Information Systems MSc: What our students say

"I came to study at Kingston full time and initially planned to complete the MSc in one year before touting my skills as a consultant. However, I was soon inspired to put my new skills to use and I began looking for prospective clients before the end of the course. The volume of consulting work that followed was overwhelming and meant I had to transfer to the part-time programme and complete the course over a longer period.

"I have since been working for clients in the UK, Brussels and Ireland, with projects scheduled in Holland and France, and often fall back on skills learned at Kingston – specifically, requirements analysis, knowledge management, usability and business information systems – which have proved invaluable.

"The course is really flexible and staff at Kingston have been really supportive, allowing me to transfer to the part-time programme and helping me to change the focus of my dissertation project to form the basis of a new longer term project with a key client. The MSc has definitely launched my consulting career."

"Having worked as a technical analyst for some time, I wanted a change in direction with a view to gaining a position as an IT architect. I didn't have any formal IT qualifications, so I chose to do the MSc in Information Systems at Kingston University on a part-time basis over three years.

"I was nervous to begin with, as I didn't have a first degree, but quickly overcame this because the staff and students were so helpful and friendly and the course was very well structured.

"I based my dissertation on a project I was doing at work, which involved the installation of a computer-based fax system that captures all inbound faxes arriving at customer service centres, and delivers these into a document repository / image and workflow system.

"I graduated in January 2006 with a distinction and subsequently applied for a consultancy role at the Royal Bank of Scotland. I obtained the position of infrastructure consultant and was promoted to a managerial grade. I believe the MSc helped me to get an interview, as the other five candidates had completed, or were in the process of completing, masters degrees.

"In addition to the academic qualification, I found that my levels of confidence rose substantially. This aspect of the MSc proved to be as important as the academic side of the degree.

"I now have chartered membership of the British Computer Society and in 2007/08 I completed the ISEB certification in both IS Consultancy and IT Architecture. As well as acting as a consultant on various projects, I also operate as an infrastructure architect."