Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence)

at Brunel University London United Kingdom

If studies of the mind and mental health interest you, this socially and culturally focused course may provide a rich alternative to more scientific studies in psychology and psychiatry.

Study this course and you will investigate psychological and psychiatric issues from an anthropological perspective, addressing issues at the forefront of debates in social policy, morality, personal identity, and mental health.

By considering cases from around the world you’ll explore how person, consciousness, and experience are shaped through cultural practices and political realities.

Examining world ethnography (including the UK), you’ll learn about selfhood, emotion, personality, and understandings of ‘madness’ and mental illness in cultural context.

Brunel students come from varied professional and academic backgrounds, many taking time out for professional development. If you haven’t studied anthropology before, you’ll be offered introductory modules in anthropological theory to help prepare you for the rest of the course.

Anthropology at Brunel is well-known for its focus on ethnographic fieldwork and you will be expected to get out of the library and undertake your own, original research – whether in the UK or overseas – and to present your findings in a dissertation.

Your fieldwork can be taken anywhere in the world, locally, previous students have explored psychic training, Pentecostal churches, and mental health charities, and internationally, students have explored subjects like funerals in Iran, Amazon neoshamanism, and autism programmes in Belgium.

If you can get lost in a book for hours on end, and enjoy writing or even drama, English is a natural choice. Storytelling is part of every culture and reveals much about a person’s lived experience, values and aspirations within a given time.

Taking the English BA at Brunel is an opportunity to uncover the richness of English literature history – its periods, genres and diverse storytellers – through a set of underlying themes.

Your journey will commence with a module on ‘Reading Resilience’ to help equip you with the required skills and competencies relevant to literary studies, so you can approach any topic with confidence.

After a first year of modules that pass through modern literature and formative texts to help develop your critical reading, your exploration in English is very much down to your own interests and choices.

In years two and three a wealth of optional modules await you, covering every period and genre from Shakespeare to Jane Austen, postcolonial writing to the women’s movement, with plenty of choice in contemporary and genre fiction like comedy, science fiction and horror.

Throughout your literature degree you will be encouraged to express your own thoughts and creativity in your coursework and seminars, which will help you to grow as a critic and writer.

An English degree will equip you with personal skills employers’ prize in graduates – not just exceptional written and verbal communication, but also the ability to communicate collaboratively in a team towards an agreed goal.

As part of your English BA you will learn to participate and present confidently in seminars, communicate your ideas effectively in writing, and to critically evaluate relevant themes within texts that frequently cross into other disciplines such as history and politics.

Opt for a placement year and you will gain hands-on work experience while you study which will further increase your attractiveness to employers when you graduate.

Outside your classroom, you can look forward to events and activities organised by the Brunel Centre for Contemporary Writing, including the annual Hillingdon Literary Festival: a free weekend of literary performances from internationally renowned authors, writing workshops and lively debates right here on campus.

The Brunel Economics and Management BSc offers students interested in careers in management a detailed understanding of how economies and corporations function. 

You’ll examine how resources are allocated in response to consumer demand, business objectives and government policy, and how incentives are aligned between shareholders, managers and employees.

Specifically, your economics studies will give you a broad understanding of the production, distribution and capital formation activities within which organisations operate, while your management specialisation will focus on the coordination and use of materials and labour to achieve defined goals.

You’ll also study econometrics and develop sought-after skills in data modelling, and get training in analytical packages widely used by business and financial institutions such as SAS, EViews, Bloomberg, Reuters and STATA.

We offer two study options. You can choose three years full-time or four years full-time with a one-year professional placement between years two and three that will give you the chance to apply the theoretical principles you’ve learned to a working environment.

This degree is accredited the ACCA, which means you’ll gain exemptions from certain professional qualifying exams should you decide to study further to become a chartered accountant.

In a world of integrating global markets, the expertise you’ll get from your Brunel degree in how corporate entities are organised and managed will make you a preferred job candidate to employers in business, finance and government.

Are you curious about how to deal with ecological and environmental challenges that affect nations across the world? Our new Global Challenges undergraduate degrees have been designed with disrupters in mind – people who aren’t afraid to ask questions and to pull in knowledge from across disciplines to get to the root of the planetary problems we face.

