Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Computing and Software Development (Optional Placement)

at University of Plymouth United Kingdom

Explore the driving forces of relationships between countries and cultures in the 21st century close to where the G7 leaders met in 2021. Unpick all aspects of international relations from law to economics, diplomacy and governance to help you build your own critical thinking skills to navigate some of the major issues facing society. Combine theory and practice so you can better understand the decision-making that drives change. Hone your skills by representing Plymouth at the model UN.

Key Features

• We’re very proud of our National Student Survey (NSS) 2018 return showing that 100 per cent of our students agree staff are good at explaining things.*
• Travel the world through our international student exchange program. From the Czech Republic and Poland, to Canada and the USA, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to gain insights into international relations worldwide.
• Look at how politics works in practice by visiting the Middle East and southern Africa on university-subsidised fieldtrips led by the academic staff.
• Be inspired by teaching rooted in research. Our staff are leading experts in their fields; areas of expertise include popular protest in the Middle East, British and American foreign policy, development in Africa, global environmental politics, security studies and the politics of the European Union.
• Explore the evolution of politics internationally. Debate contemporary worldwide issues, current affairs and major political events. Ask those difficult questions about war, hunger and poverty in the developing world.
• Engage with contemporary international issues and take part in exclusive events, film screenings and lectures, through the Politics and International Affairs Society.
• Differentiate yourself in an international sector with industry experience and modern language skills. As journalists, politicians' assistants and public affairs consultants, our graduates have gone on to work for the European Union, United Nations and UK Civil Service.
• Investigate daily headlines: discover the international and political ideas that influence society.
• Benefit from a course which received excellent ratings for teaching and student satisfaction, in the Guardian University Guide 2015 (within the subject league table for Politics).
• Enhance your employability by participating in the our internship scheme.

Interested to learn how we think and behave and how the social influences and structures of our everyday lives affect us? With this combined honours course, you’ll cover all aspects of human behaviour and our underlying thoughts, feelings and motivations. You’ll learn about the rapidly changing nature of contemporary society and graduate with a true understanding of the interaction between the individual mind and the social world in which we live.

You will immerse yourself in an innovative and imaginative curriculum that’s continually shaped by the latest developments in psychological research. You’ll expand your horizons and experience with opportunities for international exchange and a year studying abroad. You’ll develop your skills as a scientist working alongside leading researchers with the Research Apprentice Scheme. You will gain invaluable experience and cultivate professional contacts by taking an optional placement year.

Key Features

• Take your first step to becoming a professional in your field – as a successful graduate, you’ll be eligible for Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership with the British Psychological Society, putting you on the ladder to becoming a professional psychologist.
• Expand your horizons and experience with opportunities for international exchange and a year studying abroad (in Year 2).
• Develop your skills as a scientist working alongside leading researchers with the Research Apprentice Scheme.
• Maximise your learning with a personal tutor assigned throughout your studies to provide the support and guidance you need to get the most out of your course.
• Shape your own study path with an exciting range of topics available through lectures, optional courses and project supervision.
• Gain invaluable experience and cultivate professional contacts by taking an optional placement year.
• Benefit from studying on a course that the Research Assessment Exercise rates as excellent for research and the Quality Assurance Agency praises for its quality of education.
• Immerse yourself in an innovative and imaginative curriculum that’s continually shaped by the latest developments in psychological research.
• Make the most of our specialist facilities – we’ve got 22 labs to choose from, including a virtual reality laboratory with 3D modelling software, sound-proof cubicles with a range of stimulus equipment and computer laboratories.  You'll be able to get your hands on everything you need for your own research.
• To complement your formal learning we offer regular PALS sessions that provide the opportunity for you to learn with and from your peers. Share knowledge, discuss ideas, and ask questions in a relaxed and friendly environment.

Are you a qualified health practitioner looking to enhance your knowledge and skills in order to advance your professional practice? Designed for registered dietitians, this pathway has a specialist core dietetic practice: supported studies module, which provides you with support to investigate and design an evidence-based ‘service improvement’ within your own specialist field of practice. You’ll be primed to become an evidence-based practitioner, ready to manage and lead in dynamic settings.

Key Features

• Become an evidence-based practitioner, equipped to manage and lead in busy and constantly changing settings. 
• Take the opportunity to study in an inter-professional setting with inter-professional core and optional modules. 
• Shape your own learning journey – you’ll have opportunities to tailor your learning in the workplace through module assignments and the Dietetic Practice: Supported Study module.
• Learn from experts in a setting where innovative thinking regards advanced professional development is put into practice.
• Take advantage of the flexibility our programme offers. You can take some of the modules by distance learning, while others are taught via short intensive study blocks to minimise time away from other commitments. 
• Complete the programme in one year with the full-time study option or balance work and caring commitments by studying part time over a maximum of five years. 
• The full-time route is suitable for international students, who will be supported to choose optional modules with non-clinical assignments.

