Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Business Management

at Birmingham City University - City Centre Campus United Kingdom

Want to start a career in criminal investigation? Our Criminology, Policing and Investigation University course has close ties to the West Midlands Police Force.

Our degree offers an in-depth study of policing and criminal investigation, helping you develop your understanding of criminological thought, as well as historical, political and practical applications. This course offers a varied yet focused choice of subjects through which you will be able to develop your interests within the specialised field of criminology.

What's covered in this course?

Within this course, students will explore the who, what, where, why and when of criminology. That is the understanding of who and why people commit crime, where crime takes place, and the motivations for different crime types.

This is done through a range of exciting and engaging modules which are taught by expert lecturers who are well published in the field. In this course we explore the concept of policing and how different countries have chosen to manage crime. We use a variety of trips, guest speakers and specialist workshops to give students a wide range of understanding of policing.

Specialist facilities include the interviewing suite, which allows students to simulate police interviewing environments for both suspects and witnesses, with access to tape recording and video playback analysis.

You will benefit from well-established links with a variety of external bodies, including police forces, charities, pressure groups, criminal justice agencies, criminal rehabilitation probation service and prisons.

Whatever your interests, our Musicology course gives you the unique opportunity to pursue your own research project within a lively and exciting Conservatoire environment.

Our flexible course enables you to mould a programme of study to your own needs and aspirations, and may be approached as preparation for a research degree in music.

It is important that a musicologist also develops complementary skills and/or knowledge outside their specialism which will help equip them for a future career: professional musicologists typically find themselves, amongst other things, teaching, managing and administering; some even maintain parallel careers as professional performers or composers.

Therefore, we provide you with a choice of Professional Development Options (shared across our postgraduate programmes) alongside your musicological work to give you the opportunity to develop and/or expand your interests across a range of complementary areas.

The Conservatoire team—which comprises a large number of research-active staff—has a vast array of expertise, allowing us to supervise a wide range of projects, and we are particularly keen to attract those interested in pursuing Masters-level research in our specialist areas.

Professional Placement option

The Professional Placement version of the course is optional and is offered as an alternative to the standard version of the course.

This will allow you to complete a credit-bearing, 20-week Professional Placement as an integral part of your Master’s Degree. The purpose of the Professional Placement is to improve your employability skills which will, through the placement experience, allow you to evidence your professional skills, attitudes and behaviours at the point of entry to the postgraduate job market. Furthermore, by completing the Professional Placement, you will be able to develop and enhance your understanding of the professional work environment, relevant to your chosen field of study, and reflect critically on your own professional skills development within the workplace.

Study our Automotive Engineering BEng degree course and join one of the select UK Universities to take part in Formula Student events at Silverstone.

Now is a fascinating time to study automotive engineering as you’ll have the chance to be at the forefront of developments within the industry. You’ll get to work in advanced automotive workshops and laboratories equipped with industry-standard equipment, as well as take advantage of more traditional office-based facilities.

You’ll gain practical experience so that you are equipped to apply engineering science to real life situations. Plus, you’ll also have the opportunity to join our BCU Formula Student racing team.

What's covered in this course?

You’ll develop as an engineer able to make a significant contribution to this industry as it goes through an important period of transition in the UK and globally.

Our engineering courses focus on project-based activities, giving you lots of opportunity to work in teams on projects from design to implementation. This will give you practical experience of applying engineering science to real-world problems, working in multidisciplinary teams to develop your interpersonal skills, and prepare you for a key aspect of modern engineering practice.

You will develop key technical skills, enhance your creative thinking and learn from industry experts. As well as gaining knowledge and application skills in stress analysis, powertrain systems, suspension, body engineering, design and management.

You’ll be learning in a stimulating environment with lots of opportunity to collaborate with your colleagues, enhance your creativity and develop the attributes you need to stand out from the crowd.

Our automotive engineering degree is structured so that its themes have a direct relevance to the industry’s current and expected future needs, and upon graduating you will have the intellectual, technical and personal qualities necessary to successfully implement new technologies.

Throughout your course you will benefit from our strong industry links with companies such as the Morgan Motor Company, Westfield Sportscars, Siemens, and GKN.

You will also have the opportunity to join our BCU Formula Student racing team, which designs and builds a single-seater racing car each year to race in July at the IMechE-sponsored event at Silverstone.

The applied nature of our BSc (Hons) Economics degree prepares you to work as an economist, or in a related role which is concerned with the study of the economy and its impact on society and the natural environment.

