Transcript Four-year degree (with placement or

Academic excellence for business and the professions
Which Course?
Where Does Your City University
Degree Lead?
Chris Child
Course Director (Games Technology)
Academic excellence for business and the professions
Decisions, Decisions…
• The good news?
• You do not need to decide which course now
• All City’s courses offer a focus on academic
excellence with...
• A common first year - you can transfer degrees
• An exciting range of specialist electives to meet
your interests
• The same recognition to be an IT professional
• Portfolio modules – professional development
and chance to study for industry certifications.
Academic excellence for business and the professions
Three-Year Degree Structure
• The First-Year: Part 1
• Teaches you the foundations of computing and their
applications
• The Second-Year: Part 2 worth 40%
• Teaches you the core knowledge and skills that you need
• (The Placement Year (where applicable))
• The Third-Year: Part 3 worth 60%
• Teaches you the advanced topics with which you
specialise
Academic excellence for business and the professions
Part 1: Common First Year
• Teaches you the basic computing skills
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Programming in Java
Systems Architecture and Software Engineering
Mathematics for Computing and Databases
Computation & Reasoning (Artificial Intelligence)
Business & Professional Development (portfolio)
• Then you decide
• Which degree to choose having tasted all of the
topics
Academic excellence for business and the professions
Part 2: Choose & Consolidate
• Common modules
• Professionalism and Personal Development (portfolio)
• Object-Oriented Analysis and Design
• Networks & Operating Systems
• One stream module
• Data Structures & Algorithms or Human-Computer
Interaction
• Two specialist modules on your chosen specialism
• Team Project
• Simulates a real world industrial project
Academic excellence for business and the professions
Part 3: Advanced Topics
• Modules on advanced topics to enhance your degree
• Research-based and focused on current industry topics
• Modules are unique to City’s staff and expertise
• More flexible delivery
• Most modules are electives - you choose 4 of the 5
• Individual project
• Project on a single topic with a focused supervisor
• Do what most interests you - develop new products,
work with a client, or undertake research
Academic excellence for business and the professions
Elective Modules
• Examples of the over 20 available
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Agents and Data Mining
Electronic Commerce
Business Engineering with SAP Products
Requirements Engineering
Advanced Databases and IT Security
Advanced Human-Computer Interaction
Entrepreneurship in IT
• Also take specialist modules from other degrees
Academic excellence for business and the professions
Artificial Intelligence
• BSc (Hons) in Comp. Sci. with Artificial Intelligence
• Focus on designing computers that act intelligently
• Builds on research on software agents, creativity,
neural networks and evolutionary computing
• Examples include fraud detection, customer
analytics; becoming mainstream in IT industry
• Available as 3 or 4 year degree (with placement or
professional pathway)
• Job titles include:
• Technologist, AI developer, systems architect.
Academic excellence for business and the professions
Computer Science
• BSc (Hons) in Computer Science
• Computing and programming as a science
• Functional programming, compilers and theory of
computation
• Programming technologies
• Be at the forefront of the development and
application of programming technologies
• Available as
• 3 or 4 year degree (with placement or professional
pathway)
Academic excellence for business and the professions
Software Engineering
• BSc (Hons) in Software Engineering
• Developing large complex, reliable, software systems
• Delivers key development skills
• Requirements analysis, systems design, metrics and
testing
• Taught by research and industry leaders
• Available as
• Four-year degree (with placement or professional
pathway)
Academic excellence for business and the professions
CS & SE: Software Developer Roles
• Construct bespoke software and software for sale
(Datamonitor predicts $457Bn worldwide by 2013).
• More than (just) programming – high skill, high value.
• Requirements analysis, systems design, metrics and testing
• Job titles include:
• Programmer, software developer, software engineer.
Academic excellence for business and the professions
Business Computing Systems
• BSc (Hons) in Business Computing Systems
• Provides bridge between business and computing
• Not a business degree - computing in business
• A coherent hybrid degree
• Targeted at key roles in IT industry such as business
analyst, systems analyst, systems integrator
• Available as: Four-year degree (with placement or
professional pathway)
• Job titles include:
• Systems/business analyst, IT consultant.
Academic excellence for business and the professions
Information Systems
• BSc (Hons) in Information Systems
• Developing and manage information systems
• Technologies that support business decision making
• Important topics for decision-makers
• Information management, IT security, decision support
• Available as
• 3 or 4 year degree (placement/professional pathway)
• Job titles include:
• IT operations, information manager, IS auditor, IT manager,
database/security specialist.
Academic excellence for business and the professions
Games Technology
• BSc (Hons) Computer Science with Games Technology
• Comp. science applied to developing computer games
• Games industry generates more money than film.
• Needs graduates with knowledge of games development
• C++, games AI, physics, graphics...
• Available as
• 3 or 4 year degree (placement or professional pathway)
• Job titles include:
• Games programmer, graphics programmer
• Games AI programmer.
Academic excellence for business and the professions
Our Advantage: Employability Value-Added
• A-level grades (unsurprisingly)
help graduate employability.
• Some CS/IT courses enhance
graduate employability more
than grades would indicate.
• City adds 4-5 A-level grades
worth of employability
performance.
Source: Independent/HESA
• We perform consistently well.
• How do we do this?
Academic excellence for business and the professions
Your Future IT Careers
• IT in the Recession???
• Demand for IT staff mainly in the south-east of England
• Median IT industry graduate salary ~£1K above average.
• IT grads earn more than business, accountancy and law grads.
• IT market is vast and diverse, but changing
• IT industry primarily sells business rather than technical services.
• Need to achieve more with less – ‘intelligent exploiter’.
• Demand for higher-level roles such as software engineering and
project management (prospects.ac.uk)
• “The key to success for prospective IT students lies in choosing courses
where the content is relevant to industry and key business skills are
nurtured alongside technical excellence. An industrial placement can
also be a distinct advantage.” (prospects.ac.uk)
Academic excellence for business and the professions
Remember: Employer’s View
• IT industry considers ‘soft skills’ (e.g. business
awareness) as important as technical skills.
• IT graduates can be client-facing in first few weeks.
• UK IT industry has off-shored its low-skilled work…
• Expectations of IT graduates higher than ten years ago.
• Things for you to note in choosing your degree:
• Opportunities to develop yourself in your degree.
• You’ll need to engage with those opportunities.
• HINT: do what you feel you’ll most enjoy!
Academic excellence for business and the professions
Expectation Management
• The world does not owe you a living!
• To succeed you need to offer something employers want!
• The degree certificate is not enough! But it indicates problem
solving skills, intelligence, creativity, etc.
• It’s these abilities employers hire graduates for!
• Project and placement work can show what you can do.
• The theory taught allows you to cope with change
• A degree course is like a gym membership
• We can show you how to use the opportunities and
support you in your learning…
• But if you don’t use it, nothing will happen!
Academic excellence for business and the professions
So Ask Yourself….
1. Are you interested in computing in general?
2. Which specialist courses spark particular interest?
• When choosing consider
• The programme as a whole
• The flexibility and range of electives
• The industrial placements
• All courses prepare you as IT professional
• Whatever your eventual role
Academic excellence for business and the professions
The Key Points Again
• City offers an exciting range of computing degrees
• We can meet your needs, stimulate your interests
• The programme is flexible
• You can choose and change what you want to study
• A large set of research/practice-led final-year electives
• The degrees focus on academic excellence
• We will increase your chances of getting the right jobs
• Employers like our unique blend of practice and theory
• You get up-to-date technologies and transferable skills
Academic excellence for business and the professions
Any Questions?
[Time for Coffee???]