| Unit name | Financial Technology Individual Project |
|---|---|
| Unit code | COMSM0092 |
| Credit points | 60 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Academic Year (weeks 1 - 52) |
| Unit director | Dr. Li |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology |
| Faculty | Faculty of Engineering |
Why is this unit important?
This unit requires each student to complete a substantial project, conducted on a research or implementation topic of their choosing or from a selection proposed by project supervisors. This unit will provide students with first-hand experience in planning, running, documenting, and presenting a substantial piece of original work in the field of Financial Technology. Projects are designed to capstone the MSc programme and give students an exciting opportunity to apply their new knowledge to an exciting and innovative problem. In previous years, excellent students have gone on to publish their projects as academic research papers, and other student projects have been used by industry.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
The aim of this unit is to give students a substantial opportunity to integrate material from all taught units that they have studied as part of the programme, to demonstrate the breadth and depth of their learning on the MSc.
An overview of content
This unit requires each student to complete a substantial project, conducted on a research or implementation topic of their choosing or from a selection proposed by project supervisors.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit
Students who successfully complete this unit will be confident in planning projects, managing time, working independently, and overcoming challenges. They will also be skilled in presenting technical findings in written, visual, and verbal form, and defending their work. These skills are in great demand by industry and academia.
Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to:
1. Work independently on a financial technology related project for which they have clearly defined the objectives and rationale.
2. Identify methodologically appropriate and ethical approaches towards addressing project aims and objectives.
3. Analyse the requirements for a financial technology application to address a problem and apply domain knowledge to create a suitable solution.
4. Critically evaluate and effectively communicate their findings in terms of their motivation, methodology, results and in relation to existing work (both in written, visual, and oral forms).
Students will have a dedicated project supervisor who will offer project guidance and support. All students are expected to meet regularly (at least fortnightly) with their supervisor (and any co-supervisors) throughout the duration of this unit.
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):
You will be assigned an academic supervisor at the start of your project unit. The first task is to prepare a project plan that includes motivation for your project (i.e., why is the work interesting/useful?), suggested methodology (i.e., why is your technical approach sensible / likely to succeed?), and a timeline of work, including deliverables, decision points, and risk mitigation. You will submit your project plan within the first month of beginning your project. Your project plan will be formatively assessed by your supervisor and a second independent marker who will both provide written feedback on your plan. [ ILO 1, 2 ]
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
Your project will be assessed as follows:
• Project presentation and Q&A (20%). You will present a 10-minute overview of your project summarising
the work you did, your motivation and methods, your main findings, limitations of your project, and
avenues for future work. Your presentation may be live or pre-recorded video. You will then have a 30-
minute live Q&A, where you will be required to reflect on your project progress with respect to your initial
plan, and you will be asked technical questions about your project. [ ILO 1, 4 ]
• Dissertation report (80%). You will submit an MSc thesis with maximum length 30 pages. A penalty of 5 marks per excess page will be applied. . [ ILO 1, 2, 3, 4 ]
The dissertation report is a must-pass component. Therefore, to pass the projects unit, you must receive a pass mark in the dissertation and also a weighted-average pass mark overall.
When assessment does not go to plan
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. COMSM0092).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
