UK University

[orhanc1]

Hi. I'm a little lost on which universities i can go to in the UK. I'm currently studying a BTEC National Diploma in Software Development and am predicted 3 Distictions. Can someone please help me on which universities would be a good choice for me to go to.

I wish to become a games programmer and (though i know it's very different but) dont mind whether i program games tools, engines or scripts.

I have found some Universities but i need some feedback on them.
http://prospectus.shu.ac.uk/op_UGloo...=720&CurrTab=4
http://www.port.ac.uk/courses/course...mesTechnology/
http://www.lincoln.ac.uk/home/course...ames/index.asp
http://www.city.ac.uk/study/courses/...games-bsc.html

Please help if you can.
Thank you all in advance.

[yaustar]

Personally, I would either go to Hull or Derby as these are the only two I have had a chance to look really closely at and talked with the students,

IIRC, Lincoln have changed their course recently so I don't know how they fare nowadays.

[Adrir]

Look into Abertay Dundee as they have got quite a good reputation in recent years. I would also have a look at Teeside.

[orhanc1]

Originally Posted by Adrir

Look into Abertay Dundee as they have got quite a good reputation in recent years. I would also have a look at Teeside.

I'll look at Abertay Dundee but it's interesting you should say Teesside.
I've got my 5 choices (not final) as (in order of preferance):

1. Hull
2. Portsmouth
3. Kent (Comp Science)
4. Sheffield Hallam (randomish)
5. Teesside

Teesside was my number 1 choice but it's so low in the league tables and the prospective job rates/graduation rates are poor. It REALLY put me off but i'll check Dundee out.

Edit:
I've cheked Dundee out and i LOVE it!
My new list is:

1. Hull
2. Portsmouth
3. Abertay Dundee
4. Kent (Comp Science)
5. Teesside

[yaustar]

I have to ask, why is Kent University in that list?

[orhanc1]

Originally Posted by yaustar

I have to ask, why is Kent University in that list?

Well, it's a good university overall but, and i know this a cardinal sin when picking a uni but, it's mostly to shut my friends up :P

Got any suggestions?

[Adrir]

Originally Posted by yaustar

I have to ask, why is Kent University in that list?

Last time I checked, Kent had quite a good general Computer Science course. If I remember correctly, Michael Kolling teaches there and is apparently a top researcher in education (how to teach computer science) and helped to develop BlueJ.

[LloydusMaximus]

Depending on how far you are willing to travel/move from home, take a look at some of the universities down South. Also, a university may look promising on paper but the open days tell a lot about the faculty. Earlier this year when I was applying for unis and visiting their open days I visited Westminster and Kingston. Westminster had course leaders on hand to talk about the course in detail, answer all of my questions and showed off the labs we'd specifically be using. They also mentioned they had guest lecturers from Rare and Realtime worlds come and give talks.
Kingston, on the other hand left a bitter taste in my mouth. There wasn't even any course-specific lecturers on hand to ask questions, just a massive Q + A session involving prospective students from a mish mash of disciplines in a lecture hall. When asked about the use of C++ in the games programming course the supposed leader for the computer science school chirped 'Well, you'll be mainly using Java' only for the dean to cut in and state 'ACTUALLY - there will be lots of C++'. Alarm bells started ringing in my head.

Now, a couple of months in to the actual course after starting at Westminster I have found it to be a mixed bag. The C++ module is a tad slow, but the maths module is quite intensive, also a module concerning the deep down workings of computers via assembly language and how parts of hardware like the CPU, memory and I/O interact is pretty deep so far. It's defintely illustrated what's going on underneath C++ when programs are compiled for me at least.

Anyway sorry for rambling on so long, I hope its given you another possible option to consider though.

[orhanc1]

Originally Posted by LloydusMaximus

Depending on how far you are willing to travel/move from home, take a look at some of the universities down South. Also, a university may look promising on paper but the open days tell a lot about the faculty. Earlier this year when I was applying for unis and visiting their open days I visited Westminster and Kingston. Westminster had course leaders on hand to talk about the course in detail, answer all of my questions and showed off the labs we'd specifically be using. They also mentioned they had guest lecturers from Rare and Realtime worlds come and give talks.
Kingston, on the other hand left a bitter taste in my mouth. There wasn't even any course-specific lecturers on hand to ask questions, just a massive Q + A session involving prospective students from a mish mash of disciplines in a lecture hall. When asked about the use of C++ in the games programming course the supposed leader for the computer science school chirped 'Well, you'll be mainly using Java' only for the dean to cut in and state 'ACTUALLY - there will be lots of C++'. Alarm bells started ringing in my head.

Now, a couple of months in to the actual course after starting at Westminster I have found it to be a mixed bag. The C++ module is a tad slow, but the maths module is quite intensive, also a module concerning the deep down workings of computers via assembly language and how parts of hardware like the CPU, memory and I/O interact is pretty deep so far. It's defintely illustrated what's going on underneath C++ when programs are compiled for me at least.

Anyway sorry for rambling on so long, I hope its given you another possible option to consider though.

I'm willing to travel as fas as i have to within the boundaries of the UK. I just want a good education that can get me into the industry. I'll check Westminster out too.

Thank you for your reply.

Edit: After thinking about it, I wouldnt know which Uni to replace Westminster with and besides, I'm thinking about moving out of London.

Again, thank you very much for your feed back!

[dogdirt2000]

I would suggest Abertay University myself.

League Tables aside, Games Design/Programming courses at Abertay are seen as being one of the few Uni's that teach you the 'right' skills for getting into the games industry (apparently).

Abertay Uni's are also accredited by an industry body called Skillset, which is quite highly looked upon. Link. Google it for further info.

I'm not at Abertay myself, but probably would have gone there had I had found this information out 3 years ago.