Business Information Technology

Business Information Technology - BSc (Hons)

This is an archived course for 2020 entry
Join our world

PLEASE NOTE - this degree will start in Medway in September 2020 and move to Canterbury in September 2021.

Our Business Information Technology degree gives you the skills you need for the practical application of computing to areas typically found in industry. These include e-commerce, information systems and computer consultancy.

Overview

Our programmes are taught by leading researchers who are experts in their fields. The School of Computing at Kent is home to several authors of leading textbooks, a National Teaching Fellow, an IET (Institute of Engineering and Technology) Fellow and two Association of Computer Machinery (ACM) award-winning scientists. Kent was awarded gold, the highest rating, in the UK Government’s Teaching Excellence Framework*.

Our degree programme

Business and commerce rely heavily on information systems, especially now e-commerce is widespread. This degree provides a balance of business and information technology and responds to industry needs, enhancing your employment prospects.

You study a combination of computing and business-oriented modules. You learn to use current technology in communications, databases and web publishing, to analyse business problems and develop effective solutions.

In your first year, you learn how to program in an object-oriented language. In your second and final years, you further develop your programming skills and can specialise in an area of particular interest to you.

We also offer modules that allow you to gain practical experience. On our Kent IT Consultancy option, you learn how to become an IT consultant, providing computing support to local businesses while earning credits towards your degree.

Location

PLEASE NOTE - this degree will start in Medway in September 2020 and move to Canterbury in September 2021.

Year in industry

Over half our students choose to take a year in industry after the second year of the programme. This gives you work experience, a salary and the possibility of a job with the same company after graduation. For details, see Business Information Technology with a Year in Industry.

Extra activities

Apart from core learning towards your degree, we provide access to a wealth of other activities such as entrepreneurship (including business start-up opportunities), community engagement, public lectures, participation in short research projects and assistance in obtaining summer placements.

The School of Computing also hosts events that you are welcome to attend. These include our successful seminar programme where guest speakers from academia and industry discuss current developments in the field.

Professional networks

Our programmes are informed by a stakeholder panel of industry experts who give feedback on the skills that employers require from a modern workforce.

Our two dedicated placement co-ordinators help students obtain and benefit from high-quality work placements. Previous year in industry participants have worked with leading companies such as BAE Systems, Citigroup and The Walt Disney Company. Many return to their final year with the security of an employment offer – testament to the high esteem in which our graduates are held by industry.

We also have a dedicated Employability Coordinator who is the first point of contact for students and employers.


*The University of Kent's Statement of Findings can be found here.

Accreditation

Partial CITP accreditation from BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.

Entry requirements

The University will consider applications from students offering a wide range of qualifications. Typical requirements are listed below. Students offering alternative qualifications should contact us for further advice. 

Please note that meeting this typical offer/minimum requirement does not guarantee an offer being made.Please also see our general entry requirements.

New GCSE grades

If you’ve taken exams under the new GCSE grading system, please see our conversion table to convert your GCSE grades.

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    A level

    BBC

  • medal-empty GCSE

    Mathematics grade C

  • medal-empty Access to HE Diploma

    The University will not necessarily make conditional offers to all Access candidates but will continue to assess them on an individual basis. 

    If we make you an offer, you will need to obtain/pass the overall Access to Higher Education Diploma and may also be required to obtain a proportion of the total level 3 credits and/or credits in particular subjects at merit grade or above.

  • medal-empty BTEC Nationals

    BTEC National Diploma and Extended Diploma Distinction, Distinction, Merit

  • medal-empty International Baccalaureate

    34 points overall or 14 points at HL including HL or SL Maths at 4 or SL Maths Studies at 5

The University welcomes applications from international students. Our international recruitment team can guide you on entry requirements. See our International Student website for further information about entry requirements for your country. 

However, please note that international fee-paying students cannot undertake a part-time programme due to visa restrictions.

If you need to increase your level of qualification ready for undergraduate study, we offer a number of International Foundation Programmes.

Meet our staff in your country

For more advice about applying to Kent, you can meet our staff at a range of international events.

English Language Requirements

Please see our English language entry requirements web page.

