should you have any questions in the lead-up to the start of this course, please contact the team on etd.postgraduate.professional@canterbury.ac.uk