Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Video Game Digital Art (Accelerated)

at Birmingham City University - City Centre Campus United Kingdom

Looking to study a postgraduate accounting and finance course in Birmingham? Our MSc Accounting and Finance degree is accredited by Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

Taught by professionally qualified academics with a wealth of industrial and professional experience, this CIMA accredited Master's course focuses on the practical application of accountancy in the real world and theoretical aspects of related research with a clear objective of preparing you for a career in accountancy, finance or management. You can maximise your CIMA exemptions by choosing particular modules, and get prepared for the remaining final (external) CIMA exam(s) at the end of the course.

The international focus of the course is derived through a variety of means including the study of international accounting standards, student body, the teaching team and the use of international teaching materials.

Professional Placement option

For our MSc Accounting and Finance degree, you will have the opportunity to take the Professional Placement version of the course, which 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 and transferable skills. The placement experience will allow you to evidence your professional skills, attitudes and behaviours at the point of entry to the postgraduate job market.

You will be responsible for finding and securing your own placement. The University, however, will draw on its extensive network of local, regional and national employers to support you in finding a suitable placement to complement your chosen area of study, with support from our Careers+ team as well as advice and guidance from your School.

Serious about working in games? Then enrol at the industry-endorsed finishing school for games developers and artists.

MSc Video Game Enterprise, Production and Design (Gamer Camp: Biz) has been created in partnership with the likes of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Codemasters, Rare and Exient. It provides the experience of working to deadlines as part of the multi-disciplined, project team to produce playable games to a professional standard.

You will work in a simulated studio environment over full-time office hours, on real game briefs set with one or more of our partner developers.

It's a winning formula, with mentoring from industry veterans and support from leading game development teams. Recent graduates from Gamer Camp are employed by companies including TT Games, Creative Assembly, Ubisoft, Codemasters and Rockstar Games.

What's covered in this course?

If your ambition is to work as a video games designer, games producer and/or entrepreneur, you will need serious design knowledge, and managerial and business know-how to help lead a game to its completion. Although you will not be coding or creating art assets on a daily basis, it is vital that you have a comprehensive and realistic understanding of the game development process, and how all the disparate elements operate and come together. This is what makes you an effective ‘T’-Skills candidate.

On Gamer Camp: Biz you'll get specialist training, mentoring and support from our staff who all have vast industry experience as game developers, having worked in design, production, art, programming and even running their own business. Staff come from such big-name developers as Eurocom, Electronic Arts and Freestyle Games, while Programme Director Zuby Ahmed founded his own company, SmashMouth Games. The course is delivered in a series of ‘boot camps’ followed by one-to-one support, studio-based game development and project delivery.

Starting with the fundamentals of video games code, art and design, you will build upon these creative skills to teach you how game development teams are managed and how complex processes, ideas and personalities can combine to create a successful games product.

Teaching takes place in a modern production studio based in Birmingham City Centre where you’ll be provided with studio space to complete projects, with access to the facilities and software you’ll need for the duration of the course. As and where possible students are also given work experience opportunities, previously these have included studios such as SmashMouth Games, Codemasters and Exient.

Looking for a versatile IT course in the UK? Study with us in the exciting city of Birmingham. Our multidisciplinary BSc (Hons) / MSci Computing and Information Technology degree will equip you with the technical and managerial skills you'll need to embark on a successful IT career.

You'll use first-class, industry-standard equipment and labs, and have the chance to put your academic learning into practice on a placement year – all of which will prepare you for an information technology career with a range of companies. We’re also an academy for Microsoft and Cisco systems with strong industry links.

What's covered in this course?

This course is for you if you want to combine a highly rigorous academic qualification with real-life practical work experiences, enabling you to put your learning into innovative practice.

You'll be based at our  City Centre Campus, where you'll use dedicated, industry-standard facilities to research and work on enterprise software and virtual environments to develop business solutions and real-time systems.

You will develop the strategic mindset to address global challenges; the kind that that businesses and communities face on a day-to-day basis to maintain their digital infrastructure. You'll have access to virtual learning environments, as well as networking, electronic, enterprise systems and business intelligence laboratories.

We are preparing you for the workplace. You'll learn computing and information technology skills that are needed to design, develop, operate and maintain effective systems.  Your knowledge of the application of computing to provide IT solutions will evolve on a daily basis, and we will ensure you are able to innovate in order to deliver business value and sustainable solutions.

