Software Engineering
I300Are you passionate about solving global digital challenges and improving the efficiency of our everyday technologies? Are you inspired by the opportunity to develop highly efficient products and systems that will transform a wide range of vital industries, from banking to healthcare?
Course overview
Our Software Engineering degree enables you to develop the skills needed to implement solutions to complex software problems. It is designed to offer both a fundamental understanding of computer science, as well as specialist professional skills in secure software development.
Through a unique programme of modules, you will develop the advanced technical expertise, collaboration and communication skills to turbo charge your employability and agility in a rapidly evolving industry. Your modules cover a combination of key practical and technical skills in software engineering principles.
You will study in a learning environment with research-informed teaching, providing accessible and tailored support for all aspects of academic and personal skills development. You will also benefit from access to interdisciplinary cross-department specialists within the University of Winchester Business School and links to the British Computer Society.
Throughout your journey, you will develop core knowledge in programming, secure systems, applications development, UX design and cross platform mobile development. There are also a range of fascinating optional modules so you can tailor your learning to your career aspirations. Depending on the optional modules you choose, you may graduate with a specialism in Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Technologies, DevOps, Full Stack Development, or Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Before moving on to the final year, you may choose to spend a year on a paid work placement in a business relevant to your ambitions.
University of Winchester Pathways to Computer Science Programme
The Pathways to to Computer Science programme runs for the first time from October 2024. The pathway is an opportunity for prospective computing students to engage in a series of practical and informative sessions delivered by academics and technology professionals in our Faculty of Business and Digital Technologies.
Participants in Pathways to Computer Science are eligible to receive reduced contextual offers on the following University of Winchester courses:
- BSc (Hons) Computer Science
- BSc (Hons) Cyber Security
- BSc (Hons) Software Engineering
Eligibility for the programme
The programme is open to all home and Channel Islands Year 12 and Year 13 students.
Programme activities include:
- • Lectures and seminar activities based on a variety of relevant topics
- • Experience of practical exercises in coding and problem solving and cyber challenges
- • Career guidance and advice from successful professionals from the world of computing
- • Optional interview experience with the Dean of Faculty or Head of Department
Activities are delivered live at the University of Winchester with some activities delivered virtually.
For more information on the Pathways to to Computer Science programme and how to apply
Please click here for the Business and Digital Technologies Pathways programme - Privacy Notice
What you need to know
Course start date
September
Location
Winchester campus
Course length
- 3 years full-time
- 4 years sandwich (industry placement)
Apply
I300
Typical offer
104-120 points
Fees
From £9,535 pa
Course features
- Access a wide range of specialist software and tools including dedicated computer science and cyber security laboratories, containing Linux and Microsoft platforms
- Be inspired by an expert team of research-active academics who work at the forefront of the field
- Develop an appreciation of the wider role digital technologies play in an organisational context
- Take an optional 12-month sandwich placement to gain valuable industry employment experience
Course details
Our aim is to shape 'confident learners' by enabling you to develop the skills needed to excel in your studies here and as well as onto further studies or the employment market.
You are taught primarily through a combination of lectures and seminars, allowing opportunities to discuss and develop your understanding of topics covered in lectures in smaller groups.
In addition to the formally scheduled contact time such as lectures and seminars etc., you are encouraged to access academic support from staff within the course team, your personal tutor and the wide range of services available to you within the University.
Independent learning
Over the duration of your course, you will be expected to develop independent and critical learning, progressively building confidence and expertise through independent and collaborative research, problem-solving and analysis with the support of staff. You take responsibility for your own learning and are encouraged to make use of the wide range of available learning resources available.
Overall workload
Your overall workload consists of class contact hours, independent learning and assessment activity.
While your actual contact hours may depend on the optional modules you select, the following information gives an indication of how much time you will need to allocate to different activities at each level of the course.
