Computing for England

This two-year Level 5 Higher National Diploma is designed to reflect the increasing need for high quality professional and technical education at Levels 4 and 5. This course will provide you with a clear line of sight to employment and to a degree at Level 6 if you choose.The course is designed to support your progression into high quality, technically skilled occupations in industry. On this course you will develop a sound understanding of the principles in your chosen field of study and will learn to apply those principles more widely. You will learn to evaluate the appropriateness of different approaches to solving problems, and you will be able to perform effectively in your chosen field and have the qualities necessary for employment in situations that require the exercise of personal responsibility and decision making.

More about this course
Students will have the opportunity to go on trips to a number of varied locations (included for indicative purposes only) such as: Rutherford Appleton Space Labs, National Museum of computing, Bletchley Park, Science Museum London, National Cyber labs Cheltenham. (Subject to change). Guest speakers are regularly engaged, including orators from QA, the British Computing Society, UKSBS and industry recognised individuals. Students will gain computational thinking and research skills, high level teamwork skills and current knowledge of industry standards and techniques. Students will develop interpersonal, teambuilding and presentation skills, time management and prioritisation skills.

Progression
On successful completion of the HND, you can continue your studies with us by progressing on to the final year of the BSc (Hons) Computer Science degree in partnership with the University of Gloucestershire. Students can also develop their careers in the computing sector through entering employment, continuing existing employment, gaining vendor certification, committing to Continuing Professional Development (CPD) or progressing to level 6. The Level 5 Higher National Diploma is recognised by higher education providers as meeting admission requirements to many computing-related courses, for example:
● BSc (Hons) Computing
● BSc (Hons) in Applied Computing
● BSc (Hons) in Business and Computing.

The skills gained on this course will provide the perfect basis for a career in any of the following areas:
-Systems Developer
-Network Engineer
-Web Developer
-Database Administrator
-IT Consultant
-Web Designer
-Systems Analyst
-Data Analyst

Year 1:
-Programming
-Networking
-Professional Practice
-Database design & development
-Security
-Planning a Computing Project (Pearson-set)

There will also be 1 Mandatory Specialist Unit and 1 Optional

All assessment is through assignments and based on scenarios relevant to the industry, with a local flavour where possible.

To work as a teacher at a state school in England or Wales, you will need to achieve qualified teacher status (QTS). This is offered on this course for the following level:

• Course does not award QTS