Course details

Summary

Become part of a community that plays a role in improving our future - blend theory and practice to contribute to an increasingly technologically advanced, sustainable world.

This four-year programme, comprising a blend of theoretical and practical work, ensures that you’re career-ready upon graduation. You’ll pursue one of the nine specialisations available at our country’s leading Engineering faculty.

What is Software Engineering?

Software engineering is behind many of the things we now take for granted – internet banking, online shopping, mobile payments. It is the apps on your smart phone, the games on your computer, and the cloud storage you depend on to back up your devices. Software engineers combine their expertise in computer science, engineering and mathematics to design, develop and test software for various uses.

The sub-discipline as a whole involves software architecture, system performance, testing and quality assurance, requirements engineering, computer and human interaction, and documentation, all amongst considerations of ethical, social, legal, economic and safety issues. This area of engineering is complex and fast-paced, but propelled by the momentum of intuitive software and app development, the possibilities stretch as far as your imagination.

What will I study?

The Software Engineering specialisation produces graduates capable of engineering large, complex and fault-tolerant systems which function reliably and can be effectively developed and maintained. As a student of Software Engineering, you will build on the general engineering literacy you acquired in Part I by developing specialist software and programming knowledge.

Alongside fundamental mathematics, project management and professional ethics, you will learn about:

• operating systems
• programming languages
• computer organization and architecture
• software design and construction
• data communications
• algorithm design and analysis

Our degree is co-taught with the Department of Computer Science, meaning you will receive a strong engineering perspective in addition to skills and knowledge relating to leading-edge computing applications, computing technology, and computer systems. By the end of Part IV, you will not only have superior ICT training, but an ability to understand and work through the entire lifecycle of software development and maintenance.

Where will it take me?

We consider Software Engineers to be the newest generation of IT workforce leaders, and believe graduates of this sub-discipline will continue to be ‘in demand’ for the foreseeable future. Infrastructure, government agencies, businesses, and individuals are increasingly reliant on intuitive, dependable, cloud-based software, and this movement is not expected to slow. With a BE(Hons) in Software Engineering, you could end up in virtually any company, managing their information storage and sharing technologies.

You will also find ample opportunities in dedicated software consultancy firms; here, you won’t just be writing programs, you’ll be discussing requirements with clients and designing solutions, making quotes and meeting budgets, and potentially directing your own team. You might end up in management, as an IT CEO, CTO, project leader or specialist technical lead. Other graduates of ours have extended their Part IV projects in postgraduate research, using this to kick-start their very own start-up companies.

Further study options

• Master of Engineering
• Master of Engineering Studies
• Master of Disaster Management
• Master of Energy
• Master of Operations Research
• Doctor of Philosophy

Entry criteria

Secondary school qualifications

You need to have one of the following:

• International Baccalaureate Diploma with a minimum total score of 24.
• General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced Level. You must have completed a minimum of three A-Level subjects with at least a 'C' grade or higher. General Studies or similar general papers cannot be included.

GCE ‘A’ Level requirements apply to ‘A’ Level qualifications examined by bodies such as AQA, OCR, Edexcel, WJEC, CCEA, Pearson Education Limited and CIE taken outside of New Zealand.

English language requirements:

IELTS 6.0; TOEFL (iBT) 80; TOEFL (paper-based) 550; CAE or CPE 169; PTE 50; MELAB 80.