Top-up Course to BSc Information Technology

Taught modules (September - May)

• Application Development
  This module aims to provide understanding of programming languages and their uses in different application areas. It is using the programming skills/knowledge gained during the first year and explores what kind of applications can be built and for what purpose. Building on the programming from the first year, the aim of this module is to extend the programming skills through practical work. The module also aims to raise the awareness of different application areas and to give practical experience of developing different applications and providing solutions to different problems.
• Web Technologies
  In this module you will learn about the technologies used to build web applications. You will learn how dynamic client interfaces to applications held on remote servers are built and how dynamic processes on servers use databases and other files to both provide and interact with those client interfaces. As well as experimenting with the fundamental mechanisms involved you will explore how these are used in a range of complex real world business applications. This module aims to achieve a clear understanding of how distributed applications are built and how the various components that they consist of interact. This represents the fundamental architecture underlying virtually all web applications, mobile apps, and their ultimate synthesis in the cloud computing paradigm. In addition, the module aims to provide understanding of how these essential building blocks can be combined into powerful and complex applications such as content management systems or mobile and web applications for email, maps or cloud storage.
• Systems and Cyber Security
  This module covers all aspects of the complex field of security in computer systems and networks. It will teach the fundamental principles of computer security and how they impact the many different areas in which computer technology is used. It will explore the diverse range of threats faced by systems and the network infrastructure that connect them together and the measures that can be taken to counter them. This module aims to make students aware of security issues in all fields of computing and provide a clear understanding of best practice and risk mitigation techniques. Students will acquire knowledge of real and current threats and by studying the underlying principles be prepared to understand new threats that will arise in future.
• ICT Project management in Practice  
  This module provides students with an opportunity to work collaboratively with students from other disciplines on ICT projects. Students will work in teams and will go through the full ICT development lifecycle from requirements elicitation, feasibility study, design and development, testing and deployment. The module involves real clients and users who have genuine expectations that the developed digital solution will address their needs. This module provides students with practical and technical know-how and skills in the form of consultancy and development.  Students will experience as a team the issues and challenges of setting up a consultancy; understanding user requirements, project management methodologies, research and development. As digital technology student your team will be expected to design and develop and solve a real-world problems using digital applications/technologies.

Plus optional modules from below:

• Innovation and Enterprise
  In the rapidly changing world around us, it is imperative that students are able to think dynamically to create advantage for themselves (entrepreneurial) and for the businesses they may work for (intrapreneurial). This module encourages students to question what they see and experience around them and in their prospective engineering fields with an aim to enhance their creativity to discover new and improved ways of doing things. It aims to equip them with methods and processes to recognise opportunities and to plan on harnessing commercially viable benefits that may exist from exploiting those opportunities in a sustainable fashion. This might be a product or a service (such as consultancy or contract management).
  The application of project management principles will help to define the critical path of a proposed business and how the many processes involved are interlinked throughout the initial planning exercise and how they can change over time. Students are expected to reflect on their I&E journey and what they can contribute towards a group.
• Smart Internet Technologies
  Smart Internet Technologies comprise set of enablers to deal with the limitation of existing Internet. This includes but not limited All-IP Networking Architectures, evolution towards Cloud Computing and 5G networking architectures, open-based networking technologies, SDN/NFV challenges and IoT technologies and its interworking with  Cloud and 5G networks.  
  This module aims to develop an understanding and basic practical skills in state-of-the-art emerging mobile and multimedia cloud technologies, infrastructure, and platforms. You will develop a good theoretical understanding of how these technologies can be used to provide business and enterprise solutions with some hands on skills through tutorial sessions.
• Data Mining and Big Data Analytics
  This module provides a broad introduction to the basic theory, concepts, and techniques of data mining, and its role in business and scientific research. It will cover the main topics in the area. The focus of the practical aspect of this module is to develop hands-on experience and skills in solving real-world data mining problems. SAS® Enterprise Miner and SAS® Enterprise Guide will be taught and used throughout module for practical data mining projects. Simple Python scripts for data manipulation will be discussed and used.  This module aims to provide you with a solid background in data mining concepts, tools, and methodologies, and to develop understandings about the need for data mining, the nature of data mining, benefits resulting from data mining, and its role in business analytics and scientific research. The module also provides practical experience of using suitable data mining algorithms and tools in real-world data mining tasks.
• AR/VR Technologies
  This module covers the technologies and the algorithms required to develop and deploy virtual reality and augmented reality applications. The module will cover VR and AR hardware, stereoscopic vision, rendering, AR/VR software development, 3D user interfaces and presence and 360 video. This module provides students knowledge of the architecture, elements, input and output devices of virtual and augmented reality systems. It will equip students with the skills to design virtual-related technologies, develop and assess 3D interactive applications using augmented reality, virtual reality and 3D user interfaces.
• Content Management and Development Frameworks for Web
  We applications are interactive rather than repositories of information and have sophisticated features. Most organisations have large amounts of digital content, whether of the nature of static information, dynamic news or digital assets which are products in themselves. To handle the required level of complexity and interactive sophistication this demands powerful content management systems or frameworks. This module will explore what these systems are, what they do and why they might be an appropriate solution