Studying computing with us puts you at the heart of an exciting, innovative community. Part of your first-year assessment will involve taking part in our annual Innovation Fest, where students get together to solve society’s problems with creative technology. Previous projects have included medical assistance drones, accessible gaming controllers, and smart housing solutions. The event brings together students, academics and industry guests, so it’s a great way to have fun, build experience and network, and win prizes!

The BA (Hons) Black Studies course at Birmingham City University will help you to engage with the contributions of Black scholars, activism and communities in this expanding interdisciplinary field.

This unique course is the first of its kind in Europe. If you are interested in the history, politics, popular cultures, artistic and social movements of people across the African diaspora, Black Studies will provide you with the big picture perspective through this growing discipline.

Your course will be taught by leading, research-active lecturers and tutors, where you will encounter a range of viewpoints, as well as gaining valuable experience within the wider community.

What's covered in this course?

The purpose of Black Studies is to foster innovative teaching, learning and research that addresses historical and contemporary Black social life, culture and political activism both in Britain and across the African Diaspora. There has been a long tradition of Black studies in the United States. The discipline originally emerged on US campuses during the 1960s in an effort to open up universities to a more diverse student body, as well as recognising the contributions of Black scholars and activists.

However, in the UK, Black Studies has been taught more sporadically in higher education without having an independently named degree course or disciplinary home. It is therefore important to recognise that Black Studies in Britain has also thrived within various local community settings in Britain and through forms of independent self-learning and activism.

Black Studies at Birmingham City University is an interdisciplinary subject that is committed to working with the wider community. The course aims to make a transformative impact upon society. Throughout the degree, we will engage you in the thinking and practice of contextualizing your work within communities, and where possible, connecting you to projects and organisations outside of the University.

The course seeks to enable students with the capacities and skills needed to apply decolonising intellectual knowledge to a range of strategies for advancing community self-representation, social justice and global human rights. These commitments are based on the understanding that the perspectives and lives of people throughout the Black diaspora are entangled in complex intersecting power relations, structures and processes.

Black Studies prepares students on this course for a range of graduate outcomes in a variety of occupations and occupational sectors (e.g. Public, Voluntary and Private). Black Studies graduates can go on to work in areas such as community development, charitable and voluntary organisations, NGOs, further and higher education, industry, retail and commerce, local and central government, human resources, social research, social work and youth work, amongst many others.

Serious about working in games? Then enrol at the industry-endorsed finishing school for games developers and artists.

MSc Video Game Enterprise, Production and Design (Gamer Camp: Biz) has been created in partnership with the likes of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Codemasters, Rare and Exient. It provides the experience of working to deadlines as part of the multi-disciplined, project team to produce playable games to a professional standard.

You will work in a simulated studio environment over full-time office hours, on real game briefs set with one or more of our partner developers.

It's a winning formula, with mentoring from industry veterans and support from leading game development teams. Recent graduates from Gamer Camp are employed by companies including TT Games, Creative Assembly, Ubisoft, Codemasters and Rockstar Games.

What's covered in this course?

If your ambition is to work as a video games designer, games producer and/or entrepreneur, you will need serious design knowledge, and managerial and business know-how to help lead a game to its completion. Although you will not be coding or creating art assets on a daily basis, it is vital that you have a comprehensive and realistic understanding of the game development process, and how all the disparate elements operate and come together. This is what makes you an effective ‘T’-Skills candidate.

On Gamer Camp: Biz you'll get specialist training, mentoring and support from our staff who all have vast industry experience as game developers, having worked in design, production, art, programming and even running their own business. Staff come from such big-name developers as Eurocom, Electronic Arts and Freestyle Games, while Programme Director Zuby Ahmed founded his own company, SmashMouth Games. The course is delivered in a series of ‘boot camps’ followed by one-to-one support, studio-based game development and project delivery.

Starting with the fundamentals of video games code, art and design, you will build upon these creative skills to teach you how game development teams are managed and how complex processes, ideas and personalities can combine to create a successful games product.

Teaching takes place in a modern production studio based in Birmingham City Centre where you’ll be provided with studio space to complete projects, with access to the facilities and software you’ll need for the duration of the course. As and where possible students are also given work experience opportunities, previously these have included studios such as SmashMouth Games, Codemasters and Exient.

