Cyber Security MSc

What makes MSc Cyber Security at Worcester special?

In an era when digital security threats are evolving at an unprecedented pace, our Master of Science in Cyber Security programme is a postgraduate qualification designed for students with a background in Computing or a related discipline who are looking to specialise in Cyber Security.

You will be taught by academic staff who have a wealth of experience in industry, research and teaching. Teaching is undertaken in small groups with low staff-student ratios creating a supportive and friendly environment in which to study.

In our state-of-the-art cyber lab, you will gain experience focussed on the latest developments in defending digital systems, detecting attacks, or undertaking a forensic cyber investigation.

The course mixes practice and theory so you will learn how to identify and mitigate contemporary and future cyber security threats. You will gain experience of the latest methods, tools and technologies in a context underpinned by core principles such as ethical and legal considerations, strategic planning, critical thinking and problem-solving.

The course is designed for students who already hold a degree in a computing-related discipline and are looking to specialise in cyber security. The course is tailored to meet the needs of both aspiring cyber security professionals, researchers and those looking to advance in this critical career. Graduates will emerge as highly skilled, employable experts with the skills and confidence to forge a cyber security career ready to protect and enhance the digital infrastructure of businesses and governments around the world.

Overview

Key features

Modules that incorporate the latest ideas in security technologies, ethical hacking, digital forensics, and regulatory compliance taught in a small group setting with low staff-student ratios to create a friendly and supportive environment in which to study.
Structured learning that will take you from understanding basic concepts to determining, building and testing security solutions in dedicated teaching spaces with flexible network configuration and a wide range of contemporary cyber security tools.
Consideration of cyber security across the full technology landscape – from cloud systems to corporate computer networks, to edge sensors and remote autonomous devices
Teaching staff who are expert in the field from a wealth of backgrounds including industrial and business applications as well as advanced research establishments.
Hands-on experience in exploring the latest technological and computing technologies, such as AI, autonomous systems and Internet of Things technologies

Entry requirements

Academic requirements

An honours degree at 2:2 level or above in a computing or technology-related subject (or international students holding a qualification recognised as equivalent by the University).

Computing or technology-related subjects might include:

Computing
Computer science
Computer engineering
Engineering
Information technology

Entry to the MSc Cyber Security requires all applicants to complete an application form. Where information on the form is insufficient for a decision to be made the applicant will be requested to attend an interview with the Admission Tutor.

If you have any questions about entry requirements, please contact the Admissions Office on 01905 855111 or email admissions@worc.ac.uk for advice.

Other information

Students with relevant previous study at postgraduate level or with extensive experience may be considered eligible for recognition of prior learning. Please contact the Registry Admissions Office for further information or guidance on 01905 855111. Further information can be found on our Recognition of Prior Learning Registry Services page.

International students

Students whose first language is not English are required to demonstrate proficiency to a minimum level of 6.5 IELTS (and minimum of 5.5 in each element) or equivalent.

We accept IELTS, Pearson and many Cambridge certificates as a proof of English language fluency on our degree courses. Other equivalent English qualifications will also be considered as well as qualifications recognised as equivalent by the University. Some courses may require a higher score for professional accreditation or registration. Find out more about language requirements and support.

Part-time option

The course will normally take one academic year to complete. Part-time students will complete the course over 2 years at least. The maximum registration period allowed for the completion of these awards in part-time mode (without credit on entry) is 6 years.

Course content

Our courses are informed by research and current developments in the discipline and feedback from students, external examiners and employers. Modules do therefore change periodically in the interests of keeping the course relevant and reflecting best practice. The most up-to-date information will be available to you once you have accepted a place and registered for the course. If there are insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, this might not be offered, but we will advise you as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative.

Semester 1	Cyber Threats and Risk (15 credits) Attack Detection and Forensic Analysis (15 credits) Research Skills (30 credits)
Semester 2	Defensive Cyber Security (15 credits) Digital Ethics, Security and Governance (15 credits) Project Skills (30 credits)
Semester 3	Research Project (Dissertation) (60 credits)
Internship (optional)	You will have the opportunity to go on an internship for 6 or 12 months. You are supported in finding internships and can apply for a vacancy as you would a job. There are dedicated sessions to support you in CV writing, interview skills and job applications as well as access to 1:1 tutorials. Most internships start on completion of the taught modules. The internship will allow you to gain first-hand experience within a real business environment to enhance your future employability and are usually paid. Some students choose to base their research project on a business-related issue arising during the placement. This would give you access to research participants and primary data, and allow you to apply the theories and principles discussed on the programme to a real organisation. While on the internship, you will be supported by a dedicated placements team able to respond to any problems you may be having, an individual tutor who visits you twice while you are on the internship and you will retain access to all the University facilities including e-resources. At the end of the internship, you are required to submit a portfolio containing your learning contract, a satisfactory employer appraisal, a case study and an end of internship presentation. You can get in touch with the Placements Office on placements@worc.ac.uk.

