Click on the links below for more information on particular courses:

INF5000W    INFORMATION SYSTEMS MASTERS BY DISSERTATION ONLY 

Only students with an exceptionally strong and broad research background will normally be accepted for this Course

180 NQF credits at HEQSF level 9

Convener: M Kyobe

Course entry requirements: At least 65% at Honours level. (See also rule FM2 & FM2.2 -Rules for Post-graduate degrees – Masters)

Objective:  The Master of Information Systems programme aims to enhance students’ knowledge and analytical skills in researching, designing, implementing and managing information systems in a fast-changing environment.

Course outline:  The student will be required to attend and hand-in assignments for the following 3 Coursework modules: Information systems thinking; Proposal writing; and Literature review. In addition, the student will attend regular one-on-one meetings with the dissertation supervisor. During this time a research plan will be approved and executed based on the research proposal. Changes to the candidate’s dissertation proposal will require approval of both the course convener and the candidate’s supervisor. The dissertation must have both theoretical and practical implications. Candidates will be expected to present a public seminar shortly before submission of the dissertation
 

Lecture times: Monday, 8th and 9th period; Thursday, 9th and 10th period

DP requirements: None

Assessment:  Assessment of the dissertation will be in terms of Rule FM5 of the Rules for the Degree of Master by Coursework and Dissertation. 

INF5004W    INFORMATION SYSTEMS MASTERS COURSE WORK 

90 NQF credits at HEQSF level 9

Convener: M Kyobe

Course entry requirements: At least an average of 65% at Honours  

Objective:  The Master of Information Systems programme aims to enhance students’ knowledge and analytical skills in researching, designing, implementing and managing information systems in a fast-changing environment.

Course outline:  The pedagogy will include individual study, small group discussion, regular seminars, research papers, projects and mentored research. Subject matter will consist of current topics in Information Systems theory research, and practice with particular focus on developing a critical approach to reading and writing in Information Systems. During this period the course convener will assist students in developing a research proposal for the dissertation component of the degree, and they will be allocated a suitable supervisor for the dissertation.

Lecture times: Monday, 8th and 9th period, Thursday, 9th and 10th period. The department may, at its discretion, choose to cover the materials in 4 weekly full time blocks to accommodate students not residing in Cape Town or those who cannot attend the weekly sessions. Each block would be for 5 days, starting at 9am until 3pm.

DP requirements: None

Assessment: Assessment will be based on deliverables within the following categories:Assignments on IS management topics, Professional writing, Systems thinking and quantitative analysis, Essays in a critical reading module. Draft research proposal. Full literature survey on proposed dissertation topic, Research design proposal for dissertation topic, Student presentations on various topics, Research article, and Participation 

INF5005W    INFORMATION SYSTEMS MASTERS DISSERTATION 

Convener: M Kyobe

Course entry requirements: At least 50% in INF5004W.  

Objective:  The Master of Information Systems programme aims to enhance students’ knowledge and analytical skills in researching, designing, implementing and managing information systems in a fast-changing environment.

Course outline:  The student will attend regular one-on-one meetings with the dissertation supervisor. During this time a research plan will be approved and executed based on the research proposal. Changes to the candidate’s dissertation proposal will require approval of both the course convener and the candidate’s supervisor. The dissertation must have both theoretical and practical implications. Candidates will be expected to present a public seminar shortly before submission of the dissertation.

DP requirements: None

Assessment:  Assessment of the dissertation will be in terms of Rule FM5 of the Rules for the Degree of Master by Coursework and Dissertation. 

INF5006S    FINANCIAL SYSTEMS DESIGN 

15 NQF credits at HEQSF level 9

Convener: S Kabanda

Course entry requirements: Acceptance into the MPhil or MSc in Data Science Co-requisites: None

Course outline:  Objective of this course is to provide the student with a holistic view of software design and craftmanship within the context of the financial services industry. This course will be extremely practical in nature and will teach formal and structured frameworks to design, manage, integrate and review financial software systems and solutions. Aspects of process design such as life cycle design, testing, processing and integration will be the core focus. Moreover, the software management and development frameworks proposed in this course will largely be qualitative in nature. This will enable students to supplement and complete the core technical programming skills and knowledge acquired in other courses with practical real-world software development considerations. Within the financial services context, this refers to the development and maintenance of software solutions thatsupport and enable the creation of financial products and services. Javascript and Python are the core programming languages used and the agile methodology for software development will serve as the core underlying framework. The Git and GitHub systems will be used to teach version control and collaborative coding in software development. Students will learn programming etiquette and industry best practices, i.e. commenting, code as documentation, unit- testing, test-driven development and creating reusable code. The following books will inform most of the theoretical course content.

DP requirements: None

Assessment: One, course-long project, focussing on a specific financial services problem, that will be compartmentalised into various assignments. This will count 40% toward the final grade.2.One practical exam that will count 60% toward the final grade.