BSc (Hons) Applied Cyber Security (Including Foundation Year)

Overview:

Kickstart your career with expert cyber security education working on real-world cyber security projects while gaining hugely valuable skills and experience, with the added opportunity to undertake specialist certification. With increasing disruption to our critical systems and personal data, we need highly skilled cyber security graduates now more than ever.

You’ll be joining us in learning how to defend our communities from cybercrime through our multi-award-winning National Cyber Security Academy, which features cutting edge learning environments including a CISCO Networking Academy, Secure Operations Centre, and Digital Forensics Laboratory.

Focusing on a range of cyber topics such as system security, digital forensic investigation, and risk & governance, you’ll gain a broad range of cyber security skills in an authentic, hands-on environment, with the opportunity to work towards being a Certified Cyber Ops Associate, before specialising in either digital forensics or security.

Typical A-Level Offer
DD

Typical Welsh BACC Offer
N/A

Typical BTEC Offer
BTEC Extended Diploma Pass Pass Pass or BTEC Diploma Pass Pass.

Typical Access to HE Offer
Pass Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 48 UCAS Tariff points.

Additional Requirements
The University normally requires a minimum 5 GCSEs including Mathematics and English at Grade C or above, or their equivalent but consideration is given to individual circumstances.

Entry Requirements

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions. USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university. Here is a link to our Contextual Admissions Policy.

Other qualifications and experience

We can also consider combinations of qualifications and other qualifications not listed here may also be acceptable. We can sometimes consider credits achieved at other universities and your work/life experience through an assessment of prior learning. This may be for year one entry, or advanced entry to year two or three of a course where this is possible.

To find out which qualifications have tariff points, please refer to the UCAS tariff calculator.

If you need more help or information or would like to speak to our friendly admissions team, please contact us here

WHAT YOU WILL STUDY

The Applied Cyber Security degree has three main themes: System Security, Digital Forensics and Risk & Governance and the unique course structure enables you to gain a good grounding in these core topics. During the first two years of the course, you will study all three cyber topic areas and once you progress to the final year, you will choose to specialise in either Security or Forensics. You will also have the opportunity to undertake activities in our dedicated labs such as the Secure Operations Centre (SOC), which are all equipped with specialist cyber security software and hardware.

This ‘workplace learning environment’ emulates what it’s like to work in cyber security. As such it differs from traditional lecture driven learning. Given this nature of the degree, there are no formal time restricted exams and assessments are a mix of academic evidence-based research and practical project-based assessments.

Year One: Applied Cyber Security degree

Professional Practice & Employability* 20 credits
Cyber Tools & Processes 20 credits
Network Configuration 20 credits
Programming 20 credits
Information Security & Governance 20 credits
Computer Systems 20 credits

*25% of this module can be studied in Welsh.

Year Two: Applied Cyber Security degree

Compliance and Risk Management 20 credits
Digital Crime Investigation 20 credits
Web Applications and Cloud Security 20 credits
Secure Systems 30 credits
Cyber Crime Research Project* 10 credits
Critical Systems Infrastructure 20 credits

*50% of this module can be studied in Welsh.

Year Three: Applied Cyber Security degree

Digital Investigation Techniques (Optional) 40 credits
Security Operations and Security Operations and Penetration Testing (Optional) 40 credits
Secure Operations and Incident Management 40 credits
Cyber Dissertation Project* 40 credits

*25% of this module can be studied in Welsh.

Teaching

Students on our Applied Cyber Security degree will study at the Newport City Campus and will benefit from high quality workspaces and specialist cyber labs.

By working directly on industry projects and briefs in a sandbox environment, your knowledge and skills will stay relevant and address current issues and threats within the Cyber Security landscape. This hands-on approach which is supported by a high calibre academic course team, will also enable you to gain industry contacts and understand what will be expected of you in the workplace when you graduate.

Assessment

There are no formal examinations on the course. Assessments are a mix of academic evidence-based research and practical project-based assessments.

COURSE DETAILS

Accreditations

This degree has been accredited by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT. Accreditation is a mark of assurance that the degree meets the standards set by BCS. An accredited degree entitles you to professional membership of BCS, which is an important part of the criteria for achieving Chartered IT Professional (CITP) status through the Institute.

Placements

Companies currently involved in the cyber security course include Airbus, General Dynamics, Alert Logic, Information Assurance, QinetiQ, Silcox Information Security, Westgate Cyber Security, and Wolfberry Cyber Security.

Facilities

Our learning environments are designed to simulate industry workspace environments and students will learn in specialist state of art cyber security labs that are equipped with the industry standard toolkits. This approach promotes a professional and immersive learning environment that helps to produce work-ready graduates.

Our Security Operations Training Centre (SOC) offers students first-hand experience in responding to cyber security threats by simulating real world cyber security incident handing exercises. USW is one of only a few universities that offer this capability and was the first in the region to have a SOC within a University learning environment.

We regularly revalidate courses for quality assurance and enhancement

At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.

If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.

Additional Costs

In general, international applicants will need to have achieved an overall IELTS grade of 6.0 with a minimum score of 5.5 in each component.

However, if you have previously studied through the medium of English IELTS might not be required, but please visit the country-specific page on our international website for exact details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.

CAREERS

Employment prospects after graduating from USW cyber are excellent. Information Security, Penetration Testing, Digital Forensic careers, to name just a few, are often available with managed security operations centres, law enforcement agencies, corporate organisations, incident response organisations, military and government intelligence agencies, and private security and consulting companies with the rise in demand set to continue.

Possible Career Paths

Penetration Tester
Information Security Analyst
Secure Operation Centre (SoC) operative or analyst
Cyber Governance, Risk and Compliance officer
Law enforcement Digital Forensic Investigator
Military Cyber Security Personnel
Government Intelligence Agencies
Private Forensic and Security Consulting Companies
Digital Forensic Investigator
Incident Response Analyst
Malware Analyst

Computing and Cyber Employability Guide

Our Employability Guide has all the information you need to help you prepare for a career in computing and cyber.

From hands-on work experience and industry links to our passionate academics and different study routes, we have you covered.

Hear from USW graduates as you learn about how you can get your career started, including how you will develop in-demand skills using all the latest software and technology.

Fees

Full time

Complete your degree in the shortest possible time and study flexibly – when and where suits you!

£7,250

You’ll study 9 modules in total (approx. 37 hrs/week).

Part time option one

Study for a degree whilst fitting it around your work, care and other life commitments.

£4,250

You’ll study 6 modules per year (approx. 25 hrs/week).

Part time option two

Take time to study and spread the tuition fees over a longer period – at no extra cost.

£5,500

You’ll study 4–5 modules per year (approx. 19 hrs/week).

Have a question about our professional qualifications?

Contact us about our professional qualifications

If you have any questions about our professional qualifications in finance and banking, please contact our customer services team.

Call us

TESTIMONIALS

What Our Students Have To Say

Communication in Health and Social Care. Great Course. Very Easy to Understand

--Shariq Niazi

Student

Hi, I recently started Access to Higher Education Diploma (Nursing and Midwifery) course with Westfield College.

--Komal Kiran Galaria

Designer

My experience with Westfield College is great. The supervisor and the admin team are proactive and efficient.

--Oluwaseyi Olubasiri

Content Creator