Master of Arts in English Literature

at Birmingham City University - City Centre Campus United Kingdom

Get practical, professional preparation for a career in media with our BA (Hons) Media and Communication degree course.

What's covered in this course?

This course is based in Birmingham City University's £62 million Parkside facility - one of the biggest university media centres in the UK.

Learn a wide array of the skills you’ll need for a rewarding career in the media on one of the UK’s longest-running media degree courses. Our BA (Hons) Media and Communication course mirrors the workflow of the industry, offering practical, professional preparation for a rewarding career.

Helped by strong links with many influential media organisations, the course offers an industry-relevant blend of production, theory and professional studies.

Teaching takes place in environments where you gain most, such as radio, TV and photography studios, editing suites, computer suites, as well as lecture theatres, seminar rooms, social learning spaces and online.

You will use blogs and employ social media channels along with other interactive media to support your work and self-development to become a thinking media worker.

Our MA Art and Design: Interdisciplinary Practices develops your professional practice while engaging with the hybrid nature of art and design in contemporary culture. You will apply art and design methodologies to challenge conventional viewpoints. A multidisciplinary team of expert staff encourages you to work across mediums, processes and working methods (such as photography, installation, print, digital media, sculpture, illustration, curatorial practice, textiles, drawing, sound, graphic design, site-specific art, participatory arts or 3D design).

What's covered in this course?

This stimulating course offers you an education in contemporary art and design from an interdisciplinary perspective. You will be supported as creative individuals from a range of tutors and practitioners, with the aim of pushing your existing practice in new directions. The course helps you develop a wider contextual understanding of your practice, while gaining strong research skills in order to develop interdisciplinary projects underpinned by contextual and theoretical debates.

You will be encouraged to develop independent study in relation to different cultural perspectives and a range of contemporary art and design practices, such as fine art, curation, visual communication, fashion, product and interior design.

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 behaviors 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.

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. You will also benefit from support sessions delivered by Careers+ 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 to study a criminology degree at University? Our BA (Hons) Criminology course is supported by our close links with local criminal justice organisations, including West Midlands Police Force.

Make sense of the world of criminal justice by getting the big picture perspective on crime, punishment and victimisation.

This course aims to develop knowledge and understanding of the core schools of criminological thought, their historical and political foundations and practical application.

What's covered in this course?

Our curriculum offers you a variety of subjects, through which you will be able to develop your interests before focusing on specialized fields within Criminology. The course also utilises guest speakers, external visitors as well as unique assessments to enhance students understanding of the discipline.

The course's real-world applications are supported by its close links with local and national criminal justice agencies, including police forces, charities, pressure groups, criminal justice agencies, criminal rehabilitation, probation service and prisons.

The course is delivered by expert staff in the fields of policing, security studies and criminology, and you will also enjoy regular guest lectures from highly influential voices in the discipline.

On our MSc Quantity Surveying degree, you will learn how to add value to projects through demonstrating excellent knowledge and skills in managing cost and information, advancing practices and procedures, and managing risk effectively.

What's covered in this course?

The Quantity Surveying course will develop your skills of critical thinking, problem-solving, business development, team collaboration, cost management and awareness of sustainability in the built environment. You will learn how to ensure construction projects are delivered to the satisfaction of the client and other construction professionals and influence a better future in the built environment.

You will develop knowledge and skills to meet the challenges presented by change and innovation in the sector.

The course provides opportunities for graduates from diverse backgrounds including students from the UK and international students, students with limited exposure to the built environment, as well as students looking for mid-career development in a quantity surveying specialist area.

The course is designed to challenge you to question your current thinking and practices in the face of a rapidly changing global construction industry, and develop your ability to be innovative and creative in solving unique problems.

It will encourage you to engage in life-long learning and become an independent professional learner through a range of modern interactive teaching.

Fascinated by cyber security in today’s society? It’s a key concern for modern organizations in our digital world. Secure communication technologies form the bedrock of our modern connected mobile society and our BSc (Hons) / MSci Computer Networks and Security degree course focuses on the practical needs of businesses that require high quality computer and network security, ensuring you’re equipped for a career in this increasingly important industry.

What's covered in this course?

The course takes a practice-led approach, making use of equipment and tools found in the industry to give you the best preparation for a successful career.  Our approach prioritises the practical skills sought by industry, backing this up with a thorough understanding of theory. The course delivers the latest in computing, network and security technologies, with the opportunity to gain additional accreditation from Cisco, Juniper, Huawei, Palo Alto and the Linux Professional Institute. Birmingham City University is also home to Cisco Systems, Juniper, Palo Alto and the Microsoft Academy Centres. You’ll learn from a well-rounded curriculum in computer network engineering, programming, server systems, security theory and practice, as well as management-level skills such as project and change management, maximizing your career potential.

