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. Why not come and meet us to find out more about the course?
We’re pleased to hear that 84% of graduates felt academic staff on this course were good at explaining things.
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
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 and Databases: Develop your knowledge and practical expertise in the application of database design techniques, as well as your understanding of data processing.
Networks and Cyber Security: Learn the fundamentals of networks and how to secure them using security controls such as firewalls and intrusion detection and 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 and 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
Business for IT: Analyse marketing and financial issues involved in a business and units in a business.
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 Work: You'll 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'll 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.
Option units (choose two):
Application Programming: Building on your previous programming experience, you'll design more complex applications and explore data persistence, concurrency, and networking.
Cyber Psychology: The role of this unit is to provide students with an understanding of psychological concepts relevant to human use of, and interaction with, computer technology. We will examine the role psychological factors play in security incidents, techniques and practices, and the psychology underlying the prevention and mitigation of cyber security incidents.
Economics of Information Security: Using case-study examples, you will look at the range of factors firms must consider when setting their information security strategy. Incentives, externalities and vulnerabilities influence executive choices on enterprise investment in security products. You will learn to understand the methodologies used to estimate the economic costs of cybercrime and the role regulations play in better aligning incentives for organisations with information security.
Data Management: You will develop further skills and understanding of the techniques and technologies used in databases and data management.
User Centred Web Development: We will explore the practices and methodologies of Web application development following a user centred design approach. You will get hands-on experience in Web application design and development using available tools and methods as well as ready-made Web applications.
Web Programming: You’ll 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 year.
Final Year
Core units
Business Processes & Requirements: Learn about the relationship between business processes and the IT systems supporting them.
Management in Computing: Learn how to manage a range of computing activities from supplier and consumer perspectives.
Individual Project: Study a topic of your choice independently. You'll coherently present your process and product.
Option units
You'll choose one of the following units:
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.
Business Development & Enterprise: Gain an understanding of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship, and use idea generation techniques to identify market opportunities. You'll create marketing plans using environment, competitor, market, customer and demand analysis to investigate market opportunities. You'll also learn to use financial accounting and planning methods to create and evaluate financial plans for business developments.
Data Mining: The Principles and techniques of data analysis. You'll carry out data analysis experiments.
Deep Learning: an increasingly important area of Artificial Intelligence. You will implement deep learning solutions to complex real-world problems using state-of-the-art deep learning software libraries.
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'll learn about design processes, standards and guidelines, usability tools and techniques, and workload measurement approaches.
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.
Machine Intelligence: Gain sound, practical knowledge of machine intelligence and bio-inspired computer techniques that are often used for solving problems in business, finance, planning and management.
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.
Software Systems Modelling: Practice how to use software systems that use Unified Modelling Language (UML).
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.
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.
