Our BSc (Hons) Information Technology will appeal to highly motivated students who have a strong interest in designing IT products and services that solve real problems and are used by real people to do real work. A foundation year will put your study success on a firm footing too.
Choose a degree designed in conjunction with industry and the business world to ensure that you develop the skills employers are seeking
Cover the major developments in IT today – from Big Data and the Internet of Things (IoT) to User Experience (UX) and User Centred Design
Gain valuable experience on an optional year in industry, supported by our dedicated and highly experienced placement staff
Work in design and development teams to deliver an IT product or service that addresses a business problem for a real client, often a local charity
Study in our state-of-the-art facilities including our dedicated computing labs
Build your skills using specialist tools which are harnessed by industry worldwide, such as SAS, R, SAS JMP, Watson Analytics, Python and Tableau for data analysis
Take the chance to obtain SAS certification to strengthen your CV and improve your future prospects
Prepare for careers in fields such as data analysis, business intelligence, web and mobile design – or even starting your own IT business venture
Become a highly employable graduate – we are ranked 15th highest among all UK universities and 12th for English institutions, with 96% of graduates in work or further study within six months of completing their degree (HESA 2016)
As organisations become ever more dependent on information technology to operate efficiently and effectively, our BSc (Hons) Information Technology primes you for exciting career opportunities in any sector, anywhere in the world.
Foundation Year - helping you to achieve more
Including a foundation year as part of your four-year study programme will give you a head start in your academic and professional life. The foundation year offers the chance to strengthen your skills, knowledge and confidence – with extensive support from our expert staff – before you advance to stage one of your honours degree. It could also be beneficial if you are planning a career change and want to get to grips with aspects of subjects which are new to you.
Our degrees with a foundation year are continuous, meaning that you won’t need to apply again once you have successfully completed the first year.
Meeting employers’ needs – for today and tomorrow
The BSc (Hons) Information Technology covers two key themes:
Data Analysis, Big Data and Internet of Things (IoT)
UX (User Experience) and User Centred Design
These themes are supported and enhanced as you study a range of closely related computing and business topics.
The course captures how our modern global society and the developing world are increasingly reliant on IT products and services. Mass-market consumer products, such as smart and mobile devices, are harnessing the almost seamless integration of small, portable, easy-to-use IoT devices with access to the World Wide Web and wireless communication technology. This ensures access to vast quantities of information almost anywhere – and the ‘Big Data’ generated by the use of such products can be exploited to help make sound business decisions and to contribute to wider public benefit.
Build your skills and knowledge
The first stage of the BSc (Hons) Information Technology is very much about learning the key tools, techniques and methods as a foundation for your studies in later years. You will be introduced to data analysis tools such as SAS as well as to the principles of User Centred Systems Design, designing for the mobile web and using UX design tools such as Balsamiq and Axur. In addition, you will learn the fundamentals of computer science and gain a sound understanding of the building blocks of modern IT products and services such as HTML, CSS and programming principles.
A key aim of the second stage is to equip you with skills and expertise valued by employers so that you are well prepared if you choose to undertake an optional placement year. Building on what you have learned in the first year, you will gain more advanced business intelligence and database skills using SAS and UX Design which you will then hone on more substantial IT projects.
A particularly important module here is the IT Team Project, where you will be working in design and development teams to deliver an IT product or service that addresses a real problem for a real client. Typically, these clients are local charities who need your IT skills to help them tackle a key business challenge.
You can then spend an optional year in industry on placement or progress to the final stage of the course. In your final year, you will develop your skills further so that you can critically evaluate and challenge concepts and ideas. You will also extend your expertise with modern leading analysis tools such as R, Python, Watson Analytics, SAS JMP and Tableau. In addition, you will conduct a major piece of research on a theme of your own choosing for your Independent Study.
Huge benefits of a placement year
Our students often say that the industrial placement is the most rewarding part of their course. During your placement, you will apply everything that you have learned so far to a business environment and will see how the wider social environment affects the way an organisation uses information technology.
More and more employers now expect their new recruits to have some work experience – so a placement on your CV will help you stand out when you are applying for your first job after graduating.
Supported by the O'Reilly publishing company, we offer a prize for the best articles written by students taking the Enterprise Systems and Information Security and Assurance modules in the final year of the BSc (Hons) Information Technology and the BSc (Hons) Computer Forensic Investigation.
For 2017 the winners were Mark E George and Mathew Wilkin, both studying the BSc (Hons) Information Technology, who wrote respectively on the themes of Potential Social and Economic Benefits of IoT to Improve Transport and Smart Homes: The Key to Our Lives.