Teaching and assessment

The University emphasises enabling students to develop independent learning capabilities that will equip them for lifelong learning and future employment, as well as academic achievement. A mixture of independent study, teaching and academic support from Student Services and Library Services, and also the personal academic tutoring system enables you to reflect on progress and build up a profile of skills, achievements and experiences that will help you to flourish and be successful.

Teaching

The MSc Cyber Security is designed for students who already hold a degree in a computing related discipline and are looking to specialise in cyber security. The course is tailored to meet the needs of both aspiring cyber security professionals, researchers and those looking to advance in this critical career.

The aim of the course is for graduates to emerge as highly skilled, employable experts ready to protect and enhance the digital infrastructure of businesses and governments around the world. To achieve this, the course offers experience focussed on the latest developments in defending digital systems, detecting attacks, or undertaking a forensic cyber investigation. The course mixes practical development, opportunity discovery and innovative use, underpinned by core principles such as understanding threats, ethical and legal considerations, strategic planning, critical thinking and problem solving. A key feature of the course is the consideration of cyber security across a full architecture of modern systems, from cloud computing, to industry and business systems, to edge devices, autonomous technologies and cyber physical systems.

The course equips students for professional mastery in cyber security and has the following features:

Modules that incorporate the latest ideas in security technologies, ethical hacking, digital forensics, and regulatory compliance.
Practical skills combined with skills to manage cyber projects and take decisions.
Structured learning that will take you from understanding basic concepts, to determining, building and testing solutions.
Consideration of cyber security across the full technology landscape - from cloud systems, to corporate computer networks, to edge sensors and remote autonomous devices.
Teaching staff from a wealth of backgrounds including industrial and business applications as well as advanced research establishments.
Hands on experience in exploring the latest technological and computing technologies, such as AI, autonomous systems and Internet of Things technologies.

You will be taught through a combination of interactive workshops, lectures, seminars, laboratory practical activities, fieldwork, etc. Interactive workshops take a variety of formats and are intended to enable the application of learning through discussion and small group activities. Seminars enable the discussion and development of understanding of topics covered in lectures, and laboratory practical activities are focused on developing subject-specific skills and applied individual and group project work.

In addition, you are assigned a personal academic tutor who will advise you throughout your course. Your Personal Academic Tutor (PAT) will normally be a subject specialist and will advise you of when they are available and how they prefer to be contacted. You should see your Personal Academic Tutor as your first point of contact to discuss any wider issues or problems that arise during your time at University. Your Tutor will listen, offer initial advice and, if necessary, direct you to other appropriate sources of help, including the broad range of services available within the University.

You will have access to a range of dedicated teaching resources including dedicated computer labs and study areas.

Contact time

In a typical week there will be at least 12 hours of timetabled teaching in lectures, seminars and small-group work. The precise contact hours will depend on the semester of study. For part-time students, this will depend on the number of modules being taken. Typically, class contact time will be structured around:

Delivery of theoretical content to address contemporary challenges in Cyber Security.
Practical in-class tasks relating theory to practice.
Discussion and group activities.

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time, you are expected to undertake around 30 hours of personal self-study per week. Typically, this will involve completing online activities, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking research in the library and online, preparing coursework assignments and presentations, and preparing for examinations.

Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including The Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources.

Assessment

The course provides opportunities to test understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or ‘formative’ assignments.

Each module has one or more formal or ‘summative’ assessments which are graded and count towards the overall module grade. Assessment methods include written examinations and a range of coursework assessments such as essays, reports, portfolios, performance, presentations and a final year independent studies project.

Duration

1 Year full-time
2 Years at least for part-time (maximum registration 6 years)

Timetables

Timetables are normally available one month before registration.

Please note that whilst we try to be as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week, and some classes can be scheduled in the evenings.

Meet the team

You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. The team includes senior academics, professional practitioners with industry experience, and visiting speakers with specialised expertise. Teaching is informed by the research and consultancy work carried out by staff and you can learn more about the staff by visiting our staff profiles.

Here are a few of the current members of the department who teach on this course:

Chris Blythe

After a varied career Chris completed a Bachelors in Computing at the University of Worcester, then studied at the University of Helsinki followed by working at the University of Huddersfield as a researcher on Augmented Reality for Dementia. Chris is currently the Course Leader for the Computing undergraduate degrees, and teaches on modules in programming, web development, games design & development, and mobile development. His interests include Game Based Learning, Education for Sustainable Development and Augmented Reality for Dementia.

Dr Chris Bowers

Chris is a Principal Lecturer in Computing and is currently the China Partnership Lead for Worcester Business School. His research is focussed on Interactive Intelligent Systems encompassing a range of application areas including behaviour change technologies, energy demand management, health and wellbeing.

Chris completed a BSc in Physics and Computer Science at Keele University before progressing to a MSc in Natural Computation at the University of Birmingham and then continuing at the University of Birmingham to complete a PhD in Computer Science.

Bradley Carwardine

Bradley has extensive industry experience in many technology sectors. He has worked in commercial programming, networking infrastructure installation and has supported the UK Special Forces in a variety of technological integration projects. Bradley is a qualified teacher and has been teaching computer science for over 15 years. He has been teaching in the FE and HE for the last 5 years.

