Our degree courses with foundation year offer the opportunity to prepare you for advanced study before you progress onto a full honours degree at the University of Westminster. Whether you do not feel ready for degree-level study, don’t have the right qualifications, want to change your subject specialism or return to study after an absence from education, we aim to encourage a broad range of students to undertake our foundation year in order to progress onto their full honours degree with us.

The foundation year is designed to give you the opportunity to explore new ideas, opening up new perspectives on the key debates within your chosen field. During the foundation year, you will explore a range of creative disciplines and get a chance to develop in your chosen field, benefiting from workshops in our high-end facilities and working with leading academics who will encourage you to become a confident and creative thinker. Core modules accelerate your academic and professional development and you will also take modules within your chosen field, giving you the chance to develop a cross-disciplinary perspective on your course. 

On successful completion of the foundation year, you will be able to move on to study for the Computer Network Security BSc Honours over a further three years study.

Security is a vital aspect of any networked system, especially as the dependency on network infrastructures has grown over the past few decades. This course builds on more than ten years of experience in education in network design and support, and its aim is to produce network engineers with a strong background in security.

The course focuses on three main aspects – communication, network design and implementation, and security. You'll develop the knowledge and technical expertise to be able to take on specific responsibility within a network team or as a team leader for the security aspects of that network, particularly in industries such as banking, where security is crucial.

Our graduates have gone on to work in the banking sector, as well as organisations such as BT, HP, Cisco, Dell, Google Enterprise, Huawei Technologies and Quinix, as well as smaller private companies.

The programme incorporates the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) curriculum,  giving students who wish to take the external examinations the knowledge to complete the CCNA Routing and Switching as well as the CCNA Security qualification by the end of the course.

You'll study the fundamental principles of computing and network engineering, and develop the connection between these and a broad range of network systems, with special emphasis on the optimisation of converged networks. You'll also be encouraged to use initiative and confidence in approaching network engineering problems, investigating solutions using a blend of analytical and practical skills.

The course offers a short-term, work-based learning experience that will give you the opportunity to work on a real-life problem, which is normally set by an external organisation as a small-scale project. This experience will allow you to put theory into practice by applying your new knowledge and skills to address a real-life situation, usually within the context of a business-related problem.

In addition, you'll have the opportunity to undertake a year in industry (work placement) after completing the second year of your study. This will help you to gain work experience and enhance your employability after you graduate. You'll be offered help and support to find and secure placement opportunities through various workshops and events organised by the Careers and Employability Service and the course team. Typically, you'll be assigned to roles involving tasks related to network security and/or network software engineering.

The course is accredited by the British Computer Society (BCS).

Placements/ Year abroad

This course gives you the opportunity to take part in a year in industry (work placement) after completing the second year of your study. This will help you gain work experience and increase your employability after you graduate.

You will be offered help and support to find and secure placement opportunities through various workshops and events organised by the Careers and Employability Service and the course team.

Typically, you will be assigned to roles involving tasks related to network security and/or network software engineering.

Career

Graduates of this degree typically work with networked communication systems as network designers, network managers or network engineers, in charge of setting up, developing, managing and maintaining secure networks.

With an industry-wide shortage, high-quality computer network security graduates are enjoying a choice of job opportunities with good salaries.

This course will prepare you for roles such as:

• Computer network engineers – responsible for any component of a computer network, including local and wide area networks, as well as servers, routers, switches and computers
• Network designers – responsible for the design, operation, installation and maintenance of current and future state-of-the-art computer networks with associated security concerns
• Network security engineers – responsible for dealing with security issues, such as viruses or hardware malfunctions, testing systems for vulnerabilities in hardware and software, maintaining virtual private networks, firewalls, email security and web protocols, and security and programs