MSc

Artificial Intelligence

Join us in exploring the future of technology and artificial intelligence as we dive into cutting-edge fields like speech recognition, image processing, disease diagnosis and large language models.

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Key Course Details

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Pontypridd

  • Campus Code

    A

Fees

  • Home students

    £10,800*

  • International students

    £16,900*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Pontypridd

  • Campus Code

    A

Fees

  • Home students

    £1,200*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.

Tackle real problems facing the world of intelligent technology as you learn key skills demanded by industry for roles in applied AI.

Designed for

This course is ideal for passionate problem solvers with basic computing and programming skills who want to gain an in-depth and advanced understanding of artificial intelligence. You will dive into computation applications and complex learning problems while looking at the real-world application of autonomous systems.

Accredited by

  • BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT

Career Paths

  • Machine Learning Engineer
  • Data Scientist
  • Natural Language Processing (NLP) Engineer
  • Computer Vision Engineer
  • AI Research Scientist

Skills taught

  • Data Analysis and Interpretation
  • Machine Learning Algorithms
  • Programming and Software Development
  • Deep Learning Expertise
  • Research and Problem-Solving

We make a difference in practice, not just on paper. Our courses are designed by people who offer jobs - and taught by people who have real work experience.


Course Highlights

Accredited by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT

Our BCS accreditation will help you stand out to employers and connect you to a vast professional network.

State-of-the-Art Facilities

From exceptional computer laboratories and AI facilities to our robotic KAI-9 dog, we empower students using cutting-edge resources .

Industry Partners

Work with our industry partners including the NHS, health boards, charities, and in health tech, FinTech, and the third sector.

Module Overview

Open doors to a dynamic, applied artificial intelligence career with our comprehensive exploration of AI applications. From language transformation to sentiment analysis, visual recognition, knowledge representation and data analysis using Python packages, students gain expertise in diverse AI areas.

Project Management and Research Methodology
Plan a project considering relevant risks and ethical issues while completing a literature review and other development activities as you improve your understanding of the situation and/or produce organisational change.

Principles of Computing
Demonstrate your understanding of current developments in computer technology, programming and database systems by producing a solution to a problem with many interacting factors using appropriate practices, tools and techniques.

Computational Applications Of Artificial Intelligence
Expand your computation applications knowledge within artificial intelligence, complex data management and engineering. Assess practical situations and interpret real-world advanced statistical analysis concepts uses and their value in data science.

Knowledge-Based Systems
Learn practical skills in designing and developing knowledge-based systems used to support human decision-making and about their societal impacts. Explore the best practices and ethical approaches to producing AI-powered solutions.

Machine Learning and Autonomous Systems
Create a foundational understanding of machine learning, support vector machines, dimensionality reduction, and statistical AI models. Learn about reinforcement learning principles and explore applications, tools, and their societal implications.

Deep Learning
Build on your machine learning knowledge and explore deep learning and its application. Discover our innovative tools and the different ways to design and develop solutions to real problems.

MSc Project
Demonstrate computing and research skills by investigating your chosen topical, award-relevant issue in depth to produce a justified solution to a significant problem informed by a critical review of research.

Course Highlights

Delivery and assessment

This intensive postgraduate course is divided into four major blocks. Full-time students dedicate 12 class hours and 24 independent study hours weekly, while part-time students commit around six hours per week.

Assessment is 100% coursework-based and ranges from research-style papers and presentations to practical assignments. You will choose your focus for a substantial research project that requires strong independent thinking, critical analysis, and project management skills.

Students experience both structured class time and independent study as part of this dynamic course which includes lectures, tutorials, practical sessions, seminars, and projects.

Teaching staff

You will be taught and supported by a dedicated team of skilled teachers from a wide range of industrial and research backgrounds. Their invaluable experience ensures that students not only learn about technologies and methodologies that are at the vanguard of computer science but that students also learn how they are applied. Find out about our current Computing, Cybersecurity, Maths and informatics (CCMI) research group.

Facilities

You will work with cutting-edge technology, from our state-of-the-art computer laboratories and Mac facilities to our robotic dog, KAI-9. From intensive data processing to creative design, students feel empowered to explore, innovate, and excel.

