Immersive Software Engineering is the future.

Imagine a computer science degree where you learn by doing. Where you spend half your time being paid to solve some of society’s toughest problems in the world’s best companies, and half your time learning with the best lecturers and researchers. Where you learn in studios working on projects, not in lecture halls. Where you get a master’s qualification in four years.

ISE’s residencies are inspired by medical school residencies, in which trainee doctors apply what they have studied in a classroom to patients while being mentored. Software engineering is a craft you learn by doing. We think you will learn best on the job, with mentoring from both industry and academia.

In your four years at ISE you will complete up to five paid residencies, each between three and six months long. Each residency teaches you a suite of concrete skills and gives you the opportunities to practice them.

Inside these companies you will be a part of real, professional teams solving problems like: Climate Crisis; Auto Accidents; Financial Services; Healthcare; Speech Analysis; Business Startup.

Dive right in with ISE.

Immersive Software Engineering is a highly competitive, immersive programme from which students graduate with a master’s degree in software engineering in under four years.

ISE is a radical change in how we teach computer science. ISE features a much more intensive student experience. We achieve a fast-tracked graduation by removing summers and devoting every-other semester to residencies.

Residencies are not internships. Residencies are designed so students learn in the same way medical doctors do, by acquiring prescribed skills in real-world settings. Students learn at an accelerated pace during their time at UL in team-taught blocks in a bespoke studio setting.

The focus is on project-driven, peer-based learning with input from companies at all times. Assessment is continuous. Students spend 45% of their time in companies like Stripe, AWS, Intercom, Analog Devices, as well as many Irish startups and SMEs. We have venture capital firms as well as Enterprise Ireland and the IDA as part of our coalition of partners.

We find creative, motivated students, teach them cutting edge software engineering, match them to research active, industry-connected innovative companies, and mentor them to achieve their best outcomes.

We help act as a bridge between Irish computer science students, European tech giants, and Silicon Valley.

Find out if your company can benefit from ISE’s students by booking a call with our Residency Team ISE.

October Open Days
We welcomed loads of prospective students in to the ISE labs to talk through the benefits of the course (and to have some fun!)
Watch the video
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Who you'll work with

Real-world, hands on experience

Software engineering is a wonderful career. Immersive Software Engineering gets students writing code in the real world as quickly as possible, so they’re ready to join today’s leading companies or start Ireland’s next breakout startup.”

John Collison
Entrepreneur, co-founder of Stripe
 

“We gave them something that we thought would take them three months and they finished in three weeks. That was the incredible nature of what they were able to achieve because of the talent, because of the training they got and because of the immersement in industry”

Mike Morrissey

Catalyst Director, Analog Devices

“Our ISE student was operating at level that we would expect to see from a graduate, and he had only completed his first year.”

Professor Geraldine Boylan
Director of the Irish Centre Maternal & Child Health
Research, University College Cork
 

“We take ISE students because we see the attitude. They embrace the culture, they embrace the environment. We know that they are great technologists, but it’s actually the ability and the trajectory that has completely changed the perception of interns at Intercom.”

Oisín Hurley
Senior Engineering Manager, Intercom

“The whole set-up has been second to none. The programme team communication was fantastic and the students organisation and ability to deliver is actually far superior to where they should be right now.”

Lorraine Curham
NDRC Head of Operations, Dogpatch Labs

“Some of our ISE students have worked on projects that are incredibly critical for us here in J&J and they have delivered beyond all expectations.”

James Walsh
Senior Software Development Manager – MLL Platforms at
Johnson & Johnson Technology Services
 

“This is exactly what I wanted when I was in college.”

Marc Andressen
Inventor of the web browser
 
 “This is a phenomenal way to learn the skills you need to build the next Instagram.”
 
Mike Krieger
Co-founder of Instagram
 

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