Building an enhanced student experience: reflections from the Department of Computer Science at the University of Bath

In February 2019, the British Computer Society (BCS) visited the University of Bath and accredited, for Chartered IT Professional status, the taught programmes in the Department of Computer Science. In doing so, it recognised two areas in the Department that illustrated best practice. These were: The process and procedures for the promotion, management, and assessment of the work placement. The mechanisms the Department uses to develop an active community of staff and students. It was particularly pleasing to receive this recognition. It represented the culmination of several years’ work in the Department that focussed upon enhancing the student experience. This paper presents our approach to addressing these two areas. We highlight both the strategic and operational challenges that we encountered and discuss the techniques that we developed over time. We highlight the importance of both internal and external metrics to monitor and inform our process and the importance of the student voice in fostering a computer science community. We discuss the role of senior management (Head and Deputy Head) in the process of affecting change within both the Department’s academic staffing base and the student community. We highlight the challenges of providing a quality placement experience for our students and the work we undertake with them to ensure that they have the appropriate technical and employability skills required by our placement providers.