BSc (Hons) Cyber Security with foundation year and Industrial Placement
Course Overview
A recent report estimates that the cyber security industry requires approximately 4 million additional professionals worldwide (1). Qualified cyber security professionals have access to excellent career opportunities and competitive salaries. The University of Bolton's BSc (Hons) Cyber Security with foundation year and industrial placement course is an ideal route into this dynamic and evolving industry. By studying with us, you can learn how to protect data and information systems from cyber breaches while experiencing life at our supportive, student-focused, multicultural campus.Covering how to design secure computer systems, this forward-thinking degree emphasises secure software development and promotes a deep understanding of the structure of computing systems. The course begins with a foundation year that offers an excellent grounding in the fundamentals of computing, programming, logic and problem-solving. It's designed to prepare you for degree-level study. As you progress through the degree, you'll develop technical knowledge and applied skills in security defence techniques and counter-measures, ready to protect computer systems and electronic infrastructures from attack. In particular, we'll focus on helping you learn to design and develop your own security tools for probing, analysing and defending computer systems against attack.
Our expert and dedicated team will cover how to analyse and evaluate security threats and vulnerabilities to information systems, perform security risk assessments and develop security controls, processes and software. We'll support you as you learn how to respond to security incidents and implement resolution activities. The department's strong links with business mean you'll have the chance to work on ‘live briefs’ in your coursework assignments, so you'll have the opportunity to enjoy real-world context and application for the skills and knowledge we'll help you develop.
With class sizes no greater than 30, we can offer you meaningful, personalised learning plans. Our dedicated and enthusiastic lecturers, many of whom are active researchers with extensive industry insights and experience, will help you develop both the theoretical knowledge and the practical, hands-on skills required by the security sector that will put you one step ahead of attackers from day one. Meanwhile, guest speakers and lecturers give you access to highly relevant and up-to-date input from industry settings.
All of this is backed by our well-equipped IT suites, where you'll get to apply and develop your learning individually and in groups with expert guidance and support.
The University will offer lots of support to help you find a placement with a relevant company in preparation for your year in industry (the industrial placement takes place between the third and final years of this five-year course). Through our relationships with employers, we'll share placement adverts as they become available, and you can also seek your own placement. Our placement team will help with applications and interview skills. Your placement does not have to be in the Bolton area – it could be elsewhere in the UK. Completing a year in industry will give you invaluable skills and experience that will help you in your final year of study with us and boost your CV to help you find an enhanced career afterwards. If you're unsuccessful in securing a placement, you'll be able to transfer directly to the final year of study and complete your degree in four years.
(1) https://www.isc2.org/Research/Workforce-Study accessed on 18 July 2024
Highlights
- Our Computer Science courses are 4th in the UK for student satisfaction, according to The Complete University Guide 2025.
- The department, and the wider University, provide a warm and friendly environment for your studies, with relatively small class sizes, purpose-built teaching facilities, and excellent student support and library services.
- Completing a placement year in industry will give you experience and skills that are highly relevant for your future career and greatly enhance your employability.
- Your teaching and tutorial team brings an impressive range of professional experience and technical prowess to the course, so you'll have the chance to explore and evaluate a range of perspectives relating to your studies.
- A big part of our commitment to your progress is helping you develop your employability and industry networks. Our teaching team works collaboratively with industrial partners to ensure you have access to the latest and relevant industrial skills. So, we'll encourage you to attend guest lectures that give your learning context, offer access to industry contacts, and contribute to your underlying professional development.
- By underpinning our content and assignments with a strong industrial focus, we foster a keen understanding of the professional IT environment and help you develop essential skills such as team-working, communication and problem-solving.
- This degree offers a comprehensive overview of key cyber security principles, methods, and activities, such as types of security, common attack techniques, risk assessment, penetration testing, managing risk, and assessing an organisation's 'cyber security culture'.
- We'll focus on your individual needs and provide personalised learning support to help you find the learning strategies that best support you as you begin your journey towards an exciting and challenging career as a cyber security professional.
Key Features
- Our dedicated laboratories, servers and end hosts feature high-specification hardware and the latest software, so you'll have industry-equivalent hands-on experience.
- The industrial placement year offers valuable experience in the workplace. This can be of great benefit to you in your final year of studies and will enhance your employment prospects after graduation.
- We've invested in a suite of security and forensics tools. We operate these in a 'dirty lab' where you have full administrator access to the computers to practice skills and develop knowledge through testing and experiment.
- As you'd expect, many of our computing facilities are accessible online, so you can work on your assignments wherever you are and whenever inspiration kicks in.
