Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Politics and International Relations (with Placement Year)

at De Montfort University United Kingdom

Arts and Festivals Management is the longest-running degree course of its kind in the UK and boasts enviable industry links.

In addition to deepening your understanding of academic debates, our course will equip you with the practical tools and skills needed to become a leader in key areas of the cultural arena, including theatres, music venues, galleries, museums and festivals.

You will develop a range of interdisciplinary skills such as teamwork, marketing and management theory, fundraising, business planning, licensing, health and safety, programming and cultural policy.

In your final year, you will have the opportunity either to produce a large-scale arts event of your choice or be part of the team producing, programming and running the high-profile annual Cultural eXchanges Festival. Previous events have featured inspiring guests such as Benjamin Zephaniah, Grayson Perry, and Meera Syal.

We will teach you to become an adept problem solver, with the ability to provide dynamic solutions within this continually changing and diversifying sector.

The media and communication industry has a widespread influence on the world around us, and this degree course helps enable you to be a part of that revolution.

By studying both the theory and practice of media and communications, this course can equip you with the skills and insights required to be successful in the media environment.

This can enable you to progress into diverse careers in sectors such as PR, journalism, marketing, entertainment, international relations, politics and education.

A modern focus in the teaching of this course enables students to adapt to changes and developments in industry and proficiently use the most up-to-date technology.

Established in 1947, our course has unparalleled links with the UK and global intimate apparel industry, providing opportunities to work with big brands on live projects, work placements and competitions.

With a focus on sustainability and innovation, this course covers a range of specialist areas and will prepare you for the changing demands within this dynamic sector. Specialise in lingerie, athleisure, swimwear, loungewear, nightwear, corsetry, menswear, sportswear or medical applications. You will develop specialist skills in conceptual design and application, pattern cutting, grading, fit methodologies, technical excellence and manufacturing. In your final year, you will choose to specialise in either an aesthetic or a technical route.

Your base will be the award-winning Vijay Patel Building, home to all of our art and design students, which provides both the space and facilities to foster creative thinking.

Visual Effects BSc has been developed in consultation with the industry to deliver skills relative to the production of visual effects (VFX) across a range of contemporary media. The use of VFX is commonplace within broadcast productions, film and animation, video games, and in advertising. This is reflected in the scope of this course as it pulls from a number of disciplines including film, special effects, animation and 3D, to complement the interdisciplinarity of the subject.

This course also encourages you to develop your creative flair and understanding of industry-standard software to create your own 3D content for use in film and television projects.

As an integral part of the multibillion-pound film and television industry, studying the creative and technical skills used in VFX can open up extensive career prospects.

Our graduates have gone on to work in roles such as compositors and matte painters, as well as wider media-based roles such as colourists and finishers.

Our Product Design course helps you to take your imaginative ideas and make them real. To do that you need both the creativity and the technical skills to bring your ideas to life.

On this course you’ll study the fundamentals of maths and science, electrical, electronic and mechanical principles, and simulation and fluid dynamics, as well as the functional and market-led requirements of product design.

You’ll look at specific areas including technology integration, computer-aided design (CAD) and 3D design, sustainability and design for manufacture, and be taught by academics with current industry connections.

Computational Intelligence (CI) encompasses the techniques and methods used to tackle problems that traditional approaches to computing struggle to solve. The four areas of fuzzy logic, neural networks, CI optimisation and knowledge-based systems encompass much of what is considered to be computational (or artificial) intelligence. There are also opportunities to apply what you learn in areas such as robot control and games development, depending on your interests.

You can choose from a number of specialist modules including natural language processing, artificial neural networks and data mining techniques, while developing your skills in our dedicated robotics laboratory, equipped with a variety of mobile robots. The applied computational intelligence module considers knowledge-based systems, as well as the historical, philosophical and future implications of AI, and focuses on current research and applications in the area.   

In an increasingly media-focused world, this course will develop your existing passion for film and TV into a prospective career, helping you acquire a skillset required for many technical and creative roles.

You will gain a strong theoretical understanding of film history and theory, and explore areas such as Disney, Warner Bros and the business of the Film Studio, Cinemas of the World and Fan and Material Cultures. You will also develop practical skills in diverse areas including film making, film reviewing, screen archives and film festival planning.  

You will be able to choose modules that combine practice and study, giving you a strong theoretical understanding, as well as transferable skills such as communication and critical analysis. Our graduates go on to work in a variety of fields, including film and TV, but also finance, public relations and tourism.

Journalists play a vital role in a democracy, and this course offers the opportunity to pursue a career that is not only exciting, but also crucial for informing debate and discussion on a wide range of questions affecting our lives.

The course is designed to enable flexibility to allow you to focus on specialist areas of your choice, which include music journalism, lifestyle and sports while also preparing you to challenge the status quo. Throughout the degree, you will be encouraged to focus on core issues of social equality, social justice, protest and marginalised communities in the UK.

You will learn the traditional core skills of researching, interviewing, writing and web-publishing, and gain multimedia skills within video and audio production. The journalism sector requires graduates who possess a broad digital multi-platform skillset, knowledge of media law and political structures, and have the ability to question structures in society. 

We’re living in a digital age, and while this technology and connectivity gives us so many benefits, it also means hackers and cyberterrorists have more opportunities than ever before to sabotage institutions, businesses, and even individuals.

This programme is developed in partnership with a range of national and international organisations, including Deloitte UK, Airbus, BT, and Rolls-Royce, ensuring you learn about the issues at the forefront of the sector.

Teaching is delivered by our expert staff at the Cyber Technology Institute, which has been named as an NCSC Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research thanks to its pioneering research in incident response and cyber threat intelligence, industrial control systems and sociotechnical security.

Our Cyber Technology MSc course consists of four main themes –Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Security, Digital Forensics and Software Engineering. It can be studied by combining modules from all five categories, allowing you to specialise in your chosen area of interest. Alternatively, you have the opportunity to choose mixed pathways, for example the choices of modules could lead to a degree in Cyber Technology with Artificial Intelligence.

With a flexible curriculum to accommodate your creative ambitions, this course will prepare you to take a critical position to forge a successful career in the globalised creative world. The key business skills that you will gain - project management, marketing, website design, branding and business planning – make this course the ideal platform for creative entrepreneurs to launch their own design businesses and consultancies, or for those who hope to take up senior roles in design strategy or brand management. The course is designed for students with a good working knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite applications, such as Photoshop, Acrobat and InDesign, and will develop these technical skills to an advanced level.

You will select a specialist area of study from diverse options, ranging from retail, museum and exhibition, and product design, to interior, footwear, visual communication, and design innovation. Learn to devise creative solutions to complex issues surrounding sustainability and explore the role of design and innovation as a driver for change.

The opportunity to work on live projects will enhance your professional portfolio, and you will complete an individual major project (either creative practice based or research focused) which runs throughout the course, drawing on the professional expertise and specialist knowledge of our academics.  

Throughout the course we will empower you to experiment boldly and support you to take risks. You will be encouraged challenge conventions and develop innovative approaches to tackling contemporary design challenges, with the cutting-edge facilities for you to refine your talents and realise your creative visions.