This module is an introduction to Mathematics in an engineering/technical context. It will concentrate on the principal mathematical tools of Algebra, Trigonometry, Geometry and Calculus and will introduce you to the fundamental use of Maths in understanding and predicting the behaviour of engineering and technical processes and systems work.
A crucial stage in the development of the student is in the assumption of responsibility for learning. The student must be self-motivated, organised and independent. The development of critical thinking and meticulousness is fundamental to university study. This module provides the student with a variety of scholarly and communication competencies necessary for a successful career in the engineering and technology fields. The module aims to develop the ability of the student to investigate, analyse and communicate technologic concepts effectively.
The module will develop your ability to work independently and safely, to carry out effective investigation within this technical field, and to apply relevant practical techniques.
The module is designed for students who have studied post-GCSE maths previously. It extends students’ knowledge and understanding of concepts core to the study of computer based courses. It will develop understanding of concepts associated with statistics and discrete mathematics.
This module develops basic problem solving skills and applies them to programming, which will introduce students to the fundamental principles, concepts, and practice of computer programming, and develops the skills needed to design, implement, and test basic computer programmes to control robots to solve the given problems. No prior computer programming experience is assumed, and all practical work is done using an industry-standard programming language and software development environment.
This module introduces students to the concepts, contributors, terminology, sub-fields, and history of computer science, whilst encouraging students to develop academic skills in reading, writing, research, and presentation.
This module introduces students to the fundamental principles, concepts, and practice of computer programming, and develops the skills needed to design, implement, and test simple computer programs. No prior computer programming experience is assumed, and all practical work is done using an industry-standard programming language and software development environment.
For virtual areas of computing, an understanding of the basic concepts used in web site development is essential. This module provides an introduction to effective design of web sites, focusing on modern design techniques and standards, SEO and Accessibility, and to the core areas of mark-up languages such as HTML and XHTML and cascading style sheets (CSS). It also provides an introduction to the various client-side technologies and how they can effectively be used to enhance web applications, as well as introducing the latest emerging technologies, such as Responsive Web Design.
The aim of the module is to use higher level software tools to construct fairly small IT products as mini-projects. As the need arises, more formal introduction to analysis and design will be introduced. User-centred approaches will also be gradually introduced as the size and complexity of the software increases.
In a world that is increasingly focusing on Big Data and data analysis, being able to analyse data and report the result of data analysis, and interpret it as useful information, is crucial to being a successful IT professional. This module introduces students to the fundamentals of data analysis using one or more popular industry-standard data analysis tools.
This module explores the concepts, technology, and theory that underpin industrial-strength multi-user database systems. Students will be required to develop the practical skills necessary to design and implement robust and scalable databases, and they will develop critical understanding of the issues related to multi-user database development, such as choosing suitable database management systems and tuning them to achieve acceptable performance.
This module is intended to foster employability skills by simulating, as accurately as possible, what it's like to work in a given Computer Science specialism.
This will be done in two successive activities:
Students will be introduced to the “world of work” via a simulated work environment – they will be put into teams that represent fictional companies, but which need to produce real products or engage in realistic work-related activity. This will give students the opportunity to safely discover and explore their capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses, and inclinations before embarking on real-world employment activities.
Students will engage with a real-world industrial brief to develop a small project – such as software, a Web site, a network design, a forensic analysis of a data set, or some similar real or realistic industrial activity – suitable for entry level employees at a relevant industrial employer.
For example, many programmers work as part of a team on large software development projects. Therefore, students working toward a BSc (Hons) Computer Science award will be assembled into fictional software development companies to develop a realistic project, and will thereby experience the challenges that can occur when trying to develop a complicated development project and deliver it on schedule and with high quality. After completion of the fictional-company project, the same teams will work on a small-scale, but real, work-based development project set by a subject-relevant industrial employer, such as a software company.
The acquisition, validation, organisation, management, analysis, presentation and interpretation of data is the primary purpose of information systems in organisations. Underlying much of the success of information systems has been the development of the databases upon which modern information systems are built.
The information systems professional needs to understand how these data systems work, how their benefits can be optimised and how to analyse and evaluate the information in the systems in order for the users and managers of the organisation can obtain maximum value for their investments in Information systems.
A key problem for data management is to reconcile the conflicting demands for real-time data capture for operation systems with the needs of the for management analysis in Business Intelligence, Management Information and Executive Information system, thus introducing the concepts of data-warehouses.
