Welcome to the Computer Science Course and the School of Engineering, Technology & Design. We look forward to seeing you on campus and supporting you through the next few years of your educational journey at CCCU.
Dr Hannan Azhar
Course Director for Computer Science
Academic Calendar: Semesters
View key dates for this Academic Calendar for 2024-25 including when teaching starts and finishes and when you break for holidays.
We understand that this can be quite a nerve wracking time, so we want to reassure you that you can find most of the information you need on the University on our webpages. If, for any reason, you cannot find what you need, please contact our amazing Course Admin Team and they will put you in touch with someone that can answer your question. I look forward to meeting you in September.
You are about to embark on one of the most exciting times in your life as you are welcomed into our community. You may well feel quite excited or even a little anxious about the big step you are about to take. University is a place where many different people come together from very diverse backgrounds to change their lives. You may feel very different to others, when in fact you may find yourself sitting next to someone who becomes a lifelong friend. You are joining a fantastic team dedicated to making you feel at home and who will help you transition into your shiny new university life. With a degree, you will have the potential to make a huge difference to your own future and those of others. I am looking forward to meeting you and learning about your aspirations for your future.
You may wish to keep track of what we are doing in the Department by following us on our Faculty Instagram and X
The academic year will be split into two semesters – one running from September to January and a second one from late January to May.
Each Semester you will study three different modules covering different areas of the foundation year. You will be learning skills needed to study at Degree level while you are studying the different areas. You will study alongside students who are aiming to study different degree subjects on successful completion of the Foundation Year.
The first semester will involve you studying some simple computer programming, in the Python programming language to develop small solutions to problems, working with different application software so you can learn to work with different computer media such a pictures, video, sound and words. You will also explore the role of computers in society looking at their positive and negative effects. In the second semester you will improve your mathematics and learn about computer hardware, so you understand how computers are built and undertake a small computer development project by yourself. You will learn how to record your work in a logbook, so that you can provide evidence of your progress and improve your writing skills in essays and presentations. You will be assessed by assignment work and class tests. These will be related to tasks you have done and the types of tasks that you may undertake in industry. You will need to attend University or take part in online classes at least three days a week (typically, but this may vary). We will be able to provide you with a full timetable once it has been finalised over the summer. There may also be times when you need to work with others on other days either face-to-face or remotely via technology.
On successful completion of the foundation year, you will be eligible to move into year 1 of the BSc (Hons) Computer Science, or if you prefer, possibly one of the other courses.
There is no particular work we would like you to do before you arrive. However, if you would like to undertake a task and have your own computer then we would suggest the following website would be a good starting point to understand how computer programming works, if this is something you have not done before. You can download the software for free and make use of the tutorials to create simple apps for Android phones.
Under the resources menu option there are a number of tutorials, at different levels from Basic to Advanced. Try a few basic tutorials before you look at Intermediate or Advanced ones. This will help you learn how the tutorials guide you as well as using the App Inventor Interface before you try more complex tasks.
We recommend you don’t buy any particular software as much of the software you will need over your degree will be available to you for free or a much-reduced price once you start. You will find having your own computer exceedingly useful. This will help you to do your assessments in your own time and attend any classes that are online. If you are looking to buy a computer then we would suggest that you look at reviews of different computers online as we find it hard to recommend a particular product. As a computing student you will find that you will need a computer with an above minimum specification for the chosen operating system (look at what is required for Windows 11). We would suggest that you look at the recommended specification for Visual Studio Professional as an absolute minimum specification. Higher specifications will help safeguard you against future increases in minimum requirements, and higher processor speeds will help run multiple programmes at once. For hard disk space higher is required to fit on other software as well, and a minimum suggested size would be 256GB – particularly important if you plan to use solid state drives. You should note that we use the Windows environment predominantly in the University, so if you buy an Apple system then it would benefit from being dual boot Windows and MacOS. If you buy a Linux only system then you may find you will need to install a Windows operating system at a later date, and this is generally more expensive than buying a computer with Windows already installed on it. You may find that if you are doing a lot of studying on your computer, having a web-cam, headphones and possibly even a second monitor really useful. If you use a laptop, do consider a mouse and full-size keyboard may help. We have found that students who are trying to study at home appreciate having a good, stable internet connection, and you want to note that changing provider at the moment is taking longer than it has done previously.
Your welcome and induction will be w/c 16th September 2024 - we look forward to meeting you then.
On the social side, the Student Union (CCSU) has a huge range of clubs and societies – all of which have unique social calendars of their own and offer endless opportunities to make lifelong friends and discover new hobbies. And you can always create your own society and cultivate your own community!
CCSU will be hosting their Welcome Fayre on Wednesday 18th September 2024. Make sure you keep checking the CCSU website for further details and how to get involved.
We understand that you may be nervous about your first few weeks on campus but rest assured - you'll be joining a nurturing and supportive environment where diversity, equality and individuality are part of everything we do.
You can find out more about our welcoming community and making friends here.
If you are an International Student joining us then please see our International Student Support pages for further information and guidance.
There is no particular reading we want you to do before you arrive, but it may be worth looking at the Technology pages of online news sources to see the common areas that are being talked about in the field of computing and business. We suggest the following sites:
They are worth looking at once or twice a week, if you are not accustomed to reading current affairs articles. You can often find background information to the stories by searching Wikipedia which may help your understanding of the topic.
International students: don't miss out! Make sure you register for our international student success programme which provides practical advice on preparing to live and study in the UK.
If you have any queries, please feel to contact the Foundation Year Team