1. Accrediting undergraduate professional skills Bill Mitchell, Director of Education
Change to university degree accreditation incorporating employability:
Accredit that a degree course equips graduates with the knowledge, understanding and skills necessary to embark on a professional career in computing
Aligned with 2016 QAA Computing Benchmark
“There are many different types of Computing degree programme, but all are designed to equip their graduates with knowledge, understanding and skills which will enable them to begin a professional career in some aspect of Computing.”

2. Principles of accreditation
Accreditation of professional skills against rigorously defined national skills criteria, validated through depth of employer engagement with students on degree course.
Accreditation of skills should be of the individual, not of the course.
Accreditation should no longer be one size fits all. Employer validation should signpost the career profiles a degree supports in plain language.
Accreditation of knowledge and understanding should be based on degree outcomes, and only consider processes if there are doubts about standards.
BCS Academy of Computing

3. Evolution for accreditation
Initially offer different academic and professional skills accreditation
Continue with Academic accreditation focusing on knowledge and understanding, including professionalism
Introduce Professional Skills accreditation: currently for placements and based on RITTech standard
BCS Academy of Computing

4. Evolution for accreditation
Next:
Articulate professional skills developed through employer engagement for all degree programmes, which are equivalent to skills on placements.
Consider Professional Skills accreditation for Degree Apprenticeship
Linking Professional Skills accreditation to Chartered status
Look at accelerated pathway to Chartered status for degrees with Professional Skills accreditation
May 19th: workshop with employers and universities to develop these
BCS Academy of Computing

5. Accrediting undergraduate professional skills Bill Mitchell, Director of Education
Successful pilot completed for new accreditation scheme focus on work placements with
Successful pilot completed for streamlining accreditation scheme with

6. BCS actively engaged with these organisations on shaping graduate skills framework for new accreditation based around employability. Their representatives will be attending May 19th workshop.
BCS Academy of Computing

7. Aligning with Degree Apprenticeships
Software Engineer Degree Apprenticeship Year 1
ECS401U Procedural Programming
Campus
ECS404U Computer Systems and Networks
ECS402W Professional and Research Themes
Work­‐based
ECS419U Information Systems Analysis
ECS414U Object-­‐Oriented Programming
ECS418W Business Modelling
BCS Academy of Computing

8. Aligning with Degree Apprenticeships
Software Engineer Degree Apprenticeship Year 2
ECS505U Software Engineering
Work­‐based
ECS524U Internet Protocols and Applications
Campus
ECS407U Logic and Discrete Structures
ECS519U Database Systems
ECS518U Operating Systems
ECS506W Software Engineering Project
BCS Academy of Computing

9. Aligning with Degree Apprenticeships
Software Engineer Degree Apprenticeship Year 3
ECS501U C Programming
Campus
ECS646W Software Development & Quality
Work­‐based
ECS510U Algorithms & Data Structures in an Object-­‐oriented Framework
ECS522U Graphical User interfaces
ECS639U Web Programming
ECS6**W Compilers
BCS Academy of Computing

10. Aligning with Degree Apprenticeships
Software Engineer Degree Apprenticeship Year 4
ECS650U Semi-structured Data and Advanced Data Modelling
Campus
ECS640U Big Data Processing
ECS635W Project
Work­‐based
ECS647U Bayesian Decision & Risk Analysis
ECS608U Distributed Systems and Security
ECS635W Project (cont.)
BCS Academy of Computing

11. Aligning with Digital Apprenticeships
QAA Computing Benchmark Skills
ability to specify, design and construct reliable, secure and usable computer-based systems
Software Developer Apprenticeship
can create simple data models and software designs
can understand and utilise skills to build, manage and deploy code into enterprise environments
BCS Academy of Computing

12. Aligning with Digital Apprenticeships
QAA Computing Benchmark Skills
ability to evaluate systems in terms of quality attributes and possible trade-offs presented within the given problem
Software Developer Apprenticeship
can test code and analyse results to correct errors
can understand and create basic analysis artefacts, such as use cases
BCS Academy of Computing

13. Aligning with Digital Apprenticeships
QAA Computing Benchmark Skills
ability to plan and manage projects to deliver computing systems within constraints of requirements, timescale and budget
Software Developer Apprenticeship
can understand and utilise skills to build, manage and deploy code into enterprise environments
can respond to the business environment and business issues related to software development
can operate effectively in their own business’s, their customers’ and the industry’s environments
BCS Academy of Computing

14. How to align with the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)
How much, if at all, should BCS professional accreditation take account of TEF?
Employment/destinations:
Should BCS regard Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey (DHLE) as valid data or not?
BCS Academy of Computing

15. Undergraduate work experience hypothetical case study
Example of work experience gained through final year project:
Case study: Neural Network to Diagnose Diabetes from Retinal Scan
Student is part of team including clinicians and computer scientists
Responsible for developing and implementing optimised network based on new research findings
Network to be integrated into software tool for medical department to treat patients
BCS Academy of Computing

16. Are these enough to gain professional skills accreditation?
Professional skills evidenced on placement. The student can:
Understand and apply fundamental principles to create business value
Work autonomously under only general direction
Influence other members of their team as well as people in other parts of their organisation
Build business relationships with customers and suppliers (internal and external).
Capable of developing tasks for others against project goals and supervising their implementation.
Are these enough to gain professional skills accreditation?
Requires expert opinion of employers and academics.