Courses and structure

The Foundation Year includes four integrated units of study:

Study Skills and Introduction to the Use of Computers:
This covers the basic knowledge and skills necessary for the operation of computer systems. This will help in your transition to higher education, and will strengthen the benefit you can get from the learning environment in the Department of Computing.

Foundations of Problem-Solving with Programming:
In this course you will work on practical examples of computing applications, so that, even with little or no prior experience with computer programming, you begin to understand what is interesting and important about algorithms.

Foundations of Computer Programming:
With hands-on experience you will develop and execute simple software programs. This unit will prepare you to undertake the programming components in our undergraduate courses.

Foundations of Mathematics for Computing:
This will introduce you to some basic yet fundamental mathematics that underpins many of the information technology and software systems of today.

Skills and careers

There is a shortage of graduates who have the confidence to apply new technologies in creative ways; a computing degree from Goldsmiths will ebable you to do this.

The Foundation Year prepares you with the skills and knowledge necessary for studies in computing. If you successfully complete the Foundation Year and are admitted to one of our undergraduate degrees you'll benefit from the following skills and career possibilities.

Industrial placement year

Our degree programmes include an optional Industrial Placement Year between the second and third year of study. This offers you the invaluable opportunity to develop the practical skills and real world experience that is sought after by employers. You're supported throughout your placement year by a placement tutor, who provides you with guidance and liaises between you and your employer.

Skills

We'll encourage you to understand the social context and visual design aspects of software development together with the technical skills of programming.

Our degrees have a large proportion of practical work in which you must deliver software projects, both individually and in groups. This mirrors as closely as possible a real world work environment. These projects develop your technical skills but also require you to tackle the broader aspects of the software development process, such as understanding users' needs and requirements and the design of interfaces on a number of platforms – from web pages to touch screen phones.

Careers

The explosive and ever-growing use of technology in business and commerce means that there's a whole range of different career possibilities for computing graduates. In terms of job opportunities and salaries, the IT sector is well ahead of most other industrial and commercial sectors.

Potential careers

• Application programmer
• Mobile App developer
• Web developer
• Video game developer
• Film special effects and post-production
• Computer music/sound engineer
• Interface designer
• Systems analyst
• Database manager

Organisations employing IT consultants

• IT consultancies
• New media and advertising companies
• Computer games developers
• Software development firms
• Financial institutions
• Engineering companies
• Retail and service industries
• Tourism and leisure industries
• Entertainment industries
• IT support for the design industry

Further information

• Find out more about employability at Goldsmiths
• Our alumni

About the department

The Department of Computing

A key feature of our department is interdisciplinarity, which is the interaction of computing with a wide range of other subject areas. We don't just see computing as a purely technical discipline. We have a particular focus on computing applied to the arts and creative industries including music, film, TV, visual arts, games and animation.

Our degrees give you a wide appreciation of the subject – rather than just an understanding of existing commercial approaches – so that your knowledge can adapt and evolve. They also include an optional Industrial Placement Year, which enables your to gain invaluable practical skills and real world experience.

• We have a hands-on approach that focuses on practical work in real world situations
• We take a very practice-based approach to computing; programming is a practical skill and it's important that you learn it by doing, not just learn it in theory
• We'll help you explore the creative potential as well as the technical aspects of computing
• The Department has a warm and friendly atmosphere with staff and students of different ages and backgrounds
• We'll help you become a creative computing practitioner, for whom there is a growing demand in business and industry

Staff

The staff who teach you are all actively engaged in quality research, and this means that you'll be taught by experts who apply their skills to developing cutting edge technology. Our teaching is strongly focused on applying academically rigorous concepts to real world situations.

Find out more about staff in the Department of Computing.

Facilities

We have excellent computing facilities for teaching and laboratory work. There are four department laboratories containing 90 Macs and PCs equipped with a substantial amount of the latest software used in the IT and creative industries.

Student profiles

"I first heard about Goldsmiths from a friend who had been a student here. I researched into it and came across the Computer Science degree which included the foundation year, which was the course I was looking for. The location impressed me as well, as it was only a five-minute train journey to central London.

After researching, I flew over for a week to visit the universities that I wanted to apply to but wasn't impressed by the others. As soon as I was outside Goldsmiths' Richard Hoggart Building I knew that this was the university that I wanted to study at. The architecture and the history of the university inspired me and I don't regret my decision to study here.

Furthermore, being an overseas student, I found all the help I needed on site, and the freshers fortnight was a great  start to meeting new and different people and also getting to know my flatmates more. In addition, the tutors treat you more as a friend rather than a student and are always there to help you if you ever need them.

Being a student is an amazing feeling! Especially in London. There are always things going on that you can go to, and a lot of clubs have special student nights where you get to meet students from other universities."

Nicholas, Foundation Year in Computing (followed by BSc Computer Science)

"Before coming to Goldsmiths I was doing my AS-levels at sixth form, and was studying mainly science-oriented subjects. After the first year of sixth form I realised that I had chosen the wrong subjects and decided to do a more computing-based course.

I found out about the foundation year course that Goldsmiths was doing through friends and family. I decided to do the course to gain some sort of basic knowledge of computing as it was something I was interested in but had no skills in, apart from what I had learnt from my GCSEs. The foundation course gave me all the skills i needed to be able to do a degree in computing and I found the course to be very interesting as I was constantly being challenged. When i first heard about the creative computing course that was offered at Goldsmiths, it was something i was instantly keen to know more about. After completing the foundation year I decided that creative computing was something that wanted to do."

Jayanthi, Foundation Year in Computing (followed by BSc Creative Computing)