Peter Clews

Peter has a wide variety of industry experience, including three years in database administration and data analysis for Mercedes-Benz dealerships. He has a BSc Computing with Business from the University of Worcester, where he was awarded the Academic Achievement Scholarship for his first-year results. He has an MSc in Business Intelligence from Birmingham City University (with distinction), where the topic of his dissertation was a review of rudimentary methods of sarcasm classification in tweets.

Peter currently assists with delivering the undergraduate database modules, as well as contributing to the postgraduate corporate intelligence modules. His research interests include data mining, text mining, machine learning algorithms and database architectures. Peter also has a keen interest in the provision of support for students on the autistic spectrum within higher education.

Andrew Robinson

Andrew has worked in the computer graphics industry for over 25 years, for a wide range of blue-chip clients.

He now teachers Creative Computing and Web Design and Applied Drone Technology to undergraduate students, supervises graduate and undergraduate projects, and provides support to students in the Business School Media Lab.

Akinola Olumide Siyanbola

Akinola is a Lecturer in Web Application Development with the Computing department at Worcester Business School. He has previously worked as a Senior Web developer before venturing into academics and Cyber security.

Akinola completed a BSc in Computer Science at Lagos State University, Nigeria, and proceeded to undertake his MSc in Cyber Security at Birmingham City University. Then, he secured a fully funded PhD research program with Birmingham City University, which is nearing completion soon. In addition, he completed a PGCert in research practice and a SEDA course in “Preparing postgraduates to teach in Higher Education”.

His research focuses on applying an intelligent and sematic-based methodology to cyber security application domains.

Dr Andrew Tomlinson

Andrew has worked on computing projects for over twenty years. His work has included information systems development, systems analysis, IT strategy planning, data science and research. He has worked on systems for healthcare and medical diagnosis, banking, transport, cybersecurity, DNA analysis, and telecoms. Andrew’s PhD looked at detecting cyberattacks in vehicles – a potential huge problem in future driverless cars.

When he is not researching the latest computing developments or planning lectures, Andrew enjoys watching old movies, especially from the silent era, and listening to all sorts of music.

Richard Wilkinson

Richard is a Senior Lecturer in Computing, as well as the Head of the Department of Computing, teaching on a variety of modules for both Computing, Business IT and Business degrees. Here at the University of Worcester Richard leads on our Global Partnerships with QLIK, IBM Watson Analytics & Microsoft Dynamics.

Richard is published in the field of IT in Higher Education, is a Senior Fellow of the HEA, a member of the British Computer Society (BCS) and an External Examiner.

Careers

Our MSc will equip you with skills to pursue your career in Cyber Security and will also pave the way for studying this field at PhD level, should that be your desire.

Opportunities for Cyber Security professionals include:

Cybersecurity Specialist
Cyber Crime Analyst
System Consultant
Penetration and Vulnerability Tester
Cyber Security Engineer
Information Security Manager

Beyond specific technical skills, our MSc will allow you to develop a range of transferable skills which are highly valued, such as problem-solving, team leadership, presentation skills, adaptability, and a sustainability mindset.

Fees and funding

Full-time tuition fees	UK and EU students The standard tuition fee for full-time home and EU students enrolling on MA/MSc/MBA/MRes courses in the academic year 2025/26 is £9,450 per year. For more details, please visit our course fees page.	International students The standard tuition fee for full-time international students enrolling on MA/MSc/MBA/MRes courses in the academic year 2025/26 is £17,900 per year. For more details, please visit our course fees page.
Part-time tuition fees	UK and EU students The standard tuition fees for part-time home and EU students enrolling on MA/MSc/MBA/MRes/PGCert/PGDip courses in the academic year 2025/26 are £788 per 15-credit module, £1,575 per 30-credit module, £2,363 per 45-credit module, and £3,150 per 60 credit module. For more details, please visit our course fees page.	International students The standard tuition fees for part-time international students enrolling on MA/MSc/MBA/MRes courses in the academic year 2025/26 are £1,492 per 15-credit module, £2,983 per 30-credit module, £4,475 per 45-credit module, and £5,967 per 60 credit module. For more details, please visit our course fees page.
Additional costs	Every course has day-to-day costs for basic books, stationery, printing and photocopying. The amounts vary between courses. If your course offers a placement opportunity, you may need to pay for an Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.
Accommodation	Finding the right accommodation is paramount to your university experience. Our halls of residence are home to friendly student communities, making them great places to live and study. We have over 1,000 rooms across our range of student halls. With rooms to suit every budget and need, from our 'Traditional Halls' at £131 per week to 'Ensuite Premium Halls' at £228 per week (2025/26 prices). For full details visit our accommodation page.
Postgraduate loans	The Government will provide a loan of up to £12,471 if your course starts on or after 1 August 2024 per eligible student for postgraduate Masters study. It will be at your own discretion whether the loan is used towards fees, maintenance or other costs. For more details visit our postgraduate loans page.

Full-time tuition fees