Edge Hill students gained new skills and improved their employability through challenges set by top businesses during dedicated Hack Week.

Members of its computer science department took part in extracurricular activities, working in teams to put their skills to the test - and receive feedback from industry experts.

Highlights included working with software testing company, ROQ on a web-based hackathon, where the students could learn and experience a little about the testing phase of the software development lifecycle and network with the technical staff from the company.

A group of 25 students also visited the offices of hosting server specialists, UKFAST in Manchester to take part in a ‘real-life’ five-hour hacking challenge simulating work carried out on a daily basis by penetration testers at world-leading ethical hacking firm, Secarma.

Ten teams competed against each other to find vulnerabilities in a replica of a real-life business IT environment, with points awarded for identifying weaknesses and providing recommendations for fixing the problem.

Meanwhile, working in teams of five, Alder Hey Children’s Charity set students the challenge of producing a range of games for children of primary school age, with the aim of transforming their experience in hospital by bringing comfort, fun, reward and distraction to young patients, while providing vital information to parents and carers.

Professor Nik Bessis, Edge Hill’s computer science head of department, told QLocal: “Hack Week is one of a number of extracurricular opportunities students can take part in while at Edge Hill to improve their employability skills and enhance their career prospects.”

And Helen Walters, enterprise & knowledge exchange co-ordinator, added: “It’s great that so many well-known companies want to get involved. The graduate job market is so competitive so students can really benefit from opportunities like this as they can network and receive feedback form industry experts, as well as testing their creativity by working together on real world challenges.”