Within the core spine of your Global Challenges degree, you will take an in-depth look at issues such as climate change, sustainable development, migration, terrorism, inequality and poverty and how they affect the world we live in, the Planetary Health pathway will also introduce you to the impact human activity has on the earth systems and in turn affects our health.

You will explore questions about the environmental challenges current and future populations face as you learn to analyse and manage issues alongside the Brunel experts teaching this course.

Planetary health is a global concern. The impact of human activity must be addressed and managed so that we do not continue to damage our ecology and ultimately ourselves. As part of the Planetary Health Alliance, Brunel University London works alongside 70 dedicated universities, NGOs, government entities and research institutes who are committed to making advances in this area. This means that the knowledge you gain during your studies will come directly from the most up-to-date sources.

As part of your course you will look at the connections between changes in the environment and health outcomes. For example, how the environment has caused certain wildlife species to become extinct, or how the use of pesticides in the cultivation of fruits and vegetables may have physical or mental health risks.

You will also explore some of the technologies and political and economic strategies employed in healing the planet, such as the reduction of greenhouse gasses by avoiding the use of damaging household products, to saving energy around the home.

Throughout your course you will build your ability to work in teams as you pick up skills in project management, presenting and team pitches. A third year Enterprise Project will help to bring all these skills together as you work on a group project with a real organisation.

You have the option to apply for an internship at the end of your first year and can take a one-year placement between years two and three, giving you valuable work experience and a step ahead for your career when you graduate.

As a graduate of the new Global Challenges course you will be inquisitive and analytical with a large amount of knowledge that could change the world, as you’ll have learnt how to assess contrasting sets of data and different arguments to form your own ideas and opinions.

Our Advanced Engineering Design MSc degree is described as ‘the doorway to industry’. It is for high-calibre, ambitious engineering or science graduates who wish to gain expertise in developing complex, multidisciplinary engineering design.

The focus of the course is to provide you with advanced theory and skills to give you the essential expert knowledge needed for a career as an advanced designer, a design team leader or a researcher in innovative engineering design working in a computer assisted environment.

You will learn how to design products requiring embedded intelligence and comprehensive engineering analysis, and will be taught by a team of highly regarded academics who will give you a thorough grounding in engineering design.

Throughout your postgraduate engineering degree, you’ll have access to well-equipped design studios and computers for your exclusive use, and will benefit from the latest computer aided engineering software packages.

The Design Experience project gives you experience of the whole design process in an industrial environment – from initial concept to final design and manufacture, and presentations, seminars, discussions and guest speakers from industry make this a special learning experience.  

Part of your course will also involve group projects, furthering your ability to work in a team. Recent group projects have included the design of electric vehicles, and the design of smart jigs and fixtures. 

We run regular industry liaison events and this is your chance not only to showcase your innovative engineering design projects, but also network with key engineering and technology professionals.

Brunel’s Advanced Engineering Design MSc degree is accredited by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). This means your degree will put you on course to gain Chartered Engineer (CEng) status in the UK. It can be studied either full-time over one year, or part-time over two years.

The human body is amazing but when things go wrong, either mentally or physically, people often aren’t able to do activities that matter to them. What are the barriers to activity? Are there ways to overcome these barriers? These are the questions you’ll be finding the answers to as an Occupational Therapist.

At Brunel you’ll be integrating theory with practice. You’ll learn to examine the physical, psychological and contextual aspects of a patient. This can be from the acute stage through to the general rehabilitation in the community. You’re encouraged to be creative in your approach and to develop ways to solve their problems. For instance you could be helping someone who has had an amputation to use a wheelchair and identifying ways to have their kitchen adapted. On the course you’ll be encouraged to use your own skills and hobbies to aid rehabilitation. This can be anything from art or music to hair braiding.

You’ll learn to use research and literature and to look at evidence to help your understanding of a patient’s condition. Eventually you’ll learn the skills to create your own research.

Brunel is ranked first in London for Occupational Therapy in The Complete University Guide 2019. If you’re positive, a motivator, good at coming up with solutions to problems and looking for a career that’s rewarding and really makes a difference to people’s lives then this is the course for you.

