Software Engineering – BEng (Honours)

At a glance

Learn the theory and practical skills required to become a software engineer equipped to work across industry, commerce, business, the professions and public service. Gain professional skills and experience in industry with a one-year placement in your third year.

Key points
• Study on a well-known course, respected by employers.• Benefit from training in well-resourced IT laboratories.
• Gain real industry experience on your work placement.
• Offer future employers more with in-built professional skills development modules.

What is software engineering?
Software engineering is a sub-field of computing. Its focus is on producing high-quality software applications – those typically being large-scale, enterprise-wide and complex. It covers all areas of the development process including requirements capture, system architecture and design, with an emphasis on implementing software solutions. Practising software engineers need to be familiar with modern development techniques, tools and processes, and also to understand best management practice used to support and control development projects.

This course

Gain the knowledge and practical skills required to develop fit-for-purpose software systems using the latest software engineering methods on this well-respected course. Thanks to its strong reputation, we are often contacted directly by employers seeking to recruit graduates.

This is a practically-oriented and specialised course that has been accredited by the British Computer Society. It provides you with a systematic understanding of key aspects of software engineering and develops your practical knowledge and skills in developing software systems. Emphasis is placed on presenting a balance of theory and practice to support the specification, design, implementation and evaluation of software-based systems in businesses and other organisations.

The first two years of the course are devoted to developing the fundamental skills of software development across a variety of application areas, including web-based and database. You cover the major programming languages such as C++, C# and Java, and environments such as Visual Studio, Oracle and J Builder, which are used in the software industry.

You then get the opportunity to gain real experience in industry in your third year, working in an IT organisation. This gives you valuable work experience and develops your personal skills and abilities. It also gives you a fresh approach to your studies and improves your employability.

These skills are further refined and developed in your final year where you are introduced to the additional skills and techniques required to design, develop and manage software applications, which are more open-ended and require more creativity.

An important part of the course is based on professional development. This gives you an understanding of some of the legal, ethical and professional issues that face modern IT practitioners.

Key areas of study
Key areas include • computer architecture • programming • databases • networked software development • web application development • management of IT projects • software design • frameworks and architectures.