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Why choose the School of Computer Science and Technology


Our Cybersecurity courses received 100% positive ratings when it came to the quality of our teachers’ explanations, and for the course developing knowledge and skills for the future (NSS, 2023).

83% of our full-time UK computing graduates are in highly skilled employment or further study 15 months after graduation (Source: HESA Graduate Outcomes data for 2020/21, pub 2023).

It includes Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) and CyberOps Associate content, preparing you for highly valued industry examinations.

About the course

This degree aims to provide you with a deep, practical understanding of the latest security technologies, applications, and issues, ensuring you know how to put in place strong Information security and management that can cope with the vast and ever-evolving proliferation of malware and targeted cyber-attacks. The course is uniquely designed to blend a wide spectrum of state-of-the-art domains around information and network security; it will equip you with the academic and industry skills to excel in your career.

Course accreditation

BCS Accredited degree

This course is fully accredited by the British Computer Society (BCS), the Chartered Institute for IT, meaning you qualify for chartered IT professional (CITP) status once you graduate.

Facilities and specialist equipment

  • Modern, purpose-built STEM building with industry-relevant laboratories and equipment High-tech Cisco Networking Academy computer networking and specialised cybersecurity laboratory
  • Cutting-edge technology such as MATLAB simulation software and virtualised environments so you become familiar with the technology used in industry
  • Use of Hak5 hardware for pentesting activities

Industry links

CISCO Networking academy
CompTIA Authorized Academy
CWNA Certified Wireless Network Administrator

EC-Council Academia partner

We have long-established collaborations with top providers in the industry such as Cisco, CompTIA, EC-Council and the CWNA.

Your student experience

Cybersecurity learning is supported through industry-professional certification programmes such as Cisco CCNA and CyberOps Associate, to name a few.

The Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA), CyberOps Associate and CompTIA CySA+ programmes prepare you for industry examinations to gain networking and cybersecurity certifications.

Put your skills into practice through work-based projects, learning from experts at organisations such as Bedfordshire Police.

Take part in a mixture of hands-on activities and interactive demonstrations from academics and guest industry speakers. Examples of guest speakers include Mark Wilson, Technical Director of Vertali, on IBM Mainframe security; Alex Mortimer, Manager of Academic Partnerships at ISC2; and Cristian Coraci, IT Consultant, on data hiding, digital forensics and mainframe forensics.

Benefit from being supported by our dedicated academic success tutors.

Extend your learning through field trips to renowned sites such as Bletchley Park and Cisco UK.

Two of our academics were involved in organising the 7th International Workshop on applications of AI, Cybersecurity and Economics data analytics (ACE-2023), ensuring their teaching is at the cutting edge of international advancements.


We understand the importance and value of professional computing certifications. A hybrid approach of combining hands-on practical, academic and professional learning best prepares learners and gives you 'added value' as you start out on your computing career. The School of Computer Science and Technology has long established collaborations with top providers in the industry and the School’s teaching team includes many long-standing experienced professional instructors.

CISCO Networking Academy Partner CWNA Certified Wireless Network Administrator CompTIA Authorized Academy

with Professional Practice Year

This course has the option to be taken over four years which includes a year placement in industry. Undertaking a year in industry has many benefits. You gain practical experience and build your CV, as well as being a great opportunity to sample a profession and network with potential future employers.

There is no tuition fee for the placement year enabling you to gain an extra year of experience for free.

*Only available to UK/EU students.

with Foundation Year

A Degree with a Foundation Year gives you guaranteed entry to an Undergraduate course.

Whether you’re returning to learning and require additional help and support to up-skill, or if you didn’t quite meet the grades to pursue an Undergraduate course, our Degrees with Foundation Year provide a fantastic entry route for you to work towards a degree level qualification.

With our guidance and support you’ll get up to speed within one year, and will be ready to seamlessly progress on to undergraduate study at Bedfordshire.

The Foundation Year provides an opportunity to build up your academic writing skills and numeracy, and will also cover a range of subject specific content to fully prepare you for entry to an Undergraduate degree.