You will be career-ready as you solve real-world problems. With a blend of theory and practice, you will gain all the key skills to face the dynamic challenges of today’s digital landscape. You will work with CNN, RNN, LSTM and transformer architecture as well as tools like Hugging Face, Streamlit and Gradio while exploring Deep Learning. We support your independent studies though our DataCamp material.

Careers and Employability

Graduate careers

By studying with us, you will be well-equipped for a range of dynamic and high-demand career paths. Our graduates have gone on to a wide range of roles, including predictive maintenance engineers, chatbot and virtual assistant developers in mental health support, marketing and retail, and supply chain optimization engineers who address disruptions, optimize inventory levels, and improve logistics across various industries.

Possible career paths

A career in artificial intelligence offers various exciting paths. This dynamic area includes roles like machine learning engineers who craft algorithms, data scientists who extract insights from datasets to inform their decision-making, natural language processing engineers who specialise in language-driven AI, computer vision engineers who focus on visual data and how to interpret it, and AI research scientists who contribute to cutting-edge advancements as well as exploring new algorithms and models. These diverse roles shape the future across industries like healthcare, finance, and technology.

Careers support

As well as helping you to hone your computing and AI skills, our staff will help to support you in building your CV and career profile. From LinkedIn advice to networking, our staff are on hand to help students excel once they leave the classroom.

The Careers and Employability Service can support you during and after your studies, including one-to-one appointments with faculty-based career advisers. We’ll help you explore career options and present yourself confidently to employers. Our service includes dedicated teams, such as the Employability Development Team and the Enterprise Team, focused on business ideas and entrepreneurship.

Industry Partners

We work with a variety of technology and AI partners that change on a regular basis – our partners are chosen based on ongoing research related to our CCMI Research and Innovation group. This often includes NHS Wales, the health technology company Fintech, local charities, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, Swansea Bay University Health Board and international partners.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Typical qualification requirements:

This course is aimed at graduates with a minimum 2:2 Honours degree or equivalent who would like to broaden their existing knowledge and open up a new career path.

Applications from engineering, IT, science, mathematics or business graduates in particular are welcomed.

The course is tool-based and if any numeracy skills are needed it will be covered with the content of the modules.

Relevant industry experience can also be taken into account.

The course welcomes none STEM subjects.

 

International applications welcomed:

We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence, please view our dedicated country pages.

English language requirements

International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 72 overall and a minimum of 18 in reading, 17 in listening, 20 in speaking and 17 in writing or equivalent.

Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.

If you have previously studied through the medium of English, IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.

If you do not meet the English entry criteria, please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended, for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer, and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.

USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.

 

We're here to help

Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch, and we'd love to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.

 

Fees and Funding

UK Full-time Fee

£10,800

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£16,900

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£16,900

per year*
UK Part-time Fee

£1,200

per 20 credits*

Further Information

Studying at university is one of the most significant investments you'll ever make. Whilst you’re studying, you’ll have two main financial obligations – tuition fees and living costs. There’s lots of financial help available from the University of South Wales and external funding sources, that may provide loans (which have to be paid back) and grants, scholarships and bursaries (that don't).

*Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits. Once enrolled, the fee is anticipated to remain at the same rate throughout the duration of your study on this course except as described below.

Please be aware that we may increase the maximum fee for home students on full-time undergraduate courses only where the Welsh Government increases the permitted level of inflation of fees. Fees for all students (including part-time, postgraduate and international students) may be amended in accordance with our applicable Fees and Debt Management Policy.  We will ensure that students are given clear, intelligible, unambiguous and timely information about our courses and costs in good time, ahead of the next academic year.

 

Fees and Funding Scholarships and Busaries Alumni Discount

Additional Costs

As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.

There are no specific additional costs associated with the programme, although students should expect to incur occasional incidental expenses, for instance for printing, stationary or transport.  Students may, optionally decide to support their studies by providing additional equipment such as a laptop.  Although recommended this is not required

Introducing Calon

We are investing in the future of STEM with the exciting new Calon building at the heart of our Pontypridd Campus.


University Quality Assurance

At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.

If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.

How to apply

There is an online application process for this course. Please choose the application form for your preferred start date and mode of study (i.e. full-time or part-time).

International admissions

Please see our international admissions advice for further information about how to apply as a prospective international student.