It’s no secret that the global pandemic has accelerated the digitalisation of businesses and services around the world. The IT industry began to develop rapidly. Accordingly, there was an urgent need for new IT employees. IT companies are trying to fill their shortage by attracting students and university graduates. Young people also don’t lag behind and actively study information technologies in educational institutions, wanting to become qualified specialists after graduation. In Leeds, there are many higher education institutions where you can get an IT education. Leeds Beckett University is one of them. In this article, we will tell you more about this institution. Learn more at leeds-future.com.
History of the university establishment
The Leeds Mechanics’ Institute was founded in 1824. Later, it became the Leeds Institute of Science, Arts and Literature. In 1927, the educational institution was renamed the Leeds College of Technology. In 1970, the college merged with Leeds College of Commerce to form Leeds Polytechnic. In 1992, the institution received the status of a university.
In 2013, the educational institution was renamed Leeds Beckett University, after one of the founders of Beckett Park College. However, the renaming caused negative comments from students.
Peculiarities of the studying process
The institution has several campuses and some of them are located in central Leeds. Over the years, the university acquired several more buildings for the quality educational process, including Old Broadcasting House (the former BBC building in Leeds), Electric Press (the building on Millennium Square), Old School Board, the Rose Bowl and the Broadcasting Place complex. The buildings of the former Polytechnic were reconstructed in the 2010s.
The educational institution also takes care of its students’ lives. That‘s why it offers new high-rise student housing, Opal Tower and Sky Plaza. By the way, these are the tallest buildings in the central part of Leeds.
Headingley Campus covers about 40 hectares. It is located in Beckett Park and is connected to the city centre by Headingley railway station. It is conveniently located in a few minutes from campus.
James Graham Building is considered the main building of the university. The building was named in honour of the Secretary for Higher Education in Leeds. He was the main initiator of the establishment of the Leeds Training College and participated in the planning of the new building. By the way, it was built in 1912 as a training block for the college. It is a Grade II listed building. By the way, during the First and Second World Wars, it was used as a military hospital.
The university can offer many buildings. Thus, it provides 4,500 bedrooms to students in various locations. In addition, all first-year students are guaranteed a place in university housing. For example, Carnegie Village offers standard Passivhaus townhouses and apartments for students at Headingley Campus.
How to choose your path in IT?
Leeds Beckett University offers a wide range of educational specialisations. So, students can major in such fields as Art, Architecture and Design, Business, Clinical and Applied Sciences, Cultural Studies and Humanities, Education, Law, Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management, Film, Music and Performing Arts, Social Sciences, etc. A special place is occupied by Built Environment and Engineering and Computing, creating technologies and engineering. This is logical because the IT field is actively developing. However, information technology is an extremely broad concept, so before you decide on a department, you should understand what you want to do in the future. Some of the most popular IT professions are
- Front-End/Back-End/Full-stack developer. It is a common speciality nowadays because the number of sites is growing every year. Digitisation is being actively implemented in business, so even small entrepreneurs have websites. Such specialists work with site design, layout and internal logic of servers.
- QA specialist and tester. These are also popular professions because QA specialists control the process of software development, while testers check the finished product.
- Mobile Developer and Game Developer. These are the most favourite professions for gamers. These specialists work on the development and creation of computer and mobile games. However, the skills in playing online games aren’t enough. This job requires quality knowledge.
- DevOps Engineer. They automate and improve the development and release processes, creating internal tools for the company, etc.
Of course, you shouldn’t forget that every IT company needs recruiters, graphic designers, marketers and analysts.
In this article, we told you about the history of the creation and development of Leeds Beckett University and the peculiarities of IT education. We hope that our article was informative and you learned something new.
