Master of Arts in Popular Music and Culture

at Leeds Beckett University - City Campus United Kingdom

As part of your course you’ll:

• Study in a truly interdisciplinary way as you explore how history and media intersect
• Join the vibrant, research-led academic community in the School of Cultural Studies & Humanities
• Be taught by active researchers who can help guide your studies
• Have the opportunity to choose practical, career-focused option modules to boost your CV and improve your employability upon graduation 

Course structure
You’ll study a balance of history and media modules in your first year, helping you develop a strong skillset and knowledge of methodologies in each discipline. Things like source analysis and media interpretation.

In your second year, you’ll bring your skillset together by completing your first interdisciplinary module. You’ll also begin driving your studies in the direction you want through a wide range of module options.

Your third year culminates in the completion of your dissertation, which explores and celebrates the interconnections between history and media. Employability is embedded throughout your course.

Take control of your future and enjoy the greater freedom and flexibility that developing your own business can bring. We will feed your entrepreneurial spirit and develop your management skills so you can create, establish and lead your own venture. We will also give you the knowledge and confidence to implement new strategies within an established company to drive change, encourage innovation and help the business flourish.

As well as gaining a broad overview of business, you will also explore your individual management style and develop critical-thinking patterns and problem solving and decision-making techniques to share and reflect upon with your peers. Working closely with industry professionals, you will be encouraged to experiment with new ideas and you will learn to identify opportunities and risks in order to develop a viable business venture or project.

Studying professional interactions, you will learn that strong communication and relationship development skills coupled with a solid emotional intelligence base are key to managing and sustaining complex business partnerships.

You will learn from a highly skilled and research-active teaching team who are experts in enterprise, innovation, entrepreneurship, marketing and management. You will also work with a professional mentor - a business practitioner who can provide practical support and advice during your period of study.

With guidance from your mentor, you will have the opportunity to work on a real-life enterprise or start-up project and implement solutions, make decisions and manage the process from start to finish.

Explore contemporary dance and take part in exciting collaborative performance projects.

As part of your course you’ll:

• Work with choreographers, independent dance artists and directors
• Learn how to perform, direct, organise and teach, developing your skills in all areas of contemporary dance production
• Be taught by practising artists who will advise you on producing and performing work
• Be based in Leeds, a hub of cultural activity and home to Northern Ballet, Phoenix Dance Theatre, Yorkshire Dance National Dance Agency, Leeds Playhouse, The Riley Theatre and The Carriageworks
• Study in a city that hosts regular performance events like Light Night, Leeds Festival and Leeds Carnival, the UK's second largest Carribean Carnival

You’ll learn from a teaching team interested in working with students from a variety of dance backgrounds and they will encourage you to develop your creativity.

This course has exceptional industry links with local and international organisations and you will benefit from being taught in specialist studios and theatre spaces. You will be able to take advantage of opportunities at local, national and international level, using our links to give you access to recognised artists working in contemporary practices. Regular networking and work experience throughout the course will give you the confidence to take on exciting projects and approach people inside and outside the industry.

In your third year you’ll be able to choose a placement that appeals to you. You could help run a festival, shadow a choreographer, take part in a teaching residency, or do something else that is of interest to you.

Acquire the knowledge and skills needed for a career as an environmental health practitioner by analysing the five main intervention areas: housing, food safety, occupational health and safety, environmental protection and public health. You will develop your understanding of environmental stress factors and their effect on human health and safety, together with the legal and technical frameworks for controlling these risks.

The opportunity to interact with students from other vocational courses will broaden your perspective of environmental health issues, and you will have access to our state-of-the-art acoustics laboratory and our dedicated food inspection facilities to put your expertise into practice. You will also have the chance to engage in simulated sessions, including mock kitchen inspections and staged courtroom trials to see how the law operates in environmental health cases. These scenarios could help you work towards professional registration as an environmental health practitioner.

Speech and language therapists (SLT) are privileged to work with people throughout their entire lifespan, from neonatal to end of life care.

