The foundation year aims to improve your computing knowledge and prepare you for study at undergraduate level. If you have previously enjoyed studying Business and Computing, or aspire to become a Business Analyst, IT Project Manager or Business Change Specialist, then this course is for you.

You'll learn using IT software that is modern and commercially relevant, such as the Microsoft Office suite, including Microsoft Project and Microsoft Visio, web-based content management systems, database systems such as Postgres and MySQL, and rapid prototyping software like Balsamiq.

Throughout the course, you'll experience hands-on learning on and off campus, and online. This will develop your practical agile problem-solving abilities, enabling you to create IT solutions to real-world problems. You will undertake group projects, typically sourced from industry or akin to problems in industry. Your groupwork will be supported through the use online tools and online project management solutions. You'll also develop skills enabling you to:

• Work effectively and supportively in diverse and inclusive groups,
• Communicate effectively in groups and one to one,
• Apply project management to group-work,
• Apply principles of commercial management and consideration of wider issues.

During your first year, you'll develop a strong background in business information systems so that you can move on to more specialist studies in the second and final year of the course.

You will have the opportunity to take a placement in your third year, providing you meet the requirements. If you can identify and secure a placement opportunity, with the support from the computing team, a placement will provide you with the further opportunity to develop your skills as a practicing computing professional, a personal development plan and evidence of your abilities for your future employers.

By the end of the degree, you'll have developed an understanding of the specific language used in IT and in Business, enabling you to analyse business problems and bridge the gap between both sides of a modern organisation. You will also understand how to help businesses solve their own issues using both top-down and bottom-up techniques.

You'll develop a good appreciation of team working: how teams are formed to maximise capability and how they manage workload, schedules and resourcing. You'll also have a good awareness and understanding of other roles in computing - software engineers and developers, infrastructure developers, support technicians and computer security specialists - meaning you'll be well placed to work alongside other computing professionals.