Master of Arts in Fine Art

at Birmingham City University - City Centre Campus United Kingdom

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!

Our MA Black Studies course aims to build on the success of this pivotal course. Since its emergence Black Studies at BCU has been one of the most high profile and successful research activities since 2014 in the faculty. We have produced highly rated and world-leading research, secured research funding and hosted some foundational research activities.

This course will be well suited to those already in employment as well as those wanting to develop specialist knowledge and build on transferable skill sets which will boost their employability and career options to working within education, local and national government, criminal justice, media, the arts and advocacy organizations. We have links with the public, private and voluntary sector organizations in local community, national and international settings. Engagement with stakeholders is a fundamental part of the final project; which further enhances students’ personal and professional development and networking skills.

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.

Our MA in Creative Writing helps you to develop your potential as a novelist, poet, scriptwriter or non-fiction author. It is taught by distinguished writers, with the support of a superb range of guest seminars and masterclasses by visiting authors, editors and agents, through our Institute of Creative and Critical Writing.

What's covered in this course?

ur MA is aimed at emerging writers, providing you with the skills and disciplines you need to advance. It’s founded upon the philosophy that writers can benefit from the same kind of training enjoyed by actors, musicians, and visual artists.

Admission to the course is based on talent, commitment and potential. Applicants submit a portfolio of writing, published or unpublished, and are then interviewed by members of the MA teaching team. Applications are considered throughout the year for entry in September of any academic year.

You’ll have the opportunity to develop your writing in the forms of your choice – be it fiction, creative non-fiction, screenwriting, writing for theatre, or poetry – and extend your range in genres that may be new to you.

You’ll attend our program of guest speakers and public events devoted to cultivating the creative imagination, the life of ideas and the literary arts, all organised by the Institute of Creative and Critical Writing based within the School of English.

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.

Whether you're a recent graduate or returning to study after a break, our postgraduate programs in Vocal Performance provide you with advanced-level training in singing. You're encouraged and enabled to increase your experience as a performer and to broaden your repertoire, though you can also take the opportunity to specialise if you wish.

Alongside your vocal studies, our courses provide excellent opportunities for you to develop other skills relevant to a future career in the music profession. A separate postgraduate pathway is available for Jazz vocalists.

You'll receive specialist vocal tuition from leading UK and internationally renowned performers and teachers. In addition, you'll enjoy regular opportunities to sing in a variety of contexts, both as a soloist and in ensembles with other performers. Such opportunities include not only classes and masterclasses (these last being led by distinguished guest performers), but also in concerts and on the operatic stage.

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.

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.

Our MA Arts and Project Management course helps you explore how arts organizations, cultural spaces, and visual and performing arts projects are managed in different social and economic environments.

You will be introduced to arts policies in different regional and national and circumstances while gaining advanced organizational, planning and marketing skills. This prepares you for life as a professional project manager, a PhD researcher or to work in other career sequels.

This stimulating course offers you a specialist education in Arts and Project Management. You will be encouraged to develop your knowledge and understanding in order to be effective in managing and marketing the arts within contemporary culture.

What's covered in this course?

This stimulating course offers you a specialist education in Arts and Project Management. You will be encouraged to develop your knowledge and understanding in order to be effective in managing and promoting the arts within contemporary culture.

There is scope to work on live projects with external clients such as Selfridges and you will benefit from our close links with Ikon, Eastside Projects, New Art Gallery Walsall, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, and the lively alternative arts scene including: The Lombard Method, Grand Union, Trove, Stryx and MSFAC.

Our academic staff team is highly experienced. Program leader, Beth Derbyshire has 20 years’ experience working in the creative industries as an interdisciplinary artist and Creative Director in Design and Brand Development.

The staff team has national and international research profiles including the artist/curator, Mona Casey who has extensive experience in the creative industries and Kathryn Burns who supports entrepreneurs and small arts businesses.

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.

Do you want a fashion degree that will enable you to pursue a career within the industry, specifically fashion communication and branding?

Then this course is for you. Its unique mix of both fashion communication and branding will give you the skills you will need to be a creative, confident, well-informed fashion communicator, ready for the industry.

What's covered in this course?

You will be taught by an industry-experienced teaching team and by visiting industry professionals. There is also the opportunity to participate in live industry-based projects and competitions, such as working with Textile View 2 magazine, and L’oreal Brand Storm.

You will develop visual and written communication skills across a broad range of creative media (creative direction and styling, art direction and graphics, print and digital design, branding strategy and journalistic writing) associated with the fashion industry. There will also be the chance to showcase your final-year work to industry leaders, at events such as Graduate Fashion Week in London.

Based at our City Centre Campus, you will have access to photography studios and equipment, relevant software and computer equipment, as well as a faculty of creative students to collaborate with. You can also take part in the international Erasmus exchange program and choose to follow our four-year sandwich option, which features a one-year industry internship.

The dynamic and fast-moving industry of investment offers wide variety of careers; it demands professionals with high level of finance knowledge, technical skills and the abilities that quickly adopt to new challenges.

The MSc Finance & Investment degree at Birmingham City University will equip you with the knowledge, skills and abilities required to start a graduate-level career and make a difference in the industry.

As the investment professionals of the future, you will gain knowledge as well as the essential soft skills like adaptability and lifelong learning skills. While you progress throughout the course, you will become more effective and creative in problem-solving. You will develop ways of analysing and thinking about investments that will remain with you in the years ahead when new and different investment opportunities become available.

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.