Web Systems Design – BSc (Honours)

At a glance

Learn how to build and use advanced web information systems to cope with the challenges of modern business. Learn about specialist web technologies such as .NET and PHP and complete practical modules working with external clients to apply your learning in a business context. You can also choose to take a placement in industry.

Key points
• One of only a handful of specialist web systems design courses in the UK.• Gain the perspectives of lecturers who are practicing systems designers.
• Get the right skills with a course designed in conjunction with industry.
• Apply for placements and enhance your career prospects and earning potential.

What is web systems design?
Web systems design focuses on effective use of leading-edge information technology for developing solutions to organisational issues and requirements. The course looks at designing and building industry-quality distributed solutions that take advantage of web, internet and multimedia technologies.

This course

This course gives you an understanding of how to build and use web information systems in an organisation. It is about more than just creating web pages and websites.

Learn how to build and use advanced web information systems to cope with the challenges of modern business, on one of the only specialist courses of its kind in the UK. As a student, you develop the ability to correctly define the organisational requirements, so that you can design and build the right solutions to suit their needs. This course aims to develop your knowledge of issues and needs, in particular in case of large complex and distributed organisations. The distributed nature of business often leads to IT solutions that are web-based.

You start by gaining an insight into computing and the way organisations use IT, and then move on to the information systems behind the web pages. You also study how these systems help businesses become more efficient and competitive in today’s ever expanding global marketplace.

Your studies focus on a range of web-related technologies led by specialist staff, many of whom are practicing systems designers with links to the local developer community. Subjects you study include • Windows and Unix • .NET and PHP • firewalls • design of multi-machine web servers • object-oriented systems development • service-oriented architectures and XML web services. Alongside these technologies you also learn the professional and interpersonal skills need to deliver web solutions.
In your first year you study a broad range of IT subjects, from techniques for gathering requirements from users to hardware and web servers.

In your second year you extend your understanding of IT for web systems, looking at the development of browser-based applications, server support and effective design for web applications. You can select from optional modules in technical programming (such as graphics), understanding systems integration, or how e-businesses use web-based systems.

You complete a practical module, where you develop a robust website to commercial standards, ideally working with either external clients or on cross-university projects to gain an appreciation of working to real-world requirements. Examples of applications you may develop are e-business applications, small or medium sized enterprise websites, and multimedia applications.

In your third year, you get to build on what you’ve learnt with a paid work placement in industry or commerce. This gives you a real advantage when applying to employers after graduating. It also gives you a fresh approach to your studies in your final year.

Key areas of study
You develop your skills in • JavaScript, PHP and ASP web scripting • user interface design • programming • web-based systems architecture • web security • creative and critical thinking.

Alongside the specialised web-based systems topics, you study the general computing topics that are also needed in the jobs market. These include • computer architecture • design and development of database systems • computer networking • project management.