MSc Computer Networks and Security provides specialist tuition up to CCNP grade qualifications.
- £750,000 of industry grade Cisco equipment to use
- £250,000 of industry grade Juniper equipment to use
- Brocade, Ixia and EMC equipment are also used in the delivery
- Gain the skills set to pass the Cisco CCNP qualifications
- Learn virtualization techniques
- Learn low level security techniques
In summer 2016 Computing moved into new purpose built labs in the Mellor Building on the Stoke-on-Trent Campus.
Companies are becoming ever more dependent on their information networks for mission-critical operations. They want highly trained networking professionals to keep them operational, available, resilient and efficient.
The myriad of threats towards these networks are changing constantly. Security polices and mitigation techniques have to keep pace with these threats in order to allow genuine traffic out of and into our corporate networks whilst controlling the malicious users.
This course will give you the knowledge, lifelong learning skills and enthusiasm needed to support and manage both corporate networks and security systems. As part of the award you will participate in the CISCO Networking Academy Programme and you'll prepare for the widely accepted industry CCNA Security and Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) certifications.
We encourage you to complete a one-year industrial placement as part of this course. You could work with small enterprises or large companies like Cisco, Amazon and Thomson Reuters. We even send our students on placements to Cisco's European HQ in Brussels, we are the only UK University that currently does so.
We encourage International students on the Tier 4 visa , once enrolled, to apply for a placement. Students who are successful with finding a placement will be provided with help and advice with their visa extension application (subject to the University deadlines and Immigration requirements).
Course content
In your first study stage, the PgC, you will study five modules - a mix of award cores and networking or networking and security options. In the second stage the PgD you will study a further four modules. (Upon successful completion of 4 modules you will be eligible for a PgC in Computer Science) On finishing the PgC and before starting the dissertation you have the opportunity to undertake a work placement of 12 months. You will finish your award by completing a dissertation on a network related topic.
Core modules
- COCS70637 Networking Concepts (Two weeks pre-enrolment)
- COIS71040 Research Methods
- COCS70638 Professional Switched Networks
- COCS70666 Network Security
- COCS70520 Computer Security: Low-Level
- COCS70665 Virtualisation
- COCS70706 Advanced Quality of Service Techniques over a Converged Network
- COCS70705 Professional Routed Networks
- COCS70707 Maintaining a Converged IP Based Network
COIS71052 Dissertation (60 credits)
Graduate destinations
Graduates from our Computer Networks and Security award join large and small organisations within graduate programs and as direct employees. Our graduates are in high demand by the networking industry. Companies include Cisco, Meraki, GCHQ, BT, Amazon and Layer3.
