The 13 best universities in the UK if you want a job in cyber security

Complete University Guide rank: 31

Queen's University Belfast’s MSc in Cyber security trains post grads in applied cryptograph, computer forensics, ethical and legal issues in cyber security, malware network security, and monitoring and media security

The university has strong ties with a number of big name companies in the security industry including Infosys, Cisco, IBM, Thales, BAE Systems, McAfee, Roke, and Altera.

Complete University Guide rank: 28

Located in the UK’s beautiful city of Canterbury, the University of Kent’s computing department teaches security in its undergraduate computer science degree and also offers a computer security MSc.

Complete University Guide rank: 25

Lancaster University's multidisciplinary MSc in cyber security is supported and recognised by some of the biggest trade unions and powers in the cyber security industry. These include the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), and Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI) groups.

Complete University Guide rank: 20

The University of Surrey's one-year information security MSc offers a range of topics. These include cryptographic algorithms and protocols, concepts and technologies for digital forensics, the science of privacy-enhancing technologies and “concepts of human-centered and usable security.”

Complete University Guide rank: 18

Newcastle University’s Centre for Cybercrime and Computer Security teaches a wealth of topics including secure system engineering, information and operational assurance techniques, and quantitative security.

The university reports 86% of its computer security and resilience MSc students find employment within six months of graduating.

Complete University Guide rank: 10

University of Birmingham School of Computer Science has an unashamed practical focus and teaches Masters students cryptography, network security, and secure programming.

As an added bonus, the program also has lessons taught by guest lecturers from Microsoft, Vodafone, Siemens, IBM, and Hewlett Packard, ensuring students are being taught the skills their future employers actually want.

Complete University Guide rank: 9

University College London, more commonly known as UCL, was set up as an Academic Centre of Excellence for Cyber Security Research in 2012.

The centre offers tuition and promotes research on a wealth of security topics including network and computer security, cryptography, human factors in security, language-based security, and program verification and analysis.

Complete University Guide rank: 8

The University of Southampton’s MSc in cyber security teaches students all the essential skills they need to succeed in a career in security including software engineering, risk management, cryptography, data mining, and biometrics.

Complete University Guide: 4

The Bristol Security Centre was one of the first eight research groups to be ACEs-CSR certified.

The Centre works to offer potential security experts an interdisciplinary education that teaches students cyber security from an engineering, science, social science, and law perspective. The university’s research has a strong focus on cryptography research.

Complete University Guide rank: 3

The University of Oxford’s Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre offers a variety of Masters courses for wanna-be security professionals, though it’s the doctoral program that really shines.

The department has a particular focus on the cyber-physical security, real-time security, assurance, and big-data security research topics.

Complete University Guide rank: 2

Imperial College London integrates security into its undergraduate computer science degree and also offers a specialist MSc in Computing Secure Software Systems and doctoral programs for post graduates.

Topics and research areas at Imperial include everything from improving low-level hardware security to developing next generation solutions for cloud computing infrastructures.

Complete University Guide: 1

The University of Cambridge security post grad programmes also have a strong track record churning out graduates that go on to set up their own company and make millions.

Key success stories include Xensource, which was was acquired by Citrix for a cool $500 million in 2007 and nCiphe, which was bought by Thales for $100 million in 2008.