Course summary

Our Integrated Foundation Year will take you through a carefully-designed programme to help you to progress confidently onto your undergraduate degree. Engineering, Physical, Computational and Mathematical sciences underpin modern technological society and can help us provide answers to fundamental questions. Graduates with these degrees are highly sought after by employers. The (Physics/Electronic Engineering/Computer Science/Mathematics) Foundation Year provides progressive structures in which you are able to gain knowledge and understanding of approaches to scientific study and your chosen degree subject.  All Foundation Year students take ‘Global Perspectives’, then four subject-based courses provide familiarity with Mathematics and computation – the language of modern science and technology, and key for success in science, technology and engineering. Once you have completed your Foundation year, you progress onto the full degree programme, BSc Computer Science. Want to work at the cutting-edge of computing technology and help in shaping the future of our global society? Computers, intelligent devices and the internet are central to so many aspects of 21st century life, from business and industry to governance and our personal lives. Their potential for transforming economies, driving efficiencies and enhancing the well-being of societies is almost limitless. Our progressive curriculum will give you the knowledge and technical skills that employers need, and introduce you to pioneering ideas and technologies to help you to realise your ambitions. We cover all the essentials of application development, from programming to software engineering, databases to web development, computer graphics to robotics, and information security. You will also explore the fundamentals of computing – what computers do, and how efficiently they do it – and learn about a host of advanced technologies, from computer games, digital sound and music, to concurrent and parallel programming, machine learning, bioinformatics, the internet of things, computational finance and more. From the outset you will be experimenting with programming games, robots, Gadgeteer kits, Subversion, JUnit testing, Scrum-based Agile software and more, in our well-equipped laboratories. We are a highly respected, research-focused department with a friendly approach and award-winning teaching. We offer a short-term summer work placement programme and a dedicated personal adviser to guide you through your studies. You will also be welcome to join our thriving Computing Society. We are one of only seven departments in the UK to hold the Athena SWAN bronze award for increasing female participation in computer science.  The programme’s modular structure gives you the flexibility to tailor your degree to your interests. We also offer you the opportunity to follow a specialist pathway that matches your career ambitions. At the end of year 1 you will have the option of transferring onto one of these pathways (Artificial Intelligence, Information Security or Distributed & Networked Computing), as well as onto a year-in-industry programme, or onto our longer and more advanced integrated masters programme. Transferring onto our Software Engineering pathway requires previous programming experience and early permission to take the Software Development course in year 1, rather than Object-oriented Programming.