Our BSc Computer Networks and Security course lets you build on your existing knowledge to gain the skills, experience and industry-recognised certifications you need to excel in the rapidly growing network industry.
You’ll learn how to reduce security threats to networks, and develop the skills to design and implement internet and network applications. You’ll learn to experiment with the specialist equipment that lets you put your newfound skills into practice.
You’ll have the opportunity to develop your professional skills with a year-long, paid work experience placement as part of a four-year study option.
You’ll have the chance to gain industry-recognised certifications, including Cisco's CCNA and CCNP. Throughout your computer degree, you’ll put your skills to the test with hands-on experiments in our Cisco, Xilinx, and mobile communication labs. You'll also have access to observation control rooms, test areas and networking labs.
We’ll give you the help you need to write your CV, develop your job entry plan and make the relevant industry contacts that will let you pursue your career goals.
You'll also get the support you need to succeed. From your Personal Tutor to your Graduate Academic Assistant, each one has studied your subject and will provide the support you need based on their own experience. If you need a little help with writing, numeracy or library skills, we can help with that too.
You'll benefit from wide variety of guest lecturers which include industry based project managers, specialist recruitment experts for Computer Network Engineers and MDX student work placement advisors.
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The course explores the principles of up-to-date network systems and focuses on key operational and technical aspects. Core modules such as Data Communications, Computer Networks, and Programming and Problem Solving for Communications are covered in this course. You will have the opportunity to put what you've learned to practical use and make valuable industry contacts; even more so if you decide to complete a work experience placement in your second year.
You will gain the practical competencies in network design and security and the development of mobile internet applications and services. You will learn how to deploy practical techniques in the development of a range of network systems and internet level applications from the very start of your studies.
This module provides you with fundamental knowledge and principles of computer hardware and operating systems in order to understand the structure and operation of modern computers.
The module aims to provide you with an understanding of the fundamental behaviour and components (hardware and software) of a typical computer system, and how they collaborate to manage resources and provide services in scales from small embedded devices up to the global internet.
The module will focus on the understanding of concepts, theory and associated terminology of two core components: ‘Computer Architecture’ and ‘Operating Systems and Networks’. Practical hands-on laboratory experiments will be used to illustrate the application of theory and concepts.
The lab work ranges between using C code, Batch, Bash and Python. This will allow you to develop a range of programming skills that will support your knowledge and skills not only in this module but in future studies as well.
This module provides you with the basic skills needed to succeed in networking-related degree programs and also helps you develop the skills necessary to fulfil the job responsibilities of network technicians, network administrators, and network engineers. It provides a theoretically-rich, hands-on introduction to networking and the Internet.
You will learn both the practical and conceptual skills that build the foundation for understanding basic networking. And you will gain an understanding of the “layered” approach to networks by examining the OSI and TCP/IP models in detail. Among the topics covered will be the various network devices, network addressing schemes and the types of media used to carry data across the network.
You will also gain a better understanding of routing protocols and learn how to configure, verify, and troubleshoot routing operations.
The overall aim of the module is to provide you with the knowledge and skills required for the theoretical understanding of inter-communicating computer systems. This is achieved through the study of relevant general mathematical and scientific principles. These principles are applied to illustrate the operation of hardware components such as logic gates, processors, controllers and data storage devices; communication channels and network concepts.
The module ensures that you are suitably equipped with the theoretical underpinnings needed for the proper understanding of subsequent course modules.
This module introduces fundamental computational concepts and programming constructs relevant to understanding and use of a range of widely used programming languages.
The main aim is to provide you with the opportunity to learn programming effectively. This takes place in the context of learning to solve a range of problems arising in the context of the processing, storing and transmitting data.
You will understand the role of a basic but important range of data structures and types, and their use. Several data structures of interest within the networking and security fields will be considered, for example those to represent RTP packets (and associated operations on these), and how audio-visual data can be sent using transport protocols such as the UDP protocol.
