Master of Science in Social Work

at Brunel University London United Kingdom

The Brunel Management MSc offers students a critically aware understanding of management and organisations relevant to their career path. This is achieved through the study of organisations, their management and the changing contexts in which they operate.

You will gain an advanced and applied understanding of contextual forces on organisations – be they legal, ethical, economic, environmental, social and technological; together with business strategy, markets and customers, financial management, and the management and development of people.

Career progression and finding suitable jobs are key for our students, so employment experience is part of the degree course with the option of a six to twelve week or yearlong work placement. From your placement you identify a project, linked to the dissertation, and produce an internal consultancy report for the company. 

The Brunel Management MSc allows you to study general business management or to select a specialist pathway which reflects your strengths and interests.

If you start your course in September you can study one year full-time,16 months full-time (with a 6-12 weeks placement), or two years full-time (with one year's placement). If you start your course in January, you can study 15 months full-time, 19 months full-time (with 6-12 weeks placement), or 27 months (with one year's placement).

The four pathways for the Management MSc are:

Management (General Management) MSc
Develop a generalised knowledge of theory and its practical applications to business, public sector and third sector organisations.

Management (Marketing and Brand Management) MSc
A mix of general management study with specialism in marketing and branding issues followed by a related dissertation topic.

Management (Technology and Innovation Management) MSc
Combine a study of general management with technology and innovation issues followed by a related dissertation topic.

Management (Digital Entrepreneurship and Creativity Management) MSc
Gain knowledge of general management while studying issues related to the media industry and media management followed by a related dissertation topic.

You will be given the opportunity to choose your specialist Management MSc degree pathway in induction week, and to choose elective modules during the first two weeks of your course. You can attend different pathway-related and elective classes, in order to help you make your choice by the end of the two-week period.

If you are late to enrol, you will be given information on arrival relating to your pathway and elective options. However, you will be expected to make your final choices within 48 hours of enrolment.

This course has a placement option. Find out more about work placements available.

Are you looking for a rewarding career that impacts the lives of individuals, families and communities? On successful completion of the Social Work MA course at Brunel, you’ll be eligible to apply for Social Work England registration which is mandatory to practise social work.

Through a combination of academic expertise and high-quality practice placements you’ll be prepared for your career in social work, where 95% of our graduates are in employment after completing their studies. Brunel is located in London, home to a diverse landscape of social work settings. Our academics have strong connections within the sector and you’ll benefit from excellent work placement experience, over 170 days in total.

This Social Work England accredited course will equip you with the skills to tackle the challenges faced in social work today including problems such as county lines, cyber bullying, discrimination and extremism. You’ll learn about law, psychology, social policy and sociology, giving you a comprehensive understanding of various approaches. You’ll develop the skills to identify, understand and critically appraise evidence and research which can inform social work practice.

Psychology in Sport, Health and Exercise is an area of growing interest, particularly in the world of professional sport. Through studying the link between the mind and the body, we can understand things like motivation and determination, and the effect that physical activity has on the brain.

This course is jointly delivered by the Divisions of Psychology and Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences. It is accredited by the British Psychological Society.

The Division of Psychology offers a firm foundation of learning including cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, and biological psychology. Quantitive and qualitative research methods are taught to support experiments you may carry out as research for your dissertation.

The Division of Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences will cover the fundamentals of sports psychology, and how to apply research knowledge to real-world situations. You will learn about experiences you may encounter as an applied psychology practitioner in both sport and exercise contexts.

As an accredited course, should you graduate with a 2:2 grade or higher, you will be eligible to apply for graduate membership of the British Psychological Society. Membership will be key if you choose to pursue postgraduate training. It’s also a pre-requisite of entry to all accredited Stage 2 and Doctoral programmes needed to become a chartered psychologist – be it in Sport and Exercise or otherwise.

Digital service design is the art of building customer experiences with a strong digital element. The Digital Service Design MSc is a new multidisciplinary course which has been specifically created to help graduates develop exceptional user experience design for digital products and services.

The course has been designed in collaboration with Wilson Fletcher, a leading digital design studio, to closely mirror current professional practices. In so doing, the course will help you develop a deep knowledge of both design theory and practice as well as equip you for employment in the digital sector.

You’ll work on a number of individual and group projects based on real-world briefs, which will help you develop the technical, interpersonal, creative and strategic skills needed to succeed in the digital service design industry.

You’ll be able to explore areas of design and rapid prototyping, innovation methodologies, interview and workshop facilitation, journey mapping, customer research methodologies, project management, how to develop and present actionable recommendations, and much more.

