Department of Computer Science

UCL FIndS organises City Hakathon

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- Undergraduate:
- BSc Computer Science
- MEng Computer Science
- MEng International
- MEng Mathematical Computation
- Specialist Postgraduate:
- MSc CSML
- MSc CGVI
- MSc FRMan
- MSc FRM
- MSc FSE
- MSc HCIErg
- MSc ISec
- MSc ML
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- MSc Computer Science
- MSc Financial Computing
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How can a Computer Science degree help my future career?

“Computers. They comprise our crowning achievements to date, the pinnacle of all tools. Computer Processors and software represent the most complex designs humans ever created. The science of computers has enabled one of the most extraordinary transformations of our societies in human history”, Peter Bentley (UCL-CS Honorary Reader) in Digitized: The Science of Computers and How it Shapes Our World, 2012

A degree in Computer Science could be the gateway to an interesting and diverse future career that provides above average graduate salaries. Meanwhile new ideas in Computer Science continue to have a profound influence over today's society. Recent innovations in cloud computing and mobile technology means a Computer Science degree will give you the potential to have a huge impact on society and technology.

Apps, Apps, Apps!

As various companies sell apps by the billions globally, software developers are approaching the field of apps as an increasingly foundational and key skill for software engineering. It demonstrates the ability to work with finely tuned software engineering problems, linking to existing data systems and produce unique technology that can be used on-the-go to collect, share and disseminate information. UCL-CS is already preparing its students for the demands of the market place.

We’re proud to be the 1^st UK university to include apps development in our core curriculum Computer Science courses. The software engineering lifecycle of apps development is now included in our teaching for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Computer Science, Financial Computing, Software Systems Engineering and Financial Systems Engineering Master’s programmes. It will also be extended into many more teaching programmes. Click here for more details on how our Apps teaching has developed.

Industry Events: UCL-CS hosts a number of industry events during the year. Below are some of our recent student activities with industry leaders.

UCL-CS students present projects to Microsoft Research

UCL Engineering undergraduate students got the unique opportunity to present their work-in-progress projects to the Directors of Microsoft Research. With real-world clients and support from Microsoft, projects include developing technologies with Windows 8 Embedded (just received from Microsoft HQ in Redmond), Gadgeteer, Azure and Kinect with Robotics. Use case scenarios include for surgery training, hospitals and care homes, networked vehicles, new interactions in gaming and education, remote home automation and more. A demo of semi-transparent display technology was also shown by our students!

Present from Microsoft were Rick Rashid, Chief Research Officer for MSR (global), Jeannette Wing, Vice Chair and Head of MSR (global) and Andrew Blake, Director of MSR UK in Cambridge.

UCL-CS Microsoft Developer Day

Last month over 200 CS students attended a Windows 8 Developer Day hosted by Microsoft. There were several walkthrough sessions starting with Windows 8 features, building Windows 8 apps, an overview of Visual Studio 2012 (now available on DreamSpark), features for apps creation, the Windows 8 Marketplace and a look at HTML5/JS capabilities for the Windows platform.

Afterwards, several CS students delivered short talk sessions on applications of use including for Financial systems (F#), Kinect + 3D gaming, Gadgeteer and Azure cloud services. We thank our visitors from Microsoft.

IBM CV Workshop

As a Department we are always keen to welcome leading technology companies to give our students some of the best careers support and advice. With this in mind we were delighted to host an IBM CV Workshop for all CS students, with Dr Reza Hazemi, CS Research Alumnus and Associate Partner for IBM UK, and Hugh Varilly, Visiting Professor at CS and Distinguished Engineer Emeritus at IBM. The session careers information from the IBM Recruitment Staff, and focussed on CV guidance, help with application forms, interview techniques, application form tips and advice on assessment centres. We thank IBM for their continuing support for our CS students.

Morgan Stanley Mock Interview Clinic

There was a fantastic turnout for our Mock Interview Clinic, hosted by Morgan Stanley. All CS students were welcome to attend an informal drop-in session to network with Morgan Stanley and to to participate in informal mock interviews with CV feedback. CS students were able to sharpen their interview skills and prepare for the recruitment process with Morgan Stanley or other graduate recruiters. We thank Morgan Stanley for their time.

Deutsche Bank Undergraduate Welcome Party

Deutsche Bank provided sponsorship for our Welcome Party for UCL-CS Freshers. Deutsche Technology presented to our students with brief talks from recent CS graduates who now work for Deutsche. Throughout the year Deutsche run a careers programme featuring workshops led by current graduates, interactive games and opportunities for students to talk with recruitment staff in an informal environment through the Deutsche Graduate Forum group - which helps support CS students who are searching for a career within the financial services industry. We thank Deutsche for their continued support.

League Tables

Graduates from UCL are keenly sought by the worlds leading organisations and UCL has recently risen in world rankings. QS World University Rankings place UCL 4th. Computer Science at UCL is also highly acclaimed. UCL-CS is 4th according to the 2013 Complete University Guide supported by Daily Telegraph. The Univsersity is ranked 8th. See the Unistats website for further league tables.

According to The Times, UCL has the best academic to student ratio in the UK (1:10), enabling small class sizes and outstanding individual support. The Higher Education Statistics Agency states that UCL has more professors than any other UK university, meaning our students get taught by the most highly qualified experts in their field. At 88%, UCL has one of the highest student satisfaction levels in the UK (National Student Survey 2011). More about UCL's performance can be found here.

You can also visit the UCL Enterprise website to see how we are helping to drive the global economy forward - through knowledge transfer partnerships or one of our 34 active spin-out companies.