Information Technology BSc (Hons) Top Up
Course code: G503 (required to complete application form)
If you already hold an HND or foundation degree in Information Technology, you can upgrade it to a full degree in 18 months - 3 years (depending on your pace of study) with this online course. Gaining a full BSc degree makes your CV more impressive and allows you to move onto a masters degree later, should you wish to. It’s a popular choice for busy professionals, or those with family commitments, who want to get all the benefits a full degree brings, without having to leave home or attend regular tutorials.
Challenge yourself
Now you’ve reached the highest level of an undergraduate qualification, we’ll encourage you to develop abilities such as innovative thinking and making high level decisions – all skills that employers value. You will learn to critically evaluate and challenge concepts and ideas so it’s an exciting process. There’s also time to investigate an area of specific interest to you, through a major piece of research.
An ideal course to study online
What better subject to study online than IT. Theoretical and practical work can be completed easily from your laptop, home or work computer, and as someone who will naturally be very computer literate, you’ll have no problem getting to grips with the online learning systems, such as discussion forums and interactive online lectures. Studying online gives you the flexibility to study at the most convenient time and place for you. Course modules still operate within a fixed semester or term time, but you can choose to study during the day, in the evenings or at the weekend rather than having to attend fixed lectures.
Course Length:
18 months - 3 years
Start Dates:
September, January and May
Entry Requirements:
You need to have an HND or foundation degree in a relevant subject.
When you apply, please send us a transcript of the modules you've already studied. This means we can make sure your HND or foundation degree is compatible with this top up programme.
Fees:
| Per Module | Modules | Total | Start | |
| UK/EU | £405 | 8 | £3,240* | Sept/Jan/May |
| Overseas | £450 | 8 | £3,600* | Sept/Jan/May |
*Prices correct for 2012/2013. Subject to annual increase in September 2013.
There is an additional fee of £100 per exam for UK students who need to sit their exams at a venue other than the University. For non UK students, your exam fees are already included.
New flexible payment plans available
Choose from three options:
- Pay only for the modules you are studying
- Pay your full course fees upfront and avoid annual increases
- Pay for all modules studied in the year and receive a 5% discount (September enrolment only)
Funding options for undergraduate UK students
Depending on where you are from in the UK, you may be eligible for a part time student loan towards the cost of your undergraduate degree. Find out more about the options available to you.
Career Information:
Information technology is crucial to the smooth running of all modern businesses and that means IT professionals are required in organisations of all shapes and sizes.
With this broad degree, you would be a suitable candidate for job opportunities in virtually any area of computing and information technology. You could become a systems architect, computer programmer, help-desk supervisor, systems engineer, or a network technician for instance.
If you prefer to gain a higher level qualification first however, you could choose to continue your studies with a masters degree.
Testimonials:
Alex Nazaruk is a current student. This is what he has to say:
“As I continue to progress through my course I'm grateful to each of the lecturers that have helped me during my studies. They're always willing to help me understand concepts and practices, and have always been friendly and available no matter what my query. I think this is the best and most valuable part of my course.
“The University is making sure that we leave fully educated and prepared to gain a career in our chosen field. Throughout my studies there has been a lot of information and guidance relating to the ultimate goal of attaining a career.”
Course Leader:
Student Profile:
Alex Nazaruk is a current student. This is what he has to say:
“As I continue to progress through my course I'm grateful to each of the lecturers that have helped me during my studies. They're always willing to help me understand concepts and practices, and have always been friendly and available no matter what my query. I think this is the best and most valuable part of my course.
“The University is making sure that we leave fully educated and prepared to gain a career in our chosen field. Throughout my studies there has been a lot of information and guidance relating to the ultimate goal of attaining a career.”
Career Information
Information technology is crucial to the smooth running of all modern businesses and that means IT professionals are required in organisations of all shapes and sizes.
With this broad degree, you would be a suitable candidate for job opportunities in virtually any area of computing and information technology. You could become a systems architect, computer programmer, help-desk supervisor, systems engineer, or a network technician for instance.
If you prefer to gain a higher level qualification first however, you could choose to continue your studies with a masters degree.
Modules
Stage 3
Core Module
You will explore the historical, current, and emerging issues, technologies, practices, and infrastructure involved in creating large-scale, multi-function websites. We’ll especially concentrate on websites intended to support a wide variety of functionality, such as e-commerce, communication, social networking, content management and so on.
You will use critical thinking to evaluate web development issues and apply rational methods to selecting web technologies, when presented with a variety of choices.
You'll cover the following areas.
- Internet protocols and standards.
- A review of current development platforms and technologies in the context of developing complex web applications.
- Site implementation strategies: integrating pre-packaged open source or commercial solutions and software development using programming and scripting languages.
- Operating systems, server, data management and software configurations.
- Security and privacy issues.
- Marketing, search engine optimisation, and customer retention strategies.
- Ethical issues.
- Specific areas of functionality, eg electronic shopping carts, payment systems, forums, social networking systems, content management and so on.
- Emerging technologies, ‘hot’ topics and new developments.
How will I be assessed?
It’s 100% coursework.
Credits: 15
Core Module
We will look at the various mechanisms for developing applications dependent on an architecture consisting of 2 or more (and often many) computing machines connected via a network.
