BEng Computer Networks (Including Foundation Year)

Our BEng Computer Networks (including foundation year) is open to Home and EU students. It will be suitable for you if your academic qualifications do not yet meet our entrance requirements for the three-year version of this course and you want a programme that increases your subject knowledge as well as improves your English language and academic skills.

This four-year course includes a foundation year (Year Zero), followed by a further three years of study. During your Year Zero, you study four academic subjects relevant to your chosen course as well as a compulsory English language and academic skills module.

You are an Essex student from day one, a member of our global community based at the most internationally diverse campus university in the UK.

After successful completion of Year Zero in our Essex Pathways Department, you progress to complete your course with the School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering.

Without secure networks, business, commerce and communications would fail. As the infrastructure of technology grows, so does the demand for professionals who can apply advanced knowledge of networking principles and networked applications. Our students are the people who make possible the technology we all use in our daily lives.

You combine theoretical and practical study in the mastery of the following areas:

• Transport protocols, internetworking protocols and network access
• Ethernet and further IP networking
• Traffic theory

Our School is a community of scholars leading the way in technological research and development. Today's computer scientists are creative people who are focused and committed, yet restless and experimental. We are home to many of the world's top scientists, and our work is driven by creativity and imagination as well as technical excellence.

You fine-tune your creativity, team-working, and design abilities with the skill and dedication of a professional.

Programming at Essex

Teaching someone to programme is about opening a door. In Year 1 at Essex you will study a module that introduces you to programming using Python. We assess your ability to think in a programmatic way in the very first week of term and if you require additional support, we offer classes which will boost your skills and confidence with programming.

• You'll join a community of scholars leading the way in technological research and development.
• We are home to many of the world's top scientists and engineers in their field.
• We are Top 250 for Computer Science in THE World University Rankings by Subject 2021.

Previous university/college study is required in addition to local high school qualifications for our Undergraduate Bachelor degree courses.

We accept a number of international qualifications, including the International Baccalaureate with the majority of our courses requiring a grade 30 or above or the SATR with the majority of our courses requiring a minimum of 1100 out of 1600 with 550 in each test.

The Government and industry are increasingly concerned that there will be a shortfall in skilled personnel to meet the needs of the IT industries.

Essex graduates in computer science have been very successful in finding employment as systems analysts, software engineers, programmers and systems engineers, while a number go on to postgraduate study or research.

Our department has a large pool of external contacts, ranging from companies providing networks, cloud services and network security, who work with us and our students to provide advice, placements and eventually graduate opportunities. Read more about computer science and electronic engineering career destinations here.

Our recent graduates have gone on to work for a wide range of high-profile companies including:

• BT
• EDS
• IBM
• Royal Bank of Scotland
• Accenture
• Google

We also work with our University's Student Development Team to help you find out about further work experience, internships, placements, and voluntary opportunities.

UCAS

Applications to UCAS are open for 2023-24 entry. Applications are made online via the UCAS Apply and UCAS Hub, where you will be charged a small fee for processing your application. Here you will be able to fill out your details, upload your personal statement, choose the universities you would like to apply for, and track your application status.

It’s important that you complete your application fully to give us all the information we need to make a decisions as quickly as possible. A few key things that we will need are:

• Details of all qualifications, including those you may have not finished yet and any predicted grades
• Your personal statement (we have some tips for this)
• A suitable reference – if this is not provided or does not meet our requirements this may be a condition of any offer made and will be required before your place can be confirmed.

The UCAS code for Essex is ESSEX E70. Our individual campus codes for our Loughton and Southend campuses are ‘L’ and ‘S’ respectively. There is no campus code for Colchester – please leave this blank in your application.