STUDY

Undergraduate

Digital and Technology Solutions Professional Degree Apprenticeship (Software Engineering)

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Institution code: S82
UCAS code: N/A
Start date: January 2026
Duration: Three years and one semester part-time or four years part-time
Location: Ipswich
Typical Offer: 112 UCAS tariff points (or above) BBC (A-Level) DMM (BTEC), Merit (T Level)
Institution code: S82
UCAS code: N/A
Start date: January 2026
Duration: Three years and one semester part-time or four years part-time
Location: Ipswich
Typical Offer: 112 UCAS tariff points (or above) BBC (A-Level) DMM (BTEC), Merit (T Level)

Overview

Our BSc (Hons) Digital and Technology Solutions degree programmes adhere to the Degree Apprenticeship Standard for Digital and Technology Solutions Professionals.

Our Software Engineering pathway covers the learning outcomes for Software Engineer, Cyber Security Analyst and Data Analyst specialisms, because we believe  that this career path requires its practitioners to be as highly skilled and expert in all three areas as possible.

The rules for the Digital and Technology Solutions Degree Apprenticeship mandate that students may only undertake one end-point assessment and this must be in their named pathway.

Graduates will gain a range of skills, knowledge and understanding across six core job role areas: business analyst, cyber security analyst, data analyst, IT consultant, network engineer and software engineer. Graduates of this degree will have expertise in programming (procedural, object-oriented, functional, and parallel), software engineering, web and mobile app development, relational databases, Big Data, machine learning, cloud computing, and cyber security. We also offer a Network Engineering pathway.

This Digital and Technology Solutions Professional Degree Apprenticeship is offered only to students undertaking the course as part of their employment. For more information, visit our Apprenticeships page.

The University of Suffolk is world-class and committed to our region. We are proudly modern and innovative and we believe in transformative education. We are on the rise with a focus on student satisfaction, graduate prospects, spending on academic services and student facilities.

2nd

in the East of England for graduate prospects

(The Complete University Guide 2024)

6th

in the UK for spend on academic services

(The Complete University Guide 2024)

11th

in the UK for social inclusion

(The Good University Guide 2023)

Course Modules

This is a degree apprenticeship delivered according to the Digital and Technology Solutions Professional standard.

It is delivered over a minimum of three years and one semester, as part of an integrated degree apprenticeship. It consists of six modules at each of Level 4, 5 and 6.

Full downloadable information regarding all University of Suffolk courses, including Key Facts, Course Aims, Course Structure and Assessment, is available in the Definitive Course Record.

This module covers the principles of computer systems, hardware components, the essence of operating systems, and relevant computing-related mathematics. This module will provide the foundational underpinning to enable students to progress deeper into different computing specialisms, and a grasp of the history of computing, recent developments and its possible future. 

The module introduces the concepts of web design, with a focus on designing responsive websites that are targeted at mobile platforms. Students are introduced to HTML, CSS and JavaScript to provide them with an understanding of what goes into the front-end of modern websites. Using a series of case studies, students will analyse the design and layout of a range of existing sites using a number of common analysis techniques.

This module introduces the concepts of communications and networking. It explores the Open Systems Interconnectivity (OSI) 7-layer reference model and TCP/IP Routing Suite (the 5-layer Internet reference model). TCP/IP is the model which is most commonly deployed in the majority of modern-day networks.

This module introduces students to the concepts and practice of computer programming.  It is aimed at providing students with an understanding of the fundamentals of computer programming by having them work through a range of tasks focused upon layout, structure and functionality.

This module provides an understanding of why cyber security matters to businesses, to society and to individuals, coupled with knowledge of basic concepts, attack techniques, attacker types, and the core elements of cyber assurance.

This module provides an introduction to the artificial intelligence and data science fields, covering the history of the discipline, and exploring a variety of “classical AI” topics.

Research skills are an essential set of capabilities in the toolkit of a professional software engineer. In this module, students will develop knowledge and understanding of the purpose, processes, methods (surveys, experiments, interviews, case studies, etc.), analysis (qualitative and quantitative), and outputs of research and will be able to apply them. This module also delves into the professional, legal and ethical standards and guidelines that inform and guide best practice in business and computing.

This module focuses on all phases of the modern software engineering lifecycle and advanced software engineering topics, including critical software, secure software, formal methods and project management from the practitioner’s perspective. This will be put into practice through the requirements gathering, design, implementation and testing of an extensive project that meets the needs of a particular enterprise.

This module provides essential knowledge and appreciation of the role of relational database systems, including basic principles and practice of design, implementation and development for both system designers and software engineers. It will include practical exercises in Structured Query Language. 

This module focuses on data structures (e.g. linked lists, trees, heaps, hash tables, etc), algorithms (sorting, searching, dynamic programming, greedy, graph, geometric, cryptographic, string matching and compression algorithms, etc), and advanced programming techniques and other language paradigms.

The module builds upon the content delivered to the students in Introduction to Web Design, providing students with an advanced understanding of front-end web development and design technologies. Essential for any career in the web industry, students will utilise advanced frameworks, pre-processors and design patterns to create interactive, accessible and mobile-friendly web interfaces. Through interactive hands-on sessions, students will develop their own online portfolio of work and become familiar with the prototyping and agile development methodologies common to the web industry.

The module will provide students with the knowledge and skills needed to develop scalable server-side applications utilising a range of influential web technologies. Throughout the module, there is an emphasis on preparing students for the web industry by ensuring best practices are followed and industry-standard software and tools are used. Additional topics such as security, ethical hacking, APIs and encryption will also be taught to ensure students have the skills required to design and develop large-scale web infrastructures.

