Postgraduate 2020. MSc FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Answers correct as of July 2020 to the best of our knowledge. Please note that information can change rapidly in response to the COVID situation. These answers are provided as a rough guide.

Department of Computer Science

Accommodation

Topic	Answer
Halls	For offer holders who have accepted UCL as their firm offer, we operate a guarantee scheme for all new overseas PG students that meet the eligibility criteria and accept the accommodation that is offered within agreed timescale (application was required by 30 June) Eligibility criteria Don’t meet the criteria? Please visit the UCL Accommodation website.

Admissions

Topic	Answer / more detailed question and answer
COVID leniency	Our programmes are very competitive.  We would love to take more students but the reality is we are not scaled up for this.
Conditional offers: Waiting on results	Is there a deadline for undergraduate results to be submitted to UCL in order to get an unconditional offer? When you meet the conditions you will receive an unconditional offer. The cut off will be just before we end the enrolment process on 16th October. Note enrolling as late as 16 October will result in 2 weeks of teaching being missed.
Coming to London	Providing you are able to obtain any necessary visas, able to travel, and find accommodation (some UCL accommodation will be made available to UCL offer holders) this is fine.  Term 1 will be delivered online.  It is not yet clear what the activities on campus will be, nor whether term 2 will still be delivered online.
Defer	Depends on the programme. See lists below: No deferrals permitted with exceptions only for serious ill health, so you would have to reapply for 2021 entry for these programmes: MSc Software Systems Engineering MSc Computational Statistics and Machine Learning MSc Data Science and Machine Learning MSc Machine Learning MSc Computer Graphics, Vision and Imaging Requests for the following programmes will be referred to the relevant Admissions Tutor: MSc Computational Finance MSc Computer Science MSc Financial Risk Management MSc Disability, Design and Innovation MSc Robotics and Computation MSc Information Security  What is your deferral process in case a student is not able to come because of COVID-19 restrictions? Our Admissions Office take care of this. What happens to my deposit?  If deferred, deposit carried over.  If deferral request is rejected, deposit refunded and apply anew.
Transfer	It may be possible to switch between programmes. You would need to meet the eligibility criteria of the new programme and for the new programme to have space. All transfer requests are subject to approval. The department solely manages this for transfers within the department.
Withdraw	We want to avoid this scenario so please speak to us before deciding to do this. You can withdraw right up until start of term. Please visit the Changes to Your Studies webpage for dates after which fee liability kicks in.

Careers

Topic	Answer / more detailed question and answer
Companies who recruit UCL graduates	Technology is fundamental globally to 21st century life. Postgraduate study in CS makes you highly employable.  UCL has a fantastic reputation.  Employers include: Finance (e.g. banks) Technical (e.g. Google, DeepMind, Facebook) Environment Health Academia Recent examples from our graduate survey: Goldman Sachs, Amazon, Bloomberg, Cisco Systems, JP Morgan Chase and Co, Adaptive, American Express, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and Barclays Bank.
Employability	From our most recent results of the survey on graduate careers:  98.4% of our MSc graduates are in employment or went on to further academic study. Average annual salary for full time working graduates is £46,495. What are the opportunities in industry available for graduates?  Postgraduate taught students have the opportunity to do their summer project with one of industry partners which allows them to work on real-life problems and make links with industry.  In some cases this leads to a job offer after graduation and in all cases this allows students to forge links with industry that can last throughout their careers.

Disability Support

Answer
College can support you if you require adjustments or support in some way. For example, Dyslexia. Please visit the Student Support and Wellbeing website for further information.

Enrolment

Topic	Answer / more detailed question and answer
Dates	What's the exact start date? Induction week is the week commencing 28 September. First week of teaching is from Monday 5 October.  Note some programmes may have earlier preparatory sessions. When do we get our email address? When you enrol.

