On this pre-Bachelor programme you will enter the International Foundation Year and are guaranteed progression to the first year of the Software Engineering BSc (Hons) the following September (if you meet the required criteria).

The educational aims of the programme are to:

• Develop students’ fundamental knowledge and understanding of the relevant disciplinary elements in computer science and related fields.
• Develop in students a broad range of transferable academic literacy, research and analytical skills to succeed in undergraduate study.
• Ensure that students have attained the prescribed level of English language competence to succeed on specified Lancaster University undergraduate programme.
• To prepare students to operate effectively and autonomously within the framework of higher education.
• Develop students’ graduate attributes to optimise future employability prospects in a global environment.

Upon completion of the Foundation Year, you can progress to the first year of the Bachelor programme.

BSc Software Engineering:

Software Engineers are programming architects, who apply computer science, engineering and mathematical analysis to the design and development of large, complex, and critical software systems.

This programme provides you with a comprehensive grounding in computer science, while equipping you with the specialist skills required for a profession in software engineering and design. Software Engineering has been a major research theme at Lancaster since 1986.

Programme Overview: 

Our programme provides you with a comprehensive grounding in computer science, while equipping you with the specialist skills required for a profession in software engineering and design. You will gain the technical knowledge and experience to manage and develop high-quality, well-designed software systems, along with an understanding of business and system requirements.

Based around our dedicated Software Engineering Design Studio, your first year will provide you with the fundamentals of computer science, software development, and digital and information systems, allowing you to gain the essential knowledge needed for analysis and design. You will also begin to develop complex computer programming skills, learning to write, analyse, debug, test, and document computer programmes.

Your second and third years offer advanced modules, including Distributed Systems, Human-Computer Interaction, and Languages and Compilation. In addition to developing your foundational understanding, programming, and software design skills, you will explore social, ethical and professional issues related to the discipline and will complete a group project. These will allow you to develop the working knowledge and skills to overcome the challenges of designing, developing and evaluating real-world software systems.

You will also undertake a variety of software design-based modules, ensuring you gain a broad and robust level of skills and experience. These projects will develop your data analysis, graphical, report writing and presentation skills.

Your final year will also give you the opportunity to undertake an individual project. In this project you will work closely with one of our academics, allowing you to use and further develop the skills acquired throughout your degree.

Course structure: Information contained on the website with respect to modules is correct at the time of publication, and the University will make every reasonable effort to offer modules as advertised. In some cases changes may be necessary and may result in some combinations being unavailable, for example as a result of student feedback, timetabling, staff changes and new research. Not all optional modules are available every year.

Careers: 

A degree in Software Engineering can open up a range of exciting career avenues, including the following roles:

• Applications developer
• Cyber security analyst
• Data analyst
• Data scientist
• Game developer
• Information systems manager
• IT consultant
• Machine learning engineer
• Multimedia programmer
• Web developer
• Web designer
• Software engineer
• QA/Test automation engineers