BSc (Hons) Applied Cyber Security including Foundation Year

BSc (Hons) How to apply Apply through UCAS Book an Open Day Chat to us

UCAS Code

7B8F

Start Date

September 2027

Location

Newport

Campus Code

UCAS Points

International students: £17,600*

Course Overview

The dynamic world of cyber security needs graduates who are ready for action. That’s why you will use cutting-edge tech in labs that mimic the real world on our Applied Cyber Security degree. Solve live problems alongside industry experts and equip yourself for a range of cyber security roles.

The diverse challenges within cyber security test your technical skills and your ability to analyse, investigate, and solve problems. If you want to develop these talents and work in cyber security roles across law enforcement, government and private sectors, Applied Cyber Security is for you.

Accreditations

We’re accredited by the BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT

Why study this course?

Real-world experience

Gain real-world experience working with South Wales Police Digital Forensics Unit, Bridewell, Airbus, The Royal Mint, Thales and more.

Unparalleled facilities

Train in specialised labs with industry-leading tools like Kali Linux and VMWare. Investigate cyber crime in our ‘crime scene house’.

Award winning

We’ve been Cyber Security University of the Year for four years running at the UK’s National Cyber Security Awards.

Centre of Excellence

USW is a Gold Standard Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security, awarded by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) – a part of GCHQ.

What you'll study

In your Foundation Year, you’ll explore real-world challenges, build practical, academic, and teamwork skills, and develop curiosity, confidence, and problem-solving abilities to prepare for future study and impact.

This module helps you develop academic, personal and professional skills for university study. You’ll reflect on your progress, build confidence, and create an evidence-based portfolio to support your future learning.

This module introduces core programming concepts and software development practices, helping you plan, write, test, and refine code while building problem-solving skills and confidence using modern development environments and methodologies.

This module introduces information systems and databases, showing you how to collect, organise, and protect data. Through real-world examples, you will discover how data powers smart, secure, and responsible decisions that drive real change.

You’ll work in teams with other Foundation Year students to tackle real-world challenges, developing solutions through research, curiosity, collaboration, and responsible problem-solving while building skills that will support your future studies.

We regularly review our courses to keep pace with changing skills and employer needs. If a review leads to significant changes, we’ll contact you to explain what’s changing for the coming year.

Teaching and Assessment

This is a practical, industry-focused course designed to develop the skills employers are looking for in today’s cyber security professionals. You’ll learn through a combination of lectures, workshops, specialist lab sessions and independent study, applying your knowledge to real-world challenges from the start of your degree. Our focus is on preparing you for a successful career in cyber security, giving you hands-on experience with industry-standard tools and technologies in dedicated facilities. Through live briefs, practical projects and collaboration with industry partners, you’ll graduate with the confidence and experience needed to tackle modern cyber security threats. 

Our course is designed to make you work-ready and equipped to tackle the cyber security industry's most pressing challenges. You'll learn through a combination of lectures, workshops, practical lab sessionsand independent study, with much of your 12–16 hours of weekly study time spent hands-on at the keyboard. Around half of your assignments are based on live briefs set by cyber security professionals, giving you the opportunity to work on current industry challenges and gain a real insight into life as a cyber security practitioner.

Given the dynamic nature of cyber security, formal examinations are kept to a minimum. Instead, you'll be assessed through a combination of evidence-based academic research and practical project work that reflects real-world industry practice. This approach allows you to demonstrate both your technical capabilities and your ability to analyse, evaluate and solve complex cyber security challenges.

Our connections with key organisations mean you’ll gain crucial work experience and build contacts throughout the entire course. You’ll work with industry leaders and have opportunities for placements from the likes of Bridewell, Gwent Police, Airbus, The Royal Mint, Thales and more. Their experts deliver workshops and lead you in live briefs, where you’ll work in our state-of-the-art cyber environments that replicate real-world centres. In the Digital Forensics strand, you’ll learn how to gather evidence from our ‘crime scene house’ and present it in court under examination in our mock courtroom, with an opportunity for additional training from Bond Solon legal consultancy.

Most of your studies take place at the Newport campus, home of the National Cyber Security Academy in the heart of Wales’s vibrant tech capital. You’re perfectly situated close to major industry players, such as Airbus. With two entire floors dedicated to cyber security, this hive of activity is the perfect place to develop your digital skills. Our Secure Operations Centre (SOC) reflects current industry centres and contains all the high-spec infrastructure and technology you’ll need to fight cyber crime. Our Digital Investigation Lab mirrors those used by law enforcement and corporate analysts during investigations.

Course Leader

Dr Richard Ward

Dr Richard Ward is the course leader for the BSc Applied Cyber Security course at our Newport City campus. Richard's academic interests include applying cyber security to field such as cryptography and SCAs. Richard enjoys sharing his enthusiasm for cyber whether lecturing on one of our award winning cyber courses, supervising his PhD students or at outreach events.

Feel free to email Richard to find out more about the course.

Career Prospects

Applied Cyber Security primes you for many in-demand roles within managed security operations centres, law enforcement agencies, corporate organisations, incident response organisations, military and government intelligence agencies, and private security and consulting firms.

Your future career

You have opportunities to gain advanced accreditations, build real-world experience, and engage with industry professionals to showcase your skills and forge relationships. This gives you an exceptional chance of securing a role in your chosen field. Potential career paths include:

Security analysis and auditing
Ethical hacking
Information Security governance, risk and compliance
Penetration testing
Intelligence officers
Digital forensics
Incident response

A smiling man with tattoos and a trimmed beard stands confidently with arms crossed in front of large digital screens displaying cybersecurity data and graphs. He is wearing a black

"Attending industry lectures has allowed me to form invaluable professional connections."