The concept of an algorithm is introduced early on together with the techniques for program implementation. You will be encouraged and supported in undertaking - both individually and within a small group setting - a variety of problem solving tasks.
The aim of this module is for you to gain knowledge of professional project management in the context of your degree and future profession.
You will use your newly acquired professional project management knowledge to participate in a ‘real world’ group project, relevant to your level of study.
The module will focus on all aspects of professional practice including project management. In addition, you will study ethical, legal, regulatory, organisational and business issues in order to further your employability within the computer and networking world.
This module provides you with the skills needed to succeed in networking-related degree programs and also helps you develop the skills necessary to fulfil the job responsibilities of network technicians, network administrators, and network engineers.
The primary focus of this module is regarding the architecture, components, operations of routers and switches, the WAN technologies, and network services in a large and complex network.
You will also develop knowledge regarding networking and network security trends, including Cloud, virtualisation, and SDN.
The module looks at Network and Protocol Analysis and attempts to cover all aspects of Networking and Protocols including Internet Protocols, Network Services and Cloud Environments as well as Network Monitoring and Analysis.
The main goal of the module is to equip you with the ability to build and analyse any networking environment independent of the underlying physical networking technology.
Internet Protocols are the backbone of global communications and will be thoroughly examined in this course: including ARP, IP, UDP and TCP.
This is then followed by the examination of the use of Network services including DNS, DHCP and CIFS as well as Cloud Environments.
The course then looks at the Y-Comm Framework, which combines communication, mobility, quality-of-service and security. The course finishes by looking at issues of network monitoring, network analysis and network performance.
This module addresses the fundamental principles of electronic communication, particularly in relation to digital data.
A key development in the last decade has been the seamless integration of many different data types (documents, images, speech etc.) onto common communication platforms.
These communication platforms (legacy hardwired telephone connections, wired and wireless computer networks, broadcast television, mobile phone systems to name but a few) have themselves spawned new functionality so that we are now able to access any data/function on any device, almost anywhere.
The main aim of the module is to provide you with an operational understanding of how current communication systems work, and specifically how we can communicate information over any distance with a high degree of accuracy and reliability. As part of this, encoding data, capacity, data compression, bandwidth, security and cryptography are covered.
The overall aim of the module is to provide a minimum of nine months and a maximum of 15 months experience in a relevant work placement.
The specific aims of this module are to enable you to:
The primary aim of this module is to give you the opportunity to demonstrate how effectively you have consolidated your knowledge and skills from all other modules via an individual project, which must involve a computer / network / communication solution or a cyber security solution or a digital forensic investigation method.
This module aims to examine some of the weaknesses that are found in network systems and the methods and attacks that threaten networks today.
It also examines ways to secure such networks through network design and available tools to resist attackers.
This module is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills needed to plan, implement, secure, maintain, and troubleshoot converged enterprise networks.
You will learn how to implement complex enterprise LAN and WAN routing and switching solutions.
Comprehensive labs emphasise hands-on learning and practice to reinforce configuration skills using a range of routing protocols in IPv4 and IPv6 environments and the secure integration of VLANs, WLANs, voice, and video into campus networks.
The course also covers the configuration of secure routing solutions to support branch offices and mobile workers.
The module reflects the job skills and responsibilities that are associated with professional-level job roles such as network engineer, systems engineer, network support engineer, network administrator, and network consultant.
This module is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills related to designing, securing, operating, and troubleshooting enterprise networks.
This module also covers wide area network (WAN) technologies, introduces software-defined networking, virtualisation, and automation concepts that support the digitalisation of networks.
Extensive labs emphasise hands-on learning and practice to reinforce the skills to configure and troubleshoot enterprise networks.
The module reflects the job skills and responsibilities that are associated with professional-level job roles such as network engineer, systems engineer, network support engineer, network administrator, and network consultant.
