MSC IN COMPUTER SCIENCE

2025 INTAKE

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DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE & ENGINEERING
UNIVERSITY OF MORATUWA

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SPECIALIZATIONS

The MSc in Computer Science (MSc in CS) postgraduate degree program is

designed to provide practicing professionals with a greater depth of technical
knowledge as well as exposure to emerging and niche areas.

The following specializations within the MSc in CS program allow students to

concentrate on an area of study that interests them:

• Cloud Computing

• Computer Networks

• Data Science, Engineering and Analytics

• Information Systems Management

• Mobile Computing

• Parallel Computing

• Security Engineering

• Software Architecture
Details of the specializations are as follows:

• Cloud Computing

Cloud computing has transformed the way we host and run applications,
enabling us to acquire vast, scalable computing and storage resources as and
when needed. As every computing device and application now having a cloud
backend, there is a huge demand for professionals that can design and develop
cloud-enabled applications as well as integrate and manage cloud services.
This specialization is targeted towards preparing cross-skilled cloud architects,
engineers, and developers to address this rising demand. Areas of study under
the specialization include cloud technologies, cloud and client-side software

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development, distributed systems, as well as fundamentals of cloud systems,
information security, and networking.

• Computer Networks

This specialization focuses on the design, operation, and management of

computer networks and for those who intend to become senior systems
engineers, network operations center (NOC) managers, and network design
and performance engineers. The specialization is designed to provide
specialized knowledge and skills in wired/wireless networks, routing, switching,
systems engineering, and network security, design, and management, as well
as recent and emerging topics including cloud-based systems, software
defined networking, and content concentric networking.

• Data Science, Engineering, and Analytics

The exponential growth of the data accumulated by the mankind has resulted
in the phenomenon commonly referred to as Big Data – large, complex data
sets that are impossible to comprehend for humans. This specialization
explores the unique challenges and opportunities presented by Big Data. Areas
of study under the specialization include data mining, information retrieval,
concepts and techniques of machine learning, and the emerging disciplines of
data science and business intelligence. This specialization is useful for
professional who would like to embark on a career as data scientists or data
mining experts, and professionals who would like to work as software engineers
on endeavors related to Big Data.

• Information Systems Management

This specialization focuses on the design, operation, and management of large

scale information systems and is intended for those who are planning to
become senior IT managers, IT project managers and senior IT consultants. The

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specialization is designed to provide specialized knowledge and skills in the
areas of information systems management, software engineering, IT project
management, socio-technical analysis of ICT and future trends for digital
enablement.

• Mobile Computing

The advancements in computing and communication technologies have fueled

an exponential growth in the use of mobile computing and the consumer
market is converging to mobile computing technology at a rate faster than any
other technology in the history. This disruptive growth has already become a
trillion Dollar business and the computing industry from leading global players
to small local businesses are preparing for this wonderful paradigm shift. The
mobile computing specialization is targeted towards preparing mobile
computing architects required to drive the next generation, context-aware
ubiquitous applications, which will be the frontier of the mobile computing and
consumers. The core of the specialization explores topics such as context
awareness, ubiquitous computing, Internet of things, wireless networks, mobile
clouds and Cloudlets, innovative user interaction techniques, and developing
next generation mobile applications.

• Parallel Computing

We live in the era in which the performance of computing does not improve
automatically as used to be and described by the Moore's Law. Now the way to
improve performance is by using several processing elements in parallel, be it
smart phones or high-end computer servers. As a result, parallel computing has
become ever more relevant to a wide range of computing professionals. This
specialization explores the challenges and opportunities presented by all forms
of parallel computation. Areas of study under the specialization include study
of parallel architectures (ranging from multi-core CPUs and performance

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accelerators such as many-core GPUs to heterogeneous clusters and massively
parallel systems), concurrency, parallel programming models and techniques,
and performance engineering.

• Security Engineering

The security of information, software, networks, and systems is one of the most
critical requirements in computing, irrespective of whether it is organizational,
governmental, research, or commercial. This specialization is for those who
intend to become security architects in software engineering, security
specialists in systems integration, and information security engineers. The
specialization has been designed to match the industry requirement in
specialized knowledge and skills in cryptographic techniques, secure software
development, network security, vulnerability assessment, and information
security management.

• Software Architecture

This specialization focuses on the concepts and techniques that lead to

superior software architectures and software systems. It explores areas of study
such as software architecture styles and patterns, enterprise software
architectures, quality engineering, requirements engineering, and distributed
computing. The specialization is equally useful for professionals who would like
to embark on a career as software architects as well as professionals who would
like to become highly productive software engineers.

