Providing high quality professionals for the software development industry.
The growth of the ICT industry has been identified as a top priority for the Northern Ireland Executive. According to Invest NI, Northern Ireland is the leading foreign direct investment region in Europe for software development and IT technical support centres. There are more than 900 companies in the ICT sector and many of these are international organisations.
The majority of new jobs have been in knowledge industries particularly ICT including software development, software testing and funds administration.
It is against this backdrop that we offer this course to graduates in subjects other than computing as an opportunity for career change, to enable them to exploit the opportunities for personal and professional development offered by this burgeoning sector.
We know that choosing to study at university is a big decision, and you may not always be able to find the information you need online.
Please contact Ulster University with any queries or questions you might have about:
For any queries regarding getting help with your application, please select Admissions in the drop down below.
For queries related to course content, including modules and placements, please select Course specific information.
We look forward to hearing from you.
In this section
The intensive one-year master’s conversion course is aimed at highly-motivated graduates with a good honours degree in any discipline with no more than 50% computing content. While the course has a particular focus on the employment needs of the local economy, the skills and abilities developed are easily transferred to a more global stage.
The overall aim of this course is to provide graduates equipped to apply best practice in software engineering to the development of a wide range of software systems in a variety of organisations. Skilled software developers are needed to support Northern Ireland’s burgeoning software industry.
Ulster University academics are actively involved in both research and teaching and this ensures that the developments accrued through research can feed into the teaching of students. A significant percentage of staff are members of the Higher Education Academy, and all staff are expected to have a Postgraduate Certificate in University Teaching or equivalent. All Computing courses are subject to periodic Faculty Review and University Revalidation.
This is a full-time, one year (12 month) programme, delivered across three semesters.
Teaching is delivered through a combination of lectures, directed tutorials, seminars and practical sessions. Support is also provided for project preparation and implementation.
The course is assessed by coursework only.
The University employs over 1,000 suitably qualified and experienced academic staff - 59% have PhDs in their subject field and many have professional body recognition.
Courses are taught by staff who are Professors (25%), Readers, Senior Lecturers (20%) or Lecturers (55%).
We require most academic staff to be qualified to teach in higher education: 82% hold either Postgraduate Certificates in Higher Education Practice or higher. Most academic staff (81%) are accredited fellows of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) by Advanced HE - the university sector professional body for teaching and learning. Many academic and technical staff hold other professional body designations related to their subject or scholarly practice.
The profiles of many academic staff can be found on the University’s departmental websites and give a detailed insight into the range of staffing and expertise. The precise staffing for a course will depend on the department(s) involved and the availability and management of staff. This is subject to change annually and is confirmed in the timetable issued at the start of the course.
Occasionally, teaching may be supplemented by suitably qualified part-time staff (usually qualified researchers) and specialist guest lecturers. In these cases, all staff are inducted, mostly through our staff development programme ‘First Steps to Teaching’. In some cases, usually for provision in one of our out-centres, Recognised University Teachers are involved, supported by the University in suitable professional development for teaching.
Figures correct for academic year 2021-2022.
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Here is a guide to the subjects studied on this course.
Courses are continually reviewed to take advantage of new teaching approaches and developments in research, industry and the professions. Please be aware that modules may change for your year of entry. The exact modules available and their order may vary depending on course updates, staff availability, timetabling and student demand. Please contact the course team for the most up to date module list.
In this section
Year: 1
Status: C
The module introduces software development concepts and practices in a scaffolding manner enabling students to progressively develop their knowledge. This will be reinforced by interwoven practical lab sessions which will focus on and enhance all the necessary practical skills: problem solving, software design, programming skills and software testing to the high level of competence required by industry. The module is also intended to equip students with the knowledge, skills and practices that enable them to function as autonomous, accountable IT professionals.
Year: 1
Status: C
This module seeks to develop and extend the student's knowledge of, and practical skills in, software design and development. The students are introduced to implementing, testing and documenting software for real-world applications. They also have opportunities to experience effective project organisation skills.
Year: 1
Status: C
This module uses interlinked lectures and lab sessions to deliver upon the detail of Java programming. The module explores object-oriented techniques and the Java constructs underpinning them to include: Inheritance - hierarchy of super and sub classes; Encapsulation, state and behaviour of objects; Abstraction - hiding implementation detail; Polymorphism - compile time and runtime methods. Arrays are introduced as an intermediate storage structure and files as a permanent storage mechanism incorporating Read/Write facilities with exception handling. The students will be provided with an opportunity to display strong personal management and team skills within this module.
Year: 1
Status: C
This module recognises the need for flexible and efficient storage of information in computer applications. The underlying principles of database organisation are presented, and practical implementation in a modern DBMS environment provides a basis for the construction of larger-scale e-business solutions.
Year: 1
Status: C
The project allows the student to demonstrate their ability in undertaking an independent project, developing theoretical perspectives, addressing research questions and analysing and implementing real world solutions. The student will be expected to utilise appropriate methodologies and demonstrate the skills gained earlier in the course when implementing the project. This will typically involve a systems analysis of the needs for a realistic application or actual organisation and identification and application of tools/techniques required to deliver a well-formed solution. In summary the masters project represents a piece of work performed by the student under suitable staff supervision, which draws both from the practical and creative nature of a problem-solving project and the traditional, scholarly exposition of an area of study. The content of the work should have a degree of originality and contain a critical appraisal of the subject area.
