School of Computer Science |
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Division of Informatics, University of Edinburgh |
The University of Edinburgh, like most British universities, seeks accreditation of its degree courses by appropriate professional bodies in disciplines where this is relvant. In the case of computing degrees, course accreditation is sought from the British Computer Society (BCS), which is the Chartered Engineering Institution for Information Systems Engineering. Like all engineering institutions, the BCS assesses courses for accreditation against the standards laid down by the UK Engineering Council in the SARTOR (Standards and Routes to Registration) document. Electrical engineering degrees are normally accredited by the Institution of Electrical Engineers, whilst joint computing/electrical engineering degrees may be accredited by one or both institutions.
For full accreditation, the current benchmark for the academic component of the requirements for CEng is an MEng degree, a four (possibly five) year undergraduate programme (at least two thirds of which should be within the information systems area) that is "broader than a traditional (English 3-year/Scottish 4-year) honours degree. It should provide some multi-disciplinary education whilst retaining depth in traditional subject areas in order to provide an educational foundation for leadership, social and business awareness and for a wider appreciation of risk, environmental, health and safety, and political issues. There should be an individual, practical, research-based project and a practical problem-solving group project, the latter having industrial involvement."
In practice, very few universities offer MEng degrees in computing, so the BCS offers Partial CEng to BSc/BEng Honours degrees, graduates from which will be required to undertake a "Matching Section" to complete the academic requirements for CEng. A Matching Section equates to an additional undergraduate year of education, but which may be industrially based. In fact it is not yet clear what a Matching Section will involve, nor whether many computing graduates will proceed to CEng status. The continuing high demand for computing staff is such that, except in a few specialised area, most employers are not concerned about the professional status of their staff (regretable as this may be).
At the University of Edinburgh the following degrees carry Full BCS Exemption and Partial CEng accreditation:
Additionally, the following degrees carry exemption from the Certificate and Diploma examinations and the Diploma Project:
The following MSc degrees carry exemption from the Postgraduate Diploma examination and the Postgraduate Diploma Project:
Further information about accreditation and exemption, and information about BCS membership, can found at the BCS Website