NHS Values

Patients, public and staff have helped develop this expression of values that inspire passion in the NHS and that should underpin everything it does. Individual organisations will develop and build upon these values, tailoring them to their local needs. The NHS values provide common ground for co-operation to achieve shared aspirations, at all levels of the NHS.

International business is an exciting and rapidly evolving space as politics and economics shift, and societies and cultures evolve. On the course you will gain a comprehensive understanding of the processes of globalisation in the 21st century and the implications that these ongoing processes have for today’s business women and men – and indeed, for tomorrow’s leaders.

The International Business MSc is designed for those seeking to operate within an international business setting or within companies and jobs where an understanding of international business is an asset. The course will help you to develop a sound understanding of international business contexts and to make integrative links across various disciplines.

We will explore the impact of internationalisation on factors such as the management of resources and operations, the financing of business enterprise, and the management and development of people. Aspects of the course will focus on emerging markets. It will also focus on the development of appropriate business policies and strategies to help you put your learning into practice.

You will receive training in research methods with particular application to the empirical study of international management situations, issues and process.

What you learn on the International Business MSc will enable you to further develop transferable skills that can be used to address the challenges of working within an organisation or for yourself as part of the global economy.

Networks are what make up much of the modern-day working world as we become more connected both as individuals and as organisations. But with network connectivity (including cloud computing) comes a heightened requirement for security and privacy. On the Computer Science (Network Computing) BSc degree course, you’ll gain a good understanding of computer science and a grasp of the important elements of a computer system before specialising in network computing.

You’ll learn to specify, design, code, modify and test different types of software, from web-based systems to mobile solutions, in a contemporary programming paradigm. All of this will be done using an appropriate commercial grade development environment and associated database tools.

In addition, you’ll acquire in-depth knowledge of algorithms, design, programming and testing techniques. By the end of the course, you’ll have confidence in your knowledge of common system and network architectures and system development approaches, requirements capture, design methods, models, tools, and techniques.

You’ll become well-versed in implementing and testing systems and software maintenance. Key to this course is cultivating a reflective approach to project management issues arising from team-based software development.

Network computing graduates have a wide range of careers open to them. Perhaps you’ll start by becoming a general analyst or programmer in a consultancy firm. This is often just the first step towards setting up your own business.

Our course is designed for flexibility, so if you’re not sure which route you want to take, you can select modules and specialise gradually during your time with us. You can transfer between Computer Science and Business Computing up to the start of Level 2, then, should you wish, to choose a specialism up to the start of Level 3.

We know that when you graduate, you’ll be working on large projects. That’s why one third of each year of our programmes is project-based. On Levels 1 and 2, you’ll build a software solution in a team, and in your final year you’ll carry out an individual project. You’ll also have the opportunity to showcase your projects at the annual  Made in Brunel (Software Innovation) event, with awards presented by the likes of Cisco, Sky and Xerox.

As part of your degree course, you’ll have the chance to take a year-long work placement between your second year and third year. We’ll support you in finding that all-important paid professional experience, in the UK or abroad. The feedback we’ve received is that those who have taken a placement are much more likely to find a job for which their degree was a formal requirement as it gives you a competitive advantage. Recent graduates have gone on to work for well-known names such as Accenture, Toshiba, Microsoft, British Airways, O2, and Barclays.

Our programmes are accredited by the British Computer Society, the Chartered Institute for IT, for the purposes of fully meeting the academic requirement for registration as a Chartered IT Professional (CITP), and on behalf of the Engineering Council, for the purposes of fully meeting the academic requirement for Incorporated Engineer (IEng) and partially meeting the academic requirement for a Chartered Engineer (CEng). 

The accreditation also allows you to apply for professional membership of the BCS after you have successfully completed your degree.

The department has been awarded an Athena SWAN Bronze, recognising our dedication to the advancement of gender equality in STEM subjects. We now have an ongoing three-year action plan to further implement strategies and improve our practices. As part of this endeavour, Brunel’s  Women in Engineering and Computing mentoring scheme provides our female students with invaluable help and support from the industry.

Take your knowledge of culture and society to the next level and equip yourself with a big range of practical and analytical skills for a changing world with our Anthropology and Sociology BSc.