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COURSE MODULES AND PROGRAM STRUCTURE

The MSc in CS postgraduate degree program consists of compulsory modules,

specialization-specific compulsory modules, elective modules, and a compulsory
research project. The research project is expected to be in the area of specialization.

The program is structured as a six semester (two-year) degree program with each
semester consisting of 12 weeks of academic activities. Lectures are held on
One/Two weekdays from 5.30 PM to 7.30 PM in Colombo and on Saturdays in the
University of Moratuwa. Lectures are also supplemented with online interactions via
Moodle, Yammer, Google Hangout, Skype, Lync, etc.

In a typical study program arrangement, the first three semesters consist of taught
course modules while the fourth semester is a mix of taught courses and research.
The final two semesters are used for the research project and dissertation writing.

The following are the course modules of the program:

Code Course Modules Credits

CS5101 IT Project Management 3

CS5102 IT Policy and Planning 3

CS5103 Information Systems Management 3

CS5116 IT and Society 3

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CS5202 Advanced Operating Systems 3

CS5203 Advanced Compilers 3

CS5212 Software Architecture Concepts 3

Code Course Modules Credits

CS5213 Enterprise Software Architecture 3

CS5214 Principles of Operating Systems 1.5

CS5222 Software Process and Management 3

CS5223 Rapid Application Development 3

CS5224 Advanced Databases 3

CS5225 Parallel and Concurrent Programming 3

CS5226 Secure Program Development 3

CS5227 Data Mining 3

CS5228 Principles of Software Design and Software Engineering 3

CS5229 Big Data Analytics Technologies 3

CS5230 Database Managements Systems 3

CS5242 Software Development on Cloud Platforms 3

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CS5243 Client Side Application Development 3

CS5250 Human Computer Interaction 1.5

CS5251 Local-Language Computing 1.5

CS5252 Requirements Engineering 1.5

CS5253 Software Quality 1.5

CS5270 Many / Multi-Core Programming 3

CS5312 High Performance Computer Architecture 3

CS5313 Fault Tolerant Computing 3

Code Course Modules Credits

CS5314 Embedded Systems 3

CS5341 Cloud Technologies and Systems 3

CS5401 System and Network Design 3

CS5404 Computer and Network Security 3

CS5405 Performance Modeling and Analysis 3

CS5406 Performance Engineering of Computer Systems 3

CS5414 Current Topics in Computer Networks 3

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CS5422 Digital Communication 3

CS5423 Information Security Theory and Practice 3

CS5424 Cryptography Engineering 3

CS5425 Information Security and Cryptography 3

CS5426 e-Commerce 3

CS5429 Distributed Computing 3

CS5430 Mobile Computing 3

CS5431 System Audit and Vulnerability Assessment 3

CS5440 Wireless Access Networks 3

CS5441 Mobile and Ubiquitous Application Development 3

CS5442 Pervasive Computing 3

CS5450 System and Network Administration 3

CS5451 Broadband Networks 1.5

Code Course Modules Credits

CS5452 Wireless Networks 1.5

CS5453 Security Management 1.5

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CS5454 Digital Forensics 1.5

CS5455 Networks and Protocols 1.5

CS5456 Security Management 3

CS5457 Legal Aspects of Computer Security 1.5

CS5460 Operating Systems Security 3

CS5461 Network Security 3

CS5462 Embedded Systems Security 3

CS5512 Advanced Image Processing 3

CS5513 Computer Vision 3

CS5612 Pattern Recognition 3

CS5613 Neural Networks 3

CS5614 Bio-Informatics 3

CS5615 Information Retrieval 3

CS5616 Natural Language Processing 3

CS5617 Data Science 3

CS5618 Business Intelligence 3

CS5619 Information Systems for Digital Society 3

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 CS5620 Information Systems Modelling and Design 3

Code Course Modules Credits

CS5621 Machine Learning 3

CS5650 Statistical Analysis 1.5

CS5651 Statistical Inference 3

CS5701 Advanced Algorithms 3

CS5814 IT Law 3

CS5850 e-Learning 1.5

CS5912 Current Topics in Computer Science 3

CS5921 Independent Study 1 1

CS5922 Independent Study 2 1

CS5923 Directed Study 1 1.5

CS5924 Directed Study 2 1.5

CS5925 Directed Study 3 1.5

CS5926 Directed Study 4 1.5

Students are required to earn 60 credits to graduate. 20 of those credits would come
from the Research/Industry Projects. Four more credits would come from modules
that prepare the students for the Research Project. That leaves 36 credits to be
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 earned by taught modules. The combination of taught modules to be taken
depends on the specialization. If you need any additional information regarding the
specializations, course modules or the program structure, please contact the MSc
in CS course coordinators through the contact details given on
http://postgrad.cse.mrt.ac.lk website.

