Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Illustration and Animation with Placement

at Anglia Ruskin University - Cambridge Campus United Kingdom

Our BA (Hons) Illustration and Animation course explores the connections between animation and illustration, helping you to create sequential narratives using a variety of methods – from traditional handmade image-making, to the latest specialist 2D digital animation, 3D CGI used in industry and cutting-edge interactive techniques.

As well as gaining strong software skills and a good understanding of animation, timings and motion, you will become an innovative and creative thinker. You will develop creative abilities, technical skills and a personal language within animation, with the focus being on illustration and design.

Within our supportive and vibrant studio culture, you will work on a range of projects from narrative animation, animated idents, motion graphics, character design, storyboarding, CGI and concept art to develop a body of work for your professional portfolio and showreel, preparing you for industry.

Perhaps most importantly, you’ll get time, guidance and support from a team of industry professionals, animators and illustrators and visiting industry experts who are dedicated to your creative development. In your final year you will also receive guidance from an assigned industry advisor dedicated to the year.

While developing a unique visual style, you’ll also focus on the core foundations: studying the world around you, refining your drawing skills, learning the fundamentals of animation skills using industry standard 2D and 3D animation software, such as TV paint and Maya and learning to create engaging stories through moving images.

You’ll go on group reportage drawing trips, with opportunities to visit museums, galleries and animation festivals in the UK and overseas. You’ll find lots of visual inspiration in Cambridge – from the Botanic Gardens to the art collection in the Fitzwilliam Museum, to the city’s architectural beauty and vibrant cultural and student life.

With our BSc (Hons) Audio & Music Technology degree, you’ll integrate theories of sound into your audio projects, as you build a portfolio for a future career in the creative industries, including live sound, gaming, broadcast and film.

Under the guidance of experienced academic staff and industry-active practitioners, you will spend time developing a broad, balanced skill set, acquiring proficiencies in the design, integration, and operation of the technologies and techniques that will underpin your future career.

Study on a degree that scored 100% for Overall Satisfaction in the National Student Survey 2019.

Our Audio and Music Technology course is accredited by JAMES (Joint Audio Media Education Support). The JAMES trained assessors and the accreditation panel members are working professionals with the experience and knowledge to evaluate the industrial relevance of a course.

Make the most of Cambridge’s diverse music scene with our links to local networks such as Cambridge Arts Network and Cambridge Live – from classical music to UK rap or even film and computer game soundtrack, there are plenty of opportunities to explore your style.

Take advantage of an optional work placement between years two and three, plus internships with our industry partners and practitioners. Opportunities like these provide great experience to include on your CV plus a fantastic opportunity to make those essential industry contacts.

Spend time working in climate-controlled recording studios and audio/video production facilities with support from our dedicated technical team. Develop your music and experiment with different styles and techniques as you immerse yourself in our industrious and collaborative student community, and join our award-winning Audio Music Technology Society and gain access to work experience at professional venues.

Study Philosophy and English literature together and learn to make your point of view stand out with substance, as well as style.

You’ll consider big questions such as ‘Who are we?’, ‘What can we know?’, and ‘What should we do to lead worthwhile lives?’ and discover how great minds have tried to answer them.

Alongside this, you’ll explore how English literature is shaped by its historical and cultural context, and how, in turn, it influences readers and society. In doing this, you’ll also explore other subjects such as history, politics, religion, psychology and history of art.

Your studies will be supported by our expert lecturers, who offer one-to-one tutoring and personalised feedback. This support helped our philosophy courses rank first in the UK in the National Student Survey 2020, and top in the UK for “Satisfied with Feedback' (The Guardian University Guide 2021).

You can also choose to focus on areas of particular interest to you, such as Victorian literature, poetry, contemporary fiction, and the work of philosophers including Kant, Descartes and Heidegger.

You’ll gain valuable research skills by using bibliographies, databases and information technology to answer important questions about literature and you’ll also develop your problem solving, critical thinking and judgement skills by analysing major philosophical ideas.

These are important skills, with the World Economic Forum ranking complex problem solving and critical thinking among the top ten skills needed to succeed in today’s job market.

