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What makes Computing at Worcester special?

When you study computing, you're in demand and have brilliant career prospects. On our computing degree, we teach the skills employers want - and you can develop them in a range of computing areas, tailoring your choice of modules to suit your interests and ambitions. Anything from web design, programming and information systems to games development and drone technology.

You can develop your experience through work on live client projects through access to our WBS Springboard and even start up your own business through our Business School's Incubator. We also offer placement opportunities with companies such as Bosch, IBM and Clearview, and you can present your final year project to industry representatives at our annual Computing Showcase.

Overview

Overview

Key features

  • The first drone module in a UK university, where you can learn to be a drone pilot and understand how to use drones in industry
  • Our computing course is designed in consultation with employers, aligned with industry standards, and taught by experienced computing professionals
  • 24/7 access to excellent IT facilities, including dedicated PC and Mac labs featuring industry-standard software
  • Friendly, sociable team of students and lecturers - for example, the Gaming Society runs regular gaming sessions on campus and arranges field trips to games events
reid giles profile image

Reid Giles

Reid is working as a software engineer for a company based in London and is living there with his partner, after they completed their studies together.  He was drawn to study at the University of Worcester by the range of modules and friendly atmosphere. “The lecturers gave me a lot of great advice during open days, and that advice led me to the career I have started.” 

He also worked as a student demonstrator for Object Oriented Design and Development during his final year. “This work experience contributed directly to getting me through the interview process at my current job.  I am very grateful for the opportunity.” 

Entry requirements

Entry requirements

96
UCAS tariff points

Entry requirements

96 UCAS Tariff points (for example, CCC at A Level) and Grade C/4 in GCSE English and Mathematics.

Applicants with no formal qualifications may be considered for Mature Student Entry Routes.

T Levels may be used to meet the entry tariff requirements for this course. Find out more about T levels as UCAS tariff points here.

Other information

If you have any questions about entry requirements, please contact the Admissions Office on 01905 855111 or email admissions@worc.ac.uk for advice.

Further information about the UCAS Tariff can be obtained from the UCAS website.

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Riley Martin (they/them)

“When it came to choosing a university, it took me a long while. However, when I found Worcester I just fell in love. I fell in love with the city, with the campuses, and when I found out that the course was almost all coursework and not exam, I was incredibly happy and wanted to come here.”

Riley is now studying for a Master’s in Creative Media.

“I kept myself active during university,” Riley added. “From working a part time job, throughout the three years, to being active in multiple university societies, I didn’t really stop. Honestly, my big thing I would like to say to other students is this: Don’t let things stop you. I had a big crash in my second year. I had issues with friends, assignments were getting left behind at times, my job was getting a lot during that time, and to be honest I was considering dropping out. But I was able to refocus and turn all of that around come third year. The friends I thought I had lost, I reconnected with. My job got less intense, and my assignments became my focus. With that turn of mindset, I was able to turn a failing degree, into a First. So, anything really is possible if you set your mind to it.”

Course content

Course content

Our courses are informed by research and current developments in the discipline and feedback from students, external examiners and employers. Modules do therefore change periodically in the interests of keeping the course relevant and reflecting best practice. The most up-to-date information will be available to you once you have accepted a place and registered for the course. If there are insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, this might not be offered, but we will advise you as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative. 

Year 1

Mandatory

  • Foundations of Computing
  • Introduction to OO Programming
  • Web Technologies

Optional

Year 2

Mandatory

  • Systems Analysis and Design

Optional

  • Distributed Systems
  • OO Design and Development
  • Web Application Development
  • Data Mining
  • Game Design and Development
  • Consultancy and Research Methods
  • Robotics
  • Advanced Creative Computing
  • Mobile Application Development
  • Interaction Design
  • Managing Successful Projects
  • Digital Content Systems and Ecommerce
  • Social Commerce
  • Cultivating the Entrepreneurial Mind-set
  • New Venture Formation
  • Optional modules offered by the Centre for Academic English and Skills

Year 3

Mandatory

  • Computing Project
  • Nature of Computing

Optional

  • Applied Software Engineering
  • Drones: Technology, Legislation and Safety
  • IT Systems Consultancy
  • Machine Learning
  • Internet of Things
  • Advanced Web Application Development
  • Advanced Game Design and Engineering
  • Managing Cyber Risks
  • Cyber Security
  • Practical Database Applications
  • Digital and Social Media Marketing
  • Digital Business
  • Business Intelligence and Analysis
  • The Next Big Thing
Teaching and assessment

Teaching and assessment

The University places emphasis on enabling you to develop the independent learning capabilities that will equip you for lifelong learning and future employment, as well as academic achievement. A mixture of independent study, teaching, academic support through integrated coaching and the personal academic tutoring system enables you to reflect on progress and build up a profile of skills, achievements and experiences that will enable you to flourish and be successful.

Accreditation

All Worcester Business School courses and modules have been mapped to take advantage of curriculum recommendations and aims developed by three professional bodies: BCS, (British Computing Society) IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and ACM (Association of Computing Machinery).

