About this course
- Entry year: 2012/13
- Course code: G530
- Applications: UCAS
- Level: Undergraduate
- Tariff points: 300
- Department: Computer Science and Creative Technologies
- Campus: Frenchay
- Duration: Four year sandwich degree
- Delivery: Full-time
- Study Abroad: No
- Programme leader: Dr Rob Williams
- Key fact: This course is part of a corporate Strategic Agreement with Hewlett Packard, which also includes significant UWE IT infrastructure investment.
Introduction
This new course, delivered through partnership with Hewlett Packard (HP), aims to develop skills and abilities in systems administration to support large-scale distributed computing systems, now referred to as 'enterprise computing'. It reflects our ambition to remain at the forefront of evolving trends in IT, to maintain our excellent track record for providing high quality education and training, and to offer you greater opportunities for employment in the IT industry. The degree will use self-paced, live and virtual delivery methods to develop skills and abilities in systems administration to support enterprise computing systems.
New approaches and developments in the use of computer systems, particularly those which are large-scale across organisations or population groups, are constantly being explored. A recent trend is towards 'cloud computing' which reduces an organisation's fixed costs and provides greater flexibility to both the organisation and the user (its' client). It allows major service providers to offer their clients access to software-based facilities through the internet. The hardware facilities are held on extensive 'server farms' which are normally geographically remote from the user. A new set of skills is required to plan, implement and maintain such massive computer clusters, as well as to provide the client support needed to maintain service standards. This is the focus of this new degree which is offered in partnership with HP.
Nick Wilson, Managing Director at Hewlett Packard UK and Ireland, discusses Technology Education and the course on the University Alliance's website.
UWE + HP
HP is the world's largest technology company and brings together a range of products that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure. HP currently employs over 300,000 worldwide and conducts its business in around 170 countries.
We share our Frenchay Campus with HP Bristol. They are HP's second largest research laboratory and amongst the premier corporate research labs in Europe. Our relationship with HP has been ongoing for many years. It has now deepened into a unique Strategic Partnering Agreement, underscored by a large UWE IT infrastructure transformation programme, aimed at further enhancing our students' experience. This relationship includes this new degree, sponsorship, guest lectures, research collaboration, work placements and graduate recruitment.
The agreement gives UWE access to further potential partnerships with other regional HP offices and their key partners. The UWE + HP partnership is core to our ambition to deliver leading-edge IT knowledge alongside exceptional student experience throughout the world.
Read how former student Alison enhanced her career via the UWE + HP partnership.
A unique degree with added value
What makes this degree both unique and exclusive is the content provided by HP, which really adds value to your learning experience and employment potential. You will study academic material and the technology associated with enterprise computing which incorporates HP specific content supported by HP training materials and labs. This will be delivered in a self-study and virtual format alongside the main degree content. A library of self-paced content has been generated by HP and will be available to you throughout the course.
Structure
Content
You should have a strong interest in understanding how large scale enterprise systems work and how they should be maintained in order to satisfy customer expectation. The course provides lots of practical application concerned with different aspects of systems design and service delivery.
This is a typical three year study programme, with an additional integrated work placement year with either HP or one of its industry partners. The full duration of your degree will therefore be four years.
You will study the following topics each year. Some are delivered by HP and others by UWE.
Year 1
- Introduction to networking
- Systems development
- Business applications
- Computer systems
- Program development
- Introduction to enterprise system administration with UNIX
Year 2
- Operating systems and networks programming
- Software engineering
- The IT professional
- IT service management
- The.NET framework
- Large systems architecture - storage
Year 3 (integrated placement year)
Incorporating informal business skills training and business related assessed project work.
Year 4 (final year)
- Professional, ethical and policy issues
- Projects and their management
- Enterprise systems - virtualisation
- Data centres and warehousing
- Computing project
Please note: our courses are continually reviewed to make sure they reflect current practice and the latest technologies and learning. The topics provided here give you an idea of what you are likely to study when you start your course. They reflect what current students are studying and therefore you may find some variation between this and the final version on your course.
HP Certified Professional
At the end of each of your study years, you will be required to take the HP Expert One examinations. This is in addition to the standard topic assessments for that year. These examinations will contribute to the final degree qualification and will give you industry recognised certifications which will make you even more attractive to the IT industry once you graduate. There will also be HP instructor-led training days designed to reinforce the self-paced learning you will do. In addition to the HP certifications, you will have the opportunity to gain an IT Service Management Foundation level certification which is also a valuable industry recognised qualification.
Teaching and learning
Getting to grips with new subjects can be demanding but by offering the correct level of assistance we aim to support you through your studies. Using a practical approach, through both face to face and virtual teaching, laboratory-based investigation, direct experimentation and industrial application, you will find that the theories and principles you will learn can be more easily understood. You will also frequently work in pairs or a small team which helps you really understand difficult concepts by discussing them with friends. This style of collaborative working is very helpful when course work assignments are due!
Timetabled lectures and tutorial sessions will provide explanation and overall guidance for your degree. Extra assistance and guidance is also available from a team of trained senior Peer Assisted Learning (PALs) students in the Department who are able to help small groups or individuals with particular subject problems.