By the end of the course you’ll be able to: 

• Generate ideas and turn them into viable concepts and working prototypes
• Work in multidisciplinary teams in a studio setting and take responsibility for your work
• Problem-solve and design for both user and business needs
• Understand the skills, tools and methodologies necessary to develop compelling strategies, products and services
• Design and develop experiences, products and services of high quality with digital media at their core
• Demonstrate a critical and practical understanding of the issues relevant to digital service design and their use in the context of modern industry and commercial environments
• Have a thorough and clear understanding of the methodologies and professional skills necessary for effective digital service design in a business environment
• Reflect – critically and in-depth – on relevant aspects of the state-of the art of both the practice and theory of digital service design

Selected students may have the opportunity for a company-sponsored dissertation project.

Graduates will be equipped to work in leading digital design agencies and consultancies as well as innovative blue-chip companies that have design departments. Fields you might go into after this course include app development, copywriting and content design, digital design, digital product design, digital project management, front-end development, information architecture, interaction design, product management, research, service design, strategy, user experience design, UX architecture. 

Brunel’s Women in Engineering and Computing mentoring scheme provides our female students with invaluable help and support from their industry mentors.

Our Electronic and Electrical Engineering MEng degree is a modern course that has been developed to equip you with the advanced knowledge and skills needed to design electronic and electrical systems for the next generation.

You will be introduced to electronic engineering and gain deep knowledge of electronics and electrical systems. You’ll learn about electronic systems, and electrical engineering and sustainability, and then progress to advanced devices and electronic systems design, and analogue integrated circuit design. In your final year, you can choose specialist subjects like embedded systems engineering, intelligent systems and power electronics.

Access is available to modern technical facilities including computer, electronics, and power and control laboratories where you’ll work on your experiments. The latest industry standard engineering software packages are available for you to use in dedicated computer clusters.

Brunel's MEng electronic and electrical engineering course is accredited by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). This professional engineering institution ensures that your engineering degree meets the academic requirement to qualify as a professional engineer. This accredited MEng degree in electronic and electrical engineering 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 an engineering or technology company.

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 engineering and technology enterprises and experts, and show them the innovative, creative and enterprising work you have produced during your time at Brunel.

Accounting best practice is key to the success and longevity of a business. Accounting data contributes to valuable analysis with which to chart the progress of a business and support pivotal decision-making. This can be particularly useful when projecting future profitability and at what rate it is sustainable based on the current resources available.

The Business and Management (Accounting) BSc course offers hands-on experience using Sage Accounting software, which is widely used in the industry. You will also learn valuable technical skills along the way including numerical methods and how to use statistical software packages such as SPSS and EXCEL. This part of the course does not require A level maths or the overseas equivalent.

The accounting pathway gives students a broad overview of management issues with specialist knowledge of the applications of accountancy to the world of commerce. You will gain the combination of analytical, technical and interpersonal skills required to understand, analyse and address the issues that today’s companies face.

Our Management Enquiry module was created specifically to help you adapt to university study with learning sessions on working in groups, report writing, and time management.

This degree course is accredited by all the professional accountancy bodies in the UK (ACCA, CIMA, ICAEW, CIPFA and AIA), and allows you to gain exemptions from some of their professional papers if you wish to further your study with them after you graduate. These accreditations attests to the relevance and rigour of our curriculum. We have particularly good exemptions from ACCA; we hold all nine possible exemptions.  So when you graduate you will be part qualified and will just need to sit final exams and gain some professional experience to qualify as an accountant.  Find out more about all our accreditations and exemptions on our accreditations and exemptions page.

Once you graduate, provided you have passed certain modules, you will be exempt from some of the entry level examinations of these professional accountancy bodies. This is because this degree course already covers some of the content of the examinations you must pass to gain the professional qualifications. The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants has also told us that Brunel graduates have a higher than average pass rate in both the accounting and management streams of their examinations.

There is the option to take a year’s work placement between your second and third year. Previous employers have included Adidas, Microsoft, British Airways, PwC and Nissan. Find out more on our work placement year page.

Brunel University London’s impact on the future wages of its graduates is among the best in the country compared to other universities, according to analysis of government data by The Economist (2017).

All our business degrees include the option of a work placement year between your second and third year.

• In addition to providing the opportunity to put what you’ve learnt in your degree into practice, and to earn some much appreciated money, our students find their work placement experience significantly enhances their career prospects when they come to graduate. In fact many students are offered employment with their work placement company upon graduation. You'll be working in the same capacity as you would when you graduate so it will give you a taste of what's to come, hopefully, including all the challenges and rewards.
• Placements are available at different sized organisations across the public and private sector, so you can choose the type of experience most suited to you. You’ll need to apply for these positions in much the same way as you would a job, so it’ll be useful experience in that respect too.
• The good news is that through our Business Life programme and the University’s Professional Development Centre, you should be well prepared to make the best applications you can.
• Placements tend to last 44 weeks. During your placement, an academic member of staff from Brunel Business School will keep in touch, and your employer will be invited to attend a tutorial day at Brunel with you.