Software, networks and databases do not exist in isolation, but form part of systems. Few systems are purely technical, but are socio-technical and info-socio-technical in nature, where human beings may be central or peripheral to the system, yet be the weakest link in their security. This module introduces, in the context of cyber security, system thinking and human behaviour, and how social engineering and open-source intelligence may be used in both attack and defence of systems and individuals.

Data science includes many techniques for classification, analysis and prediction. This module focuses on those techniques relating to data mining and statistically driven approaches. These techniques also have the advantage of being “explainable AI”, more so than deep learning approaches, and some are long established techniques of “business intelligence”.

This module covers basic and advanced security concepts related to wired and wireless networks, and builds upon the network knowledge previously covered in Level 4 study. Students will learn about the main challenges faced by a variety of wired and wireless environments. Further, the module presents common defence techniques and tools used to counter different security threats, and also explores some of the latest network security challenges posed by recent technology developments.

Industry, commerce and research are being transformed by the potential to capture, store, manipulate, analyse and visualise data and information on a massive scale. The advent of Big Data with its variety, velocity and volume disrupted the way we store and manage data. During this module you will learn NoSQL approaches to data modelling, database design and manipulation.

The module provides the opportunity for students to apply and develop some of the knowledge and skills acquired in their degree by engaging in a significant project in a specialist area of computing, typically software or networks. It will enable and require students to utilise practical, intellectual and decision-making skills in novel situations and develop their autonomy and self-direction. 

Cyber security is now an executive-level concern in most organisations. Cyber security specialists will be required to deliver strategic value to their organisations by ensuring security is intrinsic to system architectures by design and by default, by applying appropriate standards in risk analysis, systems modelling and policy design, and scanning the horizon of emergent threat landscapes to discern new issues.

This covers the full range of skills and knowledge required for “Big Data” including parallel and NoSQL databases, statistical modelling and programming, machine learning, data analytics and visualisation. These skills are essential for making sense of security-related Big Data.

A sufficiency of inexpensive computing power, sufficiently large datasets and a number of key theoretical advances created deep learning techniques which have facilitated a wave of accuracy increases across many computational tasks (computer vision, natural language processing, speech recognition, autonomous driving, etc.), making many applications practical. Deep learning is central to modern artificial intelligence. This module explains the underlying mathematics and techniques and how to use them to achieve similar feats of computational accuracy.

This module provides an opportunity to explore in greater depth several areas of artificial intelligence and data science. This will include an understanding of the domain theory, typical problems faced in the domain and how these might be solved.

The module is intended to provide students with an understanding of development for mobile devices with a focus on the constraints of mobile hardware, including interface and networking. Students will learn to integrate input from hardware sensors and work with networked data and services.

This module provides a systematic understanding of distributed operating systems, software services and applications in terms of their architectures, functionality and behaviour. It includes case studies on the “Internet of Things” and cloud computing as well as topics on parallel programming.

There has been a triple convergence of computing, communications and the physical world, leading to the creation of complex cyber-physical systems, a reliance on strong cryptography, and the need to instil security into software and cyber-physical systems in the face of an ever-evolving threat landscape.

Cyber attacks are increasing in frequency and diversity with hostile actors probing for vulnerabilities, cooperating to develop exploits, and deploying these on an industrial scale. Many organisations are essentially under continuous attack from multiple actors. Eternal vigilance through monitoring and logging is essential for reactive and proactive responses. Inevitably some attacks will be successful and effective actions are required to handle these incidents, limit breaches, and collect evidence for investigation.

On one hand, this provides insights into the mindset of cyber attackers, a secure understanding of the ethics and legal issues in this area, and knowledge and skills in attack technologies and techniques. On the other hand, this module provides a detailed knowledge and understanding of the techniques and tools available to a security professional, and the practical skills in selecting, evaluating, designing, implementing and deploying defences to protect vulnerable software, networks and systems.

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WHY SUFFOLK

2nd in the UK for Career Prospects

WUSCA 2024

3rd in the UK for spend on academic services

Complete University Guide 2025

4th in the UK for Teaching Satisfaction

Guardian University Guide 2024
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Student at The DigiTech Centre
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Students at The DigiTech Centre
Two students working at a computer
Students at The DigiTech Centre
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Inside The DigiTech Centre

Entry Requirements

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Career Opportunities

Typical roles Software Engineering apprentices may pursue include:

  • Cloud Computing Specialist

  • Computer Programmer

  • Data Analysts

  • Database Specialist

  • Software Engineer

  • Software Security Specialist

  • Software Tester

  • Technical Project Manager

  • Web Designer

  • Web Developer

 

Your Course Team

Professor Nicholas Caldwell

Professor Nicholas Caldwell is Professor of Information Systems Engineering at the University of Suffolk.

Nicholas Caldwell staff profile photo

Professor Mohamed Abdel-Maguid

Professor Abdel-Maguid is a professional engineer, entrepreneur and a research and enterprise focused Academic, with 25 years of experience.

Apprenticeship Funding

Degree Apprenticeships are only offered to students undertaking the course as part of their employment. Apprenticeship training will therefore be funded directly by employers or by employers in partnership with Government. Apprentices will not be required to pay any tuition or course fees, and will not be eligible for any Student Finance England maintenance support. Please see our Apprenticeship pages for more information.

Apprenticeships Information
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