HP will be involved in the delivery of the course by providing guest lecturers which will give an industry perspective to the academic content. Additionally, some modules are expected to be delivered in their entirety by HP, using the expertise and excellent technical facilities at their disposal, although assessed by UWE. Such industry-delivered learning will support and reinforce your academic learning, provide knowledge and experience that will enable you to gain HP certified professional qualifications and enhance your employment prospects through exposure to key technology throughout your studies.
Assessment
Assessment is generally by a mix of practical course work and yearly examination.
Special Features
Placements
You will undertake an integrated work placement year as part of your course - see this video on YouTube about a day in the life of an HP intern (placement student). This will provide you with an excellent platform from which to launch your future career in the IT industry. HP, together with its key industry partners, has committed to providing 20 competitive placement positions each year to students on this course. We are expecting other companies within HP's supply chain to offer placement opportunities in the future. This will provide you with a range of different types of organisations and roles to apply to for your placement.
During your placement you will be developed and supported by your placement employer, who could be HP or one of its technology partners, with the expectation that you will be applying for a graduate role within the next year or two.
The placement is intended to complement your academic studies by providing you the necessary soft and professional skills required by future employers. These include:
- Intercultural working
- Building professional networks
- Time management
- Team working
- Presentation and written communication skills
- Leadership skills
Whilst many of these skills will also be gained during the course of your studies, it is during the placement year that you learn to further develop and apply them in a professional working environment.
Fieldwork
technology@work - Annual HP Conference
In both your second and final years you will have the opportunity to attend HP's annual EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) technology event technology@work. This is a showcase event for HP. Senior executives from HP worldwide attend, as do clients and resellers from across the EMEA. The event is used to launch new HP products and to make major corporate announcements. In addition to the opportunity to participate in the event and attend the seminars, you will also be networking with professionals from across the organisation and its partner community.
HP will arrange 1-2-1 interviews for all participating students with HP resellers during the event.
Study facilities
The Department hosts its own servers to provide Windows, Linux and Unix based operating systems. There are over 500 available workstations in our teaching laboratories, as well as a large open-access laboratory, providing PC and Unix-based machines.
We also have our own IT Helpdesk, staffed by students studying computing and IT subjects, and available for both students and staff to use. We boast some of the most powerful and complex IT systems across the University, providing the high levels of processing power, software and hardware systems expected of students studying in the Department.
In addition to the facilities provided by the University, we expect that you will also be working with technical facilities provided by HP.
Careers/further study
Enterprise computing is a relatively new field, following the development of wide-band internet links and large-scale server clusters. Consequently, many other degree courses are still using the desktop PC as both a programming platform and an example system. It is for this reason that many graduates are unable to fully understand or comprehend cloud computing, large scale enterprise systems or large database clusters such as Google. This new degree will focus on the new service-driven aspect of large scale computing systems, offering a unique and large advantage to graduates seeking to progress their career in this field.
The industry requires high quality graduates who are knowledgeable in relevant technologies aligned to market leaders and can therefore make an immediate impact in that organisation. HP is a company with such a need and with a high demand for graduates on an annual basis. UWE are leading the way through recognition of this need and, in conjunction with HP, have agreed to the joint development of the Enterprise Computing degree. This collaboration will ensure that you will be well prepared for working in the industry and will have the right blend of skills and industry knowledge needed by both HP and their resellers, as well as many other similar organisations.
Whilst this course has been developed by HP who are also a key partner in its delivery, there is no expectation from them that you will eventually work for them. There are many organisations who use enterprise systems and who require the skills and expertise that you will gain on this degree, along with the professional certification that you will have. There will be many career options available for students from this course with a wide range of IT companies and organisations.
You will also have the opportunity of gaining HP Certified Professional (HPCP) qualifications. These are widely recognised throughout the IT industry and will add an extra dimension to your attractiveness to future employers.
Graduate destinations
Find out what our graduates are doing six months after graduating- includes examples of careers, employers and further study. Download a PDF from graduate destinations.
Key employer partnerships
Our degrees can lead to a wide variety of career choices. To ensure that our degrees make you as employable as possible we work closely with seven major partner employers in our engineering and computing consortium.
Creating employable students
UWE places strong emphasis on employability and skills development at every level. Through work placements, volunteering, study abroad and UWE initiatives which nurture talent and encourage innovation, students gain valuable real world experience and graduate with diverse career opportunities and a competitive place in the job market.
See great graduate prospects for further information.
Be inspired
Read about the key jobs in the information technology sector.
Useful links
UWE - careers in information technology
Hewlett-Packard
The UWE careers service provides guidance and support throughout your studies in addition to useful resources, CV checks, career coaching and details of current job vacancies.
Entry
Typical offers
- Tariff points: 300
- GCSE: Maths and English Language at grade C or above required.
- Specific subjects: Applicants should have a good understanding of computing, evidenced by formal qualifications or equivalent experience.
- Relevant subjects: Computing, IT or similar. Other science and technology subjects.
- EDEXCEL (BTEC) Diploma: BTEC National Diplomas accepted including IT Practitioner.
- Access: Achievement of the Access to HE Diploma; achievement of level 2 credits in Maths and English Language.
- Baccalaureate IB: Accepted (see the UCAS website for the UCAS tariff points that you can gain from the IB to put towards our points requirements above)
Advice on typical offers
In addition to the 'typical offer' given here, please read the general information about entry requirements.
How to apply
Please see the general information about applications
Applicants are strongly encouraged to attend an open day, to discuss with the course leader the special career objectives of this course.
For further information
Page last updated 14 December 2011