Master of Arts in English Literature

at Brunel University London United Kingdom

What is the social and cultural impact of media communications in today’s world? How do communication and information media actually work and what are their importance to our society?

This course enjoys a very close relationship with sociology at Brunel and combines the theoretical elements of sociology with the practical elements of media studies. You’ll focus on all aspects of society: its personal, social and cultural dimensions.

Studying communications and media at Brunel is not just limited to the classroom. You’ll have the opportunity to broaden your mind by going on field trips and joining film sessions, where you’ll learn about cameras lighting and editing. You’ll be able to attend optional company visits, for example IMG studios, where you’ll receive a tour of the studios.

On this course you’ll have the chance to make your own films in groups. You’ll develop your skills in our media services suite which has industry-standard facilities. You’ll be taught about the software Final Cut Pro and how to use different types of Canon cameras. You’ll experiment with different lighting styles and practise sound editing techniques. This practical work will equip you with the skills you’ll need for a media related career or for working in the field of production.

You’ll also be able to take your learning outside the classroom – on field trips and company visits. Previous students have toured the IMG studious right here in Uxbridge.

If you choose to go on a placement, you’ll benefit form Brunel’s contacts and location. Examples of recent student placements have been in advertising, digital marketing and public relations in organisations such as Cartoon Network, IMG Media, Sweet Images and the Walt Disney Company.

If you’re interested in politics and history, you don’t have to substitute one for the other. Why not study both in a combined degree? You’ll find they complement each other in so many ways. What is modern politics anyway but a reflection of yesterday’s political decisions?

Politics and history at Brunel is a dynamic combination of high level study in both subjects. Your politics studies will help you address critical questions like: Who has political power? Why do they have it? And in whose interest do their exercise it? Meanwhile, your studies in history will take you back into the societies of the past in Britain, Europe and the wider world to help you understand contemporary issues all the more. Both subjects will help to demonstrate your intellectual acumen and understanding of world affairs, which will be an asset in so many fields of work.

Whether you’re studying modern Africa, imperialism or intelligence and security, you’ll not just learn about them – you’ll be analysing them using the tools of political science or craft of the historian to help deepen your understanding and critical thinking.

Opt for a placement year and you'll gain work experience that is highly valued by employers. Brunel students have secured placements in the Environmental Audit Committee, the House of Commons, Directorate of Gender Affairs, HM Treasury and the Competition Commission, to name only a few.

It’s a competitive world out there, so you’ll get plenty of support from your lecturers and the University’s Professional Development Centre to help prepare you for your placement year and the world of work.

Why not increase your career options with an accredited journalism course, a free modern language course, or a social media internship? You can even opt to study part of your degree abroad in one of our partner universities in Europe, or participate in an exchange programme to China or the USA.

It’s all available at Brunel to help you make a difference in the world – now and in the future.

Brunel politics and history graduates enter diverse careers. Many of our former students go into politics and the civil service and some are currently at GCHQ and military intelligence. Others work in the public and private sector like the NHS, international banks, business consultancy, law, NGOs and the media.

The Brunel Banking and Finance MSc is designed to give graduates the knowledge and advanced skills needed for careers in the complex and rapidly changing banking and financial services industry.

Your studies will cover key subjects including financial economics, the economics of banking, international financial markets and quantitative methodology, as well as financial regulation at national and international levels and matters arising in private banking.

Crucially, you’ll develop your problem-solving skills and ability to critically evaluate and deliver midterm and long-term strategic solutions. 

Throughout the course you’ll have access to a variety of professional databases used in business and finance including Datastream, Bloomberg, Bank Scope, Osiris, Reuters 3000 Xtra and Thomson One Banker.

You can choose to study one year full-time, two years full-time with a year's work placement or 16 months full-time with a 6-12 week work placement.

