Master of Engineering in Integrated Circuit Design
The global shortage of chip design and verification engineers is structural, the work is routinely performed remotely, and the barrier to African participation is training rather than capital. This programme converts engineering and computi...
Employment thesis
What this programme is designed to produce
Forward publishes the destination of every programme before you enrol. If the thesis stops holding, the programme is reviewed and, where necessary, retired. Next review: 2031.
Roles
- Digital design engineer
- verification engineer
- physical design and timing engineer
- analogue and mixed signal designer
- design for test engineer
- FPGA and accelerator engineer.
Employer types
- Global semiconductor design houses and their offshore design centres
- fabless start ups
- electronics manufacturers
- research institutes
- and remote contract design services.
Target outcomes we hold ourselves to
- Roles in this field are among the highest paid technical positions accessible from Africa and are routinely staffed remotely.
Compulsory · The Forward Core
How the Core works →Every Forward programme, including this one, carries the same five cross-cutting requirements. They are graded, not optional.
- AI Fluency
- Quantitative Reasoning
- Ethics and African Context
- Human-Advantage Skills
- Enterprise
Includes 12 months paid work-integrated learning
Am I eligible?
Check yourself against the published requirements
7 questions written specifically for Master of Engineering in Integrated Circuit Design. Every answer is checked against a requirement Forward has published, and the result tells you which page that requirement comes from. Indicative only, the admissions office decides on your full file.
What is the highest qualification you hold?
Curriculum structure
The same degree, in both pathways
Every Forward programme is published in both pathways: Path One, the term plan of two six-month terms, and Path Two, the block sequence of twelve four-week blocks. Same competencies, same assessments, same award. Toggle to see this programme in each.
Path One term plan shown
Path One · The Term Model
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 501 | Applied Intelligence for Professionals Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| FDC 502 | Research Evidence and Method Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| IEM 510 | Advanced Digital Design and Microarchitecture Performance | 6 | 3-2-4 |
| IEM 511 | CMOS Analogue Circuit Design Performance | 6 | 3-2-4 |
| IEM 512 | Hardware Description Languages and Design Methodology Performance | 5 | 2-2-4 |
| IEM 513 | Semiconductor Devices and Technology Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 503 | Governance, Ethics and Leadership of Intelligent Systems Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| IEM 520 | Functional Verification, Coverage and Formal Methods Performance | 7 | 4-2-4 |
| IEM 521 | Physical Design and Timing Closure Performance | 7 | 4-2-4 |
| IEM 522 | Design for Test, Yield and Reliability Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| IEM 523 | Low Power and Mixed Signal Integration Performance | 5 | 2-2-4 |
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| IEM 530 | Tapeout Project: Silicon Design, Submission and Characterisation Performance | 20 | 0-2-38 |
| IEM 531 | Accelerator and Domain Specific Architecture Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| IEM 532 | Semiconductor Industry, Supply Chain and Careers Objective | 5 | 4-2-0 |
Total credit units: 88
Curriculum source
Forward University Curriculum Compendium
Assessment
Coursework + project + integrated exam
Work-integrated learning
12 months paid co-operative education
Your week at Forward
A typical week on Master of Engineering in Integrated Circuit Design
Path One, the Term Model: your own pace across a six-month term, one live session a week, short flexible lessons, and assessment on demand.
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Curriculum explorer
Drill into the degree, step by step
Choose a study path, then a year, then a term or block, then a course. Credit totals add up as you go, and every course shows what comes before it and what it unlocks.
Step 1, choose a year
Step 2, choose a term
TERM 1 (SIX MONTHS) | FORMERLY SEMESTER 1
Year 1 · this step is worth 30 CU
Cumulative
30
Programme total
90
30 CU of 90 CU completed by the end of this step (33%)
Step 3, choose a course
Pick a course to see the detail
Credits, assessment, prerequisites and what each course unlocks later.
The twelve Forward capabilities
What this programme develops in you
Every Forward degree develops the same twelve cross-cutting capabilities. The profile below is the level this programme is designed to develop and verify by graduation, on the four-level scale in Part B2 of the Curriculum Compendium. Every claim above Level 2 is verified by someone other than the teaching lecturer.
