Computer Science (including foundation year)

Our BSc Computer Science (including foundation year) is open to Home and EU students. It will be suitable for you if your academic qualifications do not yet meet our entrance requirements for the three-year version of this course and you want a programme that increases your subject knowledge as well as improves your English language and academic skills.

This four-year course includes a foundation year (Year Zero), followed by a further three years of study. During your Year Zero, you study four academic subjects relevant to your chosen course as well as a compulsory English language and academic skills module.

You are an Essex student from day one, a member of our global community based at the most internationally diverse campus university in the UK.

After successful completion of Year Zero in our Essex Pathways Department, you progress to complete your course with our School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering.

This course is the most flexible of our courses in computing, allowing you to choose from a wide choice of optional modules and to specialise in areas as diverse as assistive technologies, computer games, artificial intelligence, evolutionary computation, Big Data and robotics. If you have a good ability to think in a computational way, you'll be perfect for our course.

You also acquire key skills for computer science in the areas of:

Algorithm analysis and basic computability

Software engineering

Java language principles and application programming interfaces

That's why we are ranked 6th in the UK for research power in computer science (Times Higher Education research power measure, Research Excellence Framework 2021).

Programming at Essex

Teaching someone to programme is about opening a door. In Year 1 at Essex you will study a module that introduces you to programming using Python. We assess your ability to think in a programmatic way in the very first week of term and if you require additional support, we offer classes which will boost your skills and confidence with programming.