User Experience Design MSc (PGCert PGDip)

International requirements and visas

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visas and immigration advice

Course structure

The course can be studied full-time or part-time.

The taught element of the course is delivered during the first two semesters. Modules involve approximately 20% classroom teaching and 80% individual or group work. The third semester focuses on your major project.

Part-time students study alongside full-time students with a minimum attendance of one half day per week, depending on the number of modules taken.

It is possible to undertake a postgraduate certificate or postgraduate diploma instead of the full MSc. PGCert students take three modules and PGDip students take six modules.

Syllabus 

As an MSc student you will study five core modules and choose two option modules allowing you to specialise in areas of the course that interest you most. Full-time students also have the option of a placement or research year.

Modules

Core modules

• Interaction Design and Evaluation Process

  This module provides you with a solid foundation for developing user interaction aspects of projects and the capability to reliably evaluate the usability of your own and others’ work. You will study techniques for design process activities; usability evaluation techniques; documentation standards; and legal requirements.

• Research Methods

  You will develop the professional perspectives and skills needed to plan, carry out and evaluate research in your field of informatics-related studies during this module. You will also build your understanding of the social, legal and ethical issues within this context. Topics covered include sources and methods for desk research; approaches and methods; legal perspectives; and ethics.

• Design Thinking

  This module helps you develop your creative problem-solving and design-thinking skills through practice. You will be guided through the entire design process, using research methods to understand stakeholder groups, identify need and create an innovative, user-centric and ethical solution to address a process, service, produce or app. Topics include the five stages of design thinking (empathise, define, ideate, prototype, test); visualisation techniques; ideation tools and techniques; and user testing methods.

• Interface and Information Design

  This module will develop your user-centred design and evaluation skills and enable you to produce work at a commercially acceptable level of design quality. You will advance your ability in interaction design and evaluation by gaining deeper knowledge and skills around information, navigation and interface design.

• Major Project

  This module provides you with the opportunity to demonstrate your capacity to work at masters level as a developer in your chosen area of expertise by designing and producing an interactive product. It enables you to extend and combine your understanding of the theory and practice of interactive technology development by applying your understanding to this substantial project.

Options*

• MSc UXD Industrial Placement

  This module gives you the opportunity to undertake a minimum of 24 weeks (48 weeks for international students) work experience in an MSc UXD role. You will be able to put into practice the UX design skills and knowledge your acquired in taught modules, reflect upon these in a business context and develop teamwork and leadership skills. Successful completion of this placement module could improve your employability.

• Independent Project

  This module provides you with a structure within which to develop your own innovative products to prototype stage for inclusion in a professional portfolio of work. You will gain the specific knowledge, skills and techniques needed to carry out the work through completing other modules on the course and directed reading.

• Web Development

  This module will introduce you to standards-based web technologies and teach you how to apply best practice in front-end web design and development. Topics will cover internet fundamentals; core concepts, techniques and skills; web design; and DOM scripting.

• Independent Research Project

  The Independent Research Project aims to provide a structure within which you can work on a research project of your own choice in order to deepen your understanding of the theories, concepts methods and technologies in your chosen specialism.

• The Business and the Information System

  This module will teach you how to critically evaluate the role of information systems within the wider enterprise, assess the issues and problems a business analyst may face in this environment and propose solutions to address these. Areas studied include enterprise frameworks; business strategy and alignment to information systems; business processes; and information systems in the value chain.

• Research

  The module enables you to engage in an in-depth piece of independent research in a subject within the expertise of the course team but outside the range of material covered by the course and independent of the Major Project subject. During the module, you will critically analyse, interpret and evaluate complex information, concepts and/or theories and to understand the wider context in which the area of research is located.

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Placement year

To further increase your employability and international experience we offer full-time students starting in September the opportunity to take a placement year. This means that your course will take two years, but you’ll be graduating with work experience.

The year on placement in a role related to your course will allow you to put all that you have learned on your masters into practice, enhancing your career opportunities and giving you practical experience in your area of expertise.

The placement is assessed formatively throughout the year, giving you the chance to reflect on your experience and helping to build your CV.

Work placements are optional, and you'll arrange your placement with support from our dedicated Placements and Employability team.

We offer a two-year international study visa route to support applications for this course.

Meet the team 

Dr Karl Cox, course leader 

Dr Karl Cox has over 25 years’ experience in the teaching, research and practice of software engineering, mostly in the early lifecycle of medium to large projects. Dr Cox has published over 100 academic papers, articles, book chapters and books.

He obtained his PhD in Computer Science at Bournemouth University. He has worked in Australia, Japan and the UK as an academic, researcher, consultant and company founder.

He currently teaches business and requirements analysis, information security and project management with a special focus of combining business, project management with aspects of user experience design principles.

Other teaching staff

• Dr Andrew Blake
• Dr Sanaz Fallahkhair
• Dr Panagiotis Fotaris
• Dr Marcus Winter
• Dr Phil Jackson

Course fees

Scholarships, bursaries and loans

We offer a range of scholarships for postgraduate students. Bursaries and loans may also be available to you.

Find out more about postgraduate fees and funding.

The fees listed here are for the first year of full-time study if you start your course in the academic year 2025–26.

You will pay fees for each year of your course. Some fees may increase each year.

UK undergraduate and some postgraduate fees are regulated by the UK government and increases will not be more than the maximum amount allowed. Course fees that are not regulated may increase each year by up to 5% or RPI (whichever is higher).

If you are studying part-time your fee will usually be calculated based on the number of modules that you take.

Find out more

• Fees, bursaries, scholarships and government funding info for UK and international postgraduate students
• Student finance and budgeting while studying
• About the university’s fees by checking our student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

Campus where this course is taught

Accommodation

Local area

Maps

Support and wellbeing

Sport at Brighton