You can also engage in philosophical discussions and debates through our student-led Philosophy Society, attend events such as our Royal Institute of Philosophy lecture series or boost your employability by learning a language with our Anglia Language Programme.

As well as covering the basics, our course includes a number of optional modules. Choose to explore business innovation, financial management, leadership or intercultural management – and tailor your studies to suit your interests.

We understand that while you’re here to learn, you’re also laying the foundations for your future career. We want to help you enhance your employability, and we do that in three ways.

Firstly, by studying with us in Cambridge or Chelmsford you’ll be exploiting our links with local businesses. We host regular visits from employers, guest speakers and business events – helping you build a network for when you graduate.

Throughout your Business Management degree you’ll also benefit from lectures and seminars on CV preparation, job-hunting, obtaining work experience, using social media to enhance your professional profile, and more.

And finally, we work with employers to make sure you graduate with the knowledge, skills and abilities they look for. They help us review what we teach and how we teach it – so you can be sure you’re working on projects that reflect the needs and priorities of business.

At ARU most of our business degrees also include an optional placement year, giving you the chance to spend a year working in industry and to add valuable work experience to your CV.

As a student at ARU, you’ll start by understanding the fundamentals of computing including computer networks, Linux operating systems, client/server architectures and secure high-level software development. You'll come to understand and recognise the cybercrime threats that organisations, and their infrastructures, face.

We’ll go on to study the cryptographic principles underpinning digital security and their application, how organisations' infrastructures can be protected from attack and how digital forensics can be used to investigate cyber related crime and malware infections. In a Security Management module, we’ll investigate how organisations visualise security operations, undertake threat intelligence and investigate potential threats.

Our Cyber Security degree includes access to the CCNA Routing and Switching and EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) curriculums. This gives you the chance to progress your learning to full certification – you’ll just need to pay for your exam fees.

Our specialist labs are the perfect place you apply your knowledge and skills, carrying out penetration testing, digital forensic investigations and analysing how malware operates. They’re equipped with tools such as Kali Linux Penetration Testing Distribution, X-Ways Forensic, Autopsy, Cisco PacketTracer, OWASP ZAP and Burp Suite.

What’s more, our close links to cyber security institutions such as OWASP Cambridge Chapter, BCS Cybercrime Forensics SG,(ISC)2 and UK Cyber Security Forum Cambridge Cluster means you'll hear directly from industry experts in the classroom.

We are academic supporters for OWASP, Chartered Institute for Information Security (CIISec), CREST and ISACA London, which all additionally benefits to students studying at ARU.

You have the option to take a placement year as part of your course, and gain valuable work experience.

On this course you’ll learn through practice, in our Early Childhood Resource and Research Room and through our optional placement and theoretical modules. Placements are optional and individually tailored to enable you to gain experience in a variety of different types of settings.

Whether you decide to go on placement or not, you’ll have access to additional volunteering and work experience as well as the choice to take part in further professional development training opportunities, enrichment trips, research groups and various early childhood and education events.

Throughout your studies you’ll be taught by experts in the field of early childhood, using a variety of teaching methods and interactive technology to promote learning, including group activities, class debates and discussion, lectures and seminar sessions, as well as independent learning and study expectations.

You’ll receive regular feedback and personal tutorial support throughout the course to develop both your academic and professional skills. You’ll also benefit from the research our lecturers are involved in through our Early Childhood Research Group.

Our Masters degree is the longest established MA Music Therapy course in the UK, and is taught at the internationally renowned Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Research. We earned the Queen's Anniversary Prize in 2021 for our music therapy research, receiving particular recognition for our focus on the wellbeing of people living with dementia.

We welcome applications from practising with appropriate clinical experience, who would like to use music to support the health and wellbeing of patients and clients.Supported by experts, you’ll gain a strong foundation in the principles and practice of music therapy, underpinned by the latest research and evidence base.

Our MA Music Therapy is accredited by the Health and Care Professions Council, so when you graduate you’ll be eligible to register with the HCPC – a legal requirement for your future career as a practising music therapist in the UK.Studying our full-time two-year Masters in Music Therapy will show you how you can use your music to support the health and well-being of patients and clients.