Project module (June - September)

• Honours Informatics Project
  The project is a level 6 double module (i.e. worth 40 credits) for the Honours degree, enabling students to demonstrate the extent of the theoretical knowledge and practical skills which they have gained through prior study and industrial internships, if any.
  The project is therefore a very important piece of work. It is intended to demonstrate to the examiners your ability to independently undertake and complete all the parts of a substantial piece of work. The project will usually be studied as a “long-thin” module taken over both semesters 1 and 2. An intensive single semester project is also permissible. The project module can be taken over the Summer period June–September by top-up students. Each student will guided by a supervisor and must submit a dissertation of approximately 12,000 words. Group projects may be larger depending on the complexity of the project being undertaken. For Group Projects, the module leader and academic supervisors will determine a suitable word limit prior to the project commencing.

IT touches every sector, so your career opportunities are unlimited. Our graduates have excellent career prospects in IT roles spanning project management, IT management, IT systems/business analyst and information systems management.

And there are plentiful career opportunities in technical fields such as computer operations, computer systems sales and service, programming, systems analysis, software engineering and technical authorship.

Take a look at some potential careers, including IT consultant / data analyst, on Prospects.

Skills for work

We’re hands on. We take an applied approach. As well as great practical IT skills you’ll develop professional IT skills, such as: identifying the right analytical tool to meet an IT requirement and how to present IT solutions to various stakeholders. These are the skills that will get you noticed!

Employability Service

We are University of the Year for Graduate Employment for the second year in a row - The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2018, 2019.

At LSBU, we want to set you up for a successful career. During your studies – and for two years after you graduate – you’ll have access to our Employability Service, which includes:

• An online board where you can see a wide range of placements: part-time, full-time or voluntary. You can also drop in to see our Job Shop advisers, who are always available to help you take the next step in your search.
• Our Careers Gym offering group workshops on CVs, interview techniques and finding work experience, as well as regular presentations from employers across a range of sectors.

Our Student Enterprise team can also help you start your own business and develop valuable entrepreneurial skills.

Personal Tutoring

As an undergraduate or MEng Engineering student, you will be allocated a named tutor during your first three weeks at LSBU. The role of your tutor is to be your primary contact for academic and professional development support.

Your tutor will support you to get the most of your time at LSBU, providing advice and signposting to other sources of support in the University.

Your tutor should be the first person at the university that you speak to if you are having any difficulties that are affecting your work. These could be academic, financial, health-related or another type of problem.

You will have appointments with your personal tutor at least twice a semester throughout your course.  You can contact your tutor for additional support by email or in person.

HND in an appropriate subject

• Successful record of relevant, recent study to a level broadly equivalent to years one and two of undergraduate study, which would be a HND in a relevant subject, with at least 3 merits in HND plus 2 others on merit.

For more information, including how and when to pay, see our fees and funding section for undergraduate students.

Please check your fee status and whether you are considered a Home, EU or International student for fee-paying purposes and for our regulatory returns, by reading the UKCISA regulations.

See our Tuition Fees Regulations (PDF File 160 KB) and Refund Policy (PDF File 102 KB).

Possible fee changes

The University reserves the right to increase its fees in line with changes to legislation, regulation and any government guidance or decisions.

The fees for international students are reviewed annually and the University reserves the right to increase the tuition fees in line with the RPIX measure of inflation up to 4 per cent.

Scholarships

We offer several types of fee reduction through our scholarships and bursaries. Find the full list and other useful information on our scholarships page.