MSc Software Engineering Management (Full Time)
Build the skills and requirements for the management of complex software projects and the people and teams that are the software development environment.
Entry level
The normal entry requirements are:
-
Either a good honours degree in a computing or software engineering subject; or,
-
a good honours degree in a subject with significant computing or software engineering content together with appropriate experience within the computer software industry; or,
-
a qualification of degree standard (for example, BCS Professional Examination) but should have at least two years experience working within the computer software industry at an appropriate level; or,
-
an HND in a computing related subject and at least four years experience working within the computer software industry at an appropriate level.
International students are required to show evidence of their English level as part of their entry requirements. See English entry requirements|.
Career opportunities
Graduates will be equipped to enter into business or technical management roles within the software industry and a wide variety of enterprises.
Career paths include:
-
Business analyst,
-
outsourcing management,
-
configuration management,
-
designing and/or applying test plans or strategy,
-
project team leader,
-
leading to future project manager,
-
quality insurance team member.
Course overview
The MSc Software Engineering Management degree at Southampton Solent University is a rigourous course where you'll develop the technical and managerial skills needed to be an effective leader within the software industry.
As a former student of computing, you'll enhance your existing knowledge and become attuned to the management requirements of complex software projects.
Within the core themes of r equirements analysis, specification analysis, design documentation, project management and reporting, quality software products.
Southampton Solent University has a strong reputation in the field of engineering, and you'll be encouraged to co-operate with industrial, commercial or professional outlets.
Recent graduate Steve Hogg, took advantage of the course's proactive approach to learning. Now a Web and Learning Systems Development Manager for this very university, Steve praises how "the teaching and learning style was very much about us researching and doing things, as opposed to just attending a series of lectures."
Course content
This programme has two components, the Taught Component and Master's Dissertation.
Successful completion of the taught component, which involves six units of study, leads to the award of Postgraduate Diploma and, if the appropriate performance is achieved, allows progression onto the Master's Dissertation.
Taught Component:
Software Process
This unit focuses on the fundamental activities associated with software development and assesses the ways in which these may be arranged as a software process model in response to differing software development contexts.
Systems Project Management
The unit covers the techniques and theoretical concepts applicable to managing projects in an information technology or systems environment.
Business Analysis and Requirements Analysis
This unit examines the importance of a consistent and accurate set of business requirements and assesses the extent to which particular requirements engineering models can be applied.
Quality, Standards and Process Improvement
This unit considers stands of practice, ethical, legal and social issues, not as a set of static documents but as a dynamic set of potential achievements.
Software Specification
This unit involves techniques of model-based specification that have been shown to be appropriate for the iterative extraction and refinement of product requirements.
Agile Development
This unit explores the underlying principles of agile development and aims to assess the extent to which they reduce the overheads of the software process while simultaneously delivering higher degrees of system flexibility and customer satisfaction with product.
Software Metrics and Testing
The objective of this unit is to understand the issues of software reliability and risk analysis, together with the effective use of metrics.
Applied Software Project Management
This unit advances the techniques and theoretical concepts applicable for planning, management, control and reporting of projects in software engineering.
Master's Dissertation
The dissertation is expected to be an original, independent and critical piece of work exploring a current issue in Software Engineering Management, drawn from topics within the programme. You will be encouraged to co-operate with industrial, commercial of professional establishments.
Assessment
The learning experience is diverse and as a result a wide range of assessments methods are used, depending on the unit of study. There are no formal examinations; instead you will experience individual, group and team assessments, seminar discussions, presentations and some self-assessment.
Key career skills
Team work within the software industry, the management of quality processes, critical thinking and research skills, effective project management.
Projects/work experience
Pragmatic and real-world practice is embedded within the topics covered and the teaching. Incorporation of practitioner views on the software industry.
Solent's special features
-
Considerable and effective use of Activity Based Learning empowers you to understand your learning expectations and standards and so enhances the learning experience.
-
You would have exclusive access to IT facilities of nearly 100 fully Novell networked, IBM-compatible PC's. These operate with Windows NT and run specialist, state-of-the-art software and applications required for the course, and in business.
Fees
Fees for the academic year 2011/12 are:
Full time: UK and EU £3,625; Overseas £9,400
|