Jimmy Tran – MSc Computer Science 2013/2014 (graduating in September 2015)

                        ESIEA 5A/Trainee at Société Générale

I studied at Plymouth University instead of spending my 5^th year of my engineering course by staying at ESIEA (Ecole Superieure d’Informatique Electronique Automatique). It cost me 15000€ to pay everything that year (details available in the slides I sent to Mrs Loubet and Mrs Fuertes) which is expensive but still less expensive than most double diplomas according to others testimonies.

Even if the price of the double diploma is a barrier for most students, the experience is really worth it and I think not going, if you can afford it, is a real waste. This year in Plymouth allowed me to get an experience abroad and to obtain a second diploma in the speciality of my choice.

Moreover, I noted their educational system and modernity’s reputation were above my expectations. As a matter of fact, the university invests in its facilities and students thus providing a top notch work environment. The teachers also answer quickly to the mails and accept to spare time for their students thus providing a real support.

Furthermore, the MSc Computer Science teaches the best practices methodologies in use in the professional world in addition to IT skills matching the current needs of the companies. The theoretical knowledge is tested through essays, projects (ex: development of an application following specific requirements) and sometimes exams. The MSc Project/thesis is also a big project you picked or came up with by yourself and it offers you the possibility to have experience in research in a topic that interest you with the technology you want. My project “SearchGuardian” studied how the awareness of the personal information of internet users improves their safety and I picked this project amongst many others because I was seeking to get as much development experience as possible. This project included the development of an application to back up this theory and then I chose to use the following web programming languages: HTML5, CSS3 and AngularJS.

According to me, the most important outcome is that the companies highly value that experience abroad because it shows the student is motivated, organized, competent and able to adapt to a different culture and is fluent in English using IT vocabulary. This allows the student to distinguish himself/herself from other students who have the same formation as him/her and thus to gain the upper hand on others for a job for instance. Finally, Plymouth is a city full of students from the whole world and will therefore offers you the chance to interact with different kind of individuals and to have fun and participate in tons of activities.