University of Leicester

What you'll study

This programme combines taught modules with a substantial research or development project. Core themes include cloud architecture and services, virtualisation and containerisation, distributed systems, cloud security and governance, and automated deployment and orchestration. You will learn both theoretical foundations and practical techniques for designing, deploying and managing cloud-based applications and infrastructure.

• Cloud Architectures and Services – study of IaaS, PaaS and SaaS models, multi‑tenant design, and service models for public, private and hybrid clouds.
• Virtualisation and Containers – hands‑on work with hypervisors, container platforms (such as Docker) and container orchestration (such as Kubernetes).
• Distributed Systems and Scalability – principles of distributed computing, consistency models, fault tolerance and scalable system design.
• DevOps and Automation – continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD), infrastructure as code, monitoring and performance tuning.
• Cloud Security and Privacy – identity and access management, encryption, secure deployment practices and regulatory considerations for cloud services.
• Data Management in the Cloud – storage architectures, databases for cloud environments, and processing large datasets using cloud platforms.
• Project/Dissertation – an individual research or development project that applies cloud technologies to a practical problem, often involving a real dataset or system deployment.

Entry requirements

Applicants are normally required to hold a good honours degree in computing, computer science, software engineering, electronic engineering or a closely related discipline. Candidates with a lower class of degree and substantial relevant professional experience in IT may also be considered. All applicants whose first language is not English must demonstrate proficiency in English; typical evidence is an internationally recognised qualification at a level equivalent to IELTS overall 6.5 with no component below 6.0, or an approved alternative.

Career prospects

Graduates from this programme go on to technical and leadership roles in cloud and infrastructure teams across industry and the public sector. Common roles include cloud engineer, solutions architect, DevOps engineer, site reliability engineer, cloud consultant and platform operations specialist. The combination of systems knowledge and practical deployment skills also supports careers in software development, data engineering and IT consultancy, and provides a foundation for further research or professional certification with major cloud providers.

Why study at University of Leicester

The University of Leicester's Department of Computer Science offers strong teaching informed by active research in distributed systems, security and data science. Students benefit from hands‑on lab work, access to cloud platforms and tooling, and opportunities to undertake applied projects with industrial partners. The university provides dedicated student support and a careers service to help with placements, networking and professional development, all set within Leicester's diverse city environment that hosts a mix of technology businesses and public sector employers.