Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Fine Art with Placement Year/Overseas Study

at Manchester Metropolitan University United Kingdom

From the written word to the silver screen, this joint honours course explores the middle ground between two of the world’s most important storytelling forms.

It is a fascinating combination of English literature, with its centuries-old roots, and the relative modernity of cinematic studies. Taught by staff that are internationally renowned writers and critics in a friendly, supportive and intellectually challenging environment, you'll study English literature in all its major forms - prose, poetry and drama - and cinema, in its large and small screen incarnations.

The film modules are grounded in close textual interpretation and the analysis of style, genre, historical context, and the politics of representation. As such, you’ll focus on key film genres, key directors, numerous film movements and national cinemas. With the sheer power, reach, longevity and endurance of American filmmaking over the last 120 years, much of the study of film focuses on 'Hollywood' style cinema, but you’ll also look at less commercial film-making from around the globe, challenging and pushing the medium to its limits.

You may have opportunities to study abroad and, if you wish, to do your third year as a placement - in Britain or abroad. And in your final year, you'll get a chance to explore your interests in depth with a substantial piece of project work that presents a thesis, building on the knowledge and skills you've been developing over previous years.

Our lively department is staffed by internationally renowned writers and critics, and there's a strong research culture, creating a learning environment that is both supportive and intellectually challenging. Manchester is a creative hub, with one of the biggest creative sectors in the UK, and along with our extensive cultural links both in the city and further afield, you’ll be ideally placed to begin building a creative network for the future.

Banking and finance are not only central to the country’s (and the world’s) economy – they also offer a diverse range of opportunities for your future. Whether you’re considering a career in personal banking, wealth management or corporate finance (to name but a few), our BSc (Hons) Banking and Finance program offers the skills and knowledge you’ll need to get started.

You’ll start off getting a good grounding in financial theory and practice, before exploring specialist areas in more depth – from retail banking and corporate finance, to risk management and the industry’s most influential institutions. You can also choose to spend a year working on a placement or studying abroad, developing valuable skills and boosting your career prospects.

Whether you take the three or four-year route – and whatever specialist areas you choose in your final year – you’ll find a practical focus throughout your studies. Not only is everything we teach rooted in real-world experience and expertise, but we’ve designed the course to give you the kind of transferrable skills employers across the industry demand.

Study Abroad
Instead of a placement, you’ll have the opportunity to spend up to a year overseas, studying with one of our partner institutions across Europe, or beyond. Go abroad in the third year of your degree, and you’ll not only learn about other cultures, improve your language skills and discover more about yourself – you’ll also boost your career prospects.

Having first-hand knowledge of another country’s cultures and traditions can take you far in a range of careers. And, by going abroad you’ll also demonstrate the kind of independent spirit and adaptability that many employers want.

Our creative writing courses are taught by internationally-renowned writers from The Manchester Writing School; one of the most successful of its kind in the UK, with more than 95 graduates and MA students who’ve gone on to become published writers. But skilled writers must also be well-developed readers and this course offers the best of both worlds, allowing you to combine Creative Writing and English as part of a joint degree.

While studying and practising creative writing, you’ll take a range of options from the English degree, including American literature, film, television and cultural studies. As you progress, you’ll have the chance to take part in creative writing workshops, focussing on two options from the selection of: prose, poetry and script. Our placement route offers you the opportunity to spend your third year on an industry placement, allowing you to apply university-based knowledge, skills and understanding to the world of work, and giving you an advantage when you begin looking for your first job after graduation. Or you may have the chance to spend a year expanding your horizons, studying with one of our partner universities overseas. In your final year, you’ll be ready to undertake an all-important independent creative project.

By the time you leave us, you’ll have an excellent understanding of the critical and cultural contexts in which you’re writing, together with the skills and experience to excel in the creative journey from original idea to finished work.

Philosophy is about making sense of ourselves and the world around us. It’s about asking and trying to answer the most fundamental theoretical and practical questions - from trying to understand the nature of consciousness, to whether current political institutions enable political freedom.

On BA (Hons) Philosophy you’ll consider ground-breaking philosophical theories from figures like Socrates, Kant and Nietzsche, to more contemporary thinkers such as Frantz Fanon, Hannah Arendt and Judith Butler. You’ll explore theories about the meaning of life, the nature of reality, who we are as individuals and society, and how these theories have shaped our ideas about humankind. And along the way, you’ll find your philosophical voice and develop a rich set of analytical and critical skills invaluable for your future – with the power to influence others and drive change.