Economics is a major social science which informs major challenges faced by our societies today, including inequality, environmental sustainability and economic policy. Economics draws on and influences other social sciences and humanities and it is also a core business discipline which is integral to understanding organisational behaviour, strategy and corporate performance.

The unique offering of this course lies in its use of a pluralist approach to teaching, which will empower you to understand the relevance of competing economic theories and their application in your daily life and in your future workplace.

The course will provide you with a firm foundation of economics to interpret, analyse and question diverse economic theories and policies in a real-life context. To do so effectively, this course equips you with a vast analytical toolkit, which includes mathematical and statistical analysis, critical thinking, qualitative techniques and proficiency in a range of industry-specific software packages that are relevant to the Economics profession. You will also learn how to communicate results and ideas concisely to a variety of specialist and non-specialist audiences.

Economics is a global subject. You will be encouraged to look at situations from an international perspective. You will apply the knowledge learnt in the course to examine global events and look at how different economic ideas help us understand and address global challenges such as poverty, inequality, climate change and the impact of new technologies on the economy and society. Moreover, your course will be delivered by a multinational team of experts. Your classmates will also come from a variety of countries and cultural backgrounds. Finally, we offer you a study abroad opportunity: you can study for one term overseas in one of our partner universities.

Transform your career with our postgraduate qualification in acting. Designed to advance your practical and professional progress, our MA Acting course provides intense training from staff with rich industry experience.

Previous graduates of this course have gone on to succeed as established performers, including roles at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

What's covered in this course?

You will be taught to maintain a high standard of skill and knowledge and how to transform into an independently-minded performer and practitioner. We will enhance your ability to reflect and analyse, through a range of concepts and ideas. You will enhance your technical skills through practice-based study, learning and developing flexibility to confront issues that you may experience within your profession.

Your classes will mainly be practical studio-based sessions, focusing on the practical application of acting, voice, movement and singing. You will also have time assigned for self-directed study, where you will further develop your work from practical classes. For some modules you will have timetabled rehearsal time, where you will work in groups to produce material.

Your studies will help to influence and shape your career. Previous graduates have been commended by industry for their innovative, challenging project work. Danielle Pinnock‘s final project, a 40 minute piece entitled BODY/COURAGE, won her the Best Actress award at the Strawberry Theatre Festival, and has since been performed internationally.

Accredited by the Chartered Institute of Marketing, our BA (Hons) Marketing with Commercial Management degree gives you the practice-based skills needed to succeed in the ever-changing discipline of marketing.

This approach not only gives you the marketing knowledge needed but also the personal skills employers demand, allowing you to make an immediate impact upon graduation. This experience is further enhanced by the opportunity to undertake a yearlong placement.

Businesses value marketing more than ever due to its ability to identify opportunities, shape experiences and drive profits. It is an ever-evolving discipline, constantly responding to changes in technology and consumer behaviour.

To be successful in this exciting area not only requires a depth understanding of the core principles, but also relies on having the acumen and practical abilities to apply and adapt this knowledge in a wide variety of scenarios. This in-demand course has been designed to give you the practical and professional skills that employers seek through our practice-based learning approach

Our BA (Hons) Applied Theatre aims to inspire the next generation of passionate and skilled theatre-makers. Our focus is on developing the skills and understanding needed to create compelling new performances and theatre projects with purpose. We are concerned not only with how we make theatre, but also why.

What's covered in this course?

The majority of what you will learn through studying Applied Theatre will be through practical experience. You will bring the skills and passion you have, and learn how to apply them; as well as gaining new skills in facilitation, devising, and all aspects of theatre-making. You will not only be creating new drama, but gaining the knowledge and understanding needed to engage communities, and exploring the world in the wide variety of environments covered by the term Applied Theatre – such as schools, community or health centres, prisons, hospitals, or out on the streets.

Our strong industry links and on-going relationships with many experienced practitioners and companies working in the field allow us to prepare you for a varied career. As the course progresses, you will work increasingly independently, spending six weeks of the second year on a full-time placement, and in the third year collaborating with fellow students in forming professional ‘companies’, working collectively in live situations. The course ends with a festival of Applied Theatre, which serves as a showcase of your work and a bridge to a wide range of employment.

At Royal Birmingham Conservatoire we believe that creating theatre with social and political objectives can have a significant impact on the lives of individuals and communities. We use performance as a tool to explore the world, raise awareness, educate, empower, and instigate real and lasting change.