This is an integrated four-year degree, with the foundation year as a key part of the course. You will need to successfully complete the Foundation Year to progress on to the first year of your bachelor’s degree.

Why study a degree with a Foundation Year?

  • Broad-based yet enough depth to give you credible vocational skills
  • Coverage of a variety of areas typically delivered by an expert in this area
  • Gain an understanding of a subject before choosing which route you wish to specialise in
  • Great introduction to further study, and guaranteed progression on to one of our Undergraduate degrees

The degrees offering a Foundation Year provide excellent preparation for your future studies.

During your Foundation Year you will get the opportunity to talk to tutors about your degree study and future career aspirations, and receive guidance on the most appropriate Undergraduate course to help you achieve this; providing you meet the entry requirements and pass the Foundation Year.

 

Course Leader - Dr Ali Mansour

Dr Ali Mansour is a Senior Lecturer in Computing and Information Systems at the University of Bedfordshire. He is a Fellow of the British Computer Society (FBCS), a BCS Chartered IT Professional (CITP), an Engineering Council Chartered Engineer (CEng), and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). Ali runs the Cybersecurity Club@UoB via BREO and an advocate for the integration of professional industry certification content into academic degrees as the case with the various Cisco and CompTIA courses at UG and PG levels. His research interests are in Cybersecurity, Educational technologies, and Medical informatics.

Course Leader - Dr Ali Mansour

Dr Ali Mansour is a Senior Lecturer in Computing and Information Systems at the University of Bedfordshire. He is a Fellow of the British Computer Society (FBCS), a BCS Chartered IT Professional (CITP), an Engineering Council Chartered Engineer (CEng), and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). Ali runs the Cybersecurity Club@UoB via BREO and an advocate for the integration of professional industry certification content into academic degrees as the case with the various Cisco and CompTIA courses at UG and PG levels. His research interests are in Cybersecurity, Educational technologies, and Medical informatics.

Course Leader - Dr Ali Mansour

Dr Ali Mansour is a Senior Lecturer in Computing and Information Systems at the University of Bedfordshire. He is a Fellow of the British Computer Society (FBCS), a BCS Chartered IT Professional (CITP), an Engineering Council Chartered Engineer (CEng), and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). Ali runs the Cybersecurity Club@UoB via BREO and an advocate for the integration of professional industry certification content into academic degrees as the case with the various Cisco and CompTIA courses at UG and PG levels. His research interests are in Cybersecurity, Educational technologies, and Medical informatics.

Course Leader - Dr Ali Mansour

Dr Ali Mansour is a Senior Lecturer in Computing and Information Systems at the University of Bedfordshire. He is a Fellow of the British Computer Society (FBCS), a BCS Chartered IT Professional (CITP), an Engineering Council Chartered Engineer (CEng), and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). Ali runs the Cybersecurity Club@UoB via BREO and an advocate for the integration of professional industry certification content into academic degrees as the case with the various Cisco and CompTIA courses at UG and PG levels. His research interests are in Cybersecurity, Educational technologies, and Medical informatics.

What will you study?


Studying our Cybersecurity BSc (Hons) course will equip you with an in-depth knowledge and skills in the areas of information security, cyber defence and threat mitigation. In core areas of study, our Principles of Information Security unit will introduce you to the fundamentals of information security, threats, and network security while also allowing you to practice using industry-standard operating systems. You will explore this in more depth in our Information Security Management unit that will provide you with the theory and practical skills around compliance, threat mitigation and cybersecurity operations and apply this to a business standpoint through risk identification or assessment. Furthermore, our unit in Switching and Routing will teach you to perform basic network configuration, troubleshooting, and to protect against cybersecurity threats.