- C1Intelligent Systems FluencyLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C2Quantitative and Evidential Reasoning CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C3Ethical and Contextual JudgementLevel 3 of 4, Independent
- C4Communication and PersuasionLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C5Disciplinary Mastery CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C6Technical Production and Craft CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C7Problem Framing and Systems ThinkingLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C8Collaboration and Multidisciplinary TeamingLevel 3 of 4, Independent
- C9Enterprise, Value and Commercial LiteracyLevel 3 of 4, Independent
- C10Professional Conduct and Workplace PerformanceLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C11Learning to Learn and Adaptive Capacity CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C12Stewardship and Public ContributionLevel 3 of 4, Independent
Critical capabilities for this programme: Quantitative and Evidential Reasoning · Disciplinary Mastery · Technical Production and Craft · Learning to Learn and Adaptive Capacity. A graduate cannot pass out of this programme below the stated level on any capability marked critical.
Programme Learning Outcomes
What you will be able to do
Each outcome is assessed, and each is tagged with the Forward capabilities it is verified against.
- PLO 1Specify, design and implement digital integrated circuits from architecture to gate level.
- PLO 2Construct and execute an industrial standard verification environment with coverage closure.
- PLO 3Complete physical implementation including floorplanning placement, routing and timing closure.
- PLO 4Design analogue and mixed signal blocks to specification.
- PLO 5Apply design for test and reason about yield, reliability and manufacturability.
- PLO 6Manage a tapeout project including schedule, sign off criteria and risk.
Why this programme exists
The global shortage of chip design and verification engineers is structural, the work is routinely performed remotely, and the barrier to African participation is training rather than capital. This programme converts engineering and computing graduates into employable design, verification and physical design engineers within eighteen months, culminating in a tapeout.
Admission requirements
A Bachelor's degree of at least Second Class Lower Division in electrical, electronic or computer engineering, computer science or physics, with demonstrated digital design or programming ability. Alternative pathways: Foundation Year, diploma entry with advanced standing, mature age entry and recognition of prior learning, all governed by Part A5 and Part G. Online applicants additionally complete the compulsory Digital Readiness orientation under Part D6.
Intelligent Engineering
Other open programmes in this School
Bachelor of Engineering in Robotics and Embodied Intelligence
Embodied intelligence has just been created as a formal undergraduate discipline in the world's largest university system, with institutions fast tracked to deliver it, and no African university offers a dedicated undergraduate degree in it...
View programme BEng (Hons)Bachelor of Engineering in Semiconductor and Microelectronic Engineering
Integrated circuits are the physical substrate of every intelligent system, and the discipline has been identified as a strategic priority in every serious industrial policy in the world. Africa currently designs almost none of them. Fabric...
View programme BEng (Hons)Bachelor of Engineering in Intelligent Manufacturing and Mechatronics
Uganda's industrial parks are filling with plant that nobody local can commission, optimise or repair, and the resulting dependence on imported technicians is a recurring hidden cost of industrialisation. This programme builds the engineer ...
View programme BEng (Hons)Bachelor of Engineering in Autonomous Systems and Low Altitude Aviation
The low altitude economy — drone logistics, aerial survey, precision agriculture, infrastructure inspection, medical delivery and eventually urban air mobility — is one of the fastest forming new industrial sectors in the world, and it is o...
View programme BEng (Hons)Bachelor of Engineering in Smart Infrastructure and Construction Technology
Uganda will build more infrastructure in the next twenty-five years than in its entire history, and construction remains among the largest absolute job creators in the world. The failure mode is not a shortage of civil engineers but a short...
View programme BEng (Hons)Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and Embedded Systems Engineering
Every other programme in this School and in the School of Energy, Climate and Earth Systems depends on people who can design power electronics, control systems and embedded devices that survive African grid conditions. This is the Universit...
View programme MScMaster of Science in Robotics and Autonomous Systems
A research and translation degree producing the small cadre able to lead robotics programmes in African industry and to found deep technology ventures. It is deliberately weighted towards deployable systems rather than simulation results, a...
View programme MScMaster of Science in Advanced Manufacturing Systems
Industrial transformation in Uganda is constrained less by machinery than by the absence of engineers who can design, digitalise and lead a production system. This programme is built for working manufacturing professionals and for graduates...
View programme PhDDoctor of Philosophy in Intelligent Engineering
Doctoral research across robotics, microelectronics, manufacturing, autonomous systems and smart infrastructure, anchored in African engineering problems and required to terminate in something that works outside a laboratory. Candidates pub...
View programme