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There are many different names for degree courses in Computing and IT,
and this section is intended to give you an idea of what you might expect
from a degree with a particular title. However, there is considerable
overlap between degree schemes with different titles, and there are questions
you will want to ask in order to decide whether a particular degree scheme
is for you.
Computing / Computer Science
This used to be the name of the degree that you did in a Computer Science
department 20 years ago. With greater specialisation in the subject, it
now tends to be the degree that you do if you study Computing and don’t
specialize in something. That’s not a bad thing - it means you should
come out of the course with a broad coverage of the subject, and perhaps
been able to choose topics that interest you, rather than ones that fit
into a particular brand of degree.
There is also a difference in emphasis between departments on whether
their Computing degrees are fairly mathematical or whether they take a
more vocational emphasis. Many Computing departments originally emerged
from Mathematics departments, and some of them still have quite a strong
mathematical bias. Others have taken a more vocational emphasis, and tend
to only include the mathematics needed for someone following a career
in the Computing industry.
Software Engineering
This title reflects a degree with a stronger emphasis on preparing you
to work on challenging problems in the Computer industry. Such degrees
will tend to have an industrial year included as part of the degree, because
the experience of working in the industry is an important part of understanding
the education you are being given. Graduates will tend to work for software
suppliers or companies making products that incorporate computers, as
those areas need people who can build software with a strong engineering
approach.
Internet Computing / Internet Engineering / E-commerce
Internet degrees usually have an emphasis on the kind of technologies
and skills needed to develop internet-based systems. I would expect them
to have a strong emphasis on web technologies, on databases (to provide
the behind-the-scenes support to the web technologies), and on telematics.
There is a second strand of e-commerce degree, usually from business schools,
concentrating more on the business and financial implications of e-commerce.
You should be able to tell the difference between the two by the content
of the degree (lots of business and accounting modules or an emphasis
on the design and implementation of systems). Graduates from these degrees
are needed by both software suppliers and ICT user companies.
Information Technology / Business Information Technology / Business Computing
/ Information Systems
I would expect these degrees to have less emphasis on programming than
Computing degrees or software engineering degrees, (although you will
still need to be able to do some programming) and rather more on building
software out of components (e.g. databases and interface building systems).
They should have a greater emphasis on analysing business processes in
order to make sure the software that is produced fits the exact business
need. Some of the degrees may have a much greater emphasis on “business”
and less on “computing”. You should look at the modules listed
for each particular course, and try to decide whether the mix of the two
is correct for you.
Graduates from such degrees will tend to work directly for user companies.
Other Flavoured degrees
If you already know the area of Computing that you are interested in,
then it is possible to choose a degree that emphasizes your interests.
To some extent, good degrees are organised in this fashion anyway. In
the case of the Computing degree in my own department, you can choose
a number of optional modules in the area that interests you (graphics,
artificial intelligence, internet and distributed systems) and combine
them with a large final year project in that area. This means that by
the time you complete your degree, you already have a good deal of specialist
expertise in an area that interests you. It helps you to get the job you
want after you finish.
Some of these sets of choices are packaged into degrees with titles that
reflect what has been studied - Computing with Multimedia, Computer Science
with AI, Computing with Internet (also Internet Computing - see above).
Another strategy is to mix a Computing major with a non-computing subject,
for example Computing with French, or Computing with Business. Typically,
Computing would take two-thirds of your time, with the minor taking the
other third.
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