University Provides Open Source Computing Degree

The Aberystwyth University located in Aberystwyth, Wales provides a Bachelor of Science degree in "Open Source Computing" within its Computer Science Department. The Aberystwyth's Department of Computer Science is ranked first in Wales and came number 17 in the United Kingdom.

The degree's web page states that "Open Source software has been around for many years, but despite this there are very few degree schemes covering the subject in detail in the UK. Well-known examples of open source software include GNU/Linux, OpenOffice, Gimp, Apache (the world’s most popular server), as well as Bind, without which the internet would not exist".

The final year project is expected to be a major project developed using open source principles, according to the university's website.

Several computer skills are taken into consideration within the "Open Source Computing" degree, including software design and Java programming, web programming, Unix and Windows and professional issues in software engineering.

Linux kernel hacker Alan Cox is an alumnus of Aberystwyth University.