Please note that if you are required to meet an English language condition, we offer a number of 'pre-sessional' courses in English for Academic Purposes. You attend these courses before starting your degree programme. 

Course structure

Duration: 3 years full-time

Modules

The following modules are indicative of those offered on this programme. This listing is based on the current curriculum and may change year to year in response to new curriculum developments and innovation.  

On most programmes, you study a combination of compulsory and optional modules. You may also be able to take ‘elective’ modules from other programmes so you can customise your programme and explore other subjects that interest you.

Fees

The 2020/21 annual tuition fees for this programme are:

  • Home/EU full-time TBC
  • International full-time TBC

For details of when and how to pay fees and charges, please see our Student Finance Guide.

Full-time tuition fees for Home and EU undergraduates are £9,250.

For students continuing on this programme, fees will increase year on year by no more than RPI + 3% in each academic year of study except where regulated.* 

Your fee status

The University will assess your fee status as part of the application process. If you are uncertain about your fee status you may wish to seek advice from UKCISA before applying.

Additional costs

General additional costs

Find out more about accommodation and living costs, plus general additional costs that you may pay when studying at Kent.

Teaching and assessment

Teaching

Within the School of Computing are authors of widely used textbooks, a National Teaching Fellow and Association of Computer Machinery (ACM) Award-winning scientists. Programmes are taught by leading researchers who are experts in their fields.

Teaching is based on lectures, with practical classes and seminars, but we are also introducing more innovative ways of teaching, such as virtual learning environments and work-based tuition. Work includes group projects, case studies and computer simulations, with a large-scale project of your own choice in the final year.

Overall workload

Each stage comprises eight modules. Most modules run for a single 12-week term. Each module has two lectures and one to two hours of classes, making 14 formal contact hours per week and eight hours of 'homework club' drop-in sessions each term.

Academic support

We provide excellent support for you throughout your time at Kent. This includes access to web-based information systems, podcasts and web forums for students who can benefit from extra help. We use innovative teaching methodologies, including BlueJ and LEGO© Mindstorms for teaching Java programming.

Teaching staff

Our staff have written internationally acclaimed textbooks for learning programming, which have been translated into eight languages and are used worldwide. A member of staff has received the SIGCSE Award for Outstanding Contribution to Computer Science Education. The award is made by ACM, the world's largest educational and scientific computing society.

Assessment

Assessment is by a combination of coursework and end-of-year examination and details are shown in the module outlines on the web. Project modules are assessed wholly by coursework.

The marks from stage one do not go towards your final degree grade, but you must pass to continue to stage two. 

Most stage two modules are assessed by coursework and end-of-year examination. Marks from stage two count towards your degree result. 

Most stage three modules are assessed by a combination of coursework and end-of-year examination. Projects are assessed by your contribution to the final project, the final report, and oral presentation and viva examination. Marks from stage three count towards your degree result.

Percentage of the course assessed by coursework

In stage three your project counts for 25% of the year's marks.

Contact hours

For a student studying full time, each academic year of the programme will comprise 1200 learning hours which include both direct contact hours and private study hours.  The precise breakdown of hours will be subject dependent and will vary according to modules.  Please refer to the individual module details under Course Structure.

Methods of assessment will vary according to subject specialism and individual modules.  Please refer to the individual module details under Course Structure.

Programme aims

The programme aims to:

  • meet the needs of those contemplating a career involving a significant element of computing and those motivated by intellectual interests in applied computing and business administration
  • provide a sound knowledge and systematic understanding of the principles of business information technology
  • teach skills that will be of lasting value in a constantly changing field
  • offer a range of modules covering the foundations of business IT
  • enable students to study in depth selected areas of applied computing and/or business administration
  • provide teaching informed by current research and scholarship which requires students to engage with aspects of work at the frontiers of knowledge
  • develop general critical, analytical and problem-solving skills that can be applied in a wide range of different business, computing and other settings.

Learning outcomes

Knowledge and understanding

You gain knowledge and understanding of:

  • hardware: the major functional components of a computer system
  • software: programming languages and practice, tools and packages, computer applications, structuring of data and information
  • communications and interaction: basic computer communication network concepts
  • communication between computers and people, the control and operation of computers
  • practice: problem identification and analysis, design development, testing and evaluation
  • organisations: their environment and their management, including people, operations, finance, marketing and organisational strategy
  • social science concepts and theories and the ability to apply them to business and management contexts.

