Student ICT Development Projects (SDPs) are established for the mutual benefit of both the
student and the business taking part.
SDPs are designed for students to complete their final year or MSc/MEng projects with
direct industrial applications, providing them with the opportunity of in.depth exploration of
a particular topic in computer science. They also provide students with the opportunity of
designing and implementing a complete system and experiencing the major phases of the
life.cycle of a software project. The project will give the student a real life challenge, to use
their technical skills on real world problems and an opportunity to get an insight into the ICT
business world.
What do businesses have to do to set up a Student ICT Development Project?
Interested businesses should contact Software Alliance Wales and put forward a project
proposal which then will be discussed, evaluated and assigned to a student together with
an academic supervisor who is specialised in the subject area. These may be specification,
prototyping or evaluation exercises, or may constitute tasks that would be otherwise
unrealistic or impractical to conduct with the company resources.
How will businesses benefit from Student ICT Development Projects?
The company will benefit through the opportunity of conducting a substantial project which is
often curiosity-driven, innovative and involves system prototyping. The participating business
will have the opportunity to gain free access to higher level skills and to build strong links
with the University and its academics at no extra cost. The project period spans part-time
across the academic year but will be specific to individual programmes i.e. MSc, MEng or
final year students.