We’ll introduce you to the most recent, effective music therapy approaches, which you can try out in clinical placements in locations such as schools, hospitals and other community settings.You’ll be supervised by qualified music therapists, gaining invaluable experience of working in a multidisciplinary team and preparation for your future career.

At ARU, you’ll be taught in our purpose-designed music therapy centre and have access to a wide range of musical instruments, recording equipment and suite of computer music studios.Our experiential teaching includes developing your improvisation skills, focused work on your first instrument, and using keyboard, single line instrument and voice. You’ll also study music therapy theory and links to practice.

You want to stand out from unqualified marketers. Our Business with a Marketing degree can help you do just that.

With up-to-the-minute knowledge and skills, our course will help you to outstrip the competition and build up your business acumen as you learn from industry specialists with a wealth of practical experience.

With this intel, the opportunity to take a placement year and a degree course that serves as a gateway to professional marketing qualifications, you’ll be ready to fast-track your business career and get a head start in the ever-changing world of marketing.

At ARU, we’re helping to develop the next generation of business practitioners and thinkers.

No matter which industry you want to work in, becoming a qualified marketer is a sure-fire way to stand out from the competition.

As part of the CIM Graduate Gateway program, our Business with Marketing degree course gives you the unique opportunity to gain a professional qualification or award alongside your degree.

We know that your future career is important and you want to build your CV. So we’ll encourage you to grab every opportunity for real-world experience: there’s even the chance to study abroad for a semester – with funding on offer to help cover the costs.

With a career in marketing, a world of possibilities awaits you. You could go on to become a marketing manager, the go-to PR person running your own agency, or even find yourself as the name behind the development of a successful brand.

The world of business never stands still – join us and see where your talents can take you.

At ARU, we are helping to develop the next generation of business practitioners and thinkers.

We know that your future career is important and you want to build your CV. So we’ll encourage you to grab every opportunity for real-world experience: there’s even the chance to study abroad for a semester in Europe, Canada, the USA or Malaysia – with funding on offer to help cover the costs.

As a trusted partner of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, our Business with Human Resource Management BSc (Hons) degree course is CIPD accredited – this means that you’ll also be able to take advantage of an Associate CIPD membership during your time as a student with us at ARU.

This course will prepare you for working in a variety of HR roles, including recruitment and selection, employee relations or personnel, training and development and beyond – it’s up to you where your degree takes you.

The world of business never stands still - join us and see where your talents can take you.

Learn to create images that tell compelling stories, whether your dream is to be a fashion or fine art photographer or a photojournalist.

As a photography student at ARU you’ll explore many areas of photographic practice including digital and analogue image-making, experimental crossovers, multimedia, self-publishing and exhibition.

Take full advantage of our specialist darkrooms, photographic studios, and digital post-production and printing suite. You can also borrow specialist camera equipment through our dedicated loan service.

All your work will be supported by academic staff working at the forefront of photographic research and innovation and have years of professional experience. You will be taught through individual tutorial and studio sessions, as well as in group lectures and workshops, with regular career development events throughout your study. Recent guest speakers have included Tom Hunter, Jane Hilton, Tim Flach, Hannah Starkey, Carole Evans, Alastair Levy, Mike Crawford and Lillian Wilkie.

Through continuous experimentation, you’ll be encouraged to refine your photographic style and voice.

Critical and contextual studies will connect your own research and writing to your practice and will guide you to specialist resources in our campus library. Explore hundreds of photographers’ monographs and access technical and contextual texts, as well as other online resources, to underpin and expand your practice.

You can expand your skillset, with additional technical workshops including printmaking, 3D work and writing workshops. You can choose to take part in photography field trips too, and experience photographing different locations such as Venice and Prague.

While studying BA (Hons) Photography with us, you’ll learn to adopt a professional approach to your work, covering aspects of career management such as rights issues, project management and self-promotion through social media. You can choose to take up work placements that will help you establish your own professional network, including opportunities such as working for magazines, galleries and photographers. You can also take an optional placement year.