Intellectual skills

You gain the following intellectual abilities:

  • an understanding of the modelling and design of computer-based systems in a way that demonstrates comprehension of the trade-off involved in design choices
  • communication: present rational and reasoned arguments to a range of audiences
  • identify and analyse criteria and specifications appropriate to specific problems and plan strategies for their solution
  • analyse the extent to which a computer-based system meets the criteria defined for its current use and future development
  • deploy appropriate theory practices and tools for the specification, design, implementation and evaluation of computer-based systems
  • professional responsibility: recognise and be guided by the professional, economic, social, environmental, moral and ethical issues involved in the sustainable exploitation of computer technology
  • demonstrate a basic analytical ability and its relevance to everyday life
  • critically evaluate arguments and evidence
  • analyse and draw reasoned conclusions concerning structured, and unstructured, problems.

Subject-specific skills

You gain subject-specific skills in the following:

  • design and implementation: specifying, designing and implementing computer-based systems
  • evaluation: evaluating systems in terms of general quality attributes and possible trade offs presented within the given problem
  • information management: applying the principles of effective management, organisation and retrieval skills to information of various kinds
  • tools: deploying effectively the tools used for the construction and documentation of software, with particular emphasis on understanding the whole process involved in using computers to solve practical problems
  • identifying, formulating and solving business/decision-making problems using appropriate qualitative and quantitative tools
  • creating, evaluating and assessing options, in a range of business situations, applying concepts and knowledge appropriately
  • communicating effectively, orally and in writing, about business issues.

Transferable skills

You gain transferable skills in the following:

  • communication: making succinct presentations to a range of audiences about technical problems and their solutions
  • IT: knowledge of information retrieval skills (including the use of browsers, search engines and catalogues) and effective use of general IT facilities
  • numeracy: understanding and presenting cases involving a quantitative dimension
  • self-management: managing your own learning and development including time management and organisational skills.

Independent rankings

Computer Science at Kent scored 90% overall in The Complete University Guide 2021.

For graduate prospects, Computer Science at Kent scored 92% in The Times Good University Guide 2020The Guardian University Guide 2020 and The Complete University Guide 2021.

Over 92% of Computer Science graduates who responded to the most recent national survey of graduate destinations were in professional work or further study within six months (DLHE, 2017).

Careers

Graduate destinations

Graduates who have both IT knowledge and business skills can expect excellent career prospects. Our graduates have gone on to work in:

  • software engineering
  • mobile applications development
  • systems analysis
  • consultancy
  • networking
  • web design and e-commerce
  • finance and insurance
  • commerce
  • engineering
  • education
  • government
  • healthcare. 

Recent graduates have gone on to develop successful careers at leading companies such as:

  • BAE Systems
  • Cisco 
  • IBM
  • The Walt Disney Company
  • Citigroup 
  • BT.

Help finding a job

The University has a friendly Careers and Employability Service, which can give you advice on how to:

  • apply for jobs
  • write a good CV
  • perform well in interviews.

The School has a dedicated Employability Coordinator who is a useful contact for all student employability queries.

Work experience

You can gain commercial experience working as a student consultant within the Kent IT Consultancy. 

Career-enhancing skills

To help you appeal to employers, you learn key transferable skills that are essential for all graduates. These include the ability to:

  • think critically
  • communicate your ideas and opinions
  • analyse situations and troubleshoot problems
  • work independently or as part of a team.

You can also gain extra skills by signing up for one of our Kent Extra activities, such as learning a language or volunteering.

Professional recognition

This degree has partial Chartered IT Professional (CITP) accreditation from the BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT. 

Apply for Business Information Technology - BSc (Hons)

This course page is for the 2020/21 academic year. Please visit the current online prospectus for a list of undergraduate courses we offer.

Contact us

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United Kingdom/EU enquiries

Enquire online for full-time study

T: +44 (0)1227 768896

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International student enquiries

Enquire online

T: +44 (0)1227 823254
E: internationalstudent@kent.ac.uk

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School website

School of Computing

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