Postgraduate Student Profiles

Guillaume Richard is currently studying the MSc Advanced Computer Science programme. He graduated from Ensiie, France, in 2007 with a degree in Computer Science.

"I chose the University of Manchester to study Advanced Computer Science because the quality of teaching is highly reputed and international surveys show it fares especially well in the research field. It's definitely a good choice if you're looking to study for one year or more in England - there's a very high level of teaching in a big and active community full of student activity. The person seated next to you in lectures can be from China, Australia or Spain, but she's still a student from the same community you belong to, and I really enjoyed this aspect of my studies.

The Advanced Computer Science course is based on six 'modules' taken between October and June. I chose my modules based on the various domains I am interested in, such as machine learning, computer animation or even mobile computing. I am doing an MSc project on image inpainting, using machine learning techniques. This field has been studied for a long time with classical digital image processing techniques, however, the opportunity to study it on the machine learning side can offer better results. It is a new approach, and I enjoy researching a field that will be useful.

In France, students who have been studying abroad are appreciated in industry, not only because of the content of the course, but also because of the language skills obtained, and the experience of meeting new people from other countries. After my MSc, I plan to go back to work in France and continue my current part-time job, as the MSc will be regarded highly in the company I work for."