News and events

Free masters degree course for graduates

Published 16 December 2010

High-flying graduates are being offered the chance to take a fully-funded University of Brighton masters degree thanks to award-winning IT graduate employer FDM Group.

Recently voted 'Best Technical Graduate Recruiter' in the National Graduate Recruitment Awards 2010, FDM Group has joined forces with the university to launch a new MSc in Applied Computer Science, which promises to help students looking for fast-track career progress.

The FDM Master Class Programme will begin in January 2011 and will enable FDM to continue recruiting some of the best graduates across the globe. Delivered in partnership with the University of Brighton, FDM said it was committed to tackling the IT skills shortage by providing the essential combination of postgraduate training and commercial expertise with some of the largest companies in the world including HSBC, RBS, UBS and BSkyB.

FDM, with offices in Brighton and around the world, said it was offering the MSc free of charge to successful candidates to enable graduate recruiters such as FDM to continue taking on top-quality individuals across the country.

FDM hopes to recruit 1,000 graduates in 2011 and a number of these will be selected to embark onto the Master Class Programme. This will be the first time the University of Brighton has joined forces with FDM to provide accredited learning and this will enhance the university's strong working relationship with the group.

Sam Rhodes, the university's head of careers, said: "By working closely with an employer such as FDM, graduates can gain an insight into the workings of a large organization and improve their employability skills, whilst gaining valuable commercial experience."

Sheila Flavell, chief operating officer at FDM, said: "This partnership is hugely exciting for both the university and FDM. We are passionate about training graduates to kick-start their careers within IT and finance and we will continue to encourage graduates to pursue a career in the IT sector."

Professor Julian Crampton, Vice Chancellor of the University of Brighton, said: "As an organisation committed to effective partnerships, FDM shares similar values with regards to tailoring activity to address specific needs. FDM remains embedded in Brighton and Hove, the company's first location, and not only does FDM continue to employ a healthy number of graduates from the university, Rod and Sheila Flavell, chief officer, chief executive office and chief operating officer respectively, are both alumni of the university themselves."

Professor Andrew Lloyd, dean of the university's Faculty of Science and Engineering, said: "We are delighted to have been able to establish this collaboration between the university and FDM. This new Masters programme is a great example of how academic institutions can play an important and unique role in responding to the developing needs of industry.

"The programme will ensure high academic-quality provision which is tailored to the needs of the IT services sector, and colleagues within the university will work closely with FDM to support the continual evolution of the programme to meet changes in demands in the sector. We look forward to congratulating the first graduates from this course in the not too distant future."

To find out more about this course visit www.fdmacademy.com.