Our Integrated Product Design MSc degree focuses on the design of innovative products, emphasising the balance between the interest of users, industry, society and the environment. It covers the whole design process, integrating all aspects relevant to product development - technology, management, aesthetics, sustainability, ergonomics, marketing, business and design methods - to produce highly qualified and sought after designers able to cope with the challenges the global economy presents.

You’ll have access to modern facilities that include a dedicated master’s design studio and extensive prototyping workshops. The practical knowledge you gain is transferable to industry and provides you with a comprehensive skillset for global product and services design research and development.

Our integrated product design course is accredited by the Institution of Engineering Designers (IED) and is studied full-time over one year. 

We encourage you to make use of our good links with industrial colleagues and undertake an optional industrial placement as part of your dissertation project over the summer. A placement gives you the opportunity to put what you’ve learnt into practice, and to apply it to a real working environment.

Made in Brunel is a unique, student-led initiative that showcases our design talent at its finest. Each year our students run a series of industry and community events leading up to the Made in Brunel exhibition. This annual showcase is a highlight of the London design calendar and promotes the incredible work our students produce to the creative community, and is your chance to network with key design professionals.

If you are interested in turning a product or technology idea into a business after your postgraduate studies, we are in partnership with the Central Research Laboratory (CRL), a design incubator for start-ups. You’ll have access to meeting rooms and work space as well as prototyping facilities. A team of in-house professionals will guide and support you at each stage and a number of our previous entrepreneurial students have successfully commercialised their products.

The Brunel Finance and Investment MSc gives graduates the advanced knowledge and skills needed to pursue careers in financial management, with a focus on investment analysis and portfolio management.

In addition to core subjects including financial theory, financial markets and corporate finance, you’ll examine in detail financial modelling, investment strategies, performance evaluation, risk assessment, investment valuation and asset pricing. 

Further, you’ll develop your quantitative and 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.

We hold regular training sessions with Bloomberg, which will enhance your research and give you a taste of a real-world working environment.

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 Finance and Investment 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 global capital and money markets grow, so does the demand for professionals with specialist skills and competencies in finance and investment. Your Brunel Masters will give you that and make you a sought-after job candidate to employers across the industry.

Politics and Sociology 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 they exercise it?

Meanwhile, your studies in sociology will look at subjects like sociological theory, social identities, the sociology of everyday life and the changing nature of modern societies. You’ll be studying people, societies and how people live, and on the other how they are governed or want to be governed.

Both subjects will help to demonstrate your intellectual acumen and understanding of world affairs and real life issues, which will be an asset in so many fields of work.

Whether you’re studying modern world politics or the development of social change and transformations, you’ll not just learn about them, you’ll be analysing them using the tools of political science and social science to help deepen your understanding and critical thinking.

Opt for a placement year and you'll gain valuable experience to help give you the edge in the job market when you come to graduate. Past students have secured placements in the Home Office, HM Treasury, the House of Commons, and the Competition Commission, but the list of possibilities is endless.

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.

But 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 graduates of this subject enter diverse careers. Some go into politics and the civil service, some are at GCHQ and military intelligence, and some go on to further study or into research.

Others go into the public sector – the NHS, social or care work, education or in local authorities, while others go into the private sector working for international banks, business consultancy, law, NGOs, the media and marketing. The opportunities are endless.

Our Electronic and Electrical Engineering (Computer Systems) BEng degree is a modern course that has been developed to equip you with the knowledge and skills needed to work and research in electronic and electrical engineering with specialisation in embedded systems.  This programme will help to develop an understanding of the various engineering, scientific and economic trade-offs necessary in the design and implementation of embedded systems, provide familiarity and experience with a range of architectural techniques, design methodologies and their applications and suitability for some embedded systems such as FPGAs and help to understand the utilisation and principles of reconfigurable computing.

You’ll gain a good understanding of the different engineering areas, giving you the opportunity to learn more about the fundamental engineering subjects such as design, structures, materials, fluid mechanics, electronics and maths and gain skills in technical drawing.

By specialising in computer systems you’ll learn to design and implement computer systems based on scientific and economic trade-offs. 

Access is available to modern technical facilities including computer, electronics, and power and control laboratories where you’ll work on your experiments. The latest industry standard engineering software packages are available for you to use in dedicated computer clusters.

Brunel's BEng electronic and electrical engineering (computer systems) course is accredited by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). This professional engineering institution ensures that your engineering degree meets the academic requirement to qualify as a professional engineer. This accredited BEng degree in electronic and electrical engineering can be studied full-time over three years, or four years with a placement year. The BEng degree meets the educational requirement to become an Incorporated Engineer (IEng).

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 an engineering or technology company.