MSc in Resilience, Assurance, and Risk Management for Computer-Based Systems
Overview
This course is designed to enable professionals to manage risks to safety, reliability and security in a technical or management role in system development, procurement, operation or licensing. You can enrol in a Masters, Diploma or Certificate, or attend modules individually as CPDs (Continuing Professional Development).
Information Technology (IT) is vital to most organisations and engineered systems. However, although IT brings great advantages, it can also bring new risks. For instance, in business, loss of company data can lead to bankruptcy. In industrial, medical and many other applications, computer failure may endanger lives, property and the environment.
Indeed, vital IT systems can be built out of off-the-shelf parts with uncertain levels of trustworthiness. These systems, and the organisations depending on them, are affected by multiple risks, including physical failures, malicious attacks, design faults and user errors. Dealing with these threats requires a unified, system-level understanding of both the technical and the human components of resilience.
This course therefore aims to teach not only specific techniques for achieving
and assessing reliability, availability, security, safety, and information assurance,
but also, and most importantly, the common principles that underlie and link
these techniques.
Centre for Software Reliability
The Centre for Software Reliability (CSR) is an independent Research Centre, founded in 1983. CSR has a long-established international reputation for its research achievements in the areas of software dependability (particularly safety and reliability) modelling, software fault tolerance, software metrics and quality assurance, and safety critical systems. Since the 1996 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), CSR has attracted funding of £5 million in research grants and contracts, from the UK Engineering and Physical Science Research Council, the European Union, industry and charities.Internship option (MSc only)
| Six
months of professional IT industry experience as part of your postgraduate
degree (optional) You may undertake your dissertation work within your company of employment or take advantage of our internship scheme. This allows for up to six months of professional industry experience as part of your postgraduate degree. Our contacts include high technology and high assurance companies in the UK and the US. |
Duration and Assessment
The MSc, PG Dip and PG Cert are all part-time courses only, delivered as sets of modules. Each module includes a one-week intensive learning period (lectures, group exercise in lab or workshop sessions and self-directed study) followed by a period of self-directed study and final assessment. You will be assessed by a mixture of coursework and examination.The MSc course lasts typically for 28 months; it can also be built by taking modules over several years. Students successfully completing eight taught modules and a final dissertation will be awarded the MSc. Credit can be given in appropriate cases for modules from other universities or other City University London postgraduate courses.
The PG Dip lasts typically for two years. Students who successfully complete eight taught modules (without the dissertation) will be awarded the PG Dip.
The PG Cert lasts typically up to two years depending on the modules chosen. Students who successfully complete four taught modules will be awarded the PG Cert.
Additionally, the modules can be taken individually as CPDs (Continuing Professional Development).