More importantly, you will learn to build and evaluate successful threat intelligence programmes in our Cyber Defence and Information Governance unit. You will be given an overview of the tools and techniques for network security and use this to prevent cyberattacks or to identify and flag them as quickly as possible. As a crucial skill, you will then be taught to respond in the event of a security breach in our Incident Response unit by implementing incident response processes such as evidence gathering and forensic investigation techniques. More interestingly, you will also receive specialised knowledge and hands-on experience in Ethical Hacking, vulnerability assessment and security testing. Similarly, you will be introduced to the basic concepts and applications of computer systems in our Databases and Computer Networks unit. You will then be taught to combine mathematical knowledge with computer science in our Mathematics and Concepts for Computational Thinking unit. You will apply mathematics to practical skills such as algorithms and pattern recognition while also using it to develop software applications using high-level programming language such as Python.

As a student in the field of computer science, it is also essential that you are familiarised with programming and data handling. This is where our Principles of Programming and Data Structures unit will develop your programming skills to explore the process of analysing, designing, testing and implementing computer systems and how to skilfully use this for software development. You will also consider the principles of Wireless Communications and Networking by exploring the techniques for wireless networking and learning to use this to produce realistic solutions to complex networking problems. Finally, you will complete an Undergraduate Project in an area of interest that is relevant to your field of study. You will decide on your proposal topic with your supervisor in our Research Methodologies and Emerging Technologies unit where you can choose from a range of ideas relevant to your career aspirations. Similarly, our Agile Project Management unit will equip you with the project management skills for such academic work and most importantly, your future employment.

Throughout the three years of the course, you will also be provided with hands-on content from various industry professional certifications such as Cisco CCNA, Cisco CyberOps Associate, and CompTIA CySA+ to name a few, delivered through our Cisco Networking Academy and CompTIA Partnership. Additionally, various cybersecurity tools will be used to help develop your skills in the field that employers need. Hak5 penetration testing hardware along with Cisco switches, routers and firewalls; and software tools such as Virtualised Environments, Wireshark, Kali Linux and other Linux distros, Cisco Packet tracer; alongside other penetration testing and network defence tools, will be used throughout the units. Cybersecurity graduates can pursue any of the general or specialist IT positions such as a Security Analyst, Cyber Risk Analyst, SOC Analyst, Incident Response Specialist, Network Security Specialists, Network Technicians or Administrators, Penetration Testers, Governance and Compliance Officers, and many more.

How will you be assessed?


You are assessed in a variety of ways. The majority of units are assessed through coursework group and individual projects portfolios essays presentations or exams. You will also produce software artefacts in the area of your specialism. Constant feedback and advice from a supervisory or unit team will be provided to support you in your studies. You are required to comprehend the basic range of intellectual concepts which form the foundations of the subject and application area and will be assessed on your ability to articulate such concepts in a coherent manner.

There are opportunities for formative assessment particularly through guided learning. Written assessments are used to allow the students to reflect on their experiences in the workplace and to consider steps they could take to apply their learning. E-Portfolios allow students to collect evidence of work they have completed as well as examples and applications of their knowledge from course. Students may also be required to make technical presentations. At level 4 you are assessed on your understanding of the fundamental concepts of Computer Science and its applications. Students will also be introduced to fundamental theory around data analytics and its applications to network defence underpinned by the basics of information security principles. At level 5 you are assessed on your ability to apply the basic concepts of the disciplines introduced in level 4 to existing controversies and issues on which there is already a body of research and critical opinion. At level 6 you will be required to demonstrate independent thinking and initiative. This may be in the form of analysing and criticising current approaches and theory within cybersecurity malware analysis and GRC frameworks. In all cases you will be expected to show an awareness of the major theories and practices of the discipline. You will progress from well-defined briefs to more open-ended and challenging assessments which culminate in the honours project - where you will be given freedom to choose your area of work.

Careers


This course opens up a range of roles including information security specialists network security officers/administrators/engineers penetration testers mobile security testers cybersecurity operations centre specialists incident responder network administrators/engineers systems administrators/engineers.