This module will expose students to a wide range of database and data analysis topics which will be actively and practically explored by the students in order to prepare them for their future careers in large and small organisations.
They will have opportunities to work with representative, real-world datasets to develop their understanding of the issues involved in managing and analysing the data and to explore the practical aspects of data mining and management data analysis and presentation using the SAS product set, including the Business Intelligence engine.
Perhaps the most difficult part of the development of an IT Product or Service is deciding what to build. This module equips students with the skills and knowledge to identify and understand a business problem, produce a set of requirements and specify the design of the product or service from the user’s point of view. This will involve using appropriate systems analysis techniques, applying UCSD tools and methods to the design of the user experience and develop an appropriate database design.
A modern business is highly dependent on information technology (IT) to run its business efficiently and effectively and to ensure it can compete. An IT service to a business is a combination of technologies, people, and services from suppliers.
This module explores the issues surrounding the effective management of IT services in a business. The module introduces the strategic and operational management activities of a business IT function from the perspective of IT being an enabling service to the business. The module begins by introducing the student to the concepts of IT services management and helps the student understand how critical IT provision is managed.
The importance of enterprise architecture and an understanding of the importance of user involvement in the overall design, development, deployment and operational management will be demonstrated. Students will build an understanding of the difference between technology products and an IT service and will work in groups to carry out a number of tasks relating to the design and introduction of a new IT service to a business.
Innovation can be defined as the development and application of new ideas to create new opportunities and to solve problems. In this hands-on module you will discover why the best companies are those which innovate.
You will research how successful organisations harness the creativity of their people and steer their way through the unexpected hazards which business life throws at them. You will consider the type of thinking needed to create problem-solving ideas and how to manage this creativity to make better organisations and products. To do all this, you will have the opportunity to work with other students on a real business problem, finding out your strengths and abilities.
You will work with an actual employer and their organisation, based in the local area, by applying your ideas, combined with the theories we will study, to promote solutions to issues they are facing right now. You are then going to present your ideas, backed up by academic references, in the form of a video presentation. The context for this innovation may be within the small firm or corporate organisation and your scope may include product, service, process, technology and marketing innovations of any kind. Being innovative, creative and confident of your own ideas is a key employability skill in today’s challenging business environment.
Students who have previously studied this module commented that it gives them a real experience of how challenging, stimulating, exciting and daunting it can be to manage a business. As such this module gives you a real feel of how you have to take everything into consideration to achieve successful outcomes in the real world.
The overall aim is to provide you with the opportunity to practice and evaluate realistic decision-making in a simulated business environment. You use up-to-date Simulation software from the market-leading organisation in this sector, so you get a technologically advanced experience which works well and reliably.
You work individually and in groups and get to make both quantitative and qualitative decisions as you manage a simulated business scenario in an authentic virtual business environment.
The module utilises business situations which mirror reality, with inter-active business simulation software. You are required and challenged to make and then evaluate the impact of decisions from an HRM, Marketing, Finance, Information and Operations perspective. This offers the opportunity for you to work in groups and individually. It is dynamic, exciting and interactive and encourages reflective learning.
For those of you who are students on BA Business Management, this module contributes to achieving your CMI Level 5 Diploma under the dual accreditation arrangement.
This module will give you the tools, techniques and theory behind how digital marketing works within a business environment.
During this module you will learn about best practice and key elements of managing digital marketing in an ‘always on’ 24/7 environment. You will learn how to audit and evaluate competitors’ digital footprints as well as understand how to gain consumer insights using digital techniques.
Your assessment is coursework-based, designed to provide practical life and employment skills, developing an outline digital marketing plan. This assessment will contribute towards key skills sought by employers, including: evaluation, understanding of digital tools, presentation and business report writing.
This module provides a framework for the development of “lifelong learning” skills appropriate to all areas of professional practice; including objective setting, planning, negotiating, implementing, demonstrating and reflecting. The emphasis in this module is on the analysis and evaluation of the work completed within the organisation.
This module also gives students an opportunity to relate their academic knowledge to the work environment.
Students need to be aware of the commercial realities and external factors that influence the success of an organisation. This module provides opportunities for students to acquire an understanding of contemporary issues that may impact on industrial and professional practices relevant to a career within their chosen discipline. During this period of work experience, students can gain a deeper appreciation of the responsibilities arising from both corporate and individual responses to such issues, thus enabling them to relate to the wider world when exploring a personal direction for potential career development.
