Opportunities to Propose Software Projects, Internships & Placements for Birmingham City University Students

Birmingham City University is offering BPF members a unique opportunity to present second-year students from the College of Computing faculty with software project titles to work on as part of their second-year assessment along with the chance (but no commitment required) to offer summer internships and/or year-long placements across the UK to the students behind best designed projects, starting in summer 2025.

This collaboration aims to allow companies to propose software projects that students can work on, potentially benefitting the business. Examples of such projects include creating data analysis dashboards, task management software, and project management tools. These placements not only help students develop practical skills but also give them valuable exposure to industry work. Each project will be worked on by a group of 4-5 students from January – May 2025.

Please express your interest in the project by 7th October 2024.

Project Requirements

• Each interested company is invited to fill out a short form highlighting the projects business case, research problem, technologies to explore and skills required. Please download a sample project template you can use as a guide to fill in the form.
• A representative from the company will be expected to either visit in person or join virtually during the first week of the term (January 2025) to brief the students on the project.
• Additionally, a company representative will return in April 2025 to evaluate 8-10 group presentations showcasing competing software designs for each problem they provided.
• Companies have the option to provide a check-in advisory session midway through the January-May period to address any student questions related to their projects.

Opportunities to Offer Summer Internships & Placements

Companies can consider offering summer internships, placements, or visits to 0-5 members of the winning teams starting in summer 2025. Only students who are employed by the company will receive payment.

Please note there is no financial commitment required from companies during the January-May 2025 period.

Checklist For Setting the Project Criteria:

While the problem can involve data, companies are encouraged to provide representative data rather than real data for the assessment. To align with the module's learning outcomes, the problem should ideally meet the following criteria:

• The project should allow for the identification of ethical and legal issues related to the students' proposed software solution.
• The solution should require at least five functional requirements and two non-functional (software quality) requirements.
• The project should enable students to conduct a risk assessment for the software solution.
• The software solution should be able to incorporate software design patterns (e.g., UI, inheritance, model-view-controller, singleton, composition).

Assessment Timeline:

Members have from October to December 2024 to collaborate with Birmingham City University in refining the project, ensuring it meets the criteria and is clearly understood by both the company and the students.

For further information please contact:

  Dr Sara Hassan

  Senior Lecturer in Software Engineering, College of Computing EDI Leader

  [email protected]

Images source: Getting started with IT | Birmingham City University (bcu.ac.uk)