Master of Arts in Illustration

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.

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 in Publishing will take you on a journey through the contemporary publishing industry, giving you key skills and knowledge for a career in publishing and related fields.You will investigate how books and other publishing products and services are commissioned and completed, including the modern production processes and business strategies used to succeed in the competitive media environment.

You’ll consider the legal environment in which publishing operates, focusing on the management, sale and licensing of rights in publishing. You’ll also look at wider issues connected to digital publishing, including e-book and audiobook marketsOffered in Cambridge full- or part-time, our postgraduate degree has been developed in consultation with Cambridge University Press and other local publishers including ProQuest and Lutterworth’s, so you can be confident it meets the professional needs of today’s publishing industry.

Our connections with UK and international firms and organisations will provide you with many opportunities to make contacts for your career, including through work placements and field trips.Lectures by invited publishers, authors and agents will give you up-to-the-minute information on key issues and emerging technologies.We also run a professional mentoring scheme with Cambridge University Press so you can find an industry mentor reflecting your own interests.

Broaden your expertise through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques. In a world reliant on data to improve processes and monitor success, this course will help you gain transferable skills in AI to benefit your work place. It's been designed in response to the high demand for experts in big data analysis and modelling. Choose to take an optional 12-week work placement as part of your course and boost your employability.

The combined effect of the big volume of data availability on a global scale and a significant increase in processing power offered by technologies like cloud computing has made it possible to unlock the true potential of machine learning algorithms, extract features from data, and to expand the application domain of artificial intelligence.
The need to adapt and incorporate the ever-growing field of AI and it’s technologies into current business practices is putting increasing pressure on industries to invest in their legacy systems. Supported by Intel’s AI Academy through their online and data processing resources, the skills you will learn can be applied to AI-enabled business strategies and marketing, management of database records, e-business technologies, IT system development and design, and IT project management.

This course is designed to build on the skills of computer scientists, software engineers, IT professionals or established professionals in the areas of computing, mathematics and/or data analysis, to improve and create better systems in their industries, expanding knowledge of machine learning and enabling technologies.

Businesses also have the opportunity to present students on this course with their real life problems through attending as a guest lecturer. We also encourage you to attend local meetings and lectures organised by the IET and BCS, some of which are hosted by our University. This exposes you to engineers from local industries and introduces you to 'what's hot' in technology, an advantage to being based in the centre of Cambridge with its Science and Business Park.

You’ll learn to tell stories which engage audiences, whether you want to write poetry, drama, short fiction, or make films and documentaries. You’ll explore and develop professional writing techniques related to film including screenwriting and film journalism.

You’ll get invaluable feedback on all of your creative writing work from professional writers, including our teaching staff and Royal Literary Fund fellows, as well as your fellow students. This will offer you the unique opportunity to consider a range of responses to your work, as well as sharpening your own critical skills.

Investigating filmmaking practices from all over the world, and learning the language of film from the perspective of a filmmaker, you’ll make your own short films in video, animation or 16mm format, with full training in camera operation, sound recording and editing from professional filmmakers. If you specialise in filmmaking, you’ll put your well-practised skills to the test in a project that, once complete, will be screened at the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse. The best may also be selected for showing at the Cambridge Film Festival. You’ll learn to write knowledgeably and critically about film, giving you even more opportunities to get involved in Cambridge’s exciting arts scene.

Our optional modules allow you to further explore your interests or specialise for a particular career. In Years 2 and 3, you can also learn a language on our Anglia Language Programme and what’s more, you can choose to study abroad as part of your course and expand your cultural horizons and apply for funding to cover the cost.

Our links with local and national organisations will help you make contacts and find work placements in the industry. Our recent students have found internships and placements with companies such as the BBC, Cambridge Festival of Ideas, Film & Video Umbrella, Cannes Film Festival, Cambridge Film Festival, Take One magazine, Watersprite Film Festival, CBBC, ITN Productions, London Studios, MTV, New York Film Academy, Pinewood Studios, StudioCanal UK (formerly Optimum Releasing) and Sight & Sound magazine. You can also take an optional placement year.

From financial management to applied econometrics, our Finance with Economics degree will set you up for a career in the world of business.

You want the space to grasp new ideas, to explore the theory behind financial economics and its use in the real world.

Finance and economics isn’t just about numbers. It’s about understanding the importance of those numbers, analysing and interpreting them to better appreciate how people and the businesses around us really work.

Our BSc (Hons) Finance with Economics degree will introduce you to financial management, applied econometrics and much more. We’ll guide you through the issues you might encounter and equip you with the skills and knowledge you need to formulate critical business decisions.

Our planet needs protecting. Gain a deep understanding of the concerns surrounding marine and terrestrial environments and the specialist skills to tackle them on our Ecology and Conservation degree in Cambridge.

