Why choose this course 

• You earn while you learn, and your employer funds the programme, so you finish with a full honours degree and no tuition fee debt. 

• You choose the specialism that fits your job, from software engineering and cyber security to data analysis and network engineering, all within one degree. 

• Your assessments are built around your own workplace, so the projects you complete for your degree are also useful work for your employer. 

• You’re taught by people who’ve done the job, in small day-release classes with one-to-one support and sessions from our HE.LP team on research and academic writing. 

• It’s shaped with employers, and our industry partners include the Ministry of Defence, Boeing UK, HP and MBDA. 

All four pathways share the same first year and a common core that runs through the whole degree. From Year Two, each pathway adds its own specialist modules, which are labelled below. You complete 360 credits over four years, and your final award names your specialism, for example BSc (Hons) Digital and Technology Solutions (Cyber Security Analyst). 

Year One: the shared foundations 

Every apprentice starts in the same place, with the programming, networking, data and security grounding that every digital role leans on. Professional Practice I runs alongside, anchoring your study in your job from the start.

Fundamentals of Software Development – 30 credits: Design, code, test and debug real programs in C++ and learn how software is built. 

Professional Practice I – 30 credits: Establish your role in your organisation, map your career path and set a development plan with SMART targets. 

Database Development – 15 credits: Model, normalise and query relational databases with SQL. 

Computer Networks and Protocols – 15 credits: Configure switches, firewalls and services, and master IP addressing and subnetting. 

Business Security – 15 credits: Assess organisational risk and explore penetration testing with Kali Linux and TryHackMe. 

Year Two: choosing your direction 

Your second year widens your technical range with web application development and project management, and your first specialist module takes you into your chosen pathway. 

WebApp Development – 30 credits: Build, secure and deploy a full database-driven web application across the stack. 

Professional Practice II – 30 credits: Build an e-portfolio of workplace evidence and review your progress against your development targets. 

Fundamentals of Project Management – 15 credits: Plan, cost and control projects with traditional and agile methods, applied to your own organisation. 

Object Oriented Software Design and Development (Software Engineer pathway) – 30 credits: Design and build efficient, testable C# software using OO principles, UML and design patterns. 

Cyber Security Forensics (Cyber Security Analyst pathway) – 30 credits: Acquire and analyse digital evidence across disk, memory and network with industry tools. 

Data Analytics (Data Analyst pathway) – 30 credits: Apply probability, inference and regression to real datasets, using R to wrangle, analyse and visualise them. 

Network Monitoring and Diagnostics (Network Engineer pathway) – 30 credits: Capture and analyse traffic, diagnose network faults and recommend fixes with tools like Wireshark and PRTG. 

Year Three: working at scale 

Your third year brings in cloud platforms, connected devices and the controls that keep change and quality on track in a real organisation, alongside a 30-credit specialist module for your pathway. Software Engineer and Data Analyst apprentices choose theirs from a set of options. 

Cloud Computing Platforms – 15 credits: Build and secure enterprise virtualisation and cloud solutions, including on Microsoft Azure. 

Internet of Things -15 credits: Plan, build and test a secure multi-device IoT solution using hardware such as the Raspberry Pi. 

Project Change Control and Quality Management – 15 credits: Analyse how change and quality are managed, and recommend improvements for your own organisation. 

Professional Practice III – 15 credits: Evaluate the skills your projects have built and set a development plan that reaches beyond the degree. 

Cyber Security Intelligence (Cyber Security Analyst pathway) – 30 credits: Detect, contain and recover from security incidents using logging, monitoring and cryptographic tools. 

Network Infrastructure Planning (Network Engineer pathway) – 30 credits: Plan, budget and justify a large-scale network upgrade for a real organisation. 

Artificial Intelligence (Software Engineer or Data Analyst option) – 30 credits: Design, build and evaluate machine learning, computer vision and NLP solutions in Python. 

Coding for Machine Learning and Data Science (Software Engineer or Data Analyst option) – 30 credits: Wrangle and visualise real-world data and apply supervised learning and forecasting in Python. 

