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The MSc in Cyber Security aims to provide you with the knowledge and necessary skills in several core areas of cyber security.
Year of entry
Location
Coventry University (Coventry)
Study mode
Full-time
Sandwich
Duration
1 year full-time
2 years sandwich
Course code
EECT029
Start date
September 2025
January 2026
May 2026
At Coventry University, we continuously review the courses we offer to ensure we reflect industry-relevant emerging best practice and technology. As a result, this course is undergoing continuous improvement assessment and will be launched with a renewed curriculum starting in September 2025. Module content and titles will be updated. Course title, learning outcomes and assessments may also change. We expect our new curriculum to be fully updated by January 2025. Please return to this page to see the final course details.
The course aims to provide a comprehensive and deep understanding of security principles, as well as the practical techniques used in solving security problems and addressing relevant issues.
The overall aim of the course is for you to develop:
The delivery is based on a combination of face-to-face sessions and online learning, with a substantial opportunity for practical ‘hands-on’ activities. This is supported by specialist ethical hacking, digital forensics and networking laboratories, as well as a virtual cyber security lab. This provides you with the opportunity to apply the theoretical aspects you learn across the course’s modules, as well as to design, implement and evaluate a variety of real-world examples and case studies.
Research project opportunities could be available for you to further develop your skills. Current work covers a range of topics such as security for low-powered embedded systems, software defined networking, enhancing security through machine learning, protocol analysis, IoT security, crypto algorithms, vehicle security and security Industry 4.0 environments. Research project opportunities may be subject to availability.
The Cyber Security Research Group at Coventry University currently has strong links with several industries and government bodies, including companies in cyber security and forensics, automotive, Internet-of-Things (IoT) and others, both in supporting our curriculum and learning, as well as research and development addressing real-world problems.
This course is accredited1 and recognised by the following bodies:
NCSC fully certified. For more information visit the NCSC website.
Your main study themes are:
The ‘With work placement’ opportunity2 enables you to apply in semester 1 for an optional work placement of up to 12 months, extending the duration of your master’s to 24 months. The placement provides an opportunity for you to develop expertise and experience in your chosen field with the aim of enhancing your employability upon graduation. The work placement would take place in semesters 3, 4 and 5.
Please note that the optional placement modules will incur an additional tuition fee of £4,000. Placement opportunities may also be subject to additional costs, visa requirements being met, subject to availability and/or competitive application. Work placements are not guaranteed but you will benefit from the support of the Talent Team in trying to find and secure an opportunity. Find out more about the work placement option.
We regularly review our course content, to make it relevant and current for the benefit of our students. For these reasons, course modules may be updated.
Modules may be delivered as a combination of lectures, computer laboratory sessions, online learning, problem classes, seminars, discussions and tutorials.
The course adopts a combination of a lab-rotation model and flipped-classroom of teaching and learning, with a combination of online/in-class lectures, online/in-class tutorials and in-class discussions and presentations. These are designed and set by the module leaders reflecting the specific topics with the aim of maximising attainment and learning.
A 15-credit module will typically have about 30 hours of contact time associated with it. This will include a combination of, but may not be limited to, lectures, small-group sessions, laboratory sessions and support sessions. In addition, you will be expected to undertake significant self-directed study each week of around 35 hours, depending on the demands of individual modules.
The contact hours may be made up of a combination of face-to-face teaching, individual and group tutorials, and online classes and tutorials.
As an innovative and enterprising institution, the university may seek to utilise emerging technologies within the student experience. For all courses (whether on-campus, blended, or distance learning), the university may deliver certain contact hours and assessments via online technologies and methods.
Since COVID-19, we have delivered our courses in a variety of forms, in line with public authority guidance, decisions, or orders and we will continue to adapt our delivery as appropriate. Whether on campus or online, our key priority is staff and student safety.
This course will be assessed using a variety of methods which will vary depending upon the module.
Assessment methods may include:
The Coventry University Group assessment strategy ensures that our courses are fairly assessed and allows us to monitor student progression towards achieving the intended learning outcomes.
Throughout the programme, we will refer to international case studies and examples such as Edward Snowden, Julian Assange or the Russian involvement in the US election. You may also have opportunities to collaborate with students from other international universities on Collaborative online international learning (COIL) projects and be given an opportunity to participate in an international internship.
Please note that all international experience opportunities may be subject to additional costs, competitive application, availability and meeting applicable visa and travel requirements are therefore not guaranteed2.
Typical offer for 2024/25 entry.
Student | Full-time | Part-time |
---|---|---|
UK, Ireland*, Channel Islands or Isle of Man | 2025/26 fees TBC 2024/25 fees - £11,200 | £15,200 (with prof. experience) |
Not available |
EU | 2025/26 fees TBC 2024/25 fees - £11,200 | £15,200 (with prof. experience) per year with EU Support Bursary** 2025/26 fees TBC 2024/25 fees - £20,050 | £24,050 (with prof. experience) per year without EU Support Bursary** |
Not available |
International | 2025/26 fees TBC 2024/25 fees - £20,050 | £24,050 (with prof. experience) |
Not available |
For advice and guidance on tuition fees3 and student loans visit our Postgraduate Finance page and see the university's Tuition Fee and Refund Terms and Conditions.
We offer a range of International scholarships to students all over the world. For more information, visit our International Scholarships page.
Tuition fees cover the cost of your teaching, assessments, facilities and support services. There may be additional costs not covered by this fee such as accommodation and living costs, recommended reading books, stationery, printing and re-assessments should you need them.
The following are additional costs not included in the tuition fees:
The rights of Irish residents to study in the UK are preserved under the Common Travel Area arrangement. If you are an Irish student and meet the residency criteria, you can study in England, pay the same level of tuition fees as English students and utilise the Tuition Fee Loan.
Following the UK's exit from the European Union, we are offering financial support to all eligible EU students who wish to study an undergraduate or a postgraduate degree with us full-time. This bursary will be used to offset the cost of your tuition fees to bring them in line with that of UK students. Students studying a degree with a foundation year with us are not eligible for the bursary.
Our aim is to offer you sector-leading facilities4.
The Cisco lab is used for working with general networking and towards accreditation by Cisco.
Our virtual labs provide a cutting-edge environment to create entire virtual networks, complete with services, users and even attackers. Students can access this environment from anywhere on or off campus.
This lab contains high-end gaming PCs with the capacity to run industry standard games engines and programming environments.
On successful completion of this course, you will be able to demonstrate:
You will also be able to:
Upon successful completion of this course, you may have the opportunity to be employed in the cyber security industry in a variety of roles such as a penetration tester, SOC security analysis or digital forensic investigator, to name a few.