Entry Requirements

48 UCAS tariff points including 32 from at least 1 A-level or equivalent

Entry Requirements

48 UCAS tariff points including 32 from at least 1 A-level or equivalent48 UCAS tariff points including 32 from at least 1 A-level or equivalent

Entry Requirements

96 UCAS tariff points including 80 from at least 3 A-levels or equivalent

Entry Requirements

96 UCAS tariff points including 80 from at least 3 A-levels or equivalent96 UCAS tariff points including 80 from at least 3 A-levels or equivalent

Fees for this course

UK 2024/25

The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the Academic Year 2024/25 is £9,250 per year. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees. You can also apply for a maintenance loan from the Government to help cover your living costs. See www.gov.uk/student-finance

Merit Scholarship

We offer a Merit Scholarship to UK students, worth £2,400* over three academic years, which is awarded to those who can demonstrate a high level of academic achievement, through scoring 120 UCAS tariff points or more.

Bedfordshire Bursary

If you aren’t eligible for the Merit Scholarship, this Bursary is there to help UK students with aspects of student living such as course costs. The Bursary will give you £1,000* over three academic years, or £1,300* if you are taking your course over four academic years (including those with a Foundation Year).

Full terms and conditions can be found here.

Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding please email admission@beds.ac.uk

International

The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the academic year 2024/25 is £15,500 per year.

There are range of Scholarships available to help support you through your studies with us.

A full list of scholarships can be found here.

Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk

Fees for this course

UK 2024/25

The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the Academic Year 2024/25 is £9,250 per year. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees. You can also apply for a maintenance loan from the Government to help cover your living costs. See www.gov.uk/student-finance

Merit Scholarship

We offer a Merit Scholarship to UK students, worth £2,400* over three academic years, which is awarded to those who can demonstrate a high level of academic achievement, through scoring 120 UCAS tariff points or more.

Bedfordshire Bursary

If you aren’t eligible for the Merit Scholarship, this Bursary is there to help UK students with aspects of student living such as course costs. The Bursary will give you £1,000* over three academic years, or £1,300* if you are taking your course over four academic years (including those with a Foundation Year).

Full terms and conditions can be found here.

Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding please email admission@beds.ac.uk

International

The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the academic year 2024/25 is £15,500 per year.

There are range of Scholarships available to help support you through your studies with us.

A full list of scholarships can be found here.

Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk

Fees for this course

UK 2024/25

The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the Academic Year 2024/25 is £9,250 per year. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees. You can also apply for a maintenance loan from the Government to help cover your living costs. See www.gov.uk/student-finance

Merit Scholarship

We offer a Merit Scholarship to UK students, worth £2,400* over three academic years, which is awarded to those who can demonstrate a high level of academic achievement, through scoring 120 UCAS tariff points or more.

Bedfordshire Bursary

If you aren’t eligible for the Merit Scholarship, this Bursary is there to help UK students with aspects of student living such as course costs. The Bursary will give you £1,000* over three academic years, or £1,300* if you are taking your course over four academic years (including those with a Foundation Year).

Full terms and conditions can be found here.

Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding please email admission@beds.ac.uk

International

The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the academic year 2024/25 is £15,500 per year.

There are range of Scholarships available to help support you through your studies with us.

A full list of scholarships can be found here.

Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk

Fees for this course

UK 2024/25

The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the Academic Year 2024/25 is £9,250 per year. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees. You can also apply for a maintenance loan from the Government to help cover your living costs. See www.gov.uk/student-finance

Merit Scholarship

We offer a Merit Scholarship to UK students, worth £2,400* over three academic years, which is awarded to those who can demonstrate a high level of academic achievement, through scoring 120 UCAS tariff points or more.

Bedfordshire Bursary

If you aren’t eligible for the Merit Scholarship, this Bursary is there to help UK students with aspects of student living such as course costs. The Bursary will give you £1,000* over three academic years, or £1,300* if you are taking your course over four academic years (including those with a Foundation Year).

Full terms and conditions can be found here.

Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding please email admission@beds.ac.uk

International

The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the academic year 2024/25 is £15,500 per year.

There are range of Scholarships available to help support you through your studies with us.

A full list of scholarships can be found here.

Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk

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