BEng (Hons) Software Engineering with Foundation Year

As a Computing academic team, we are dedicated to supporting your development as skilled, analytical thinkers who are ethically aware of the impact of technology on the world and its future.

To help you achieve this, we use a range of teaching methods tailored to your learning needs. Your learning experience will include lectures, tutorials, and online resources delivered through our Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), alongside hands-on workshops and interactive exercises. This approach ensures a dynamic and engaging learning experience, with regular one-to-one feedback and support.

By the end of this journey, you will have developed the independence, confidence, and problem-solving skills necessary to succeed at Level 4 and beyond.

This course uses a Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate-like structure – where some of your teaching will be done via real-world inspired projects. You will be taught through a combination of lectures, seminars and practical labs.

You will typically have around 12 contact hours per week and are expected to also spend about four hours each week co-ordinating with team members on group activities.

Labs will often emphasise working in small groups to enable you to discuss and develop your understanding of topics covered in lectures and place theory into practice.  

You will also have regular scheduled meetings, in addition to the above contact hours, with an assigned academic personal tutor, which is your first point of contact for assistance to your undergraduate needs.  Your actual contact hours depend on the option modules you select.

Building upon the resources and learning that has taken place in the taught module sessions with experts, independent study enables you train to teach yourselves to become autonomous, self-led learners over the period of your course, from enrolment through to graduation.

We provide you with resources for you to use as a basis of your independent research, which could include the use of web-based resources, journal articles, recordings of events that relate to your studies, access to development software, library sources of information, online academic skills workshops, etc.

We also provide you with the opportunity to attend maths and statistics support sessions if you feel that you’d benefit from additional one-to-one and small group sessions.

Your overall workload typically consists of 12 contact hours and an additional 25 hours of independent learning per week. In addition, there may be field trips and other events as a part of your course of study.

You will undertake a mix of 15 credit and 30 credit modules. Your study time in class will about 12 hours a week plus work on assessments. Assessments would normally be expected to take approximately 75 hours for each 30-credit module assignment. There are no formal examinations although there are some time-constrained assessments in which you will be expected to carry out a particular task or set of tasks within a given time.

You will be taught by a mix of experienced professionals from industry as well as academics who are experts in the fields of research, which includes attendance to conventions and conferences that inform the teaching undertaken within the course. Seminars and Lab sessions can also be facilitated by current and active PhD researchers with a focus on their areas of specialism.

Academic staff are actively researching current and emerging issues and dynamically developing links with industry to ensure that the material that we are teaching you is relevant to employers which will provide you with opportunities to improve your prospects for employment.

Some of the specialisms and expertise that inform our teaching and learning experiences for you, include: XR (AR, MR, VR) and Immersive Technologies, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Databases, Knowledge-based systems, and Software Development Systems using CDIO Processes.