Businesses and organisations need to continually develop their systems and technologies in order to be able to meet the challenges of the modern globalised world.
Their challenge, however, is to be able to make rational decisions about which technologies they should incorporate in their businesses. Academia and other places of research continually invent new IT concepts, products and approaches, which are often over-sold and many of them fail to deliver the promised benefits and destroy significant amounts of shareholder value.
One of the key sources for identifying emerging IT products are the annual Gartner Hype curves for a range of application areas, see https://www.gartner.com/technology/research/methodologies/hype-cycle.jsp.
This module will provide the students with the opportunity to critically evaluate the claims of leading edge emerging Information Technologies against a range of evaluation frameworks in a range of scenarios and use-cases.
A key question for 21st century companies is how to develop, deploy and manage their information assets in a sustainable fashion that meets best practice in terms of corporate governance, information security, IT law, corporate and information strategy, effective project delivery, ethics and low carbon footprint to name but a few of the most important factors. The rapidly developing use of public, private and hybrid cloud computing and other third party services and the use of personal and corporate mobile devices offers businesses a wide range of opportunities for improved efficiency but with a range of risks which need to be carefully assessed and managed. This is particularly important in the globalised world of interconnectedness and collaboration.
The developing idea of information technology as a utility, as espoused by N Carr, is changing the accepted wisdom of corporations being able to gain sustainable competitive advantage purely from their information technology and the resulting strategic investment decisions.
Enron, Global Crossing, Cahoot, The NatWest Three, RIM/Blackberry, the Credit Crunch and Megaupload all provide examples of risks related to failures of corporate and information governance.
This module will provide students with a range of analytical frameworks with which to develop and evaluate information and project management strategies which can meet the needs for sustainable information governance for 21st Century organisations of any size by using scalable methodologies that meet good practice taking account of the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) principles espoused by the UN Principles of Responsible Investment guidelines (UNPRI) which are beginning to impact on investor behaviour.
This module draws upon the understanding of emerging information technologies developed in the pre-requisite module.
Modern enterprises often derive significant business insight from applying advanced analytical techniques to masses of data. This module critically evaluates the technologies, techniques, and issues involved in the development and delivery of advanced business intelligence and data analytics systems, particularly those designed to achieve business intelligence and insight using “Big Data”, ie a wide variety of data that is high volume and/or high speed.
Students will be provided with one or more technical environments in which to develop their skills in the design and development of suitable business intelligence tools, and they will be offered a wide range of large, complex and/or dynamic data sets which help illustrate the key technical challenges of dealing with advanced analytics.
This module enables students to demonstrate the ability to independently develop a substantial piece of work related to their specialism. It can be either a significant piece of research following a recognised research methodology, or it can be a significant “design and development” project to create, test and evaluate an innovative solution in computing.
Students will be supported and mentored by a member of academic staff, but the project will be defined and implemented by the student.
This is a research-based, capstone module which focuses on the issues involved in designing, developing and deploying enterprise systems of various scales from SME to large organisations, ie those that support a broad range of mission-critical functions in a typical business. This includes exploration at both strategic and operational levels of architectures, emerging technology and current research, technical choices, and integration with legacy systems.
The structure of the module provides the students with the opportunity to integrate all aspects of their studies during the course of their degree, together with their experiences during their placement year (where relevant). Particular focus is placed on the use of critical thinking to evaluate and resolve enterprise development issues, and the application of rational of methods for selecting technologies when presented with a variety of choices.
This is a research-based, capstone module which focuses on the issues involved in understanding about security standards and formal procedures and strategies within an organisation. This is relevant to computer forensics investigators and information technology experts. It will provide the opportunity to research issues relating to security policies and strategies in the organisational environment. The concepts are fundamental to all organisations, from SME to large organisations.
The structure of the module provides the students with the opportunity to integrate all aspects of their studies during the course of their degree, together with their experiences during their placement year (where relevant). Particular focus is placed on the use of critical thinking to evaluate and resolve enterprise development issues, and the application of rational of methods for selecting technologies when presented with a variety of choices.
20 Credits
optional
Coursework
Please note that our modules are subject to change - we review the content of our courses regularly, making changes where necessary to improve your experience and graduate prospects.
Campus Tours
Campus Tours are a great way to explore our campuses, facilities and halls of residence. We’ll be running the tours in two-hour timeslots, giving you the best possible experience while adhering to social distancing guidelines.
Delve deeper into the course with our Virtual Open Day, packed with subject and course information to help you make your choice, including tours of facilities, 360° views of award-winning accommodation plus advice and insight from students and academics.