Anthropology is concerned with contemporary issues such as multiculturalism, identity politics, racism and ethnic nationalism, changing forms of the family, religious conflict, gender, and the political role of culture. It also addresses fundamental questions about human nature, such as: ‘What do we have in common with each other cross-culturally?’ and ‘What makes us different?’

Sociology, its sister subject, looks at the foundations of social life and the big issues in contemporary society such as inequality, racism, globalisation, and migration.

In particular, your sociology studies at Brunel will be closely related to the central and ever-increasing importance of the communications media in our culture, for example, how poverty is portrayed and the powerful influence of celebrity.

Brunel is a great choice for this combined study with lecturers from both subjects producing cutting edge research alongside their teaching, on both global issues and local problems.

This research expertise filters down into what you will learn. In anthropology students have learnt about youth and motorcycles in Rwanda, and in sociology, about cosmetic tourism.

Choose this course and you can do fieldwork on any subject, anywhere in the world, whether it’s learning about refugees in Athens or mother and toddler groups in inner London.

Around half of Brunel anthropology students carry out a placement or fieldwork abroad, in places as wide ranging as India, Nepal, Australia, South Africa, Papua New Guinea and Jamaica.

Recent UK placement destinations include the Royal Anthropological Institute, Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, Amnesty International and the Department of Health.

Alternatively, could choose a placement that’s more sociologically focussed. Either way, you can choose to take it as two six month placements or one year-long placement.

Take advantage of real-life work experience to gain a competitive advantage on your anthropology degree.

• You have the option to undertake two six-month placements, or a year-long placement whilst studying one of our anthropology degrees.
• If you opt to go on two six-month work placements, then you can use the first one to help determine an area of interest to you in the future. You have the freedom of choice when looking for placements and can be based locally for one and go abroad for the second one.
• You’ll have support from day one of your anthropology course from your personal tutors and the Professional Development Centre in finding a suitable work placement according to your interests. They can range from working in a church, in a museum to supporting charities on-sites and studying a local community within a village.
• This invaluable experience will not only build your confidence but also provide you with a platform to showcase your project management, organisational and creative skills in the workplace.
• Some of our students have completed their placements in Guatemala, London, Malaysia and Morocco which really gives a global perspective.
• Fieldwork can also be conducted as volunteering to give you a real insight into cultures and communities. For example, one of our students did charity work in Cambodia and enjoyed experiencing different cultures and working with a range of people from different backgrounds.

The International Business BSc is a highly relevant course in today’s commercial climate. It covers the fundamentals of national and international market economies and looks at the many forces that shape the operating environments of organisations worldwide.

The emphasis of this degree is on the challenges created by globalisation, challenges which are particularly relevant to multinational enterprises (MNEs) as they account for over fifty percent of global output. A deeper understanding of the commercial power of MNEs is key to understanding how and why companies expand in an increasingly competitive market.

The International Business BSc is designed for those seeking to operate within an international business setting or within companies and jobs where an understanding of international business is an asset. We’ll explore the impact of internationalisation on factors such as human resource management (HRM), entrepreneurship, and emerging markets. There will also be the opportunity to study modules on marketing, environmental sustainability, and global investment.

As well as the focus on international business, this degree will equip you with the broad business and management background and the analytical and interpersonal skills required to understand, analyse and address issues faced by today's companies. You’ll broaden your knowledge of business concepts as you work on real business issues and live case studies to develop your managerial skills.

Valuable technical skills will be developed in numerical methods, quantitative methods, and by using statistical software such as SPSS and EXCEL. This part of the course does not require A level maths or the overseas equivalent.

The course includes a module on Management Enquiry to help you adapt to university study through active learning sessions on topics such as working in groups, report writing and time management.

Our International Business BSc is accredited by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), which means you will gain exemptions from some of their professional papers if you wish to undertake further study towards being a chartered management accountant after you graduate.

You’ll also have the opportunity to take a year's paid professional work experience and be part of the team at an international company or organisation. Previous employers have included Adidas, Microsoft, British Airways, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Nissan. Occasionally students are invited back to a full-time graduate position by their placement employers so as well as offering experience, a placement can open doors. Find out more on our work placement year page.