Course summary

This degree offers you an alternative pathway to access degree level study in computing. The foundation year is designed to improve your computing discipline knowledge, including programming. You will also gain the knowledge and skills needed to progress successfully into undergraduate study. You will gain a broad overview of IT systems in the workplace, from designing them to maintaining them, and supporting their users. Areas of focus include networking, system administration, databases and cybersecurity, as well as professional skills in business improvement, E-business and usability. Our degree has been designed to meet the real needs of the computing industry, particularly in relation to infrastructure development and support. For the technical skills we use a mix of common hardware, open source and commercial software that is heavily used in industry, so skills developed on the course can immediately be used in in the workplace. This course will enable you to develop specialist skills and in depth knowledge, so that you can play a key role as a computing professional. Following the CDIO - conceive, design, implement and operate - model of learning, you'll cover all the elements of computing projects from conception, through design and implementation to final operation and review. You will gain a broad overview of IT systems in the workplace, from designing them to maintaining them, and supporting their users. Areas of focus include networking, system administration, databases and cybersecurity, as well as professional skills in business improvement, E-business and usability. After graduating, you will be prepared to choose from a wide range of career paths in system design and support, or move onto postgraduate study. Location This course is run at our Canterbury Campus in Kent. Canterbury is just 50 miles south-east of London and less than an hour by high-speed train from St Pancras. Located on a UNESCO World Heritage Site the campus offers state-of-the-art buildings, right in the centre of a vibrant and world-famous cathedral city. You’ll benefit from a campus with excellent learning and teaching resources, music venues, a superb sports centre, a well-stocked bookshop and plenty of coffee bars and places to eat. A short walk away is Augustine House our award-winning library and home to a vast range of learning resources and student support teams.