Modules are delivered through a mixture of debates, group and individual work, guided reading, lectures, practical sessions in computer labs, tutorials, seminars and presentations by lecturers and guest lecturers.
A key feature of the course is that you will gain valuable experience of designing IT products and services that address ‘real world’ business problems. For example, many in-class exercises and more formal assessments are based around real world case studies and projects.
You will study in our state-of-the-art facilities including our dedicated computing labs. In addition, you will develop expertise in tools that are widely used in industry, such as SAS, R, SAS JMP, Watson Analytics, Python and Tableau for data analysis.
If you choose to take an industrial placement year, you will work as a full-time employee on live projects alongside more experienced employees. Working with industry professionals will enhance your career prospects and give you a distinct advantage in the job market. Most of our students who take advantage of a placement opportunity go on to secure jobs with that employer after graduating.
How you are assessed
A wide range of feedback and assessment methods is used throughout this course, from short exercises in computer labs to writing a dissertation for your Final Year Independent Studies project.
You will also submit short research papers, take computer-based tests, produce presentations of your work and provide portfolios documenting the design and implementation of IT products and services, such as web design projects.
Personal academic tutoring
Your personal academic tutor will work with you to help you get the most out of your time at university. Having someone to talk to about your academic progress, your university experience and your professional aspirations is hugely valuable. We want you to feel challenged in your studies, stretched but confident to achieve your academic and professional goals.
Dr Karen O’Shea is a lecturer of Information Technology at the University of Derby with a focus on product design and project management. She also works closely with work placement students during their year third year in industry. Her research interests are artificial intelligence and conversational agent design and their application in education.
GCSE Maths and English Grade C/Grade 4 (or above) or equivalent qualification
IELTS
6.0 (with 5.5 in each skills area)
Interview / Audition
N/A
Portfolio
N/A
Alternative entry qualifications:
BTEC - MPP
Pass Access to HE Diploma with 60 credits: 45 at Level 3 and 15 at Level 2
We usually consider an A-level in General Studies as a supplementary qualification. A good application/performance will be taken into account if you do not meet the criteria/offer conditions.
Our entry requirements for this course should be read together with the University's general entry requirements, which details subjects we accept, alternative qualifications and what we're looking for at Derby.
Full-time students applying to start in September should apply for this course through UCAS or you can apply directly to the University for an undergraduate course if you’re not applying to any other UK university in the same year.
Full-time students applying to start in September should apply for this course through UCAS or you can apply directly to the University for an undergraduate course if you’re not applying to any other UK university in the same year.
As a BSc (Hons) Information Technology graduate, you will find career opportunities in virtually any area of computing and information technology, particularly data analysis, business intelligence or web and mobile design. You could progress to become a data analyst, an IT trainer, a reporting specialist, a project manager or even advance to IT director roles.
Alternatively, you could start a business venture developing and managing your own IT products and services, or you could go on to study at postgraduate level with our MSc Big Data Analytics or MSc Information Technology.
Contact us
If you need any more information from us, eg on courses, accommodation, applying, car parking, fees or funding, please contact us and we will do everything we can to help you.
Like most universities, we operate extended teaching hours at the University of Derby, so contact time with your lecturers and tutors could be anytime between 9am and 9pm. Your timetable will usually be available on the website 24 hours after enrolment on to your course.
Additional costs and optional extras
We’re committed to providing you with an outstanding learning experience. Our expert teaching, excellent facilities and great employability prepare you for your future career. As part of our commitment to you we aim to keep any additional study costs to a minimum. However, there are occasions where students may incur some additional costs.
The information below is correct for entry in the academic year September 2020 - August 2021 only. Entry for future academic years may be subject to change.
Included in your fees
Access to free software from major software vendors such as SAS, Microsoft , Adobe, Matlab and VMWare - some are available for student download
Mandatory costs not included in your fees
Some assignments are required to be submitted on CDROM/DVDROM £1 - £2 Independent Study dissertations are normally submitted electronically, but individual supervisors have the right to request bound copies. In that case, printing and binding expenses are covered by the student approx. £6 per copy
Optional costs not included in your fees
External hard drive and memory card approx. £50 -£100
Text books from approx. £20
Personal computer and or tablet computer. From £100 upwards depending on specification
Please note: Our courses are refreshed and updated on a regular basis. If you are thinking about transferring onto this course (into the second year for example), you should contact the programme leader for the relevant course information as modules may vary from those shown on this page.
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