At the end of this module, you should be able to:
- know the principle concepts of distributed systems, the protocols and technologies involved, and be able to critically evaluate the suitability of different platforms and techniques that can be applied when developing distributed applications
- be able to develop appropriate applications to demonstrate the techniques of distributed applications and critically evaluate their effectiveness.
You'll cover the following areas.
- Network programming.
- Remote invocation.
- Distributed object systems.
- Parallel computing.
- Web services.
- Service oriented architecture
- Cloud computing.
- Grid computing.
- Future developments and current research.
How will I be assessed?
It’s 100% coursework.
Credits: 15
Core Module
A key concept of corporate development during the late 20th century and early 21st century has been that of good IT governance. IT governance is the set of processes, customs, policies, laws, and institutions affecting the way a company’s IT is directed, administered or controlled.
We’ll look at historical events and scandals that have brought governance into greater focus, and analyse the impact of the BS7799 standard on the design, development, deployment and operation of information systems. During this journey, we’ll cover relevant areas of UK Law in the context of the BS7799 framework.
You will cover the following.
- How the 1999 Turnbull Report on Corporate Governance affected those providing and supporting information systems.
- BS 7799 / ISO 17799 standards – frameworks for all aspects of providing and supporting information systems, whether implemented with IT or not.
- Impact and implications of the relevant UK Law on the application and operation of information technology based systems.
- Electronic data interchange and issues of valid contracts over the internet.
How will I be assessed?
It’s 100% coursework.
Credits: 15
Core Module
In this module, you’ll gain an in-depth awareness of the issues involved in the management of large scale computer networks, together with the necessary techniques to manage a network.
You'll cover:
- Network management overview: justification, methods, facilities management.
- Configuration management.
- Event management
- Performance management.
- Network management tools and troubleshooting.
- Account management.
- Capacity planning and networks for competitive advantage.
- Design and implementation of an active directory wide area network infrastructure
- Monitoring and optimisation.
- Backup and disaster recovery.
- Applications: Telnet, FTP, email.
How will I be assessed?
It’s 60% coursework and 40% exam.
Credits: 15
Core Module
In this module we will discuss advanced theory and practice around network security. The module focuses on security in LAN and WAN environments with particular emphasis on security of intra/internets.
Once you have finished the module, you’ll be able to:
- critically evaluate the benefits and limitations of security models and be able to apply them in the context of passive and active security attacks with methods of prevention
- analyse requirements for the design of a security system and evaluate it under various constraints.
We will cover the following areas.
- Advanced authentication techniques (eg RADIUS, TACACS, TACACS+, Kerberos.)
- Remote access and security (eg IPSEC, PPTP, L2TP, SSH, SSL.)
- Concepts in IDS (eg Kieros attack, buffer overflows, anomaly based detection systems, host vs network based IDS.)
- Encryption: symmetric and asymmetric algorithms, the public key infrastructure, using encryption to prove authenticity, non-repudiation.
- Certificates and digital signatures: certificate authorities, creation and revocation, the use of digital signatures.
How will I be assessed?
It’s 100% coursework.
Credits: 15
Core Module
This module focuses on managing information systems projects using appropriate project management methods. It will also give you a broad understanding of current developments and trends in the field of information systems development.
You will learn how to:
- critically evaluate the different stages and aspects of project management and how the relevant processes and methods are applied to information systems development projects
- carry out the necessary cost and the time estimation planning and risk assessment.
We’ll use case studies to illustrate the theoretical concepts and understand the difficulties of managing complex information system projects. You’ll also get some practical experience of using a project planning tool.
You'll cover the following.
- The stages of project management.
- Project type, definition and categorisation.
- Project initiation, project planning and control.
- Leadership and motivation.
- Cost and time estimation.
- Risk assessment, analysis and management.
- Quality assessment, management and control.
- Methodologies, methods and tools.
- Project and development metrics.
How will I be assessed?
It’s 100% coursework.
Credits: 15
Core Module
This is your opportunity to conduct a substantial piece of research using a recognised research methodology and apply it to a specific, well defined academic domain within computing and information technology. You will choose the topic in conjunction with your ‘supervisor’ for this project.
You will learn how to:
- define a research project and select an appropriate methodology to undertake the research
- demonstrate an ability to conduct independent research and evaluate research outcomes.
How will I be assessed?
It’s 100% coursework
Credits: 30
You need to have an HND or foundation degree in a relevant subject.
When you apply, please send us a transcript of the modules you've already studied. This means we can make sure your HND or foundation degree is compatible with this top up programme.
Apply Now
Applications for Online courses are made through the main University of Derby website.
By clicking on "Apply now" below you will be redirected to the University of Derby website to continue your application process.
Fees
| Per Module | Modules | Total | Start | |
| UK/EU | £405 | 8 | £3,240* | Sept/Jan/May |
| Overseas | £450 | 8 | £3,600* | Sept/Jan/May |
*Prices correct for 2012/2013. Subject to annual increase in September 2013.
There is an additional fee of £100 per exam for UK students who need to sit their exams at a venue other than the University. For non UK students, your exam fees are already included.
New flexible payment plans available
Choose from three options:
- Pay only for the modules you are studying
- Pay your full course fees upfront and avoid annual increases
- Pay for all modules studied in the year and receive a 5% discount (September enrolment only)
Funding options for undergraduate UK students
Depending on where you are from in the UK, you may be eligible for a part time student loan towards the cost of your undergraduate degree. Find out more about the options available to you.
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