Equipment

Topic	Answer / more detailed question and answer
Laptop	Depending on your budget, we recommend: Modern PC or Mac (8 or 16GB RAM / 0.5 or 1 TB SSD storage) Some students run Linux on their PCs while others run Window’s with Linux Virtual Machines installed.  Any additional system requirements for online? Module leaders will advise you on any software that will be required as teaching starts.

Fees

Topic	Answer / more detailed question and answer
Reduction	Will there be a reduction in fees? No. There is no change to tuition fees. We are confident that the teaching we plan to deliver will allow you to achieve the learning outcomes for your programme.  We are working to deliver the best possible educational experience given the constraints.
Funding: international scholarships	Please visit the UCL Scholarships and Funding website for further infomration.

Induction

Answer
In the first week of term 1 we will provide you with a comprehensive induction to the Department, UCL and Faculty.  It will be online and includes talks from academics about your programme, assessment, labs, etc Speakers include: Students’ Union, UCL Library Services and CS’s Technical Support Group.

Industry

Topic	Answer / more detailed question and answer
UCL IXN	The UCL Industry Exchange Network supports student software development projects in partnership with a wide range of organisations including tech companies, the health sector/NHS, charities, and research centres.  IXN Innovation is the part of the scheme that concentrates on the particular needs of our MSc students who do their summer projects in conjunction with an industry partner.  Project specifications are provided by the organisations allowing students to work on real-world problems and deliver deployable working solutions Industrial partners include: Avanade, Apperta Foundation, Barclays, Cisco, Dunhumby, Fidelity International, Financial Conduct Authority, HSBC, IBM, Intel, JP Morgan, NTT Data, Ripple, Samsung, Santander, Spotify    Please visit the UCL IXN website for further details.
Project: with industry	All students undertake a substantial individual project worth a third of your final result for all MScs. A student may opt to take an IXN project, to working on a challenging problem specified by an IXN partner.  Typically this requires close collaboration with the partner and the need to development a deep understanding of the problem area.
Effect of COVID on our relationship with partners in industry	Computer Science has been less affected by COVID-19 than many other industries.  In many ways, COVID-19 has emphasized the importance of computer science in our society to keep business working and people connected. We are hopeful that COVID-19 will not still be affecting industry relations. For MSc FRM whether the summer work placement in an industry environment organised by the department will be affected and to what degree if so? The response from our industry partners has been very positive this year. Specifically, on MSc FRM and MSc CF, all students who wished for an industry placement were matched with one. In general, across the programmes, projects have needed to move to remote working and our partners have been very supportive of this and keen to be involved.

Personal Tutoring

Answer
An academic will be assigned from as close as possible to your programme. We will have timetabled sessions Might meet as 1:1, or groups of students together. You can use office hours. This is a useful relationship for you.

Scholarships

Answer
Information on scholarships can be found on the UCL Scholarships and Funding website.

Social

Topic

Answer

Activities in this environment

Something the whole College is working on now to give you a great student experience. Student Union are seated in top meetings in the College so student perspective is constantly fed-in to plans. Clubs and societies will be working on this too. Sports and other interests. Department level Set up group activities Hackathon which has a social element Some ideas to use online virtual conference app We want to hear your ideas. See more at: Support during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak website and COVID-19: Frequently Asked Questions wepage.

Student Experience

Topic	Answer
Department	Major focus for the Department. We encourage dialogue through feedback systems such as online platform Unitu, and the Student Staff Consultative Committee. There are always things we can do better and we are striving to do that. Particular focus on personal tutoring and feedback at present.
UCL	Major focus for the university.