This MSc equips graduates of engineering or science degrees with the knowledge and skills needed to work within the coastal engineering industry. You'll study core topics in coastal and port engineering, be introduced to numerical modelling techniques, obtain hands-on experience of using state-of-the-art software tools and carry out physical modelling of coastal structures within the COAST laboratory.

Study the theory of waves, tides, surges and modern techniques in coastal data collection and analysis, including GIS and remote sensing. You also study core topics in coastal and port engineering, gain research skills, are introduced to numerical modelling techniques and obtain hands-on experience of using state-of-the-art software tools.

Key Features

• Equips engineering and science graduates with knowledge and understanding of engineering and coastal processes enabling them to work in this strategically important sector.
• Learn how to quantify the loading effects of waves, tides, surges and manage the influences of climate change: sea level rise and greater storminess.
• Discover how coastal structures - breakwaters, groynes, sea walls - are designed to protect against flooding and coastal erosion.
• Understand how modern ports are designed for the needs of international trade.
• Work in our acclaimed COAST laboratory to develop skills in physical modelling and interact with our COAST researchers or collect data in Plymouth Sound.
• Obtain hands on experience in numerical modelling using modern industry software.
• The program is accredited as meeting the requirements for Further Learning for a Chartered Engineer (CEng) for candidates with an Accredited CEng (Partial) BEng (Hons) or an Accredited IEng (Full) BEng/BSc (Hons) undergraduate first degree.

Explore a range of subjects within British, European and world history, from the 15th century to the present day. Benefit from the History team's specialist knowledge and links across the global historical community and develop a deep and systematic understanding of historical research to excel in further studies, or begin your career with confidence thanks to the professional experience opportunities offered.

Key Features

• Designed for a range of applicants, including recent graduates, teachers looking to enhance professional qualifications, and those in the local community with a passion for history.
• Join a community of student-historians from a variety of backgrounds with a programme designed to appeal to a range of audiences, including recent graduates, teachers looking to enhance their professional qualifications and those in the local community with a long-standing passion for history.
• Explore history through a variety of means – with a combination of taught and self-led learning, regular research seminars run by University of Plymouth's Centre for Research in Humanities and Performing Arts, and access to The Arts Institute history lecture series featuring world-leading academics.
• Work alongside internationally recognised researchers* and experienced professionals as you develop the skills that will allow you to choose how you progress upon graduation: take your studies further with a PhD, or enter the workplace with the confidence and skills to fast-track your career.
• Plot your own course through the centuries as you take the lead in your masters dissertation research project, and choose areas of study from the history team’s range of research specialisms.
• Explore history with your friends and colleagues by joining the History Society, a lively and supportive community hosting educational and social events.
• Discover the most up-to-date ways of studying history through our online resources including a vast eBook library and digital archives. Build links with local record offices and archives, accessing opportunities to develop your expertise in the local and regional history of Plymouth and the South West.

Take a fresh look at childhood. Exploring the theory and reality of children’s early years from many points of view, this innovative course will help you find your niche in this competitive sector and graduate with a clear view of where your career is going. Investigate issues through the lenses of sociology, social psychology, history, and philosophy.

Work directly with young children and their families during the Work Based Learning module or choose the option of gaining professional recognition of your practice. Our Work Based Learning Plus module enables you to meet Early Years Educator standards and be counted in the ratios in an early years setting through relevant assessed practice experience.

Key Features

• Explore the relationships between play and learning in your own studies as well as in child development
• Expand your options beyond traditional teaching and open up further career opportunities in education, social care, community work, psychology, management and research.
• See for yourself how theories and policies are applied in practice by visiting a wide range of provision for children and families.
• Learn on the job during the work-based learning placement.  You will gain the practical skills employers are looking for.
• Take a broader view of children’s development by studying the subject in practical, historical and international contexts.
• Develop essential skills through a variety of coursework-based assessments – from essays, surveys and child observations to group presentations and video commentaries.
• Learn from experienced lecturers and tutors who are actively engaged in national and international research projects.
• Make the most of the opportunities presented by being part of a department that has strong links with universities in Europe, Canada, Africa and the USA and through the International Students’ Exchange Programme.

The MSc Psychology is designed to confer Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) with the British Psychological Society (BPS). GBC is the form of professional accreditation that is required for many careers that you may pursue with a psychology degree, as well as for advanced professional training in psychology. This is a conversion course. You do not need an undergraduate psychology degree but you'll need an honours degree. Study full time over one year or part-time over two years.