- We'll support you in developing sought-after skills such as background research, critical reasoning and problem-solving, as well as professional communication, time management, teamwork, and lifelong learning.
- We'll also encourage you to build a portfolio of evidence representing the projects and tasks you've completed during your studies, ready to impress potential employers.
- We continually monitor and update the course to reflect current and ever-changing computing issues and keep your learning in line with technological advances and innovations.
- By choosing to study with us, you'll have the chance to enjoy Bolton's many shops, bars, restaurants and leisure facilities. Manchester, one of the UK's most multicultural and lively cities, is less than 20 minutes away by train. Not forgetting, the North West of England is renowned for its beautiful countryside, coastline and heritage. This makes Bolton an ideal base from which to explore some of the best cultural and outdoor activities the UK offers.
Entry Requirements
- 48 UCAS points. We accept a full range of qualifications that carry UCAS points, including A-levels, BTECs and T-levels. Please see our guide to the UCAS Tariff for examples of how to achieve these points. For most courses, we are also able to consider non-tariffable qualifications.
- Any subjects are acceptable at Level 3. Relevant science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) and computing-related subjects are preferred.
- You should also have five GCSEs at grade C or above or grade 4 to 9 (or equivalent), including English and Mathematics.
- We'll be happy to consider your application if you don't meet the standard entry requirements but have non-traditional qualifications and/or relevant experience.
- You’ll be required to attend an interview and/or provide a portfolio of work. As part of your interview, you may be asked to undertake additional assessment(s) to determine your suitability for the course.
- If English isn’t your first language, you’ll also need IELTS 6.0 with no less than 5.5 in any band (or equivalent). We also accept a range of other English language qualifications – please visit our English Language Requirements web page for more details.
Where changes are made to material information contained in this course description or a decision is taken to suspend a course between the offer of admissions and enrolment, we will inform applicants at the earliest possible opportunity and will outline the various options available to the applicant.
Career Opportunities
The University of Bolton's Cyber Security degree courses offer the knowledge and skills needed to implement, maintain and support the security controls that protect an organisation's computer systems and data assets from threats and hazards.
As a graduate, you'll possess a deep understanding of computer systems and how underlying infrastructure, software and data contribute to modern computing environments. You'll also have the skills and knowledge required to identify where threats and hazards can occur in modern infrastructure, along with the skills to develop, implement, maintain and support security tools and controls that analyse, prevent and protect against attacks.
During the course, you can also expect to develop a wide range of technical, professional and interpersonal skills, such as attention to detail, team working, communication and analytical skills, time management, problem-solving and lifelong learning.
What can I do with this qualification?
When you successfully complete the course, you'll be well prepared for a career in cyber security. You might seek a technical role in an area such as penetration testing, security design or malware analysis, or choose a broader role, such as security planning, risk assessment or security planning. Opportunities in areas such as defence, forensics, commerce, technical security and system administration should be open to you. As you progress through your career and gain experience, you'll be able to work your way up to positions of greater responsibility, such as chief information security officer, IT security director or security architect.
After graduation, you'll also be ready to progress to postgraduate-level study or additional IT certification to develop your expertise further. Studying for a PhD or professional doctorate is another option.
(2) https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64be95f0d4051a00145a91ec/Cyber_security_skills_in_the_UK_labour_market_2023.pdf accessed on 19 July 2024
Alternative career options
Graduates can use the qualification as a stepping-stone into various other careers. Some of these roles may require relevant experience and/or postgraduate study. Some possibilities include the following:
- Consultancy
- Digital copywriting
- IT sales
- IT training
- Teaching
- Research and development
- Network engineering
- Product management
- Technical writing
- Social media management
- Data analysis
- Information systems management
- Games development
Professional Recognition
The University of Bolton's BSc (Hons) Cyber Security with foundation year and industrial placement programme offers you the opportunity to develop the skills to be recognised as a RedHat certified practitioner in systems administration and gain a number of other industry-relevant professional accreditations. We were the first UK university to become a RedHat academy and offer you access to the accreditation examinations at a significantly reduced cost.
Fees & Funding
Home/EU Fees
No fee information is currently available, please contact the University of Bolton’s Academic Fees team by emailing AcademicFees@bolton.ac.uk for more information.
International Fees
No fee information is currently available, please contact the University of Bolton’s Academic Fees team by emailing AcademicFees@bolton.ac.uk for more information.
Bursaries
Important note regarding tuition fees for the 2025-26 academic year: EU nationals who meet residency requirements (have settled or pre-settled status) may be eligible for 'Home' fee status. If you do not meet these residency requirements, overseas fees will apply. Irish citizens living in the UK or Ireland will be eligible for 'Home' fee status under the Common Travel Area arrangement. Please read the student finance for EU students web page on www.gov.uk for information.