Status: O
Year: 1
This module is optional
This module introduces students to the basic hardware components from which a computer system is constructed and the organisation of these components. The architecture is discussed and key concepts considered in the context of the programmable machine. Students will also gain an understanding of how computers communicate in the context both of local and wide area networks.
Status: O
Year: 1
This module is optional
High-quality data is the precondition for analysing and using big data and for guaranteeing the value of the data. This module, introduces the data quality challenges faced by big data. It will present tools and techniques employed to ensure data quality from data collection and computational procedures to facilitate automatic or semi-automatic identification and elimination of errors in large datasets. The module also introduces the topic of understanding and interpreting data through descriptive statistical methods. This will be achieved through a range of techniques such as Statistical metrics, Univariate analysis and Multivariate analysis. Students will develop the knowledge to assess the quality of the data and the skills necessary to perform appropriate data cleaning operations. In addition, students will have an understanding of processing data and interpreting and visualising results.
Status: O
Year: 1
This module is optional
The focus of this module is to present an understanding of key data science concepts, tools and programming techniques. Within the arena of data science, the theory behind the approaches of statistics, modelling and machine learning will be introduced emphasising their importance and application to data analysis. The notion of investigative and research skills will also be introduced through a number of problem-solving exercises. The material covered will be contextualised by providing examples of the latest research within the area. Students will also be introduced to programming with Python. They will learn the basics of syntax, and how to configure their development environment for the implementation and testing of algorithms related to data science.
Status: O
Year: 1
This module is optional
This module will expose students to the world of web based applications. It is concerned with the study and application of tools and techniques that enable the building and deployment of web-based application systems. The module first gives students an understanding of the role and function of the core technologies involved and then addresses the design practices, principles and patterns required for developing optimised web applications. Consequently, it provides students with a grounding in an important and still expanding application area that utilises the internet as the underlying communication platform.
Status: O
Year: 1
This module is optional
This module gives students a detailed introduction to the functions of modern operating systems. Particular emphasis is placed on the practical implementation of theoretical concepts and on the key area of Command-Line interaction, Shell Scripting, and an overview of system management. Students will have the opportunity to develop and consolidate their understanding of computer hardware as well as their software development skills, and will gain experience of using a modern Unix-like operating system.
We recognise a range of qualifications for admission to our courses. In addition to the specific entry conditions for this course you must also meet the University’s General Entrance Requirements.
1) A second class honours degree or better from a university of the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland, from the Council for National Academic Awards, the National Council for Educational Awards, the Higher Education and Training Awards Council, or from an institution of another country which has been recognised as being of an equivalent standard; or
2) an equivalent standard (normally 50%) in a Graduate Diploma, Graduate Certificate, Postgraduate Certificate or Postgraduate Diploma or an approved alternative qualification; and
3) the content of the qualification presented (as described in (i) may have a maximum of 50% computing content.
AND
You must satisfy the General Entrance Requirements for admission to a first degree course and hold a GCSE pass in English Language and Mathematics at grade C or above (or equivalent)
The Faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment does not accept students with Essential Skills in Application of Number as the only mathematics qualification. Please contact the Admissions Office directly if you have a query concerning this matter. Thank you.
T: +44 (0)28 7167 5678
E: admissionsmg@ulster.ac.uk
In exceptional circumstances, where an individual has substantial and significant experiential learning, a portfolio of written evidence demonstrating the meeting of graduate qualities (including subject-specific outcomes, as determined by the Course Committee) may be considered as an alternative entrance route. Evidence used to demonstrate graduate qualities may not be used for exemption against modules within the programme.
English language requirements for international applicants
The minimum requirement for this course is Academic IELTS 6.0 with no band score less than 5.5. Trinity ISE: Pass at level III also meets this requirement for Tier 4 visa purposes.
Ulster recognises a number of other English language tests and comparable IELTS equivalent scores.
The entry requirements facilitate accreditation of prior learning.
In this section
There is a strong demand in the local Northern Ireland economy and beyond for graduates with software development skills. Coupled with the skills and knowledge of their primary degree, graduates from this course will be well placed to find employment in private industry, public sector organisations and in research. They will have the necessary skills to initially work in roles such as software developers, software testers and/or academic or commercial researchers but will also have the capacity to diversify into other roles such as independent consultants.
N/A
Accredited by BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT for the purposes of partially meeting the academic requirement for registration as a Chartered IT Professional.
Our postgraduate fees are subject to annual increase and are currently under review.
See our tuition fees page for the current fees for 2023/24 entry.
Industry sponsored prize for the best overall student performance and best project marks.
None.
It is important to remember that costs associated with accommodation, travel (including car parking charges) and normal living will need to be covered in addition to tuition fees.
Where a course has additional mandatory expenses (in addition to tuition fees) we make every effort to highlight them above. We aim to provide students with the learning materials needed to support their studies. Our libraries are a valuable resource with an extensive collection of books and journals, as well as first-class facilities and IT equipment. Computer suites and free Wi-Fi are also available on each of the campuses.
There are additional fees for graduation ceremonies, examination resits and library fines.
Students choosing a period of paid work placement or study abroad as a part of their course should be aware that there may be additional travel and living costs, as well as tuition fees.
See the tuition fees on our student guide for most up to date costs.
We know that choosing to study at university is a big decision, and you may not always be able to find the information you need online.
Please contact Ulster University with any queries or questions you might have about:
For any queries regarding getting help with your application, please select Admissions in the drop down below.
For queries related to course content, including modules and placements, please select Course specific information.
We look forward to hearing from you.
