I picked Lancaster because I'd seen it on the listings of Universities in the country and it was ranked highly for Computing courses, not just in this area but in the North of England. It was the most favoured course to what I actually wanted to do. I couldn't actually find a decent looking Networking and Internet Systems Course in any other University. Even in large reputable Universities I couldn't find a course that I thought was suited to me; they did the standard computer science courses but nothing tailored towards Networking unlike Lancaster.

It was a challenging environment but a good challenge! You've got to work hard but you feel like you've really achieved something at the end of it and overcome all the hurdles.

It was a really fun course and I thought that all the lecturers were very entertaining. Each one brought their own character to the class and their own jokes and sense of humour just kept everything really light hearted and fun.

The Networking and Internet Systems course was quite a small group but this meant you got to know everyone really well. It never felt like it was a chore going to class because you knew everyone's personality and sense of humour; it was always fun and entertaining.

Access to the Computing academics was really good, basically the majority of the time you could just knock on their doors and they'd be in, so you could go have a chat to them. A few lecturers in particular, you could go and knock on their door and you'd be sat there for about half an hour chatting to them, not just about the course but about anything really, they were very accessible and approachable.

The facilities were brilliant, accessible all the time, their open 24 hours as well which was essential because sometimes I've had sleepless nights in there working round the clock. All the machines in there really up to scratch and I've never had any issues, everything always worked when I wanted it to and was always available.

I'm immensely proud of what I have achieved in my dissertation as, for mine in particular, there were a lot of challenges. I was re-implementing TCP and user space, so I basically learnt C programming which I'd touched on before but I'd never really used pointers and function pointers. I learnt a lot about Protocol design which is something that I'd never looked at before and was also interested in. I also touched on Kernel programming as well so looking in depth into Linux Kernel- looking at source code there, to see how D protocols were implemented and re-developing them for your user space.

One of the best things about the course was the Professors; they were quite addicted to their subjects which meant that they had a lot of knowledge! The presentations were very good and the subjects very modern. I believe that this helped us learn some very useful information about the latest technologies. I learnt a lot in the last year, much more than I had imagined before I came here. Some of the courses were really challenging for me but they were always good experiences.

Regarding the facilities the Computing Labs were excellent and the Masters Training Suite was brilliant. The project was an opportunity to do real work in a company and I really gained experience from this.

When I started, the course was new and there were only 7 people. However this was a good thing as it meant that we were very close and we will all keep in touch after our Masters.

The most exciting and interesting part of the NIS course were the lectures on emerging technologies in the computer networking world and the practical work done in the labs that reflected the skills needed out there in the Job market and for one to progress further in their career. I gained an in-depth understanding of how computer networks work and the up-to-date knowledge needed out there in the industry.

From my research I found that Lancaster Uni topped in the league tables of the UK universities and especially the Computing Department was well known for its cutting-edge and state-of-the-art research work.

The student campus had a large variety of people and it was exciting to meet people from various cultural backgrounds. I was very lucky to have a diverse group of students in my batch, the variety of knowledge and expertise each student had was something I will never forget, this really helped in learning new techniques and a more innovative way of thinking, not to mention that we are all still very good friends till this date.

The MSc enhanced my knowledge in the area of networking technologies and how computer networks work as whole. I gained an ample amount of knowledge during my course duration. After doing my MSc I decided to take on an industry recognised certification course from CISCO and I am glad that I could complete on my own without the help of any tuitions, I think this was because of the understanding gained which underlined the protocols that runs the networking technologies around the world. I will never forget the work that I did during my project which was based on one of the emerging technologies of the Internet World. I could see how the research work done at Lancaster Uni will change the face of networking technologies in the near future.

Lancaster has been a great place to study; it will always have a permanent place in my memory. It was a wonderful place and an ideal place for a students studies. The sports and fitness facilities at the Uni are also very good, this helped me to keep a healthy lifestyle and maintain a good balance to concentrate on my studies.

The first time I started to search for Universities in the UK I went to the British Council in India, my home country, and I talked to one of the Council asking about Computer Science and good British Universities. They gave me a list of recommended Universities and I started searching on the web and looking through University WebPages. When I got to the Computing Department in InfoLab21 at Lancaster University, the infrastructure looked much more advanced and it was more appealing for me than the other Universities' Computing Departments. Lancaster has a lot of collaborations with different companies, which was very important to me, and they have been graded as one of the top Universities in the UK for Computing.

One of the advantages of the course was that we received individual attention, I knew all the Professors so I got to communicate with them more freely and they are always available. We got individual attention, they would think “Ok this is Shiv, he is interested in Security Systems and Distributed Systems” and give their thoughts accordingly.

The Lab facilities were really good. For me it was very advanced, I'd never been to such Labs before and they were impressive. The systems were all in top condition so we were able to exploit them to maximum extent.

When I came to Lancaster University my Undergrad project was also in the field of Security but at a very basic level, so I think that one of the reasons for me selecting the Masters in Lancaster was that it had a Network Security module. This was very important to me because my passion is security and its field. In the 2nd year or 3rd year I met with my course director and I told him that Network Security is my field and that I'd be really happy if a project involving security came up that I could apply for. My mind was set on security and he remembered that and every time we met we would talk about it. Finally when the project came up it was a natural choice, he said this will be really good for you.

The most technical challenge was the company in which I worked, they had certain pre-requisites. They already had set procedures so I had the challenge of when I went to the company, I had certain point of view in how we could approach this project but the company had their own set ideas. However after learning their comments and working for them it proved to be a really good experience for me and taught me that if I go to a company which has set up their own system, for example a European company, and they have 22 routers in 22 different countries, then they can't just change this for certain projects. I had to change my point of view and learn to think “Ok if this is not right, then what's the next best step?”

I felt like all the staff and professors were really supporting me and guiding me towards good opportunities because there were a lot of different points that came up when we applied for projects. I needed to sit down with my work and they helped me to realise that, “This is good for you because your line of work…”. After I told them that I liked the security and networking field, they gave me some suggestions and finally I got in touch with two companies, BT and a company in Dante. My supervisors helped pick out which was good for me so they were really helpful in guiding me.

After University I applied for several jobs, one of which was where I did an internship with a company in Cambridge. I am currently working in a horticulture company in east midlands as an IT Systems Admin. I am looking at the possibility of coming back to Uni to study an MSc in Project Management for September 2010. Lots of people say "I would love to come back to this University" and I am certainly one of them.

It was really good and fun; I had a great time at Lancaster University.

We had a relatively small group on the MSc in Networking and Internet Systems course, but this was a good thing as we were able to get to know and become friendly with all our classmates, which created a relaxed atmosphere on seminars and academic discussions were very cordial.

Most importantly-the professors are very nice! Not only are they experts in their academic areas, but they are also good listeners and always encouraged your success. They gave you passion to believe you were able to achieve something you never believed you could. In my case, my supervisor gave me lots of advice and believed in me right from the beginning, which has meant a lot to me.

The best thing about the University is the "growing up"- you learn to become so much more independent, I really appreciate all the things I have learnt during my studies at Lancaster .