The fees for a student's course of study will be set for the normal duration of that course subject only to inflationary increases – measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) recorded in March each year to take effect for subsequent start dates.
How to apply
Home Applicants
If you wish to apply to multiple institutions or courses for September, then apply through UCAS
You can apply for up to 5 courses through UCAS (at the same or different institutions) for a fee of £27. Alternatively, if you only wish to apply for a single course at a single institution then a reduced applicant's fee of £22.50 is applicable.
The online application form and guidance notes are available on the UCAS website.
You will need the following information to complete your UCAS application form:
Institution Code Name: BOLTN
Institution Code Number: B44
Tel: 0870 1122211
Web: www.ucas.com
International Applicants
The University welcomes applications from international students from all over the world. We try to make the application process as simple and as fast as possible for our international applicants.
This course is not currently accepting international online applications.
Please contact Admissions by telephone on 01204 903903 or email enquiries@bolton.ac.uk
Admissions
University of Bolton
Deane Road
Bolton, BL3 5AB
United Kingdom
Tel: 01204 903903
Email: enquiries@bolton.ac.uk
Partner Organisation Applicants
Please contact Admissions by telephone on 01204 903903 or email enquiries@bolton.ac.uk
Admissions
University of Bolton
Deane Road
Bolton, BL3 5AB
United Kingdom
Tel: 01204 903903
Email: enquiries@bolton.ac.uk
Teaching & Assessment
Learning and teaching methods use a blended style, which means you'll have face-to-face sessions and participate in online learning. You can expect a mixture of seminars, lectures and tutorials, practical laboratory/workshop sessions, a visiting speaker programme, critiques, self-directed study and e-learning, as well as online sessions and support. We'll help you gain practical skills through technical introduction and support, workshop sessions, demonstrations and activity-based assignments. Throughout the course, a strong practical theme promotes active learning.
While you're away from the University on your industrial placement, our academic team will contact you during the year to check that everything is going well.
Regarding assessment, we aim to provide creative and industry-relevant ways for you to demonstrate your theoretical and practical knowledge. You can expect assessments to involve assignments, projects, in-class tests, portfolios and presentations. Some assessments will contribute to your final module mark and allow you to demonstrate that you've met the learning outcomes. In contrast, others are designed to help you identify areas that need extra attention on your part or where you need additional support from your tutors.
Modules
The modules listed below may be a mixture of compulsory and optional. You may not have the opportunity to study all the modules shown as part of the course.
- Fundamentals of Programming
- Logical Analysis and Problem Solving
- Computer Systems
- Foundation Project
- Maths for Computing
- Computer Science Fundamentals
- Security Fundamentals
- Networking Priniciples
- Modern Operating Systems
- Computer Systems Architecture
- Programming for Cyber Security
- Ethical Hacking and Penetration Testing
- Enterprise Networks
- Advanced Operating Systems
- Industrial Placement
- Research and Professional Issues
- Undergraduate Project
- Information Security Management
- Advanced Networks
- Advanced Security and Digital Forensics
- Operations Management
Assessment methods
| Level | Assessment method |
|---|---|
| Level 0 | Coursework 87% Practical exams 13% |
| Level 1 | Coursework 67% Practical exams 33% |
| Level 2 | Coursework 63% Practical exams 37% |
| Level 3 | Coursework 77% Practical exams 10% Written exams 13% |
Learning Activities
| Level | Activity |
|---|---|
| Level 0 | Guided independent study 55% Scheduled learning and teaching activities 45% |
| Level 1 | Guided independent study 66% Scheduled learning and teaching activities 34% |
| Level 2 | Guided independent study 51% Placement/study abroad 33% Scheduled learning and teaching activities 16% |
| Level 3 | Guided independent study 77% Scheduled learning and teaching activities 23% |
The university will use all reasonable endeavours to deliver your course as described in its published material and the programme specification for the academic year in which you begin your course. The university considers changes to courses very carefully and the university will minimise any changes. Please be aware that our courses are subject to review on an ongoing basis and changes may be necessary due to legitimate staffing, financial, regulatory and academic reasons. The content of course modules and mode of associated assessments may be updated on an annual basis. This is to ensure that all modules are up-to-date and responsive to employment and sector needs. The published course material and the programme specification contain indicative ‘optional modules’ that may be subject to change due to circumstances outside of our control. For this reason, we cannot guarantee to run any specific optional module.
