Software Engineering with Foundation
Entry requirements
A level
64 UCAS Tariff points from the Access course.
GCSE/National 4/National 5
GCSE minimum Grade 4 (Grade C in grading system prior to 2017) in Maths and English Language.
64 UCAS Tariff points from all components of the Diploma Programme. International Baccalaureate Career-related programme will be considered on a case-by case basis. To include English grade 4 HL, Maths grade 4.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
T levels – 64 UCAS Tariff points
UCAS Tariff
About this course
The foundation year in computer science offers an entry route for those students who do not have the required entry requirements for all three-year degree pathways in the department of computer science. Successful completion of the foundation year enables an automatic progression onto the first year of any of: BSc Computer Science, BEng Software Engineering, BSc Digital Media Development, BSc Business Information Systems and BSc Computer Games Development and students who progress to the 3-year degrees via this foundation year route have traditionally performed very well. The foundation year route may also be of interest if you do not feel ready to start the first year of an undergraduate course, perhaps because you have been out of education for some time or you feel your current qualifications will not equip you to attempt a 3-year undergraduate computing course directly.
The Software Engineering BEng studies the best ways to design, build, maintain and evaluate software systems. It uses many of the technical aspects of computer science, especially programming, and aims to develop the professional attitudes, interpersonal and technical skills you will need in the software engineering industry. You will study software development, programming languages, technologies and applications including Java, C/C#, UNIX, UML, graphics, networks, concurrent systems, databases, artificial intelligence, and web and mobile computing. You will share a common first year with the Computer Science BSc Honours course; you can transfer in Year 1, and specialise in Year 3. The course provides a solid foundation in software engineering theory and practice to develop professional software systems. It will equip you to take up a wide range of career opportunities, including software engineer, web application programmer, software designer/analyst or website designer/programmer. The Software Engineering BEng emphasises fundamental principles, design, acquisition of practical skills and evaluation of technologies. You may go on to complete an integrated Masters programme with the award of an MEng degree after four years.
Tuition fees
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The Uni
University of Westminster, London
School of Computer Science and Engineering
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.
Software 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.
Software 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
A specialist subject, and not surprisingly graduates tend to go into software engineering roles or related. The degree classification students achieved made a particular difference last year — computing graduates with the best grades were much less likely to be out of work after six months and employers can even rate a good grade as important as work experience. Most students do get jobs, though, and starting salaries are good — particularly in London, where average starting salaries for good graduates were getting towards £38k last year. Be aware that at the moment, recruitment agencies are much the most common way for graduates from this degree to get their first job, so it may be worth getting in touch with a few specialist agencies in advance of graduation if you take this degree to get a foot in the door.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Software 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.
£24k
£30k
£33k
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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Course location and department:
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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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