Individuals, organisations and governments around the world are increasingly concerned about the welfare of our planet and everything on it. This includes both our marine and terrestrial environments where many factors, including human behaviour, have left a large number of species at risk.

Our course allows you to develop a deep understanding of concerns relating to marine and terrestrial environments, and to look at ways of resolving those concerns.

You’ll learn about marine biodiversity locally and around the world, and explore conservation ecology, which aims to support, recover and maintain populations and their habitats.

There are opportunities to attend residential field trips. Field trips that are a compulsory part of your course are covered by your fees. There are also optional field trips (either extra-curricular or an integral part of an optional module you select to take) that you would have to pay for.

Cambridge is becoming a world centre for wildlife conservation, with Fauna and Flora International, Birdlife International and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre based here. Throughout our BSc (Hons) Ecology and Conservation degree, you’ll have opportunities to attend lectures in the city and visit specialist museums and libraries.

Our Zoology BSc (Hons) course will see you joining the likes of Charles Darwin, Dian Fossey, Jane Goodall and David Attenborough in exploring and explaining the diversity of animals from all over the globe.

You’ll build an understanding and skill-set in anatomy and physiology, behaviour, genetics, ecology and evolution, and the importance of wildlife conservation.

As part of your studies, you’ll get the opportunity to learn hands-on zoology skills – with plenty of time in our labs in Cambridge, as well as on field trips around the UK and beyond. Develop the scientific training and practical skills you need for a career in wildlife conservation, environmental consultancy or in zoos.

Recognised by the Royal Society of Biology, our BSc (Hons) Zoology degree is a practical subject with plenty of opportunity to learn and practise new skills, both in the lab and out in the field.

Take part in cutting-edge research in our specialist labs, closely linked to Cambridge University, and study zoology in marine and terrestrial systems, in both laboratory and field settings.

There’s an opportunity to join paid field trips too. You could experience rutting red deer on the island of Rum, investigate world-class zoos in the Netherlands, study practical marine biology in Scotland, dive in the Red Sea or even spend time learning about ecology and conservation in Africa. We also offer an optional placement year as part of your Zoology degree.

Fast becoming a world centre for wildlife conservation, Cambridge is home to Fauna and Flora International, Birdlife International and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. During your time with us, you’ll have opportunities to attend lectures and visit specialist museums and libraries in the University of Cambridge.

As a student here, you’ll learn from staff who are involved in field and captive studies internationally and in the UK, and have research links with a range of organisations including some of Britain's most respected zoos.

Performing is at the core of our Drama degree at ARU.

With our BA (Hons) Drama degree, we’ll help you to grow into a confident, versatile and exciting drama practitioner with transferable skills to suit the field you want to work in.

With a strong focus on performance, you’ll get to work on public productions as well as smaller-scale projects, exploring practices from the 20th century onwards and devising your own productions.

We’ll encourage you to create innovative and daring performance practice as you develop expertise in group collaboration alongside your own solo performances. You’ll also get the chance to weight your studies to suit your interests, be that drama practice, specialising in backstage production or even theatre administration.

You’ll follow an experiential 'learning-through-doing' programme and your degree will see you choosing from a range of career-focused optional modules, completing a 100% practical Major Project, and graduating with a professionally produced showreel and portfolio.

As a student here, you’ll develop your technical and production skills in our specialist facilities. Our technical staff will be on hand to offer help and support.

You can also choose to study abroad for a semester, with funding available to help cover the cost.

Closer to home, you can connect with Cambridge’s performance scene through our links to local networks such as Cambridge Arts Network and Cambridge Live. You’ll get the chance to perform in public venues around Cambridge as well as on campus, in the Mumford Theatre and Covent Garden Studio.

Experience being part of a professional troupe with our very own Community Theatre Company and take the chance to perform and collaborate with other creative industries students.

By choosing to study BSc (Hons) Sport Coaching and Physical Education at ARU, you’ll be choosing an applied course that is embedded in real-life experiences and focused on getting you career-ready.

Our degree course is packed with opportunities to complete work placements in local schools and sports clubs. Moreover, you'll have the chance to gain unique work experience with organisations such as Living Sport and Cambridge City Council, who run community sports projects for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. You can also apply to internship programmes with professional sports teams.

In the final year of your Sport Coaching and Physical Education degree, you'll be offered a unique opportunity to complete a real-life research and development project immersed in industry.

All this is supported by what you learn in the lecture theatre.

Together, we’ll explore sport development, applied coaching pedagogy (how people teach and learn), athlete development, sport physiology and the psychology of sport coaching. You’ll learn how to use your knowledge as a leader, teacher and a sports coach – and to work safely, ethically and confidently on your own, or as part of a team. To do this, you’ll use fantastic facilities including exercise testing and human movement labs, and a strength and conditioning suite.