Careers Brief - Business Information Technology FdSc

Overview

The Foundation degree in Business Information Technology offers you the opportunity for progression onto an Honours degree programme or direct job entry, although the career advantages of being an Honours graduate can be significant.

Success in your course will not only have given you technical IT skills but also business awareness, useful for most careers. Additionally, you will have demonstrated key employability skills and competencies in demand by recruiters. Functional Skills such as: communication, team working, analytical thinking, logical problem solving and multi-tasking.

You can improve your prospects further by gaining appropriate work experience (or industrial placement).

After the boom years of the 1990's, there has been some contraction in the industry, with fewer opportunities for IT graduates and increased competition from non-IT graduates, overseas graduates and out sourcing. With a projected slower growth pattern over the next few years, a good level relevant qualification and up-to-date skills have become more significant.

As every organisation needs IT systems to carry out its functions, this provides opportunities for IT professionals in both IT companies and 'end-user' organisations, from multinationals to small consultancies, in both the UK and overseas.

Graduate IT job titles include: IT consultant; systems analyst; network engineer; software trainer; technical author; technical marketing executive; database administrator; user support; applications programmer. Your initial post could be as a software engineer, IT consultant, programmer or systems analyst.

You could be looking at a wide range of business occupations or using your IT knowledge in a linked career (such as teaching or journalism).

For an overview of the industry sector, go to National Guidance Research Forum for 'LMI Future trends' and 'Sectors covered'.

Go to the website links below to find out more.

Be aware that many of the multinational companies start their recruitment programme for honours graduate trainees from the Autumn Term of the final year. If you plan to continue onto a one-year top-up honours degree or final year honours degree, you should be prepared for job-hunting before you start your final year.

Go to the Employability section of this Careers Guide for help and advice.

Further Study

You will be able to apply for a Top-up degree. Top-up degrees are designed as direct progression from Foundation degree to achieve an Honours (or Ordinary) degree, though entry may be selective.

Alternatively, you could transfer onto a related Honours degree. Entry point would depend on your grades, experience and overlap between courses but could be the final year.

Go to http://onlineservices.bournemouth.ac.uk/courses/ for information on the business and computing top-ups and other degree courses at Bournemouth University.

Other institutions offering related Top-ups include:

Blackburn College; University of Glamorgan, Cardiff & Pontypridd; Leeds Metropolitan University; London South Bank University; University of Northampton; Northumbria University; Sheffield Hallam University.

To search degree courses go to www.ucas.com/ (UCAS - Universities and Colleges Admissions Service for the UK). Use university/college links for course details.

You will need to use UCAS to apply for courses. Contact the Course Tutor of your chosen course to find out your position, before you make your formal application.

Find out how much this will cost you. Where is the funding coming from? Go to the university/college links for information on course costs and finance and to the Financial support section for additional help.

Alternatively, you could consider 'topping up' your Foundation degree to Honours through distance learning with the Open University. You could be awarded up to 240 credits and then only need 120 credits of OU study at level 3 to achieve an Honours degree. This would also give you the opportunity to take up employment. Go to www.open.ac.uk/ to search undergraduate courses and credit transfer.

With a good Honours degree (First or 2.1), you could progress onto an appropriate higher level degree to attain a Masters and/or PhD doctorate. This could be to develop your area of study to a more in-depth practical and/or academic level or to gain other specialist training.

For information on postgraduate study, go to the national online directory at www.prospects.ac.uk/study.htm .

Go to the main section Further Study in this Careers Guide for further help.

Useful Links

http://mycareerhub.bournemouth.ac.uk/

Bournemouth University Graduate Employment Service - job news, campus events, part-time work, placement, graduate jobs, ask a question, book an appointment

www.e-skills.com/careers

e-skills uk - Sector Skills Council for IT and Telecoms, for careers in IT

www.bigambition.co.uk/

e-skills site - Digital Careers aimed at young people

www.bcs.org/

BCS - The Chartered Institute for IT

Drop down sub-heading 'Qualifications, Training, Careers' and go to sections on 'Careers' + 'Students'

http://nextstep.direct.gov.uk/

Next Step careers site - go to sub-headings 'Planning your career' and 'Job Profiles' for useful summaries of related job roles within section link 'Information Technology and Information Management'

www.totaljobs.com/Content/Job-descriptions/IT.html

Totaljobs Group - for 'Careers in IT'

www.prospects.ac.uk/starting_out.htm

Graduate Prospects - national careers site for HE students studying in the UK:

Drop down 'Careers advice' for 'Options with your subject'

Drop down 'Job sectors' for 'Business and management' + 'IT and information services'

Drop down 'Jobs and work experience' for 'What jobs would suit me?' using Prospects Planner

www.insidecareers.co.uk/

Inside Careers publication - go to 'Information Technology' for 'Career Advice'

http://targetjobs.co.uk/career-sectors

GTI Media publication - graduate jobs and careers advice

www.computerweekly.com/