This one-year ‘top-up’ course develops a blend of academic rigour and practical skills as it brings you up to the level of an honours degree. On the academic side, you will study a module on approaches to research. This will explore how to specify a problem and how to decide on appropriate methodologies, collect relevant data, analyse the data and develop sound conclusions and evidence-based action plans. To develop practical skills, you will undertake a major hands-on project that involves developing a working solution to a particular problem. In doing this, you will be able to take full advantage of professional-level developer software and advanced hardware that we provide through accreditations with Microsoft, Cisco and other major companies. Further modules include ‘Advanced Databases’, ‘Artificial Intelligence’ and ‘Product Development’. A module on ‘Project Management’ will equip you for working within project teams in large IT departments or specialist IT companies.

Sunderland has a good reputation with employers and, according to the Destination of Higher Education Leavers Survey 2010, 86% of our computing graduates are in employment or further study within six months of graduating. The top type of job gained by our graduates is ‘information and communication technology professional’. Our graduates have become web programmers, IT managers, information analysts and software developers. Employers that have taken on our graduates include Sage, British Airways and the NHS. Other graduates have started their own businesses or become software contractors earning over £50,000 a year.