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!

Discover new designs and materials, discuss the theory behind clocks and watches, and develop specialist skills with our Horology degree, one of the only courses of its kind.

You will enhance your skills of servicing and restoration to industry standard, as well as using Computer Aided Design (CAD) and rapid prototyping to explore different methods and designs.

The Youth Work and Communities degree at BCU is a contemporary and exciting course, which has accreditation from the Joint Negotiating Committee, which is the Professional body that accredits Youth Workers in England and Wales.

The course has been designed with key stakeholders, including the National Youth Agency, UK Youth, youth work managers, practitioners and young people themselves, to integrate the core knowledge and skills required to jump-start a successful career, working with young people and communities, whether that be in the public sector, non-governmental organisations/voluntary field or private sector.

Practice skills, cultural competencies, communication, placement and community engagement opportunities, have been built-in throughout the program, to ensure students incrementally develop the essential and specialist skills and expertise to build thriving careers, working with diverse young people and communities.

The Youth Work and Communities BA degree at BCU offers:

• A JNC recognized qualification to work in Youth Work, which is also valued and recognised in many other ‘people work’ contexts and sectors, in the UK and across the globe
• A core focus on diversity, equality and social difference. We offer opportunities to learn and work on placement in Britain’s second-biggest city, with highly diverse young people and communities, in a vibrant urban context of rapid social change. This experience is supported with diversity-oriented learning on core modules
• A core leadership and enterprise strand, which runs throughout the programme, to develop skills to fast-track your career through strategic, project management and youth work organizational skills
• A global focus and commitment throughout modules, and in two dedicated modules, situated in level 5 and level 6, which prepare students for careers that could lead to employment anywhere in the world. We integrate global issues in youth and community across your studies, such as refugee and migrant support, cross-cultural working, working in situations of conflict and anti-modern slavery/anti-trafficking practice
• Opportunities at level 5 and 6 to select optional modules including: mental health and counselling approaches, black political activism, youth, crime and justice
• Excellent placements throughout the three years to provide experiential learning and opportunities to build professional networks and your own field of interest in youth and community
• Research skills training specifically focused upon working with diverse communities and young people
• Coverage of innovative and creative digital skills and practice for youth and community work

Our BA (Hons) Textile Design degree courses nurture fresh thinking and industry-ready creatives through a dynamic and carefully structured three year programme.

Our Fibre Arts option typically appeals to students who enjoy the process of making and are interested in producing work that transcends commercial design in the form of textile art or installations aimed at gallery exhibitions. Students who take this route often enjoy working with mixed media and will choose to engage with traditional techniques such as weaving, dying, macramé, felting, paper-making and many more unconventional approaches. The focus on the course is exploring and developing a clear personal identity to creative work and an understanding of where it sits within the artistic field. Alongside, you will develop the skills and confidence to apply for funding, residency and exhibition opportunities with which to build a career.

Studying with us will provide you with the skills, insights and experiences required to succeed in a broad scope of professional textile-related roles. Students secure placements with arts organisations, styling companies, galleries and within education.

By the end of your degree you will have a clear vision of where you fit in the industry and a tailored professional portfolio to take with you. Our BA (Hons) Textile Design: Fibre Art students go on to find employment as Textile Artists, Creative Facilitators, Arts Coordinators, Designer Makers and Curators. They also take up other roles where their material sensitivity, creativity and problem-solving is valued.

Our brand new hub for the arts in the thriving Eastside of the city has been purpose-built to stimulate creative minds within an open-access, contemporary studio environment. You will become a part of our lively and close-knit student community and be guided by an experienced and passionate team of staff who value the importance of getting to know you as an individual.

The LLM International Business Law meets the current demand for specialist knowledge and skills in a rapidly expanding field. The course provides you with the opportunity to explore the legal regulation of the world of international business, and you will acquire knowledge and understanding of the aspects of substantive and procedural law.

You will study all the key areas of International Business Law:

Core taught modules:

• International Corporate Law
• Transnational Commercial Law
• Corporate Criminality and Tax Evasion
• Advanced Legal Research Methods

Two optional modules from the list below:

• International Intellectual Property Law
• Conflict Resolution in Business
• Global Comparative Competition Law
• Corporate Compliance
• Comparative International Corporate Insolvency Law

LLM Masters Stage:

• Dissertation/Live Project/Placement

Professional Placement option

For our International Law LLM degrees, 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.