This module is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills needed to consolidate many computer networking concepts and introduces elements of network design, equipment selection and configuration, and LAN and WAN addressing.
An integrated case study presents critical thinking scenarios to help you develop skills such as analysing business objectives, determining technical requirements and constraints, planning timelines and resources, and preparing and delivering customer presentations.
This module also shows you how to ensure that a network is restored to its normal state as rapidly as possible.
The module reflects the job skills and responsibilities that are associated with entry-level career opportunities in networking.
This aim of the module is to provide an understanding of both general and advanced areas related to network security, cyber security, and network forensics.
It looks at issues, such as, threats and security attacks, vulnerabilities, cryptography, security tools, software security, network attacks and defences, countermeasures, web-based security, network forensic analysis, and security in cloud computing.
See the course specification for more information:
Optional modules are usually available at levels 5 and 6, although optional modules are not offered on every course. Where optional modules are available, you will be asked to make your choice during the previous academic year. If we have insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, or there are staffing changes which affect the teaching, it may not be offered. If an optional module will not run, we will advise you after the module selection period when numbers are confirmed, or at the earliest time that the programme team make the decision not to run the module, and help you choose an alternative module.
This course opens the door to a career in the rapidly growing network industry – network design and implementation, network consultancy, internet software applications development and network security. Recent graduates have progressed onto masters courses or have secured jobs with global companies.
As a Computer Networks graduate you will have excellent career prospects. The range of potential employers will be vast across the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. You will also have the potential to start your own business.
Below are just a few examples of the types of careers that you could pursue after graduating with us:
Applications Developer
As an applications developer your role will include writing specifications and designing, building, testing, implementing and sometimes supporting applications using computer languages and development tools. You may also specialise in a specific development environment, such as computer games or e-commerce, and you will have in-depth knowledge of a few relevant computer languages.
ICT Manager
The role of the ICT manager is to ensure that information technology resources are aligned with the organisation's mission, corporate goals, and the corporate strategic plan. Your role will include developing, maintaining, facilitating and implementing information frameworks in line with a corporate ICT strategy, and supporting policies and defining standards associated with information management.
Network Engineer
A network engineer is responsible for installing, maintaining and supporting computer communication networks within an organisation or between organisations. Your role will be to ensure the smooth operation of communication networks in order to provide maximum performance and availability for their users (staff, clients, customers and suppliers).
Software Engineer
Software engineers research, design, test, implement and maintain software systems to meet client or employer needs. In this role you will use a variety of computer programming languages and applications, working in teams with other IT professionals, or alone.
Systems Developer
Systems developers test systems, diagnose and fix faults, write diagnostic programs, and design and write code for operating systems and software to ensure that they function more efficiently. In this role you may also create systems in response to technical specifications supplied by an IT analyst, often integrating off-the-shelf software packages into existing systems.
IT Project Manager
An IT project manager specialises in information technology but also in sectors unrelated to IT that rely on IT systems. Their role is to manage the development and implementation of plans to meet business needs and the change control procedures to ensure a smooth transition during the implementation period.
Work placements increase your success in the job market – as well as being a fantastic experience. You can further develop your interpersonal skills, build your confidence, and make contact with industry leaders. By making a good impression during your placement year, you greatly increase your chances of securing a job with the company after graduation. Research shows that 70% of placements result in a graduate job offer.
We’ll carefully manage any future changes to courses, or the support and other services available to you, if these are necessary because of things like changes to government health and safety advice, or any changes to the law.
Any decisions will be taken in line with both external advice and the University’s Regulations which include information on this.
Our priority will always be to maintain academic standards and quality so that your learning outcomes are not affected by any adjustments that we may have to make.
At all times we’ll aim to keep you well informed of how we may need to respond to changing circumstances, and about support that we’ll provide to you.
Start: October 2023
Duration: 3 years full-time, 4 years with placement
Code: G404
Start: October 2023
Duration: 3 years full-time, 4 years with placement
Code: HP50
