Course details
On this course you will be taught by a range of staff with relevant expertise and knowledge appropriate to the content of the unit. This will include senior academic staff, qualified professional practitioners, demonstrators, technicians and research students. You will also benefit from regular guest lectures from industry.
We’re proud that 88% of our graduates felt academic staff on this course were good at explaining things. In addition 83% of graduates commented that staff had made the subject interesting.
Contact hours and assessment
Details of the assessment methods and contact hours for each unit of the course can be found in the programme specification.
Year 1
Core units
Principles of Programming: Covers the fundamental skills required to implement software solutions. Lab sessions will focus on the application of concepts to real-world problems, and you will test and debug a given program using a suitable strategy.
Computer Fundamentals: Enables you to understand the concepts and terminology of computer systems and computer security. You will do this through group based lab exercises where you will collaborate with other students focusing on problem based learning. This unit sets the foundations for you to further develop your knowledge of computing and cyber security.
Data & Databases: Develop your knowledge and practical expertise in the application of database design techniques, as well as your understanding of data processing.
Networks & Cyber Security: Learn the fundamentals of networks and how to secure them using security controls such as firewalls and intrusion detection & prevention systems. Understand how evolving technology, such as the cloud and IoT, impacts many organisations and how it facilitates their network security.
Application of Programming Principles: Having completed the Principles of Programming unit, you will use your knowledge to gain an insight into more complex system development. Lab sessions will allow you to complete team based exercises.
Business Systems Analysis & Design: Learn and understand the role that computer systems play within organisations, and the value they provide to stakeholders. You will have the opportunity to design, construct, and evaluate interactive systems to meet an organisation’s needs.
Year 2
Core units
Infrastructure Strategy: Explore the relationship between the goals of Information Systems and the infrastructure strategies of small and medium enterprises. Look at computer and networking infrastructures and characteristics like flexibility, scalability, performance, resilience, quality of service and security, and design choices and implications of corporate infrastructure.
Project Management & Team Working: You will gain experience of working in a team on an IT systems development project, which will prepare you for work placement in Year 3.
Systems Design: With a focus on ‘upstream’ development tasks, you will learn about the needs and of software system designs, and explore the problems with traditional systems development such as human computer interface design and usability.
Software Engineering: Build a firm understanding of the theory and practice of software engineering, including production, quality, metrics and maintenance.
Option units
Application Programming: Building on your previous programming experience, you'll design more complex applications and explore data persistence, concurrency, and networking.
Data Management: You will develop further skills and understanding of the techniques and technologies used in databases and data management.
Machine Learning: You will be introduced to the underlying theory behind data processing techniques, and how to develop the tools required to perform rigorous data analytics. Lab sessions will focus on the application of these learnings to real world problems.
Networks: Through problem-based activities using state of the art network devices you will learn the theory and practice of data communications and computer networks.
Tools & Technologies of Data Science: Understand the challenges of Big Data analysis, including ethical, legal and professional implications. Gain knowledge of the most significant computing tools and technologies for dealing with Big Data: Hadoop and noSQL databases, MapReduce programming and other algorithm parallelization approaches.
Web Programming: You will learn to select and apply technologies appropriate to the issues being addressed. You will also develop an understanding of the legal, ethical and social issues in this rapidly changing environment.
Please note that option units require minimum numbers in order to run and may only be available on a semester by semester basis. They may also change from year to year.
Optional Placement Year
You’ll complete a minimum 30-week work placement which can be carried out anywhere in the world. The placement year offers a chance to gain experience and make contacts for the future.
Although you will be enrolled onto the four-year degree (including the placement), you can opt out of the placement element to complete your degree in three years.
Final Year
Individual Project: Study a topic of your choice independently. You will coherently present your process and project.
Option units (choose two):
Advanced Development: The design of applications which support enterprise activities. There will be a focus on merging applications and Internet-based services.
Advanced Networks: Evaluate computer networks and what they're capable of. You will discuss the latest developments in communication technologies, the links between cellular and data networks, and issues affecting network performance and security.
Business Development & Enterprise: Gain an understanding of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship, and use idea generation techniques to identify market opportunities. You will create marketing plans using environment, competitor, market, customer and demand analysis to investigate market opportunities. You will also learn to use financial accounting and planning methods to create and evaluate financial plans for business developments.
Business Processes & Requirements: Learn about the relationship between business processes and the IT systems supporting them.
Data Mining: The principles and techniques of data analysis. You will carry out data analysis experiments.
Management in Computing: Learn how to manage a range of computing activities from supplier and consumer perspectives.
Network Configuration Management: Address issues in network design, and learn about the tools you'll need to run networks.
Software Quality & Testing: How to make sure software has been made to a good enough quality.
Information Assurance: A growing and diverse study of how information flows through cyberspace. Information Assurance is about getting the right Information, to the right people at the right time.
Option units (choose one):
Business Continuity Management: the wider topic of resilience, which is the ability of an organisation to keep functioning during and after an attack, incident or natural disaster.
Human Factors in Computing Systems: This unit will present generic Human Computer Interaction research that can be used for a range of software and systems engineering projects. You will learn about design processes, standards and guidelines, usability tools and techniques, and workload measurement approaches.
Software Systems Modelling: Practice how to use software systems that use Unified Modelling Language (UML).
Ubiquitous Computing: mobile and pervasive systems are having a profound impact on personal and business activities. This unit examines systems and technologies that factor in the success of such systems.
Web Information Systems: Explore web development methods of all scales. This will help you identify and solve likely problems in every stage of the development process.
Machine Intelligence: the essential elements of machine intelligence including machine learning, to enable specialised data analysts to solve real-world problems in areas such as business, finance, planning and management.
Please note that option units require minimum numbers in order to run and may only be available on a semester by semester basis. They may also change from year to year.