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.

Looking for a career in a rapidly growing sector? The BSc (Hons) Accounting and Islamic Finance degree, the first of its kind in the UK, will see you graduate with the skills the finance industry requires.

The Islamic Finance industry is a fast-growing industry that has developed rapidly within a few years from a niche industry to a global force to be reckoned with in the international arena. Based on a number of moral and legal principles of Islam, the Islamic finance sector grows at 15%-25% per year, while Islamic financial institutions oversee over $2 trillion.

Islamic finance has emerged as an effective tool for financing development worldwide, including in non-Muslim countries. As a result of this rapid growth, individuals and financial organisations find themselves with limited knowledge of its unique and profound nature, leading to a significant skills shortage, which potentially offers graduates a range of global opportunities.

Our Accounting and Islamic Finance course will introduce and develop your knowledge in the various specialised areas, as well as giving you a solid foundation in traditional accounting, giving you the skills need to move into a wide variety of careers after graduation.

Through a variety of modules, including Islamic Economics, Principles of Islamic Finance, Islamic Finance for Non-Profit Organisations, and Islamic Banking and Capital Markets, you’ll learn about the ethos, principles and practices of Islamic Finance, which are not only ethical, sustainable and motivated to achieve socio-economic justice, but also link with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

There will be opportunities to gain work experience in countries where Islamic Financial Services are being set up, or where they are established but in need of qualified staff. This will provide you with opportunities to gain industry experience, giving you the edge when it comes to competing in the graduate jobs market.

Want to study a criminology Master’s in Birmingham? Our MA Criminology degree is open to graduates from all subjects.

Our MA Criminology course has been designed for both recent graduates and practitioners who wish to develop their understanding of the debates surrounding crime and the criminal justice system. It offers an exciting opportunity to study both theoretical criminology and the more applied aspects of criminology and criminal justice issues.

The course has three formal stages:

• The Diploma stages consist of three taught modules, a proposal module that is delivered through work groups and a practice-based module involving reflection upon work or volunteering experience.
• Those proceeding to the Master's stage will be required to complete an extended project to be determined individually.
• It is possible to complete your studies at any of the Certificate, Diploma or Master's stages.

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.

Do you want to study a Master's in human resource management? Our International Human Resource Management course is ideal for people who want to qualify professionally with our fully accredited CIPD Masters course.

This full-time Master's course is ideal for those pursuing a career in HR, as, upon successful completion of this course you will be eligible to upgrade to a Chartered Member of the CIPD.

What's covered in this course?

We have an experienced teaching team who combine real work experience of human resource management with academic qualifications, bringing a strategic and conceptual view to the topics covered. Sessions are interactive and we encourage you to work together on case studies, and incorporate role-playing activities to develop practical HR skills. We invite guest speakers to deliver on relevant modules. Where appropriate to the individual topics covered during the course, implications for sustainability will be identified that relate to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

On completion of this course you will be able to make a valuable contribution within the HR field of management in your current or future workplace, having acquired both the core knowledge and the necessary skills to deliver excellence professionally and with the ability to act in the role of strategic partner.

In keeping with these aims, you will possess the professional knowledge and behaviors required to achieve Chartered Membership status with the CIPD, which is the most widely-recognised professional body in the field of HR.

Upon successful completion of the course, you will have developed critical understanding of the international context of organisations and the implications for HRM. You will explore the contexts in which HR operates and the impact which internationalization both strategically and at the level of specific HR practices. In particular, managing and leading expatriates.

Throughout the course you will be asked to reflect on your personal and professional development as an aid to demonstrating the core knowledge and behaviours required to gain organisational commitment and support from stakeholders.

Professional Placement option

For our MA International Human Resource Management degree, you will have the opportunity to take the Professional Placement version of the course, which 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 and transferable skills. The placement experience will allow you to evidence your professional skills, attitudes and behaviours at the point of entry to the postgraduate job market.

The MA Media Production course gives you the opportunity to kick start or further your career in the television and radio industries. The course offers a clear progression pathway for students who have already completed undergraduate studies in television or radio.

For those who already have industry experience, or are looking to change career path, the course provides the chance to learn additional skills and apply professional media practice to your existing resume.