Further and Higher Education Culminates in OU Degree for Chris

A young man from Bangor is singing the praises of completing his further and higher education at SERC, which has culminated with a degree from the Open University (OU), delivered at the College.

Chris Billington, (21), from Bangor, progressed to SERC from Campbell College following his GCSEs.   He said, “I knew that I wanted to do computing, so it seemed appropriate to get a head start in my chosen subject with the BTEC Level 3 in IT at SERC.   Both my older sisters had studied at SERC, so I was familiar with the breadth of courses available.”

Chris added, “After the Level 3, I progressed to the HND in Computing & Software Development and, finally was able to top that up to a BSc in Cyber Security & Digital Forensics from the Open University, which was also delivered at SERC.”

Chris will be one of the first cohort of students to graduate from the new Open University degree this September.  He said, “I am absolutely delighted. You hear all the time about students getting into serious debt for their higher education but for the HND and the top-up degree I have spent about £10k – the savings have been amazing.”

Speaking about coming to study at SERC, he said, “Compared to school, College was a bit more relaxed and more friendly.   The classes were a bit smaller than in school and the tutors were always there to help you progress.   If you needed help with something or more time to complete an assignment, you just had to ask.”

He added, “The HND was more hands on and more practical and continuing on at SERC felt less intimidating than going to university for a degree.   I already had a good relationship with the lecturers, in that they knew me, and I knew them, so it made sense to continue there.”

“I was also able to combine my studies with part-time evening work in my local Centra store in Bangor.  The team at Centra were very supportive, changing shifts around when I needed a bit more time to study and for exams.”

He continued, “It was brilliant to be able to top-up to The Open University BSc (Hons) in Cyber Security & Forensics. I am particularly interested in computer forensic analysis, where you are looking at a device and checking for activity or evidence or someone committing a crime. I am also interested in the role of a penetration tester, pretending to hack into a system to test how secure it is.”

Chris is currently applying for positions in the IT industry and looking forward to graduating in September.   He said, “I would certainly recommend this route for anyone interested in a career in IT.  There are many different progression routes and there were good facilities and software available for you to complete your course successfully at SERC.”

Apply now for Computing courses starting September 2023.

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