If you are reading this, you are thinking about your future. Sometimes it helps to think about the future in pictures.
The top image is a traditional degree. If you go to almost any college you will experience this format. It has around 12 teaching weeks each semester with an exam at the end. You will typically take five or six subjects that run in parallel like swim lanes, and frequently have nothing to do with each other. Each course has a few hours of lectures and one or two tutorials each week, where you will mostly be sitting down listening to someone talking, a very passive experience for the student. Labs, while great, are very limited in contact time.
What if you learned by doing, for longer, and in real-world settings? That is the new format the BSc in immersive software engineering takes, as shown in the picture. There are no traditional classes, no modules running in parallel. There are projects where you learn theory and practice through skill acquisition.
Think of it like this.
Imagine trying to make an improvement to an eScooter. You could spend years studying books on mechanical and electrical engineering, sitting exams, then many months on redesign, eventually moving on to build. This is the traditional approach. Or you could start off by dismantling a scooter in a team-based setting under the guidance of an expert, and together discover how each element works looking for opportunities for improvement; and then rebuild with new features. This is the immersive software engineering approach - learn by doing. And learning in projects means you are graded continuously, not with end of term exams.
Even better, the people you are learning from are actively researching in the areas you are studying. They are trying to make better engines, software, and IT engines, and they are really good at it. You can learn on a toy engine or on a real one - the principles are the same. It is just the parts that are more complex or expensive. Right away, you are at the forefront of research in software engineering.
The intensity of the course, over 40 weeks per year rather than 24, means your progress is accelerated. So you can pack more hours of effective learning in, and can graduate faster. You earn an MSc in four years, not five or six.
But wait, it gets better. Students often face a chicken and egg problem when it comes to education and experience. Often, you will need to get qualified in something before trying to get experience in the area. In immersive software engineering you will get the opportunity to work in five paid placements in up to five different companies. These are called residencies as, similar to how you gain expertise in a medical residency on various invasive procedures through practice, ISE does likewise for software. More than 50 of the best companies in Ireland and the world will compete for you over the residencies that make up 50 per cent of the course. The experience you get will see you become one of the most sought-after software engineers anywhere in the world. You will command a wage that will make doctors and lawyers envious. You will be able to travel anywhere, work anywhere, and enjoy a varied life.
University of Limerick has scholarships to encourage equality, diversity, and inclusion. Software engineering has a diversity problem. UL wants to solve it. If you do not look or feel or think like the generic actor who plays every computer hacker in every movie you have ever seen, the team at UL want to hear from you. They will be announcing the scholarships very soon.