Note:

RESOURCE PERSONS
Offering of a particular specialization, or a course module during a given
academic year is subject to having the minimum number of registrations.
The MSc in CS postgraduate degree program is conducted by senior academics of
the University of Moratuwa with research specializations in specific study areas
complemented by specialists from the industry.

Prof. Gihan Dias

BSc Eng Hons (Moratuwa), MSc (UCSB), PhD (UCD), MIE(SL), CEng

Professor, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa

Prof. Sanath Jayasena

BSc Eng Hons (Moratuwa), MSc (UIUC), PhD (UIUC), MIE(SL), CEng

Senior Lecturer, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa

Prof. Indika Perera

BSc Eng Hons (Moratuwa), MBS (Colombo), MSc (Moratuwa), PhD (St Andrews), PGDBM
(Colombo), MIE (SL), CEng

Senior Lecturer, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa

Prof. Chandana Gamage

BSc Eng Hons (Moratuwa), MEng (AIT), PhD (Monash), MIE(SL), CEng

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Senior Lecturer, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa

Prof. Dulani Meedeniya

BSc Hons (Peradeniya), MSc (Moratuwa), PhD (St Andrews)

Senior Lecturer, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa

Prof. Shantha Fernando

BSc Eng Hons (Moratuwa), MPhil (Moratuwa), PhD (Delft), MIE(SL), MIEE (London), CEng

Senior Lecturer, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa

Prof. Chathura De Silva

BSc Eng Hons (Moratuwa), MEng (NTU), PhD (NUS), MIE(SL), CEng

Senior Lecturer, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa

Dr. Adeesha Wijayasiri

BSc Eng. (Hons) (Moratuwa), MSc (UFL), PhD (UFL)

Lecturer, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa

Dr. Charith Chitraranjan

BSc Eng. (Hons) (Moratuwa), MSc (NDSU), PhD (NDSU)

Senior Lecturer, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa

Dr. Kutila Gunasekera

BSc Eng Hons (Moratuwa), PhD (Monash)

Senior Lecturer, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa

Dr. Shehan Perera

BSc Hons (Colombo), MSc (NDSU), PhD (NDSU)

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Senior Lecturer, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa

Ms. Vishaka Nanayakkara

BSc Eng Hons (Moratuwa), Tech Licentiate (Chalmers),

Senior Lecturer, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa

Dr. Uthayasanker Thayasivam

BSc Eng Hons (Moratuwa), PhD (U. Georgia).

Senior Lecturer, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa

Dr. Nisansa de Silva

BSc Eng Hons (Moratuwa), MS (UO), PhD (UO).

Senior Lecturer, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa

Dr. Sapumal Ahangama

BSc Eng Hons (Moratuwa), PhD (NUS).

Senior Lecturer, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa

Dr. Sunimal Rathnayake

BSc Eng Hons (Moratuwa), PhD (NUS).

Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa

Dr. Buddhika Karunarathne

BSc Eng Hons (Moratuwa), PhD (HKUST).

Senior Lecturer, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa

Dr. Thanuja Ambegoda

BSc Eng Hons (Moratuwa), Dr. sc. (ETH).

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Senior Lecturer, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa

Dr. Sandareka Wickramanayake

PhD (NUS), BSc Eng. (Hons) (Moratuwa)

Senior Lecturer, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa

Dr. Chathuranga Hettiarachchi

PhD (NTU), BSc Eng. (Hons) (Moratuwa)

Senior Lecturer, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa

Mr. Chamara Disanayake

MSc (Moratuwa), BSc Eng. (Hons) (Moratuwa), MBS(Colombo), AMIE(SL)

Senior Lecturer, Department of Network and Security, Faculty of Computing, NSBM

Dr. Srinath Perera

BSc Eng Hons (Moratuwa), MS (Indiana), PhD (Indiana)

Vice President - Research, WSO2

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ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

The MSc in CS postgraduate degree program requires a prospective candidate to

fulfill the following eligibility criteria for course enrollment.

• The degree of BSc Engineering of the University of Moratuwa in a relevant

field, as may be approved by the Senate;

OR

• Any other four-year degree in Engineering, Science or Technology from a

recognized University, in a relevant field of specialization, as may be
approved by the Senate;

OR

• Any other three-year degree in Engineering, Science or Technology from a

recognized University, in a relevant field of specialization, and a minimum
period of experience of one (01) year as may be approved by the Senate;

OR

• Any recognized category of membership of a recognized Professional

Institute, obtained through an academic route, with a minimum period of
experience of one (01) year as may be approved by the Senate.