YEAR 1 (LEVEL 4): TIMETABLED TEACHING AND LEARNING ACTIVITY*
Teaching, learning and assessment: 288 hours
Independent learning: 912 hours
YEAR 2 (LEVEL 5): TIMETABLED TEACHING AND LEARNING ACTIVITY*
Teaching, learning and assessment: 252 hours
Independent learning: 948 hours
YEAR 3 (LEVEL 6): TIMETABLED TEACHING AND LEARNING ACTIVITY*
Teaching, learning and assessment: 156 hours
Independent learning: 1044 hours
*Please note these are indicative hours for the course.
Location
Taught elements of the course take place on campus in Winchester.
Teaching hours
All class based teaching takes places between 9am – 6pm, Monday to Friday during term time. Wednesday afternoons are kept free from timetabled teaching for personal study time and for sports clubs and societies to train, meet and play matches. There may be some occasional learning opportunities (for example, an evening guest lecturer or performance) that take places outside of these hours for which you will be given forewarning.
Assessment
Our validated courses may adopt a range of means of assessing your learning. An indicative, and not necessarily comprehensive, list of assessment types you might encounter includes essays, portfolios, supervised independent work, presentations, written exams, or practical performances.
We ensure all students have an equal opportunity to achieve module learning outcomes. As such, where appropriate and necessary, students with recognised disabilities may have alternative assignments set that continue to test how successfully they have met the module's learning outcomes. Further details on assessment types used on the course you are interested in can be found on the course page, by attending an Open Day or Open Evening, or contacting our teaching staff.
Percentage of the course assessed by coursework
The assessment balance between examination and coursework depends to some extent on the optional modules you choose. The approximate percentage of the course assessed by different assessment modes is as follows:
YEAR 1 (LEVEL 4)*:
- 70% coursework
- 25% written exams
- 5% practical assessments
YEAR 2 (LEVEL 5)*:
- 82% coursework
- 0% written exams
- 18% practical assessments
YEAR 3 (LEVEL 6)*:
- 69% coursework
- 13% written exams
- 18% practical assessments
*Please note these are indicative percentages and modes for the programme.
Feedback
We are committed to providing timely and appropriate feedback to you on your academic progress and achievement in order to enable you to reflect on your progress and plan your academic and skills development effectively. You are also encouraged to seek additional feedback from your course tutors.
Further information
For more information about our regulations for this course, please see our Academic Regulations, Policies and Procedures.
Modules
Please note the modules listed are correct at the time of publishing. The University cannot guarantee the availability of all modules listed and modules may be subject to change. The University will notify applicants of any changes made to the core modules listed. For further information please refer to winchester.ac.uk/termsandconditions
Modules
Whichever career pathway you choose to follow, there are certain professional skills that you will need in the workplace. This module provides opportunities to acquire and apply essential skills for academic success, while also developing digital skills that are a prerequisite for your successful career.
You will practice and build confidence in a wide-ranging set of skills, as part of your transition into Higher Education. By establishing and pursuing a personal development plan, you develop a set of personal qualities such as self-awareness, confidence and resilience; and professional skills such as communication, teamwork, risk management, coaching and feedback. Whilst you learn to construct an outstanding CV and professional LinkedIn profile, this module also raises your digital skills competencies. The module covers the Microsoft Office suite and specific digital skills of particular relevance to the discipline that you are studying. This module is taught as a mix of lectures, practitioner guest lectures, hands-on skills seminars and computer lab sessions.
This module aims to provide you with a thorough underpinning in the Science of Computational Thinking. You will learn about core mathematical concepts and their application, abstraction, decomposition, pattern recognition, algorithms and data structures. You will be encouraged to consider the impact that you have on the environment, especially in terms of the efficiency of your algorithms and consumption of computing resources. You will engage in activities which allow you to practice and apply your computational thinking skills and you will be encouraged to consider a variety of different problems and how they can be solved using computation.
The aim of this module is to introduce concepts of system and software design within an organisational environment. This module develops your skills in analysing business and technical requirements to select and specify appropriate technology solutions, capturing client requirements, and producing the solutions, architecture and software design.
You will investigate the use of infrastructure to support business needs and design systems which will consider these requirements. You will develop an understanding of the OSI model, networking devices and routing protocols and will explore and understand the security threats to an IT system and the operational impact of these threats on an organisation. This module introduces topical case studies of attacks on organisational information systems, highlighting the business consequences.
