Course overview

If you want to understand the technology that underpins computer networks (including the internet), as well as the way networks are designed and managed, then this is the course for you. Computer systems and networks provide a means of linking people and businesses on a global scale. The increasing dependence of modern business on diverse network technologies demands efficient design and management of networked systems. This course will provide you with the essential skills not only to be able to design and implement systems, but also manage them effectively and ensure that the people using them benefit from their full potential.

There is a group project in year two and a full-time individual project at the end of the course. The career prospects are very varied and network professionals are in great demand.

We do not expect you to be a computer expert or an internet specialist, so don't worry if you are not familiar with computer network usage and terms – we assume that all of the ideas and concepts will be new to you, so we cover them on the course. You should, however, have a broad interest in computers and a curiosity relating to the underlying principles of how computers are connected and how they communicate with each other.

Other aspects of the course, such as project work, may be more familiar as you may have undertaken this type of activity before – you will find that we place a significant emphasis on both group and individual project work.

Career focused

The entrance criteria of this degree have been designed to comply with the requirements of the major computing graduate programmes. Competent students can have the opportunity to apply their skills to real-life practical problems as part of the department’s partnership scheme with charities, local and global organisations. Please view the 'Career prospects' section for further details.

To find out more about placement opportunities in the Faculty of Technology, please visit our Placements Office pages.

Professional accredited course that meets the needs of industry

This course has been accredited by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) under licence from the UK regulator, the Engineering Council. Accreditation is a mark of assurance that this degree meets the standards set by the Engineering Council in the UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence (UK-SPEC).

This accredited degree will provide you with all of the underpinning knowledge, understanding and skills for eventual registration as an Incorporated (IEng) or Chartered Engineer (CEng). Some employers recruit preferentially from accredited degrees and an accredited degree is likely to be recognised by other countries that are signatories to international accords.

Our academic staff also maintain close links with the world of work, both locally and further afield. In the vicinity of the University we have IBM UK Headquarters, the 'Virtual London' networking hub in Fareham and a string of technology companies in Havant. This contact ensures that our courses always reflect the current and future needs of commerce and industry.

Our student networking lab that just got £1million bigger

Our new £1 million network laboratory rivals anything available at other British universities. It will give you access to over 250 servers with full remote access. This will enable you to configure and manage network solutions for customers from small businesses to large corporate systems.

 

Course content

There are several main themes that run throughout the course:

• Internet applications

  • web, mail and information transfer and the underlying protocols

  • scripting active web pages

  • web security

  • applications in ecommerce, audio and video

• Data communications

  • the communication technologies

  • protocols that underpin networks

• Network software

  • management of the software systems that are the internet's building blocks

  • Unix and Windows

  • Java programming

  • distributed and multimedia systems

• Network hardware

  • the electronics of computer systems and network components

• Professional studies

  • Business, commerce and the legislation that affects technologists

Year one

You will study:

• Concepts of Data Communication Networks
• Introduction to Algorithms and Programming
• Fundamentals of Computer Systems
• Windows System Configuration and Administration
• Engineering Sciences
• Writing and Research in the Workplace

Year two

You will study:

• Network Routing Architectures
• Switched Network Architectures
• Collaborative and Pervasive Network Applications
• Data Networks, Protocols and Analysis
• Group Design Project

Option units:

• Deploying and Managing Windows Server Applications
• Network Simulation and Design Techniques
• Windows Active Directory Management and Integration

Sandwich year (optional year in industry)

It has become increasingly evident in recent years that industry places more and more emphasis on its employees planning their own career progression. This, in turn, means planning their own appropriate training. A sandwich placement provides such initial training and the advantages in terms of interview competitiveness and starting salary make it well worthwhile.

If you wish to enhance your CV, gain your industrial experience abroad and acquire some new and/or improved language skills, you might like to consider the Erasmus exchange programme as an option. The Erasmus programme enables all (UK, EU and international) students to study or work in over 30 participating countries. It also provides a grant for the period abroad to assist with any extra costs incurred. For more information, please visit the Study Abroad pages of the University of Portsmouth website.

Our regulations state that you must spend at least 36 weeks on industrial placement in order to satisfy the requirements of the sandwich degree. However, the company may wish to keep you for a full year or longer. It is also quite usual for them also to specify and support your final-year project.

The School has an Industrial Liaison Officer who will help place you for your sandwich year and your personal tutor will visit you at least once to monitor your progress.

Final year

You will study:

• Network Operations and Management
• Large Scale Network Design and Simulation
• WAN and VLAN Solutions

Option units:

• BGP Network Solutions
• Network Security and Reliability
• Performance and Security of Network Applications

You will also have a final-year project where you will utilise the practical and theoretical skills that you have gained to build or develop an artefact related to networking. This can be anything that you have an interest in, an industrial project or a project supporting the research at the University.

Teaching and assessment

You will be taught using a mixture of lectures, subject tutorials, laboratory sessions and project work. You will have about 12 hours of lectures and subject tutorials a week. In addition, there are about six hours of laboratory and computer-based work, usually in groups of about 16 students. A brief description of each teaching activity is given below:

Lectures

Lectures form one means by which course material is introduced and explained to on-campus students. They are also important in that they set the pace of a unit and ensure that you know what you should be studying at any given time. Because extensive note-taking during lectures distracts students from what is being said, we also provide handouts, study packs and web-based support.

