OVERVIEW

• ?Accredited by BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT

• 1st in the East of England for Information Technology and Systems (Complete University Guide, 2024)

• Benefit from strong links to business and research

• Choose this course with an emphasis on the application and deployment of computing in organisations such as businesses, or change to one of the others in our flexible programme

• Be taught by highly qualified staff, most with a PhD or other advanced degree plus research, teaching, or professional experience

• Be part of a highly regarded well established computer science department with excellent facilities, a strong research background, and links to business and industry

• Prepare yourself for a career in the IT sector through a mix of academic, professional and practical study, with opportunities for industry certifications and a paid placement year. Previous students have worked placements at companies including GSK, Xerox, and BT?

• Recent graduates from Computer Science have gone on to work at amazing organisations including Sega Europe, NHS, and Lloyds Bank.

What's the course about?

Information technology includes many aspects of computer science, but with more focus on the computer technology needs of people and organisations. The subject includes software development and acquisition, but also operations, support and systems administration. This course has a particular emphasis on the application of computer technology to businesses: the modelling and design of systems and data, the design of databases, how to enhance the user experience, and how to ensure software solutions meet clients’ needs. You also have the option to gain Oracle DBA certification. Thanks to the nature of this degree, you’ll develop the broad skills many employers are looking for while keeping your career options open.

What will I study?

Computer Science is both an academic and a practical subject so you will be taught in different ways such as lectures, smaller group tutorials, supervised practicals (labs) and self-study including experiential learning. Assessment is by a mix of in-class tests, exams, and coursework.

The School has well equipped laboratory facilities, with PCs running Windows 10, Linux and/or virtual machines and a whole range of industry-standard and educational software from Microsoft, Oracle, Adobe, and others. There are specialist labs for cybersecurity, networking and robotics.

In addition to scheduled classes, about 16 hours per week in Year 1, you will be expected to spend the same amount of time in self-study taking advantage of the University's extensive and up-to-date facilities. These include the Learning Resource Centres, open 24x7, with over 1,200 computer workstations and wifi access, Studynet our versatile online study environment accessible on and off campus, and open access to our labs.

Most of our students own their own PC or Mac, but this is not essential since you can use the university facilities instead or as well.

What you will learn

First Year

You will learn the foundations of the subject including topics such as an overview of the field, programming, modelling, and computing platforms.

Second Year

You will deepen your understanding and develop more advanced skills. There are modules on IT in business/organisations, software development, requirements, databases, web scripting and operating systems and networks.

Third Year

You have the option of taking a one-year paid work placement, or you can study abroad at one of our partner universities worldwide.

Final Year

You will study project planning, security management, the user experience and databases, plus two options. Finally you will undertake an individual project, typically an extensive piece of practical work.

As well as academic skills and significant experience of the key areas of computer science and IT, you will also gain those skills needed for employment. These include team work, creativity, communications, business awareness, and professionalism. You will acquire these throughout the course plus there is a core module on in the second year covering the legal, social and ethical knowledge necessary to become an IT professional.

Our graduates have become software developers, programmers, web developers, business analysts, database administrators, project managers and IT consultants, or have studied for postgraduate degrees at the University of Hertfordshire or other universities.  There are careers across many employment sectors, including the IT industry, business, education and government.  Recent employers have included Blackberry, GSK, HP, IBM, John Lewis, and T-Mobile.

CAREER OUTCOMES

Our graduates have become software developers, programmers, web developers, business analysts, database administrators, project managers and IT consultants, or have studied for postgraduate degrees at the University of Hertfordshire or other universities.

Recent graduates have become business analysts, web designers, support specialists, IT analysts, database administrators, project managers and IT consultants, or have gone on to postgraduate study. Careers are available in virtually all sectors and our graduates have landed jobs at EE, ECA International, Lloyds, Imagination Technologies and many other world- class organisations.