So I'm the Admissions Tutor here at the
Department of Computer Science in York
and our programs here
offer a solid foundation in the fundamental principles and practice of Computer
Science
So the way our programs are structured:  the first two years cover the core
material
that we think all Computer Scientists
need to know. The third and fourth years
give you the flexibility to tailor the
course towards your specific interests.
Our programs abroad which means that the skills you acquire will allow you to
enter
almost any industry where computing
plays an important part.
Another unique aspect to our programs is
that we emphasize both theory and
practice.
Our mantra is really that theory without
practice is dole
but practice without theory is misguided
so we hope that by giving our students a
foundation in both
they can go on to either develop
important industrial applications
or advance the frontiers of
knowledge in computer science.
Another unique aspect of our courses is
that we emphasize both hardware and
software
so our undergraduates are just as likely to be spending time in a hardware lab
soldering components together and actually building computer systems
as they are to be spending time
programming and developing software
systems.
Much of our teaching is research led
and that means that we're able to offer
specialized modules
where our academic staff can offer
modules in the very latest areas of
computer science.
Examples would include computer vision
and pattern recognition
and quantum computing. Another of the real strengths of our department
is our links with industry and
in terms of our undergraduate programs this
manifests itself in a number of different
ways.
The first is that we have an industrial
Advisory Board
where the likes of IBM and Rolls-Royce
makes sure that our programs are up to date
and that we teach material which is
relevant to industry. We also invite
people from companies to come and give
one off lectures
and even to provide the specifications
for our group projects.
In terms of industrial placements we
employ a full-time industrial placements
consultant
whose job it is to you liaise with
industry and make sure that we can offer
our students
industrial placements that are both relevant to the course, interesting
and give them a solid foundation for
going on to work in industry once
they've graduated.
So within the department we're able to
maintain a very low staff student ratio
and this means that our undergraduate
students get the opportunity to interact
one-on-one with our academic staff
throughout the course. We have a student supervision system
which means that every undergraduate has
an academic member of staff who is their
dedicated supervisor
and that's someone that they can call upon any time if they have
academic questions or wider problems
with their welfare
or any aspect of university life that
they'd like to talk to someone about.
Finally our graduates are in real demand in industry and over the last three years
eighty-five percent our graduates have
either found graduate employment
or gone on to further study within six
months of graduating