Teaching

You are taught through a combination of interactive lectures, seminars and individual/ small group project work with a strong emphasis on real-world scenarios and practical applications. Most of the computing seminars take place in state-of-the-art PC labs using a variety of software specific to each module. The course integrates theory and practice in several areas of computing in order to obtain an appreciation of a range of applications and their impact on users.

In addition, meetings with personal academic tutors will take place several times a semester during your time at university.

You have an opportunity to undertake a year-long placement with local or national firms in the third year of the course, supervised by a work-based mentor and a University tutor.

You can also choose to study abroad in semester 2 of year 2 at one of our exchange partner universities in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada and Europe.

Contact time

In a typical week you will have at least 12 hours of timetabled teaching in lectures, seminars and small-group work. The precise contact hours will depend on the optional modules selected. If the degree requires a Research or Consultancy Project, students will have guided supervision time with a Project Supervisor.

Typically class contact time will be structured around:

  • Information giving, facilitated discussions, small group work, presentations
  • Practical skills – the opportunity to practise group facilitation, presentation, communication and listening skills
  • Visiting speakers and opportunities to visit other settings are regular features of the course.
  • Most of the computing seminars take place in state-of-the-art PC labs using a variety of software specific to each module.

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time, full-time students are expected to undertake around 24 hours of personal self-study per week, plus additional preparation for assessments and examinations. Typically, this will involve meeting with individual tutors to discuss progress and feedback, completing online activities, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking research in the library and online. In addition to this, students will spend time sharing ideas with fellow students, taking part in extra-curricular learning activities and engaging with external employers.

Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including the Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources as well as our network of employers and entrepreneurs. 

Assessment

The precise assessment requirements in an academic year will vary according to the mandatory and optional modules taken by you, but we recognise that you like to know in advance how you will be assessed. With this in mind our assessment and feedback strategy has been designed so that:

  • All modules have both formative and summative assessment elements. Formative assessment allows tutors and students to recognise strengths and weaknesses in learning and to address those issues immediately. Summative assessments are graded and count towards the final module grade, and they are assessed against the specific module learning outcomes. 
  • Typically 15 credit/ one semester modules will have one assessment item; 30 credit/ two semester modules will have 2-3 assessments.
  • Across each individual year and cumulatively across all three years the concept of continuous assessment and/or building up expertise in different assessment types applies. A variety of assessment types (reports, portfolios, presentations, essays and a final year research or consultancy project) are designed to suit different learning styles 
  • Different types of employability skills are embedded in all modules

Feedback

You will receive feedback on practice assessments and on formal coursework assessments. Feedback on examination performance is available upon request from the module leader.

Feedback is intended to support learning by indicating how you can improve in future assignments and you are encouraged to discuss it with personal academic tutors and module tutors to help support your development. We always place you the student at the centre of the learning experience: for example, your written feedback will provide evidence of how you are enhancing your essential academic and employability skills.

Feedback on formal course work assessments is normally provided within 20 working days of hand-in.

Programme specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest programme specification document.

Meet the team

You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. The team includes senior academics, professional practitioners with industry experience, and visiting speakers with specialised expertise. Teaching is informed by the research and consultancy work carried out by staff and you can learn more about the staff by visiting our staff profiles.

Here are a few of the current members of the department who teach on this course:

Richard Wilkinson

Richard Wilkinson

Richard is a Senior Lecturer in Computing, as well as the Head of the Department of Computing, teaching on a variety of modules for both Computing, Business IT and Business degrees. Here at the University of Worcester Richard leads on our Global Partnerships with QLIK, IBM Watson Analytics & Microsoft Dynamics.

Richard is published in the field of IT in Higher Education, is a Senior Fellow of the HEA, a member of the British Computer Society (BCS) and an External Examiner.

andrew-robinson

Andrew Robinson

Andrew has worked in the computer graphics industry for over 25 years, for a wide range of blue-chip clients.

He now teaches Creative Computing and Web Design and Applied Drone Technology to undergraduate students, supervises graduate and undergraduate projects, and provides support to students in the Business School Media Lab.  

Akinola Olumide Siyanbola

Akinola Olumide Siyanbola

Akinola is a Lecturer in Web Application Development with the Computing department at Worcester Business School. He has previously worked as a Senior Web developer before venturing into academics and Cyber security.

Akinola completed a BSc in Computer Science at Lagos State University, Nigeria, and proceeded to undertake his MSc in Cyber Security at Birmingham City University. Then, he secured a fully funded PhD research program with Birmingham City University, which is nearing completion soon. In addition, he completed a PGCert in research practice and a SEDA course in “Preparing postgraduates to teach in Higher Education”.

His research focuses on applying an intelligent and sematic-based methodology to cyber security application domains.

