

Programme Code: AK3688
Level: 9
Points: 240
Duration: Four semesters full time
Venue: City Campus
Starting date: 27 February 2012 / 16 July 2012
AUT encourages early applications.
Late applications will be accepted if the programme is not full.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
The Master of Computer and Information Sciences is designed to meet the needs of applicants interested in taking their undergraduate qualification further, in bettering their career opportunities, or in exploring a specialist area of interest in more depth.
The degree combines a research and professional approach to deliver skills and knowledge that can be applied in both industry practice, and industry or academic research. Its aim is to produce graduates with the capability, credibility and judgement to manage and lead teams of IT professionals. Successful graduates can pursue higher studies at doctoral level.
WHAT THIS QUALIFICATION COVERS
The first year includes two compulsory Research Methods papers. Students can then focus their studies on one of the discipline clusters, which underpin the degree, or they can choose to follow a more generic pathway combining papers from different clusters. Discipline clusters include:
Also offered are broader papers such as Information Security, Net-centric Computing, Ubiquitous Computing Contemporary Issues in Computer and Information Sciences and Co-operative Education.
The second year of the degree is dedicated to independent research work under the guidance of an experienced supervisor and comprises a one-year Master's thesis. The thesis is normally developed as a full scale research project often involving the creation of a software artefact.
Research topics can vary from interdisciplinary to specialised within a number of research areas such as data mining, knowledge engineering, information systems, robotics, bioinformatics, health informatics, mobile applications, RFID, artificial intelligence, information security, computational astronomy, geocomputation and others.
Student research is often aligned with one of the school’s research institutes and laboratories, where students are given access to specialist tools and facilities and work alongside world-class research experts.
Suggested and current thesis topics
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
PAPERS
COMPULSORY CORE PAPERS
408220 Research Methods I (15)
408221 Research Methods II (15)
AND ONE OF THE FOLLOWING OPTIONS:
OPTION ONE
Elective Papers (90 points)
409102 Thesis (120)
OPTION TWO
Elective Papers (120 points)
409105 Thesis (90)
THESES
Enrolment in a thesis is subject to achieving at least a B- (70%) average in course work papers including a pass in Research Methods I and in Research Methods II, and submitting an approved research proposal.
ELECTIVE PAPERS
Enrolment in elective papers is subject to meeting the requirements detailed in the paper selection form sent to all enrolling students, as well as to space availability.
408200 Readings (30)
408203 Net-centric Computing (15)
408204 Usage Centred Design (15)**
408205 Middleware (15)**
408206 Collaborative Computing and Workflow (15)**
408207 Ubiquitous Computing (15)
408208 Information Technology Strategy and Policy (15)
408209 Strategic Information Technology Contract Management (15)**
408211 ICT Issues in the SME Sector (15)
408212 Service Relationship Management (15)**
408214 Special Topic 3DDisplays & Spatial Interaction (15)
408215 BioInformatics (15)
408216 Data Mining and Knowledge Engineering (15)
408217 Information Security (15)
408218 Contemporary Issues in Computer and Information Sciences (15)**
408811 Co-operative Education (60)**
409009 Special Topic B (15)
409217 Data Warehousing (15)
409219 Health Informatics (15)
409220 Software Requirements Engineering (15)
409221 eSystems Design and Development (15)
409223 Machine Learning (15)**
409224 Artificial Intelligence (15)
409225 Nature Inspired Computing (15)
409226 Geocomputation (15)
409227 Video and Image Processing (15)**
409228 Search Based Software Engineering (15)
409229 Human Computer Interaction (15)
409230 Information Visualisation (15)
409231 Autoidentification (15)
409232 Software Development Methods (15)**
409233 Natural Language Processing (15)**
409234 Intelligent Surveillance (15)
718304 Software Architecture (15)
** Papers not open for enrolment in 2012