Subject tutorials

In addition to the lecture periods, students in large classes may be sub-divided into groups to enable a rostered programme of subject tutorials to take place. These provide the opportunity to consolidate material in a less formal way than is possible in lectures. As well as dealing with individual and small group problems, tutorials will often include working through previously distributed question sheets.

Laboratory work

Laboratory work is of great importance to become a professional engineer or technologist. Experimental laboratory work in electronic subjects has a strong element of project-based learning. This puts the work in a practical design context from the outset and encourages you to use instruments and read data sheets with clear goals in mind, plus work in teams to build your understanding of electronic design. In other subjects, laboratory work follows a more prescribed pattern and you will be expected to take more responsibility for your work as the courses progress.

Individual project

The project is rated at 40 credits and takes up the entire final teaching period. You will use all the knowledge, understanding and skills acquired during the course to tackle and solve practical engineering problems in realistic situations, and with real-time and cost constraints. You are expected to manage your time professionally and maintain a log of your activities.

A formal presentation is required about two thirds of the way through the project and a formal report is submitted at the end. In addition, projects are exhibited at the School Open Day.

Assessment

You will be assessed by a mixture of coursework and exams. Coursework is spread over a teaching period, with exams usually occurring at the end of each period. During group projects you are judged both on your technical and organisational achievement. In the final year you will undertake an individual project that will contribute significantly to your final degree classification.

Career prospects

Placement opportunities

In the Faculty of Technology we feel that students should be given as many opportunities as possible to gain meaningful work experience and build employability skills throughout their studies to make them more attractive to future employers.

Working with other University services, the Faculty’s Student Placement and Employability Centre (SPEC) ensure students have access to a range of volunteering and work experience opportunities, including year-long industrial placements (either in the UK or your home country), and provide support for the different types of application processes.

To find out more about how you can gain work experience whilst studying BEng (Hons) Computer Networks, please visit our Placements Office pages.

Graduate roles

This degree will give you a knowledge of computer systems, computer communications and networking that will make you attractive to a wide variety of employers seeking to recruit professionals in areas as diverse as leisure and travel, medicine, home entertainment and banking. As a graduate from this course, you can look forward to an exciting and challenging career in one of the fastest growing employment sectors in the world.

Previous graduates have gone on to work for IT companies such as Cisco, IBM, HP and Microsoft; consultancy companies such as KPMG, PWC and Detica; banks such as Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and Barclays and many other technology companies and institutions. Students have also gone on to study Master's and Doctoral programmes in computer networks and communications systems.

Information on the occupational profile of a Network Engineer is available on the Prospects website.

Purple Door Careers and Recruitment

Purple Door Careers and Recruitment is happy to provide you with guidance about where your degree could take you. You can also get support with making effective application forms, CVs and psychometric testing. The recruitment team can assist you in finding a job, and they can provide you with graduate employer details. If you are looking to go on to further study they can also provide information regarding postgraduate study and training. You will have access to IT facilities and programmes for careers related work.

Facilities and features

The School provides a range of facilities to support your learning experience. Lectures, tutorials and seminars take place in the well equipped multimedia lecture theatres and classrooms. You will have access to a wide range of state-of-the-art laboratory facilities to familiarise you with industry-standard equipment and software packages. The networking laboratory has over 26 Terabytes of storage across 250 servers with 48 layer 2/3 access layer, 48 layer 2/3 distribution layer switches, 96 multi-layer routers, 1Gbps cable infrastructure and control equipment to enable full remote access so it can be accessed by staff and students from anywhere in the world. This enables you them to configure and manage network solutions for customers from small businesses to large corporate systems such as those used by Yahoo and Google.

The School has its own autonomous computer network, consisting of about 200 PCs running Linux and Windows, and runs its own servers for anything that the network needs (DNS, DHCP, Kerberos, NIS etc). The network is a multi-platform transparent network; all computers can be accessed remotely for greater flexibility and use from home. Great care is given to security, with sophisticated Firewalls and VPNs in place.

You will get the chance to learn and experiment with different networking technologies, as well as learning programming languages such as Java, HTML and C, and use a wide range of application packages such as OPNET and Wireshark to enable learning in all areas of computer networks and communication systems.

We have a Cisco Academy equipped with advanced Cisco equipment. The Academy provides the opportunity for you to learn Cisco technology if you are interested.

Maths Café

The Maths Café is a daily drop-in facility, where you can receive help on any maths or statistics problem you encounter in your studies. It operates in a friendly, informal location and provides handouts on key topics for you to take away. You can also be shown how to use computer aided learning packages, which can be accessed from any computer attached to the University's computer network.

Learning Support Services

The School of Engineering offers various learning support and further development services to all students. They are additional to the normal academic support provided at all levels within the University, and they are run by teams of selected students.

Entry requirements

View all the entry requirements for BEng (Hons) Computer Networks for the academic year 2013/14 (opens in new window).