Chris Blythe

Chris Blythe

After a varied career Chris completed a Bachelors in Computing at the University of Worcester, then studied a Masters in Distributed Computing at the University of Helsinki followed by working at the University of Huddersfield as a researcher on Augmented Reality for Dementia. Currently working on modules in games development, programming and mobile development, his interests include Game based learning, Education for Sustainable Development and Augmented reality for Dementia.

dr-chris-bowers

Dr Chris Bowers

Chris is a Principal Lecturer in Computing and is currently the China Partnership Lead for Worcester Business School. His research is focussed on Interactive Intelligent Systems encompassing a range of application areas including behaviour change technologies, energy demand management, health and wellbeing.

Chris completed a BSc in Physics and Computer Science at Keele University before progressing to a MSc in Natural Computation at the University of Birmingham and then continuing at the University of Birmingham to complete a PhD in Computer Science.

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Viv Bell

Viv joined Computing at Worcester Business School in 2000 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer 5 years later. In addition to her teaching and research work, Viv is Acting Course Leader for Computing (temporary), Computing Admissions Tutor and SERCC (Student Engagement, Representation and Communication Coordinator).

Viv is a freelance web developer, musician, and a keen equestrian.

Careers

Careers

Employability

On our computing degree, we do a huge amount to prepare you for the world of work. When you study computing, you'll benefit your career prospects, including:

  • ensuring the course is designed in consultation with employers, aligned with industry standards, and taught by experienced computing professionals
  • giving you the option of a paid placement year
  • offering you the opportunity to learn via live work-based projects, allowing you to earn as you learn
  • building in employment preparation workshops which include CV preparation, mock interviews/assessment centres, and meetings with employers

All this means our employability stats are pretty impressive.

Graduates from our computing course go on to a huge range of careers in the computing and technology sector, with companies such as Bosch, IBM and Clearview.

Gino Cubeddu

Gino Cubeddu

Gino was delighted to obtain a full-year work-placement offer from IBM.

Prior to coming to Worcester, Gino completed a BTEC in Information Technology. Since studying for his BSc (Hons) degree at the University of Worcester, Gino’s academic achievements have been top-notch, becoming one of the University Academic Award winners for Computing in October 2016.  According to his lecturer in web design and development “Gino’s development of the CSS and HTML has gone beyond the limits of the tasks taught; he has been able to offer a much-extended interpretation”.

Gino’s high scores and excellent interview really impressed IBM, where he will be trained to use Python - a high-tech language that will be new to Gino and add to his skillset and future employability.

Gino came to university with no knowledge of object-oriented programming knowledge or concepts. He feels the excellent teaching and experiences in multiple modules has helped him go above his expectations in achieving a prestigious Computing placement.

Two students are walking next to each other and smiling

Careers and Employability

Our Graduates pursue exciting and diverse careers in a wide variety of employment sectors.

Find out how we can support you to achieve your potential
Costs

Fees and funding

Full-time tuition fees

UK and EU students

The standard fee for full-time home and EU undergraduate students enrolling on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees in the 2024/25 academic year is £9,250 per year.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

International students

The standard tuition fee for full-time international students enrolling on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees in the 2024/25 academic year is £16,200 per year.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

Part-time tuition fees

UK and EU students

The standard tuition fees for part-time UK and EU students enrolling on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees in the academic year 2024/25 are £1,156 per 15-credit module, £1,542 per 20-credit module, £2,312 per 30-credit module, £3,083 per 40-credit module, £3,469 per 45-credit module and £4,625 per 60 credit module.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

Additional costs

Every course has day-to-day costs for basic books, stationery, printing and photocopying. The amounts vary between courses.

24/7 access to computers is provided at the University and software is made available at either no additional cost or minimal cost, e.g. Microsoft Office is £13. Students may also want to purchase a new PC/laptop or upgrade existing equipment for their own usage.

If you decide to take up the optional placement year accommodation and travel costs may be incurred dependent on location of placement. As placements are paid by the employer at minimum wage plus these costs can be covered by the student's wage. During this year you will pay 10% of normal academic fees to the University. You are provided with a placement tutor, and have access to the advice of the full placement team, as well as all University student support and services. You may need to pay for an Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check for your placement.

There are also optional trips which may require you to incur travel costs.

Accommodation

Finding the right accommodation is paramount to your university experience. Our halls of residence are home to friendly student communities, making them great places to live and study.

We have over 1,000 rooms across our range of student halls. With rooms to suit every budget and need, from our 'Traditional Hall' at £131 per week to 'En-suite Premium' at £221 per week (2024/25 prices).

For full details visit our accommodation page.

Employer's view

Steve Borwell-Fox, of Borwell Secure Software Experts, talking about how he uses the Student Showcase event for talent spotting and even made a job offer to a student as a result.
How to apply

How to apply

Applying through UCAS

  • Computing BSc (Hons) (Single Honours) - G400
  • Computing (with Placement Year) 4 Yr - I100

UCAS is the central organisation through which applications are processed for entry onto full-time undergraduate courses in Higher Education in the UK.

Read our How to apply pages for more information on applying and to find out what happens to your application.

Get in touch

If you have any questions, please get in touch. We're here to help you every step of the way.

Akinola Olumide Siyanbola

Admissions tutor