While you study for your Banking and Finance MSc you can take advantage of the opportunity to follow the CFA Program (Chartered Financial Analyst) specialist pathway and gain the skills required to complete the Level I CFA Program exam.  The CFA Program has become the most respected and recognised professional qualification in finance in the world. Find out more on our  Level I CFA® Program Pathway page.

As the worldwide financial services industry grows, so does the demand for professionals with specialist skills and competencies in banking and finance. Your Brunel Master's will give you that and make you a preferred job candidate to employers across the sector.

Have you grown up with a deep interest in film and television and the thinking that goes into bringing entertainment to homes across the country? Take a step into this fast-paced and exciting industry by studying Brunel’s Film and Television Studies and English BA.

Your degree will give you a thorough understanding of film and television by examining a wide range of recent and contemporary productions for both the big and small screen. You will gain an insight into a range of genres as your studies will explore Hong Kong to Hollywood cinema, science fiction, documentaries, and everything in between.

By opting for this joint honours degree with English, you will also study the major areas of English literature from the Renaissance to the most recent publications in poetry, fiction and drama, whilst developing an informed understanding of current debates in the subject.

This is an exciting, dynamic, wide-ranging course with plenty of flexibility allowing you to follow your own individual tastes and literary passions.

The film and television industries are very hands-on and wide-ranging fields, therefore you will be able to make modules choice accordingly. After the first year, up to 40% of your module choices can be practical so you are able to take the theory you have learned and put it into practice by applying it to your own work.

As well as enhancing your learning by attending screenings at the British Film Institute, the Institute of Contemporary Arts and other cinemas across the capital, you will also be eligible to enter our annual Brunel University Film Festival (BUFF) with categories including Best Fiction, Best Non-Fiction and Best Overall Film. This will allow you to put all your practical and theory skills into practice and will give you the opportunity to showcase your talents.

Brunel offers students access to fantastic editing suites with up-to-date production software including Avid with accredited training facilities for Final Cut Pro 10, allowing you to bring your ideas, thoughts and inspirations to life.

As you’ll be taught and supported by academics who are experts in their field, you’ll develop skills that can be applied from the classroom to the workplace. They know the industry inside out, so you know you are learning from experienced professionals who will bring their unique insights into your learning.

Gain an insight into life after your studies by putting your learning into practice by opting for a one-year work placement. You will graduate with valuable work experience to enhance your employment prospects and will be able to develop an understanding the working world within the film industry. We have excellent links with a wide range of notable external organisations, so you will have the opportunity to apply for high quality placements across London.

Previous students have undertaken placement at many prestigious venues including The Pinewood Group, Fremantle Media, Objective Productions, WaterAid and BalletBoyz.

The Film and Television Studies and English BA is a part of the BAFTA albert education partnership. This accreditation provides students with exclusive access to the industry’s BAFTA albert carbon calculator, a tool used by Netflix, BBC, ITV, Channel 4, UKTV and Sky when producing their content. Participating students will work towards creating environmentally-friendly, sustainable content. Upon completion you will be presented with industry-recognised certification and become an official “BAFTA albert graduate”. This opportunity is provided at no extra cost.

As a graduate of this dynamic degree, you will leave us with the confidence to be able to develop a creative idea and see it through to the end – a transferable skill valuable in any sector.

Delve into a degree that will teach you the intricacies of how societies work and learn to understand how people cope with inevitable societal changes on our exciting Sociology BSc. You’ll develop the skills to put yourself in other peoples’ shoes as you study their behaviour and understand why they think in a certain way.

Your degree will give you a thorough understanding of how social issues such as poverty, unemployment, social conflict, and the social and economic consequences of rapid and profound industrial and economic change are redefined by contemporary processes of individualisation, globalisation and the growth of new forms of communication.

The first year is designed to offer you a solid base in theoretical and methodological innovations in sociology. As you progress through the course, you will be able to choose modules you are interested in to actively shape and apply your learning to the issues you wish to interrogate. In your third year, you’ll work on a dissertation focusing on an area of interest of your choice. Your dissertation can be a theoretical or practical dissertation, so you can work to your own strengths.