Advanced Web Development and Platforms (Software Engineer option) – 30 credits: Build secure, database-driven web solutions with frameworks and CMSs such as Laravel and WordPress. 

Year Four: specialism and end-point assessment 

Your final year pairs one advanced specialist module with the end-point assessment, where you bring everything together in a major project for your employer. 

Digital and Technology Solutions End-Point Assessment – 30 credits: Deliver a major work-based project for your employer and demonstrate your competence to an independent assessor. 

Collaborative Software Development (Software Engineer pathway) – 30 credits: Deliver a group software project in C# using version control, code review and testing. 

Practical Security (Cyber Security Analyst pathway) – 30 credits: Audit security controls, assess risk and analyse cyber attacks in the role of a security analyst. 

Applied Statistics (Data Analyst pathway) – 30 credits: Apply imputation, dimensionality reduction and supervised and unsupervised learning to messy data in Python. 

Advanced Networking Administration (Network Engineer pathway) – 30 credits: Administer and secure multi-site enterprise networks with Active Directory, Group Policy, DNS and DHCP. 

How you'll learn 

You'll spend one day a week at University Centre Weston, where lectures, workshops and lab sessions give you the theory and the hands-on practice, backed by e-learning you can pick up around your working week. The rest of your learning happens on the job. Nearly every module asks you to build or investigate something real, and wherever it can, your coursework draws on your own organisation, its systems and its problems. Our network and electronics labs, virtualisation, AI compute facilities and production web hosting are all there when a module needs them, and Microsoft 365 is provided throughout.  We keep classes small on purpose. Your tutors know you by name, they've worked in the industry themselves, and they understand what it takes to balance a job with a degree. Regular progress reviews with you and your employer keep your apprenticeship on track, and the Professional Practice modules make sure your development at work counts towards your degree rather than sitting alongside it. 

How you'll be assessed 

Assessment is practical and mostly rooted in your job: portfolios where you design, build and evaluate a solution, technical lab reports, presentations, a technical interview, e-portfolios of workplace evidence and exams in a handful of modules. Everything builds towards the end-point assessment in your final year, where you complete a major work-based project for your employer, present it and answer questions, and take part in a professional discussion drawing on the portfolio you've built across the apprenticeship. It's graded by an independent assessor, and the result counts towards your final degree classification. 

Career opportunities 

Most apprentices progress within the organisation they already work for, stepping into more senior technical roles as their skills grow. Depending on your pathway, graduates typically go into roles like these: 

• Software Engineer  - Design, build and test software to professional standards within a team. 
• Cyber Security Analyst - Monitor, investigate and respond to threats across an organisation. 
• Data Analyst - Turn organisational data into insight using statistics and machine learning. 
• Network Engineer - Plan, administer and secure the networks an organisation runs on. 
• Cloud / Infrastructure Engineer - Build and manage the virtualised and cloud platforms behind modern services. 
• Digital Solutions Lead - Plan and deliver technology projects that meet real business needs. 

Where this could take you next 

Once you pass the end-point assessment you'll hold a BSc (Hons) Digital and Technology Solutions from UWE Bristol, with your pathway named in the award, and you'll have completed the Digital and Technology Solutions Professional apprenticeship. From there you're ready for senior technical and specialist roles, professional certifications or postgraduate study such as a Master's degree.  

Qualification Requirements

UCW recommends, three A Levels at grade C or above, preferably in related subjects such as Maths, Science and IT, or a BTEC Extended Diploma at MMM, or a T Level at Pass, or equivalent. Level 2 English and Maths at 4/C or above is desirable. Please be aware, that companies can and do set their own entry requirements for the programme. It is important the advertisement is checked carefully to ensure you meet the entry requirements. Employers fund the programme through the Apprenticeship Levy, and smaller employers who don't pay the levy contribute no more than 5% of the cost. Whether you're an employer or looking for an apprenticeship, our apprenticeships team can help on 01934 411 594 or apprenticeships@weston.ac.uk. 

Programme Specification Employer guide