Key Features

Acquire a deep insight into modern theories of nature using powerful mathematical techniques. This degree will provide you with the necessary mathematical language to be able to describe, analyse and predict natural phenomena. Final year modules include classical and quantum mechanics, electrodynamics and relativity, fluid dynamics and partial differential equations. A particular highlight of the degree is the choice of project modules to explore aspects of modern physics in depth.

Key Features

• Study the foundation of modern theoretical physics in modules such as Classical and Quantum Mechanics, and Electrodynamics and Relativity.
• Learn from world-leading researchers in theoretical physics, who will show you how the mathematics you study underpins and connects directly to modern research topics at the frontiers of physics; your first year course in linear algebra, for example, is taught by a collaborator of a 2018 Nobel Prize winner.
• Carry out an in-depth final year project in theoretical physics on topics such as quantum computers, black holes, teleportation or the quark model, supervised by a leading academic: our theoretical physicists have research connections across the globe, including at CERN and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.    
• Learn high-level programming skills and master industry software including Python, R and parallel programming on a supercomputer.
• Increase your employability with an optional, paid, industry placement between the second and final years.
• Progress, like our previous graduates, into careers in research, work in the Met Office, GCHQ, finance, industry and medicine or postgraduate degrees in applied mathematics and theoretical physics.

Geography explores the relationships between people, places and the environment. Our diverse degree has a strong emphasis on applied skills and career development. You can choose to specialise or maintain a broad range of interests, and an optional placement year offers work experience. You learn from expert, accessible, supportive staff who are skilled researchers in their field. Plymouth is the ideal setting as a vibrant urban environment surrounded by iconic rural and coastal landscapes.

Our geography degrees make the most of geography’s strengths in tackling head on the biggest global challenges we face. Modules have been designed to address many of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals – developed by the UN as the 'blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all' – all of our degrees are fully accredited by the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG).

Key Features

• Our newly designed curriculum places sustainability challenges at the centre, with modules designed to help address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
• Choose from a range of physical and/or human geography choice modules so that you determine your degree pathway.
• Our supportive staff are expert researchers and many are world leaders in their field.
• Teaching is innovative and student-centred. You will learn through lectures, seminars, practicals, national and international residential fieldwork, tutorials and one-to-one dissertation support.
• Learn to use Geographical Information Systems to analyse and communicate complex spatial data.
• Take the opportunity to spend your second year studying abroad in Europe, Canada, Australia, USA or elsewhere through our bilateral and ISEP exchange programmes.
• Study on a course designed with a focus on employability and applied geography, supporting a range of career opportunities such as environmental consultancy, conservation and biogeography, earth science and hazard management, expedition work, and catchment management.
• Experience a valuable work placement programme, opening up a range of career opportunities.
• LABplus is a unique open access laboratory and resource centre designed for students studying science and engineering courses. The lab provides a flexible workspace, computing facilities, specialist software, access to microscopes, microscope cameras and bespoke resources.
• Benefit from our unique location, in the heart of the historical city of Plymouth, bordered by Dartmoor National Park as well as the Tamar Valley and South Hams Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Devon and Cornwall have glorious beaches, coasts, rivers and estuaries.Choose from a range of human, physical and environmental geography modules – our stimulating programme of geographical studies includes theory and practical elements.

Cyber security is essential for all organisations, with hacking, malicious code and social engineering ever present threats to data. This course provides holistic coverage of cyber security, from governance and policy, to cryptography, penetration testing and digital forensics. Grounded in core computer science, the course develops the knowledge and skills to design, develop and manage secure systems to produce highly employable cyber security professionals.

Being very applied in nature, you will spend a significant proportion of your time in our Security and Forensics Laboratory putting theory in practice whilst working alongside world-leading academics.

Have you Considered

• BSc (Hons) Computer Science
• BSc (Hons) Computing and Software Development
• BSc (Hons) Games Development Technologies

Key Features

• Make use of our links to professional and industry bodies, including the Chartered Institute of Information Security Academic Partnership
• Pursue industry-recognised professional certifications, such as the EC-Council’s Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), forensics ACE (AccessData Certified Examiner).
• Access a wide variety of specialist software and up-to-date facilities, including a dedicated security and forensics lab.
• Enhance your knowledge of a variety of computing disciplines, including programming, networking, databases, data centres and defensive coding.
• Benefit from specialised course material covering the legal and regulatory aspects of cyber security.
• Seeking accreditation by BCS for 2020.
• Academic Partner status by the Chartered Institute of Information Security (CIISec).
• Hone your research skills - we work closely with our Centre for Security, Communications and Network Research