Computer Engineering
Entry requirements
A level
A*AA including mathematics (minimum grade A). We are committed to ensuring that all applicants with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise an applicant's potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme. If you are taking an EPQ in addition to 3 A levels, you will receive the following offer in addition to the standard A level offer: AAA including mathematics (minimum grade A), plus grade A in the EPQ.
Cambridge International Pre-U Certificate - Principal
D2, D3, D3 in three Principal subjects including mathematics. We are committed to ensuring that all applicants with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise an applicant's potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
Extended Project
If you are taking an EPQ in addition to 3 A levels, you will receive the following offer in addition to the standard A-level offer: AAA including mathematics (minimum grade A) and grade A in the EPQ
GCSE/National 4/National 5
Applicants must hold GCSE English language (or GCSE English) (minimum grade 4/C) and mathematics (minimum grade 4/C)
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
Pass, with 38 points overall, with 19 points required at Higher Level including 6 at Higher Level in Mathematics: Analysis and Approaches or 7 at Higher Level in Mathematics: Applications and Interpretation. We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants?who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme. International Baccalaureate Career Programme (IBCP) offer Offers will be made on the individual Diploma Course subject(s) and the career-related study qualification. The CP core will not form part of the offer. Where there is a subject pre-requisite(s), applicants will be required to study the subject(s) at Higher Level in the Diploma course subject and/or take a specified unit in the career-related study qualification. Applicants may also be asked to achieve a specific grade in those elements. Please see the University of Southampton International Baccalaureate Career-Related Programme (IBCP) Statement for further information. Applicants are advised to contact their Faculty Admissions Office for more information.
Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)
H1 H1 H1 H2 H2 H2 including mathematics and applied mathematics
Pearson BTEC Diploma (QCF)
D*D in the BTEC Level 3 Diploma plus grade A in A-level mathematics. or DD in the BTEC Level 3 Diploma plus grade A* in A-level mathematics. We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants?who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme. We do not accept the BTEC Extended Diploma without A-level maths. Applicants with a BTEC Extended Diploma should apply for the Engineering/Physics/Mathematics/Geophysics Foundation Year.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
D*D in the BTEC Level 3 National Diploma plus grade A in A-level mathematics. or DD in the BTEC Level 3 National Diploma plus grade A* in A-level mathematics. We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants?who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme. We do not accept the BTEC National Extended Diploma without A-level maths. Applicants with a BTEC National Extended Diploma should apply for the Engineering/Physics/Mathematics/Geophysics Foundation Year.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate (first teaching from September 2016)
D in the BTEC National Extended Certificate plus grades A*A in A-levels including mathematics (minimum grade A) or D* in the BTEC National Extended Certificate plus grades AA in A-levels including mathematics . We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants?who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme. We do not accept the BTEC National Extended Diploma without A-level Maths. Applicants with a BTEC National Extended Diploma should apply for the Engineering/Physics/Mathematics/Geophysics Foundation Year.
Pearson BTEC Subsidiary Diploma (QCF)
D in the BTEC Subsidiary Diploma plus grades A*A in two A-levels including mathematics (minimum grade A) or D* in the BTEC Subsidiary Diploma plus grades AA in A-levels including mathematics. We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants?who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme. We do not accept the BTEC Extended Diploma without A-level Maths. Applicants with a BTEC Extended Diploma should apply for the Engineering/Physics/Mathematics/Geophysics Foundation Year.
We normally consider applicants who offer at least 1 Advanced Higher. Applicants presenting with only Highers will be considered on a case by case basis. Where Highers are taken over two years it might be expected that higher grades are achieved, particularly in any specific subjects required. For example, S5 – S6 (2 years): AABBB (A in specific subject) or S6 (1 year): ABBBB (A in specific subject). Unless a more advanced level (Higher or Advanced Higher) is specified in the stated entry requirements, all applicants will be required to have achieved a pass in Mathematics and English at Standard Grade, Grade 3 or National 5, Grade C, the equivalent of GCSE Grade C/ Grade 4" We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner's potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
T Level
A Distinction, including a Core A grade in Digital Production, Design and Development T-level plus grade A in A-level Mathematics
Welsh Baccalaureate - Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate (first teaching September 2015)
A*AA including mathematics (minimum grade A) or A*A from two A-levels including mathematics (minimum grade A), and A from the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate Skills Challenge Certificate. We are committed to ensuring that all applicants with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise an applicant's potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
UCAS Tariff
We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.
About this course
Our distinctive MEng Computer Engineering degree builds upon the BEng Computer Engineering. You'll learn to understand, design, and build complex computer systems that operate across the software and hardware domains. Key areas of specialist study aim to give you a robust, in-depth grounding in a wide gamut of modern approaches to creating and using computer systems, including CPU design and optimisation. Beyond modules specialising in core skills required for all software and digital hardware engineers, the programme offers you a broad range of optional modules that derive from world-leading research carried out by our academic staff in areas such as Parallel Programming and Advanced Computer Architecture.
Outstanding facilities and renowned teaching staff will prepare you for work in a wide variety of areas and fields. Southampton Computer Science graduates are in high demand and have a world-leading reputation for creative solutions based on cutting-edge knowledge and state-of-the-art technical skills. You’ll benefit from our strong relationships with employers, our Careers Hub who organise an annual careers fair and our dedicated startup incubator, Future Worlds - supporting student enterprise.
Modules
This four-year MEng programme will enable you to pursue a career in any area of the computer industry and has been designed to maximise student choice by allowing you to tailor the degree structure to suit your own interests. During the first two years you will undertake a series of core modules, for example Algorithms and analysis; High- and Low-level Programming, Mathematics and Systematic design. In your second year, you will be taking the Interdisciplinary Group Project, to create a combined hardware + software robotic system, collaborating with AI students to give it intelligence. In your second year, you will be taking the Computer Architecture and Code Transformation modules; in this modules, students design and implement a full working CPU from the ground up, then use it to run programs compiled using their own compiler. In your third year you can choose from a wide range of optional modules that reflect the specialist areas of computer engineering and key technologies that will be critical in the future. The fourth year particularly emphasises engineering design, management and industrial collaboration.
Assessment methods
A range of assessment methods are used on this programme to enable students to demonstrate their achievement of the intended learning outcomes. These include written examinations and assessments, in-class tests, design exercises, programming exercises, oral presentations, assessed laboratories and group work exercises.
Tuition fees
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The Uni
Main Site - Highfield Campus
Electronics and Computer Science
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Electrical and electronic engineering
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Electrical and electronic engineering
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
This is one of the more popular areas to study engineering and there is not quite such a serious shortage of electrical engineers as there is of other engineering subjects - but there's still plenty of demand. The most common jobs are in telecommunications, electrical and electronic engineering, but there is some crossover with the computing industry, so many graduates start work in IT and computing jobs. At the moment, there's a particular demand for electrical engineers in the electronics, and the car and aerospace industries, and also in defence, and salaries can vary across the country depending on the industry you start in. Bear in mind that a lot of courses are four years long, and lead to an MEng qualification — this is necessary if you want to become a Chartered Engineer.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Electrical and electronic engineering
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£29k
£34k
£41k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):
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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).
This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.
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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.
You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
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Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
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Graduate field commentary:
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show
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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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