Teaching

Topic	Answer / more detailed question and answer
Pre-enrolment work	I read there was a mathematics induction course, how does it work exactly? Is it before the course starts or during Term 1?  For students on MSc CF and MSc FRM there is a Mathematics Boot-Camp in Induction Week, this is currently under discussion. There is also a term-time mathematics support course which will be moved fully on-line for students to access as and when is convenient to them.
Assessment: Coursework and exam ratio	Pre COVID:  Assessment has predominantly been exam in Computer Science.  A handful of modules are all coursework but most modules have a weighting higher than 50% exam.  For 2020: We are currently determining how we will deliver assessments that would ave been in person, and urgently reviewing any changes we might need to make, to ensure fairness and academic rigour.
Assessment: types of	Coursework: Reports / essay Group work Presentations Lab tests Mid-year class tests Exams: Traditional exam hall style. This year was replaced by coursework style, and will be for academic year 2020-21.
Attendance	In case of completely online teaching in term 1 I would not move to London for the first term. I would appreciate knowing if we still need to be there during the “online term”. What if I cannot be present on London by 28 September? This is fine. Students will not be enrolling in person.
Content	I want to know the curriculum for the whole year.  See programme information online. Any pre-work we can be doing to prepare for September.
Enrichment	Led by government advice: Our academics are optimising their teaching delivery for next year.  Some will be interactive lectures with experts in the area – others will involve quality video lectures supported by lab classes. "online teaching will be sufficient for you to achieve the learning you need for an MSc" and "education sufficient for award of an MSc degree". Unfortunately, I tend to interpret "sufficient" as meaning "enough, but only just". Can it please be confirmed that this wasn't the intended meaning? This was not the intended meaning. Teaching is just one component of your learning. There is also an expectation you will supplement this with self-study. This is how you excel whether we are teaching face to face or not.  There won’t be an additional burden on self learning this year.  Enrichment won’t affect module content as without attending enrichment activities you will still be able to excel in yout chosen progrmame. I am based in Kent and am deciding whether I should simply commute from home or live in London and book accommodation. This will depend on the balance between online and face-to-face activities. Would I be able to get an idea on the number of days per week we are expected to be on campus (MSc Computer Science)? No one is expected to be on campus in term 1. You are encouraged to be available for in person enrichment activities if you are willing and able.  Our expectation at the moment is not more than 1 day a week, more like half a day.
Hours teaching / contact hours	Most modules have 30 hours of contact hours across a term. Some have additional things like labs, or tutorials.  Across all modules in any one week, you might expect: 4 modules of 3 hours work of lectures Some labs, number of hours depends on module Some tutorials, number of hours depends on module Average class sizes: Lecture: several hundred Labs: 25 or so depending on what the activity is Tutorials: Depends what it is For term 1 teaching will be online. For term 1, other teaching activities are still being considered. However, our student and staff’s heathy, safety and wellbeing is of paramount importance. Teams in UCL are still working out what can be delivered given the requirement for social distancing. Can you please confirm that arrangements will be made for all aspects of teaching to be online including seminars, class discussions, group coursework as well as the main lectures? Every aspect of our teaching is being looked at to consider best way to adapt to online. Preserve learning outcomes  Group projects and labs, programming labs will take place There will also be interactive class teaching as well as more standard lectures. We will increase the use of forums for discussion as a cohort / on your module, as will be effective as a replacement for discussion.
Labs	Right now we are testing optimal way to deliver our labs when not on campus.  We have a dedicated team of academics and IT specialists working on this. In particular, we have a team working closely with Microsoft, and other technology providers, to support programming labs which allow lecturers and teaching assistants to look virtually at the code being developed and feedback comments both via video, writing on the code and directly modifying it as everyone is watching virtually.  We will ensure we provide quality labs given the regulations in force.
Module selection	Will all modules be available this year? Inevitably there are changes but we try to keep these to a minimum. We have made some changes to improve our programmes.   If you have a specific query about a module on a specific programme please put it in the q and a and one of our team will answer this.  Choice: compulsory modules already allocated.  Any optional of elective modules are selected from within the framework of your programme diet. The list of our programmes and each diet is avialable on the Computer Sciences Study pages. More information about modules is available on the UCL Module Catalogue website.