Within this module, you will be supported develop the practical skills required to implement software solutions using programming techniques. You will develop the necessary understanding of how the fundamentals of coding languages (such as variables, functions, input-output, control structures) are implemented together with exploring the use of databases within systems. Throughout the module, you will be engaging in problem solving activities, designed to build your confidence with both software development activities and the tools, techniques, and technologies used by software engineers in industry. You will be supported to engage with the practical application of programming principles, with industry-led examples. Initially, you will focus on smaller programmes, gradually building to more complex ones by the end of the module.
Modules
This module enables you to develop your understanding and competence in using diverse research methods for academic and professional purposes. You will explore a variety of research approaches and will develop practical qualitative and quantitative research skills including defining and scoping a project; designing an effective and manageable research protocol; collecting data and using appropriate analysis methods.
You will develop an appreciation of ethical implications of the research process to facilitate responsible research practice and will be introduced to the key stages required to complete an applied project from concept to delivery. You will learn how to manage a project and contribute effectively as a member of a project team, using ideas generation techniques and problem-solving skills to develop innovative solutions to business problems. This module contributes to your continuing professional development as you will gain key insights into how to perform technical process improvement tasks in a range of environments to solve real-world business problems.
You will build on the knowledge you gained during your first year to develop larger, more complex applications. You will explore how applications can be used to solve (or mitigate) challenges which are experienced by end-users. You will propose an application to overcome an issue, before using industry-standard tools and techniques to design the system. Finally, you will implement a system using a specified programming language and a provided design.
The module develops both your theoretical and practical skills for software engineering including (but not limited to) object-oriented design and development, data persistence, abstraction, encapsulation, aggregation and inheritance.
This module presents a systematic approach to systems testing as an extension to Systems Design and a core element of all software development methodologies. It considers the Seven Principles of Software Testing and their integration within testing processes. You will be introduced to various methods for planning and conducting tests and as part of the testing process, you will be required to use your plans and previous development activities to implement your tests. You will reflect on how the systems testing techniques you encounter can support the development of resilient infrastructure and systems.
- Web Development - 15 credits
- Cloud Infrastructure - 15 credits
- System Administration - 15 credits
- Disruptive Business Innovation - 15 credit
Modules
Mobile devices are ubiquitous within the modern world. However, the diversity of devices often results in the need to develop multiple versions of applications to meet the needs of users. In recent times, cross-platform development has become increasingly popular. On this module you will develop the skills you need to design, implement and test applications which work on a host of different devices from a single codebase. You will design an application, develop the code, then test the outcome on a range of devices.
Since the seminal text The Cathedral and the Bazaar was written, open-source development is becoming increasingly popular within Software Engineering. On this module, you will explore the history, values and use of open-source software development within the technology field. You will participate in social development, through engaging with open-source projects, such as those available on GitHub and other websites. You will learn how to get started with open-source development, choose projects for your skillset, understand projects, participate in social development, and document your code.
- Developing for the Cloud - 30 credits
- DevOps for Organisations - 30 credits
- Capstone Project - Dissertation - 30 credits
- Capstone Project - Consultancy Project - 30 credits
- Capstone Project - Consultancy Project, Placement for Good - 30 credits
- Capstone Project - Start up for Good - 30 credits
Entry requirements
Our offers are typically made using UCAS tariff points to allow you to include a range of level 3 qualifications and as a guide, the requirements for this course are equivalent to:
A-Levels: BCC-BBB from 3 A Levels or equivalent grade combinations (e.g. BBB is comparable to ABC in terms of tariff points)
BTEC/CTEC: DMM from BTEC or Cambridge Technical (CTEC) qualifications
International Baccalaureate: To include a minimum of 2 Higher Level certificates at grade H4
T Level: Merit in a T Level
Additionally, we accept tariff points achieved for many other qualifications, such as the Access to Higher Education Diploma, Scottish Highers, UAL Diploma/Extended Diploma and WJEC Applied Certificate/Diploma, to name a few. We also accept tariff points from smaller level 3 qualifications, up to a maximum of 32, from qualifications like the Extended Project (EP/EPQ), music or dance qualifications. To find out more about UCAS tariff points, including what your qualifications are worth, please visit UCAS.
