It has gained fame for its facial reconstructions of key historical figures such as Richard III, Johann Sebastian Bach and Robert Burns.

Dundee University's expertise has also been deployed in criminal cases around the world, utilising forensic art techniques to aid identification of both suspects and victims that have been crucial in securing convictions or tracing missing persons.

Now the team at the university's renowned centre in forensic and medical art are to benefit from an expanded facility.

Dundee University has created of a range of pioneering new courses under a collaboration between its Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification, which was established in 2007, and the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design.

The work of Dundee's experts was recently highlighted at the Corstorphine Hill murder in Edinburgh where a man was found guilty of killing his mother and burying her in a shallow grave.

It took detectives a month to identify her with the crucial breakthrough coming when they released a computer-generated image of her face, based on a CT scan of her skull. A member of her family in Ireland saw the image and contacted police.

Now the university is expanding the courses on offer with the provision of updated Masters courses in Forensic Art & Facial Identification and Medical Art.

It is also offering a new postgraduate certificate aimed at students from an art background wishing to improve their understanding of anatomy.

Caroline Erolin, course co-ordinator for the MSc in Medical Art, said: "We are already one of the world's leading centres for education in the field of forensic and medical art.

"What we are offering now is an updated and refreshed set of courses, taking into account the latest developments in technology which are impacting on the field, which will help us maintain our international position."

Forensic art encompasses a wide range of subjects, notably facial anthropology and identification including two and three-dimensional facial reconstruction, craniofacial superimposition, post-mortem depiction, composite art and age progression.

Medical art encompasses a wide range of applications from patient communication and information to medical teaching and training. It is also used by the pharmaceutical industry to aid in explanation of their products and by television companies in the production of documentaries.

Both of the highly innovative one-year taught Masters course employ highly specialised tutors from scientific backgrounds alongside experienced forensic art and medical art supervisors.

Detective Chief Superintendent Gary Flannigan, head of major investigations with Police Scotland, welcomed the expansion.

He said: "We have been pleased to work alongside the forensics experts at Dundee University in recent years as officers have witnessed the service develop during its partnership.

"We have received significant support from the university in the area of facial reconstruction, as well as a range of other specialisms, in cases in which the identification of both victim and perpetrator have proved problematic."

Professor Pete Downes, the university's principal, said the work of academics was a "tremendous example" of how world-leading expertise at a Scottish university can have a transformative impact on society around the world.

He added: "This was recognised last year with the award of the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher Education. Dundee is continuing to lead the way globally in the development and application of forensic sciences."