Projects	You will start your project in June and submit in September. This could be with industry. This will vary from Programme to programme.  You will be allocated an academic supervisor to guide you in this group.  How are MSc projects and respective supervisors decided / allocated?  It depends on the programme. For some programmes, students are given a presentation on a number of projects and then have the opportunity to apply and find an academic supervisor themselves.  For others such as MSc CF and MSc FRM we introduce the students to the projects based on their individual skills and interests and allocate an academic supervisor who is well placed to support the work that they are doing.
Quality	We are working hard to improve a number of areas, and bring an approach to continuous improvement for the benefit of students.  Frequent opportunities for students to provide feedback on modules and programmes to shape own educational experience. Student Reps and SSCC (Student Staff Consultative Committee). Unitu Module Questionnaires ASER (Annual student experience review). All for enhancement of student experience How will you ensure that we will sustain meaningful contact with academics and industry in light of the online arrangements? For industry we see a continued appetite to collaborate with students on projects, and guest lectures. We are revamping our personal tutoring system (personal tutors are often asked for employment references).  Projects – same level as contact now. Online tools already used for supervision.  We will be retaining office hours without appointment.
Technology / tools	UCL uses the following: Moodle (this is the main virtual learning environment that has been used at UCL for a number of years). Blackboard Collaborate Zoom (tbc) MS Teams In addition the Department is looking at the best technology for delivering labs, including investigating use of simulators. Will all key textbooks be made available online as PDFs? If not, can you please clarify how these materials will be made available to students? Library Services have signed up to more online provision.  Many publishers have opened up their collections and extended their access to e-resources to support remote learning and working For more information please visit the UCL Library Services blog.
Term 1	Teaching will be online for term 1. Some of this will be synchronous – all together at the same time.  Some will be asynchronous – you can watch it when it suits you. Smaller group and individual activities being planned.  All material must satisfy the learning outcomes of a given module. If you cannot make it in person for some reason, you will still be able to engage with content.  Possibility of the first term changing its core from online to on-site during its duration, if the COVID circumstances change. No chance of this.  Why can’t you move the start of the academic year to January? Too much teaching to fit into 9 months.  No more certainty that January will be COVID safe. Ultimately a College decision.
Term 2	There is an ambition to return to normal as much as possible.  However, we will be led by government advice.  How things go for Term 1 will allow us to respond to the latest developments and official guidance for term 2. So, we will review our plans as the academic year progresses to ensure you receive the best education and university experience.  We cannot predict whether you will be needed in London. We cannot say for certain whether we will be online in term 2 and 3 at this stage.
Term 3	This is not yet known.
Timetabling	When will we get our timetable? The timetable for the whole of UCL has been thrown up in the air so it is currently being re-designed.  We hope to have this with you as soon as we can.  In a normal year this wouldn’t be available for you until you come to induction.  You can expect changes at the start.
Time zone	Some teaching will be synchronous and some will be asynchronous. Time zones will be taken into account. Anything scheduled at a fixed time will be available for download.

UCL General

Topic	Answer
Being safe on campus	Extensive work and planning is in place ensure we offer the very highest standards of safety for staff and students. Your safety is paramount.  We continue to follow UK Government guidance, as well as drawing on the expertise of our researchers. These include specialists in health, education, human behaviour and infection prevention to make sure UCL is as safe as possible.  We are introducing a range of measures to protect everyone on campus, including: asking people to use face coverings deep cleaning our buildings  implementing a one-way system onsite.  making more soap and hand sanitiser available  encouraging people to check their temperature at least once a day.  As the pandemic progresses, social distancing requirements would guide how much teaching we can deliver in person at any given time.
IT general	The College has an excellent IT department that underpin all activities, which is particularly important for a Department of CS  Department has dedicated and specialist team to support all our activities in teaching, and research.

Visas

Topic	Answer
General	Tier 4 Emerging picture Students needing advice should visit the Student Immigration Advice website in the first instance.

We welcome your feedback on these FAQs. 
Please email cs.pgt@ucl.ac.uk.