Students from our Computing Science degrees undertake a summer placement in the third year of their degree. Student must undertake an 8-12 week placement at the end of their 3rd year, in which the student is asked to undertake a mini-project or job role within a company. Many students select placements where they will work on software engineering and development project involved with projects analysing, designing, implementing and/or evaluating solutions for a problem which the placement provider or one of its clients faces. Other placements such as in technical support and job roles are also feasible. Students will have gained skills across a varied curriculum in the first 3 years of their programme including Software Development, Systems Development, Developing Mobile Web Based Applications, Software Engineering, UX Design , Database Principles and Applications, Concurrent and Distributed Systems, Code Analysis and Performance, Computer Game Technologies and an introduction to Machine Learning.

This is a practical project that asks students to provide a digital strategy for an operational media enterprise or cultural organisation . Students are seeking out cultural organisations and creative and media companies that have started to adopt to the digital environment. In the majority of cases, digital plans will already in place. It is the job of the students to develop a strategy that differentiates from those in place and tell us what they can do better. This needs to be a plan utilising both strategic and theoretical frameworks discussed throughout the module as well as their own research into the organisation.

Innovation Management - Lead and foster innovation within organizations. Research and Development (R&D) - Assess and enhance R&D processes. New Product Development (NPD) - Execute the NPD process and utilize market research. Business Models and Innovation Strategies - Design and evaluate innovative business models. Operations and Process Innovation - Implement process improvements for operational efficiency. Innovation Risk Management - Mitigate risks and manage intellectual property.

In a project, linked to the Global Creative Industries module, MSc students are asked to do a critical analysis of an existing strategy of a creative or cultural organisation or hub such as a museum/arts organisation and to develop recommendations. Students will spend approximately 20 hours researching your organisation's activities and developing recommendations. This process is competitive so several teams will work on solutions for your organisations with the best shared with your organisation.