Depending on the modules you choose, you may have the option go on fieldtrips where you will be able to apply your learning to current issues and broaden your theoretical imagination. Previous fieldtrips have included: Barbican; British Board of Film Classification; London Migration Museum; Museum of Comedy; Museum of London; regeneration areas (e.g. Spitalfields, Smithfield); and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

As you’ll be taught and supported by academics who are not only experts in their field but are actively engaged in research, you’ll develop skills that can be applied from the classroom to the workplace. They know the industry inside out, so you know you are learning from experienced professionals who will bring their unique insights into the classroom and will ensure your learning is up-to-date.

Gain an insight into life after your studies by putting your learning into practice by opting for a one-year work placement or two short placements for six months at a time. You will graduate with valuable work experience to enhance your employment prospects and will be able to develop an understanding the working world. We have excellent links with a wide range of notable external organisations, so you will have the opportunity to apply for high quality placements across London.

Some of our sociology students have done their placements abroad working as teachers in Ghana. Others have undertaken placements at a variety of companies including Deluxe Entertainment, the Disney Channel, the Home Office, British Youth Council, Citizens Advice Bureau and the Department of Work and Pensions.

This is a broad-based degree which will enable and encourage you to specialise in areas which particularly fascinate you. As a graduate of this dynamic degree, you will leave us with various transferable skills that are key to the contemporary employment market. 

Using mathematics to solve industrial and commercial problems has led to vital breakthroughs for human advancement. Mathematical models underpin engineering, the applied sciences, computing and many aspects of business and management today. If you have a skill for mathematics and statistics and a flare for management then this could be the course for you. The combination of skills developed on this course will open doors to a wide range of careers.

This course focuses on how mathematics can solve industrial and commercial problems. You’ll develop a broad knowledge of general management alongside applicable skills and knowledge in mathematics and statistics.

Follow the four-year Professional Placement degree programme and you‘ll benefit from our extensive experience in helping students to find well-paid work placements with blue-chip companies. Our sandwich students find that their mathematical and transferable skills are in demand in many sectors, both in the UK and abroad.

Areas recently offering placements include: accountancy, aviation, banking, defence, finance, insurance, IT (software development, network management and design), management (public and private sector), marketing and telecommunications.

This programme will meet the educational requirements of the Chartered Mathematician designation, awarded by the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, when it is followed by subsequent training and experience in employment to obtain equivalent competences to those specified by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) for taught master's degrees.

Perhaps you enjoy writing, but prefer working with the facts rather than fiction? Or you have a keen interest in presenting to camera as a broadcast journalist or you’re an experienced blogger or vlogger. If so, a journalism degree might be good match for you.

Brunel’s Journalism and Culture BA course offers a balanced combination of journalism practice and theory to help provide the tools you need to pursue a variety of roles within the industry.

As part of the course you will learn the skills of journalism such as research, pitching story ideas, interviewing, reporting and writing across multi-media platforms as well as the relationship between journalism and culture and society.

You’ll learn across video, audio and magazine journalism and because it’s so hand-on you’ll feel like you’re building real skills for future.

As you journey through the course you’ll develop a critical understanding of the communication environment where journalism and media and cultural industries operate, as you develop the analytical ability to explore intellectual inquiries and present findings.

This London journalism course is taught by world-class academics, many of whom are active professional journalists who will be sources of inspiration when you come to do your own journalism research project in your final year.

Journalism and Culture BA has a strong emphasis on digital technology and multi-platform journalism and you will learn in a 24-hour, state-of-the-art, multi-platform digital newsroom and broadcast facilities, using the latest edition industry-standard hardware and software.

The course will also enable you to develop a critical and in-depth understanding of the media industry that will help you succeed in the fast-changing digital world.