As an emerging practitioner we will supply you with artistic space, autonomy and choice. With a primary focus on performance, you will also explore the reasons behind the work looking at its history and theories while developing an understanding of the need for constant research, discussion, reflection and development of your practice.

Public Relations shapes our world. Organisations use PR to get noticed, to change opinions, and pass on vital information that helps us to make decisions about health, education and welfare. PR is a fast-growing discipline, employing 83,000 people in a £13bn industry offering a wide range of job opportunities.

Our MA teaches you how to construct an effective PR campaign, combining theory with the practical skills needed to communicate persuasively on behalf of businesses, charities, public bodies, community groups and activists.

What's covered in this course?

The MA in Public Relations combines theory and practice, providing real intellectual challenge with a sharp focus on real-world events and firmly grounded in extensive industry links. We recognise that most applicants are looking to build a career in PR and our emphasis is on employability.

We look at techniques for raising awareness, listening to stakeholders and influencing ethical policies. We will develop your strategic planning and help you to engage with a wide range of tactical devices, including building expertise in using a range of social media platforms and tools. You will also learn techniques that will build your confidence as a presenter and a communicator.

The MA explores the ever-changing media landscape while critically examining PR’s impact on society.

Our postgraduate courses in Music Technology provide an opportunity for composers and composer-performers to experiment with and develop expertise in the creative application of established and new music technologies.

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire is an internationally important centre for performance and composition with technology, especially live electronics. An example of its work is the highly acclaimed Integra Live project, an application that makes it easy to use interactive audio processing to create new music.

As you might expect, in this context, our postgraduate courses in Music Technology provide an exciting opportunity for composers and composer-performers to experiment with and develop expertise in the creative application of established and new music technologies.

Professional Placement option

The Professional Placement version of the course is optional and is offered as an alternative to the standard version of the course.

This will allow you to complete a credit-bearing, 20-week Professional Placement as an integral part of your Master’s Degree. The purpose of the Professional Placement is to improve your employability skills which will, through the placement experience, allow you to evidence your professional skills, attitudes and behaviours at the point of entry to the postgraduate job market. Furthermore, by completing the Professional Placement, you will be able to develop and enhance your understanding of the professional work environment, relevant to your chosen field of study, and reflect critically on your own professional skills development within the workplace.

A law degree is an important first step into a career in law, as well as an important foundation on the route to many other careers, and Birmingham City University is a long-established provider of legal education to the Birmingham legal community and beyond.

This course has been developed to enable anyone wishing to qualify as a solicitor or barrister to undertake this first, important academic stage of their career. To achieve this, the course has been designed to align with the subjects that you will need to study further in order to successfully undertake the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE), while also meeting the requirements of the Bar Standards Board for an undergraduate law degree.

What's covered in this course?

The study of law is both academic and practical, and therefore both of these are important elements in the LLB (Hons) degree at BCU. Theory and academic study are important on an LLB, but so too is the application of that knowledge, and so our LLB (Hons) degree offers plenty of opportunity for you to develop the practical lawyering skills, as well as the transferable skills enhancing your employability, that graduates will need when entering the workplace.

The different pathways on the LLB course will allow you to make decisions regarding the direction in which you want to take your studies, with named degrees in Law with American Legal Studies, Law with Business Law, and Law with Criminal Justice, as well as a broad range of optional modules ranging from more theoretical topics through to those aimed at the practical application of the law in real-world situations.

You will also have the opportunity to put those skills to practical use, both in the local community and beyond. Whether that is through our programme of placement opportunities with local providers such as Citizen’s Advice and various legal advice charities, through opportunities in the local legal community, or via BCU’s own Law Clinic, established to serve the local community from our City Centre campus, there are plenty of options available to you.

You can also apply your legal knowledge further afield, through our US internship programme which has been placing students with attorneys throughout the US for over 20 years. A professional placement year is also available, between years 2 and 3 of the degree, offering further opportunity for you to put your knowledge and skills to practical use, and thereby enhancing your CV further.

By focussing on the development of a range of transferable skills, the course employs numerous innovative assessment methods, going beyond the typical forms of written academic assessment.

You are also encouraged to engage in extra-curricular activities to support your learning, with student societies such as the highly successful Mooting Society. Furthermore, you will have the ability to engage with the wider Birmingham legal community through our connections with the Birmingham Law Society, the largest regional law society in the UK.