Students showcase their software solutions to industry

Cardiff students work with local businesses to develop innovative solutions to their digital problems.

On 24 May, BSc Applied Software Engineering students from Cardiff University’s National Software Academy in Newport showcased the software solutions they had developed as part of their final year projects.

The students were given specific briefs from real clients that required them to work in teams to develop a range of web and mobile applications, security systems, robotics and applications of augmented reality (AR), for a variety of project sponsors.

Projects worked on by the students included:

• Air and noise pollution monitoring projects for Cardiff Council
• a digital solution to support the reorganisation of transport services in Wales, in conjunction with Transport for Wales
• an Augmented Reality (AR) walk-through application to alleviate anxiety in children when visiting the dental hospital for Cardiff University’s School of Dentistry
• a physical prototype of a security system to enable people working in remote locations to access co-working office space using a smart mobile app

The projects gave the students essential first-hand experience of managing real-world software development problems. During the course of the projects, they had to present their solutions and recommendations to the businesses involved, their academic supervisors and fellow students.

Several businesses attended the event, including representatives from Admiral, Sony UK, Cisco, Confused.com, GoCompare, Red Hat and CapGemini.

Stephen Meredith, the Enterprise Architect at Cardiff County Council, was impressed by the Academy’s students commenting, “They are a good mix of bright and enthusiastic individuals that can look at problems with a different perspective and provide high-quality, timely solutions.”

Among the attendees was David Sadler, Head of IT Recruitment at Acorn Jobs, who later tweeted: “Fantastic showcase of talent @CUSoftAcademy this am. Genuinely blown away not only by their clear technical skills but their ability to present and articulate their idea/solution.”

Carl Jones, a Lecturer from Cardiff University’s National Software Academy, said “To prepare our graduates for the world of work, they have to know the whole breadth of how a real industrial project might run. Through our team-based projects, we help our students to develop the commercial and people management skills required to secure them good graduate jobs at the end of their studies.”

The students are the second cohort to graduate from the National Software Academy to the world of work. Some students already have full-time graduate jobs that they have secured through connections made during their studies at the National Software Academy.

From everyone at the School of Computer Science and Informatics, we wish all graduates of 2019 the very best of luck with their future careers.