Ross Wills, Applied Cyber Security student

Learn more

Salary expectations

An Applied Cyber Security degree can open opportunities across cyber security and the wider computing sector. Computing and Cyber Security careers offer strong earning potential:

Median wage
UK: £53.7k per annum
Wales: £43.4k per annum

Total jobs in 2025
UK: 1.76m
Wales: 44,279

Source: Lightcast Labour Market Data 2026

Industry partners

We have strong links with key people and organisations in cyber security, who develop live briefs with us and offer placement opportunities. These include government departments such as the Financial Conduct Authority, Home Office Scientific Development Research Branch, GCHQ, Office for National Statistics and The Royal Mint. Also, law enforcement agencies such as South Wales Police Digital Forensics Unit, Gwent Police Hi-Tech Crime Unit, Met Police and various digital forensics companies. We also work with private firms such as Airbus, Thales, Bridewell, Cyber Wales and various international banks and financial service providers.

Entry Requirements

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended, for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer, and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.

USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.

How to apply Contextual admissions policy Ask us a question

48 UCAS points or above

Typical qualification requirements:

A Level:
DD

BTEC:
BTEC Extended Diploma Pass Pass Pass or BTEC Diploma Pass Pass

Access to HE:
Pass the Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 48 UCAS Tariff points

T Level:
Pass (D or E)

Additional requirements:
The University normally requires a minimum 3 GCSEs at Grade C or above, including Mathematics (Numeracy AND Mathematics in Wales) and English Language. For those taking GCSEs in England, a Grade 4 is considered equivalent to a C.

International applications welcomed:

We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence, please view our dedicated country pages.

International students Pre-Sessional English

English language requirements

International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 4 overall and a minimum of 4 in each component or equivalent.

Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.

If you have previously studied through the medium of English, IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.

If you do not meet the English entry criteria, please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.

Fees and Funding

Fees and funding Scholarships and bursaries Cost of living support

Studying at university is one of the most significant investments you'll ever make. Whilst you’re studying, you’ll have two main financial obligations – tuition fees and living costs. There’s lots of financial help available from the University of South Wales and external funding sources, that may provide loans (which have to be paid back) and grants, scholarships and bursaries (that don't).

*Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits. Once enrolled, the fee is anticipated to remain at the same rate throughout the duration of your study on this course except as described below.

Please be aware that we may increase the maximum fee for home students on full-time undergraduate courses only where the Welsh Government increases the permitted level of inflation of fees. Fees for all students (including part-time, postgraduate and international students) may be amended in accordance with our applicable Fees and Debt Management Policy. We will ensure that students are given clear, intelligible, unambiguous and timely information about our courses and costs in good time, ahead of the next academic year.

As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.

Field Trip

A number of events, such as careers talks, guest lectures etc will be available to students and may take place at locations other than the Newport campus. Students will be expected to pay the cost of transport to these events, which will of course depend on where students live. £0 - £25

Additional Industry and Professional Certificates

Throughout the course students will have the opportunity to undertake learning, working towards professional and industry led certificates such as CISCO’s Cyber Ops, Bond Solon Expert Witness Skills, EC-Council’s Certified Ethical Hacker. Some of these certificates are available at an additional cost to students, however they are all offered at a reduced educational discount that may not be available outside of Higher Education.

International Full-Time Fee £ 17,600

per year

Fees and funding Scholarships and bursaries Cost of living support

Field Trip

Additional Industry and Professional Certificates

Cyber University of the Year at the National Cyber Awards, four years running (2019-22), and finalists again in 2025.

Top university in Wales and 24th out of 123 universities in the UK.

Guardian University Guide 2027

Three USW students walking outside of Cardiff Campus - Atrium

10 subjects ranked in the Guardian University Guide 2027 Top 10, including two at #1.

Three students studying in a pod in the library at Cardiff campus

Top in Wales for new business startups and 7th in the UK (HEBCIS)

Explore our facilities

Step into the future of digital security with a range of hands-on experiences.

National Cyber Security Academy

With two entire floors dedicated to cyber security, this hive of activity is the perfect place to develop your digital skills. Our Secure Operations Centre (SOC) reflects current industry centres and contains all the high-spec infrastructure and technology you’ll need to fight cyber-crime.

How to apply

All applications for full-time undergraduate courses or foundation degrees should be made via UCAS. Take the next step: Apply through UCAS

You can apply to us directly for all part-time undergraduate courses, if you’re seeking advanced entry or you’re an international student. To apply directly, please choose the application form below for your preferred start date and mode of study (full-time or part-time).

Applied Cyber Security including Foundation Year
- Full-time, 4 years
- September
- Newport
Apply direct

If you already have a relevant qualification or experience related to the course you're applying for, you may be eligible to start at a later stage of the course. For example, students from partner colleges can ‘top up’ their qualifications to a degree by joining us in Year Two or Year Three of a course. This process is known as ‘advanced entry’, you can apply directly to the University for 'advanced entry' using the application forms provided above.

Applicants accepted through advanced entry may study a different combination of modules to those advertised, as they will be joining a course already in progress. You will be contacted and advised about these modules once your application has been processed and an offer made.

International applicants can apply to us directly. If the University has an in-country team in your region, your application will be assigned to them for assistance.

Student Stories

"Preparing for success in Cyber Security."

Savva Cyber Security Graduate

View student profile

Student Stories

"Turning a passion for cyber security into a career."

Ross Wills Cyber Security Student

View student profile

Ready to apply?

Still exploring your options?

Student life Our locations Accommodation

Applied Cyber Security including Foundation Year