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SELECTION PROCESS

The selection to the MSc in CS postgraduate degree program is through an open

competitive process. The applicant’s educational qualifications, professional
qualifications, commitment to advanced study, demonstrated aptitude for research,
English language skills required for preparation of study/research outcomes and
knowledge dissemination, and references all contribute to the evaluation of a
candidate. Following are the steps in the selection process:

1. Each applicant is evaluated for the conformity with the applicable eligibility
criteria based on the information provided with the application. Applicants
satisfying the eligibility criteria will be invited to a selection test.

2. The applicants who satisfied the eligibility criteria will appear for an online
selection test of one-hour duration. The selection test consisting of
multiple-choice, short-answer and similar questions will examine analytical
skills, conceptual knowledge, and topic-specific knowledge in areas such as
Programming, Data Structures and Algorithms, Operating Systems,
Computer Systems and Organization, Software Engineering,
Software Architecture, Theory of Computing, Databases, Artificial
Intelligence, Networking, Computer Security, Professional Practice, and
Management Information Systems. In addition, the candidates will be
required to write a short essay (250 words) on a given topic. Successful
applicants at the selection test will be invited to a selection interview.

3. The applicants who were successful at the selection test will face an
interview of 5-10 minute duration by an interview panel of not less than
three persons. The interview will ascertain the applicant’s suitability and
competency for the study program.

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 4. Based on the marks received for the selection test and the selection
interview, each applicant will be ranked into a “Selected Candidates List”
and a “Waiting List”. After the selection process, all applicants will be
informed of their application status. If an applicant from the Selected
Candidates List fails to enroll in the program within the stipulated period,
that opportunity will be afforded to an applicant from the Waiting List.

COURSE FEE AND PAYMENT STRUCTURE

The total fee for the course is Rs. 650,000/-, which includes a registration fee of
Rs.100,000/- and a course fee of Rs.550,000/-. It can be paid according to either plan
A or B as shown below.

Plan A

th
• Course registration fee - Rs. 100,000/- (by 30 October 2024)
th
• Full course fee - Rs. 550,000/- (by 18 December 2024)

OR

Plan B

th
• Course registration fee - Rs. 100,000/- (by 30 October 2024)
th
• First installment – Rs. 300,000/- (by 18 December 2024)
th
• Second installment – Rs. 200,000/- (by 04 June 2025)
th
• Third installment – Rs. 50,000/- (by 04 March 2025)

Above fees include Annual Academic Registration Fees, Semester Examination Fees,
and a Library Deposit of Rs. 2,500/-. In the case of change of government taxes, the
student will have to incur the additional tax amount.
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HOW TO APPLY

1. Pay the application-processing fee.

The application processing fee of Rs. 2,000/- may be paid either to

University Shroff (weekdays from 9.00 AM to 12.30 PM and 1.30 PM to 3.00
PM) or as a pay-in voucher of Rs. 2,000/- obtainable at any Bank of Ceylon
branch by paying Rs. 2,000/- to the credit of “University of Moratuwa – A/C
No. 306836”. You may also make an online transfer to the same account.
Please indicate the course as “MSc in CS 2025” and your NIC number on
the deposit slip or online transfer form (in case the online form does not
allow all of this, please indicate your NIC).

2. Fill up the online application form at http://postgrad.cse.mrt.ac.lk, submit

and print the completed application.

You need to attach all documents indicated in the application form and
submit by the application deadline. The copies of degree certificate and the
academic transcript you upload must be certified with digital signatures by
you and your employer. The digital signature should be a certificate-based
Digital ID, obtained either from a cloud-based trust service provider, or
from the signer's local system.

More information on the required type of digital signature can be found

here. Once submitted you will receive a PDF of the filled application as a
record.

3. Arrange for Letters of Recommendation.

You are required to provide two (02) Letters of Recommendation.

Ensure that your reference forms are sent (emailed) to the relevant referees.
Request the recommender to use the same e-mail address that you used

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 while filling up the application, and request the recommender to use the
official e-mail address whenever possible.

Once the referees have completed the reference form, they can submit it
online. The recommender will receive a confirmation e-mail with an
attached PDF as a record. You will also receive a notification to the provided
e-mail address.

4. Once your application is processed, you will be notified via e-mail whether
you are invited for writing and selection tests and interviews or not. You
may also receive e-mail notifications if the selection committee has any
queries about your application.

If you are invited to the selection test (usually will be informed within 1
week from the application deadline), prepare the following application
pack and have it ready at the selection test:

o A printed copy of the completed and signed “Application Form”

o Your National Identity Card (NIC), Driving License, or Passport

o Original certificates and copies of academic/professional

qualifications, membership of professional institutes, etc.

o Updated “Curriculum Vitae” of the applicant

o Completed “Letter of Consent Form” from the employer (if applicable)

o Letter of sponsorship (if applicable)

o Copy of the application processing fee receipt

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postgrad.cse.mrt.ac.lk

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