As part of this course you’ll:

• Gain a professional qualification as an SLT in three years
• Learn to provide assessment and intervention for communication impairments and difficulties with eating, drinking and swallowing
• Study a variety of subjects such as psychology, linguistics and speech pathology
• Attend guest lectures from specialist clinicians and medics to ensure your learning is current and to expand your networks
• Experience ongoing and block placements through a mixed placement model

We adopt a mixed placement model, which means that you'll have the opportunity to experience ongoing and block placements. An ongoing placement means that you are on placement one day per week, whilst in university the remaining days. On a block placement, you’ll spend all week on placement, with no lectures during these periods. You’ll be required to travel to placements independently and these will be located throughout the Yorkshire and Humberside region.

You'll undertake ongoing and block work placements in all three years of your course. You'll also be able to make the most of course-related opportunities such as campaigning and raising awareness of people with communication difficulties, getting involved in the speech and language therapy society and volunteering in the UK and abroad. You’ll gain a wide range of clinical experiences with both children and adults

Gain a thorough understanding of core business and management principles including strategic management and organisational analysis. You will develop your leadership, critical thinking and analytical skills to achieve specific business goals and respond to business-critical challenges.

The finance specialism will introduce you to the basics of organisational finance and how to use financial information to support business decisions.

Our modules have been designed by academics and industry experts to ensure that the knowledge and capabilities you develop match senior level responsibilities in organisations across all sectors.

With a strong focus on action learning, your experience will be enhanced by the business simulation suite, through which you will improve your evaluation and decision-making skills by developing strategies to respond to a range of business-critical challenges.

This course is ideal if you have the ambition to develop your managerial prospects, with a particular focus on financial management.

Explore the rapidly changing world around you on this contemporary and dynamic course. You’ll study important topics such as migration, identity, sustainability, social injustice, cities and globalisation.

As part of your course, you’ll:

• Undertake local and international fieldwork
• Go on a human geography related work placement
• Conduct a major piece of research for your dissertation
• Challenge your existing views and gain sought-after skills and new ways of thinking
• Get involved in live research projects and community consultations

This course will equip you with a deep understanding of accounting and finance and their importance for organisations and businesses.

As part of your course you’ll:

• Tailor your studies by choosing your modules to suit your interests or future career direction
• Specialise in accountancy or gain a wider perspective on business
• Have access to industry links and guest lectures

Our guest lecture series will help support your development. Past speakers include the CEO of the London Stock Exchange, the Chief Executive of the British Bankers Association and the Chief Economist of Yorkshire Bank.

Create fashion designs and explore experimental approaches to garment making and design. We will show you how to challenge the limitations of fashion and understand its role in society.

As part of your course you’ll:

• Learn to create designs in response to different trends, market forces and technical innovations
• Work on arts and industry-informed briefs and live projects to create a portfolio of professional design and making skills
• Develop a strong understanding of the cultural, ethical and environmental concerns in the contemporary fashion industry
• Concentrate on 2D and 3D skills, and understand how to communicate ideas to manufacturers both here and abroad
• Explore 2D work using computer-aided design (CAD) for a professional finish
• Explore fabric and form to ensure applicable 3D outcomes are achieved
• Study key areas including research of ideas, design and the articulation of ideas

As part of this course, you’ll:

• Examine literatures past and present, and from around the world
• Be taught by award-winning writers
• Have the chance to work on an extended creative writing project as you collaborate with your peers to produce an anthology and plan a related launch event
• Explore a range of literary and writing contexts to develop the ability to respond creatively to the world around you
• Join a vibrant creative community of students and lecturers with connections to literary festivals and events in the region
• Get the chance to work with our range of industry professionals in the city and beyond 

We’ll nurture your passion by developing your creative and critical thinking. You’ll benefit from:

• Inspired teaching and intellectual debate
• Interaction with award-winning authors and playwrights
• A rolling programme of media industry professionals, published lecturers and world-renowned researchers

Leeds is the Northern heart of culture and the arts. Your campus sits in the very centre of the city, surrounded by museums, art galleries, theatres, film production companies and recording studios. We work directly with Leeds museums and galleries and many regional events, including Leeds Lit Fest, poetry performance events and the Leeds West Indian Carnival.