In addition to level 3 study, the following GCSE’s are required:
GCSEs in Mathematics and English Language at grade 4 or C, or higher. Functional Skills at level 2 is accepted as an alternative, however Key Skills qualifications are not. If you hold another qualification, please get in touch and we will advise further
If you will be over the age of 21 years of age at the beginning of your undergraduate study, you will be considered as a mature student. This means our offer may be different and any work or life experiences you have will be considered together with any qualifications you hold. UCAS have further information about studying as a mature student on their website which may be of interest.
If English is not your first language, a formal English language test will most likely be required and you will need to achieve the following:
- IELTS Academic at 5.5 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in all four components (for year 1 entry)
- We also accept other English language qualifications, such as IELTS Indicator, Pearson PTE Academic, Cambridge C1 Advanced and TOEFL iBT
If you are living outside of the UK or Europe, you can find out more about how to join this course by contacting our International Recruitment Team via our International Apply Pages.
2025/6 Course Tuition Fees
| UK / Channel Islands / Isle of Man / Republic of Ireland |
International |
|
|---|---|---|
| Year 1* | £9,535 | £16,700 |
Additional tuition fee information
*(UK / Channel Islands / Isle of Man / Republic of Ireland) £9,535 for the 25/26 academic year. Fees for future academic years will be determined in line with our Terms and Conditions. The fee is currently subject to a governmental fee cap for each academic year. It is our policy to charge tuition fees at the level of the cap set by the Government. If the cap set by the Government changes, then we may increase our Fees in line with governmental policy.
*(International) £16,700 for the 25/26 academic year. Fees for future academic years will be determined in line with our Terms and Conditions. We decide the annual level of increase of our Tuition Fees by taking into account a range of factors including the cost of delivering the course and change in governmental funding.
Remember, you don’t have to pay any of this upfront if you are able to get a tuition fee loan from the UK Government to cover the full cost of your fees each year.
UK Part-Time fees are calculated on a pro rata basis of the full-time fee for a 120 credit course. The fee for a single credit is £79.40 and a 15 credit module is £1,191. Part-time students can take up to a maximum 90 credits per year, so the maximum fee in a given year will be the government permitted maximum fee of £7,145
International part-time fees are calculated on a pro rata basis of the full-time fee for a 120 credit course. The fee for a single credit is £139.14 and a 15 credit module is £2,087.
Additional costs
As one of our students all of your teaching and assessments are included in your tuition fees, including, lectures/guest lectures and tutorials, seminars, laboratory sessions and specialist teaching facilities. You will also have access to a wide range of student support and IT services.
There might be additional costs you may encounter whilst studying. The following highlights the mandatory and optional costs for this course:
Mandatory
Laptop
Students are expected to have their own laptop to use on this course. Indicative cost is £200-£1,000.
Optional
Core texts
Core texts are available from the University Library. However some students prefer to purchase their own copies. Some core texts can be bought second-hand or as an ebook which can often reduce this cost. Indicative cost is £150 for whole course.
SCHOLARSHIPS, BURSARIES AND AWARDS
We have a variety of scholarship and bursaries available to support you financially with the cost of your course. To see if you’re eligible, please see our Scholarships and Awards page.
CAREER PROSPECTS
Graduates enter careers in systems engineer web development, computer programming, software engineering, analyst programming and firmware development. Computer science, software engineering, and cyber security graduates are in demand by employers, due to the recognised need in the public, private and third sectors for their expertise.
Pre-approved for a Masters
If you study a Bachelor Honours degree with us, you will be pre-approved to start a Masters degree at Winchester. To be eligible, you will need to apply by the end of March in the final year of your degree and meet the entry requirements of your chosen Masters degree.
OUR CAREERS SERVICE
"We embed employability at the heart of all of our programmes."
