Introduction

The Department of Computing has been successfully running degree courses in computing for many years. These have always been orientated towards business computing and information systems development. The degree courses in computing form
part of the University's Undergraduate Programme within which single-honours, delayed-specialist, joint and minor degrees are available. As with all modular degree schemes, individual units
are normally taught in common to students following a wide
variety of programmes.

NCC Education Limited (NCC Education) was originally the Education Division of The National Computing Centre. The National Computing Centre was set up by the UK Government in 1966 to support and promote the use of computing technology within industry.

As such, it developed strong links within the Information Technology (IT) industry. NCC Education became a separate company in April 1997, since when NCC Education have introduced many more IT education programmes to their portfolio. The mission is to ensure the widespread availability of quality education and training for developers and users of IT.

NCC Education accredits centres overseas to teach and assess students on the NCC Education International Diploma in Computer Studies (IDCS). This is a one-year course from which successful students may go on to take a further one-year course leading to the International Advanced Diploma in Computer Studies (IAD). In addition, we also accept students who hold the Informatics Advanced Diploma in Science. Students who have achieved the minimum criteria specified in Appendix 1 in the International Advanced Diploma will be eligible to enroll on this further one-year course leading to an honours degree: the London Metropolitan University/NCC Education joint programme leading to a London Metropolitan University external degree.

An accredited centre will already have satisfied NCC Education’s accreditation criteria. This means that, in addition to the requirements specified for a Degree Validation Visit, an accredited centre will have been validated as detailed in the NCC Regulations, which cover such aspects as:

	academic and professional standards;
	qualifications and experience of staff;
	standard and extent of teaching computing faculties;
	lecturer and student materials;
	adherence to the NCC code of Practice;
	effectiveness of its management and administration;
	quality assurance;

Each centre has an NCC Education regional moderator assigned to it, whose task is to ensure that all of the above standards are maintained. A full description of the duties and requirements of an NCC Education regional moderator is available in the supplementary documentation.

A similar programme is operated by Nottingham University who select students from the International Diploma course (not the Advanced Diploma) for direct entry into a special second year of their three-year BSc (Honours) Computer Science degree course. Such students thus obtain their degree three years after starting
the International Diploma, the same time-period as proposed for the London Metropolitan University/NCC Education course.

This course can only be offered by NCC Education accredited centres, and accreditation is carried out annually. In addition,this course will come under the auspices of a regional moderator, employed by NCC Education, who is responsible for certain quality assurance functions. The centres themselves will carry out all student assessments. The regional moderator is responsible for reporting on any and all aspects of the examination process in the centres. While the centres are responsible for marking examination scripts this assessment will be moderated by London Metropolitan University using a sampling mechanism as follows.

	All examination papers are set by the London Metropolitan University (LMU). LMU reserves the right to double-mark any assessment of the students on the course.
	The University selects a sample of student projects. These projects, together with all marked examination scripts, must be despatched by the centres to arrive at the University by an agreed deadline. A typical sampling rate might be 35%

Entry Requirements

Admission to the 3rd year of the course shall only be made if there is reasonable expectation that the applicant will be able to fulfill the objectives of the course and achieve the standard expected of students receiving the award of an honours degree. An applicant is expected to possess:

	The NCC Education International Diploma in Computer Studies and the NCC Education International Advanced Diploma in Computer Studies OR
	Holders of the NCC Education International Advanced Diploma in Computer Studies and a recognized equivalent to the NCC Education International Diploma in Computer Studies and who are at least 20 years of age.

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