Still unsure about whether you’re choosing the best tech degree?

Collecting A-level results can be a nerve-wracking experience, as it’s the culmination of 14 years’ study and what feels like three years of continuous exam-taking. Once the celebrations or commiserations have been dealt, you could be contemplating what to do next, whether to apply for university or if you’ve chosen the course best suited to your aspirations and ambitions.

University applications are down by 5% compared to last year, so there is plenty to play for if you’re still unsure.

If you are interested in technology and want to develop employability skills over the course of your degree, then make sure you consider the IT Management for Business (ITMB) or Software Development for Business (SDfB) degrees, available from 20 leading universities across the UK.

The ITMB and SDfB degrees were developed through a unique collaboration between top tech employers and universities and teach the knowledge and skills most in demand in the sector. The ITMB offers a balanced mix of 25% each of project management, technology, business studies and personal and interpersonal skills, whilst the SfDB offers 65% of software development essentials, 15% interpersonal skills, 10% of business and 10% of software project management – all these skills are most in demand by graduate recruiters.

Whether you decide to become a technology consultant for a large organisation or work for a digital start-up, these degrees are perfect if you want to start a successful career in the tech industry. In addition to the skills you will gain from the course, you will get the chance to attend exclusive events, join hundreds of other ITMB and SDfB students from across the UK, and have direct access to employers from a wide range of organisations.

You will also be the first to hear about placements, career opportunities, and ways to enhance your employability skills, with the companies supporting the programme. Furthermore, you will have the opportunity to get involved in real-world tech challenges. This autumn, at the degrees bi-annual event, students will tackle, ‘How will you use AI to tackle real-world problems’ (1st years) and ‘How can you use technology to address healthcare challenges?’ (2nd and final years). These challenges offer students the opportunity to practise leadership skills, agile working, team building, project planning and presentation skills judged by an exclusive panel of employers.

Throughout the year, students can look forward to working on real life assessments based on talks by industry experts from PepsiCo, IBM, Capgemini and the Washington Post, view live demonstrations of data hacking from cyber security experts, and explore the latest technologies such as voice recognition from Amazon Web Services.

Key facts about the Tech Partnership degrees:

There are more than 1,500 undergraduates studying these programmes with almost 3,000 alumni to date.
90+ organisations now contribute towards the curriculum and employability events.
33% of students are female, more than double the average for Computing degrees in the UK (15%).
Last year, 75% of graduates from the Tech Partnership degrees gained a First Class or an Upper First Class degree classification compared to 51% of all other Computer Science graduates.
60% of new graduates said they were earning from £25,000–£35,000 on their starting salary, with 15% earning more than £35,000 a year.
Students get access to valuable one-to-one mentoring with alumni and employers.

For the latest success story, read Damien’s blog. Thanks to the experience and connections he made on the ITMB degree course with the University of West London (UWL), Damien secured a job as an IT Systems Specialist for a corporate company, while still in his 3rd year. Here he shares some advice for future ITMB students.