Master of Science in Information Technology

What are the core skills you will take away?

Upon graduating from MSIT, you will gain core skills and knowledge to undertake challenging roles in the IT/CS domain, utilise modern IT tools and techniques, apply data-driven decision making and effectively collaborate with stakeholders. Some of the skills* you’ll learn are:

• Object-Oriented Programming
• Algorithms and data structures
• Software construction
• Statistical modelling
• Data analysis, visualisation, and interpretation
• Agile software development and web development (Frontend, backend)
• Machine learning techniques (Supervised learning, unsupervised learning, deep learning, reinforcement learning)
• Algorithmic thinking and problem-solving
• Database management and SQL
• User experience (UX) design

* Overall skills gained will depend on specialisations you opt for

Programme length

How is this degree structured?

• This is a two-year master’s degree programme with the flexibility to complete the programme in up to four years.
• Each academic year has four terms and each term duration is 12 weeks.
• Each term will include one course, with the exception of Term 8. You're permitted to undertake only one course at a given time.

Student time commitment:

• The average time commitment per week is 18-20 hours per week.
• Every course within a term is structured with 240 learning hours. These hours comprise 24 live teaching session hours with the course instructor, 48 hours dedicated to office hours/doubt clarification, and 168 hours of asynchronous learning through recorded videos.
• Live sessions will be conducted every Saturday for a duration of 2 hours.

Four pillars of learning in MSIT

Customise your degree with a specialisation

You will have the option to specialise in one of three high-demand domains offered in Year 2, based on your interest and career plan. The three available specialisations are:

• Full stack development: Upon completing this specialisation, you will be fully equipped with the skills to design, develop, deploy, and maintain scalable and robust web applications.
• Artificial Intelligence/Machine learning: This specialization will give you a thorough grounding in the methodologies, technologies, mathematics, and algorithms required to work in the field of machine learning.
• Data science: This specialisation provides a practical introduction to the “full-stack” of data science analysis, including data collection and processing, data visualisation, and presentation, and statistical model building using machine learning.

Application-based learning

In this degree, you’ll learn through a unique ‘learning by doing’ approach that promotes critical thinking, problem-solving and equips you with industry ready skills. Through the programme you’ll work on 20+ exciting projects. You’ll also become familiar with technologies like ChatGPT and Copilot. Here are some sample project types and examples, depending on the specialisation you choose:

• Application or platform design/build: Design a chat application, ecommerce SaaS application, e-book store, task manager application, etc.
• Implementation: Ecommerce platform deployment, secure digital systems, implement a custom data structure, set up a home network, etc.
• Analytics: Predictive modelling, customer segmentation, credit risk assessment, time series analysis for public transportation efficiency, etc.
• Virtual Labs: Data lab, Attack lab, Cache lab, Proxy lab, etc.

Industry-relevant curriculum

The curriculum includes a mix of industry focused aspects:

• Industry certifications: You will learn not only from IIIT-H’s curated curriculum but also have the option of opting for industry certification courses from top technology organisations like IBM, Meta and Deep Learning.AI. Completing these courses in the associated term and passing a IIIT Hyderabad assessment count towards your total programme credits.*
• Expert masterclasses: Participate in guest sessions from industry experts for each course and visualise how concepts are applied in the industry. Here are two experts you will have the opportunity to learn from; Vipul Chakravarthy (BrowserStack), Mustafa Ali (Shopify)
• Industry capstone project: This project offers eligible students an opportunity to implement ideas and create solutions. Each specialisation includes an extensive project, prompting you to utilise the skills you've gained in the programme to solve a real-world problem.**
• Industry mentorship: Attend dedicated mentorship sessions with industry professionals once every 6 months to gain insights on relevant topics, trends, industry opportunities, and current challenges.

*These are optional courses available at additional cost over and above the programme tuition fee and subject to approval by IIIT Hyderabad. The institution determines the number of credits (if any), earned by completing this content, that may count towards the degree requirements according to institutional policies, which may also take into account any other existing credits or other prior learning you may have. **Opportunities to participate in an industry capstone project are limited. The allocation of an industry or in-house capstone project is dictated by IIIT-H's internal processes and guidelines.

Academic mentorship

This programme follows a 3 tiered structure comprising faculty, academic mentors, and teaching assistants. This guarantees multi-faceted learning, including instruction from esteemed faculty, guidance from subject matter experts acting as mentors, and doubt resolution provided by teaching assistants.

Curriculum structure

The degree is spread across 8 terms over a minimum of 2 years. To earn this degree you will have to complete 66 credits. You will engage in:

• Core courses: Learn core IT skills such as computer systems, programming, algorithms, data structures, software construction
• Emerging technologies course: Learn about AR/VR, AI/ML, quantum computing, smart technologies
• Specialisations: Specialise in one of three domain specialisations offered
• Capstone project: Apply the knowledge and skills you’ve learned to a real-world problem

Term wise courses, duration and credits:

*A detailed course structure is available here

Specialisations

You will have the option to specialise in one of three high-demand domains offered in term 6 and 7, based on your interest and career plan. Within each specialisation, there are two courses offered by IIIT Hyderabad. However, you can choose to substitute the university courses with optional industry certifications mapped to each course. If you opt for the industry certificate courses, upon completing the MSIT programme, you will receive not only an MSIT degree, but also valuable certificates from top-tier organisations.

• Regardless of whether you select the university course or the optional industry certifications, you are required to pass an IIIT Hyderabad assessment for each term.
• If you opt for the optional industry specialisations/certifications in any term and have already completed the corresponding industry specialisations/certification, you will only need to pass the term assessment, eliminating the necessity to retake the course again.
• The industry specialisations/certifications are optional, they incur an additional cost which exceeds the programme tuition fee and their applicability is contingent on the approval of IIIT Hyderabad. If you decide not to pursue these certifications, you can always pursue the university courses under each specialisation.
• The institution determines the number of credits (if any), earned by completing this content, that may count towards the degree requirements according to institutional policies, which may also take into account any other existing credits or other prior learning you may have.
• Professional or industry certificates are specialised learning programmes offered by renowned organisations, such as Google, Meta, IBM, Salesforce, etc. These are designed to help you acquire industry-relevant skills and demonstrate your skills to potential employers. Learn more here.