In your second year, you’ll have the option to take the NCTJ (National Council for the Training of Journalists) Diploma in Journalism at no extra cost. The NCTJ Diploma is the number one industry recognised gateway into journalism, sought after by media professionals worldwide.

Once you graduate, you’ll have a unique set of skills and expertise that will give you a competitive edge when applying for jobs with cultural, political and social decision-making organizations in the UK and across the world.

Brunel students enjoy their own creative writing journal to showcase their talents as well as the Brunel Union of Students ‘Le Blurb’ publication, so they’ll be plenty of avenues to practice your craft.

You’ll also get to hear from alumni and guest speakers about what it’s really like to work in the journalism. Previous representatives from small papers, as well as the BBC and The Guardian have helped to provide further insight into the industry.

The location of the University is within easy reach of London and the West End, the British Library, museums and other research centres of national and international importance, offering endless opportunities for additional learning and leisure.

Our Sustainable Electrical Power MSc degree has been designed to equip you with advanced knowledge of sustainable electrical power and energy generation systems.

You will gain the skills and knowledge to lead teams which will operate, control, design, regulate and manage the power systems and networks of the future.

You’ll develop the ability to critically evaluate methodologies, analytical procedures and research methods in renewable energy sources; the design of stand-alone, grid connected and hybrid sustainable electrical power systems; power system engineering; power electronics for power quality and grid integration; and regulatory frameworks for power systems and electricity markets.

You’ll have access to our high-performance technical laboratories for the testing of power and control systems. The latest industry standard simulation software is available for you to use in grid computing facilities to investigate and design sustainable electrical power systems.

During your studies, there are site visits to National Grid substations and control centres, and power stations. You will benefit from guest lectures delivered by experts from the electricity industry, and take part in conferences where you’ll deliver poster presentations on your research work.

Our MSc sustainable electrical power degree is accredited by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and the Energy Institute (EI). These two professional bodies ensure that your degree meets the academic requirement to qualify as a professional engineer. This accredited MSc degree in sustainable electrical power fully meets the educational requirement for progression to Chartered Engineer (CEng) status. It can be studied full-time over one year or part-time over two years.

Our Civil Engineering with Sustainability MEng degree is a highly innovative course that has been developed to equip you with a broad range of knowledge and management skills to meet the real world needs of the civil engineering and construction industry.

You will study the traditional elements of civil engineering including design, structures, materials, fluid mechanics, geotechnics and maths. You’ll be introduced to a range of sustainable infrastructure topics and then progress to specialist subjects such as water and wastewater engineering. Then you’ll move on to advanced topics including project management, and structural analysis and FEA.

Access is available to custom-designed technical facilities to work on your laboratory experiments. These include fluids and hydraulics laboratories, and structures, materials and geotechnics labs. The latest industry standard engineering software packages are available for you to use in dedicated computer clusters.

During your studies, there is a residential field trip with hands-on experience in surveying and geology using industry standard equipment. You will also benefit from guest lectures delivered by industry professionals, as well as visits to construction sites and civil engineering development projects.

Due to recent changes to the engineering curriculum, our accreditation is currently being reconfirmed with the Joint Board of Moderators (JBM). The JBM compromises the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Institution of Structural Engineers, the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation, and the Institute of Highway Engineers. We have every expectation that our accreditation will be renewed later in the academic year.

This MEng degree in civil engineering with sustainability can be studied full-time over four years, or five years with a placement year. The MEng degree fully meets the educational requirement to fast track you to Chartered Engineer (CEng) status.  

We encourage the placement year option. This time in industry helps you to further prepare for the world of work and you’ll have a year’s worth of invaluable professional experience when you graduate. If you decide to go on an engineering placement year, you will have the opportunity to work in the civil engineering sector. It could be for a contractor, consultant or government authority.

Brunel Engineers is an annual exhibition that showcases our engineering talent at its finest. It’s a great way for you to network with key civil engineering enterprises and experts and show them the innovative, creative and enterprising work you have produced during your time at Brunel.

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.