A minimum of a level 8 (honours degree) qualification(2.2 or higher) on the National Qualifications Framework. Applicants may be from a cognate/STEM background and standard applicants for the programme are those holders of computing or numerate degrees.
For candidates who do not have a level 8 qualification, the college operates a Recognition of Prior Experiential Learning (RPEL) scheme - meaning applicants who do not meet the normal academic entry requirements, may be considered based on relevant work or other experience. Non-English speaking applicants must demonstrate fluency in the English language as demonstrated by an IELTS academic score of at least 6.5 or equivalent.
This programme has a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy. Specifically, students are expected to successfully participate in lectures, laboratories and projects using a portable computer (laptop/notebook) with a substantial hardware configuration. The minimal suitable configuration is 8GB of RAM (16GB are recommended); a modern 64-bit x86 multi-core processor (Intel i5 or superior); 250+ GB of available space in hard disk; WiFi card; and a recent version of Ubuntu, macOS or Windows.
It is the responsibility of each student to ensure their computer is functioning correctly and that they have full administrator rights. NCI IT cannot provide support for these personal devices.