As a philosophy student you will be joining a hub of research-active philosophers with local, national and international impact, with many of them being invited to present at major international conferences and workshops. Our staff work across key areas including History of Philosophy, critical social theories, Philosophy of Art, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Education, History and Philosophy of Science and much more – with this expertise behind us, we can give you a rounded, balanced understanding of the subject.

This course is a popular joint honours combination which brings together two subjects with highly complementary approaches and interests. Study English and history and you will explore a wide range of sources and representations that enhance our understanding of the world around us, both past and present.

As well as offering a balanced combination of core and option units rooted in each of the two subjects, this course has been designed so that your growing knowledge and skills in each subject will help you to develop a distinctive perspective, and strengths, in the other. During year 1, for instance, you will study the history of Manchester as a radical city on the History side of the joint curriculum, and the various ways in which it has been represented in literary and cultural texts on the English side. As you do so, you will be developing foundational skills and subject knowledge in the study of each discipline.

You may also have the opportunity to study abroad and, if you wish, to take your third year as a placement – in Britain or abroad. In your final year, you will have a chance to spread your wings with a substantial piece of project work, presented in a thesis, building on the skills you've been developing over previous years.

The English and history subject groups are staffed by internationally renowned writers and academics, and there’s a strong research culture, creating a learning environment that is both supportive and intellectually challenging. We pride ourselves on our excellent teaching and highly positive student feedback. And with our extensive cultural links both in Manchester and further afield, you will be in the right place to begin building a network for your future.

Illustrators work within many disciplines, and are able to visualise, elucidate and extend the meaning of a given field of knowledge or information and communicate ideas and narratives to specific audiences.

The contemporary practice of illustration is multidisciplinary, incorporating drawing, printmaking, traditional and digital media, model making, performance and collaborative, interactive practices.

The MA in Illustration is designed for creative practitioners who wish to advance their knowledge, skills and specialism within this expansive field.

Each student will develop a practice-led investigation within this broader context, actively constructing a bespoke body of design knowledge which combines theory, practice, research, entrepreneurship and innovation from a wide range of creative and research-driven activities.

They will be taught to question and expand their creative thinking and generic design process by developing their analytical skills; engaging in critical dialogues; work independently, collaboratively and interdisciplinary; experimenting in a range of directions before delivering professional and innovative outcomes to defined audiences with confidence. All creative activities are supported by strategic thinking, robust methodologies and informed by practice-led research.

The world of business is full of opportunities. So where do you start? This practical course will help you find your calling in international business with modules ranging from consultancy to enterprise.

BA (Hons) Business Management includes everything you could want from a business degree, from expertise in our research areas of sustainability, strategy, and enterprise to events like our leadership series of guest lectures.

Applied business skills
You’ll learn the theory behind what makes a successful business. We focus heavily on giving you the practical knowledge you’ll need for your career – whether that’s starting your own business or working your way up in a big corporation.

By the end of this course, you should be able to think strategically. You should have an entrepreneurial mindset. And you should have the skills to be a successful manager anywhere in the world.

The new sustainable business
Profits aren’t the only thing driving businesses. We believe you need to conduct business in a sustainable and ethical way to be an effective manager. Our values underpin everything we do here at Manchester Met.

In fact, you’ll live and breathe sustainability while you’re here, studying in the environmentally-friendly business school. You’ll also get to work alongside innovative start-ups at Manchester Met-based Innospace, were we support people with great business ideas and the commitment to turn them into reality.

Placement options
The BA (Hons) Business Management degree offers the chance to spend a year getting a taste of professional life. It not only gives you the opportunity to develop your core skills and learn about how business really operates in your industry, but also shows employers that you’re ready to get to work.

The Business School Placement Team is ready to help. They offer a wide range of services, including employer presentations, advice and placement fairs. But it’s also up to you – the more proactive you are about applying for placement opportunities, the better.

On our BSc (Hons) Computer Science degree, you’ll get an in-depth understanding of both the theory and technical aspects of computing, with an emphasis on programming, algorithms, data structures, and computer architecture. We’ve designed the course content to meet the needs of the industry, so you can be confident the skills you’re learning are the skills that employers look for.

You’ll begin by studying programming, computing mathematics, web development, computer architectures and databases as you cover the fundamentals of computing, developing your team working and communication skills as you go. Then, as you progress, you’ll tackle more specialized areas, like algorithms, data structures, networks, operating systems and the processes used to develop software in industry.

By your final year you’ll be ready to take on advanced topics like artificial intelligence and the study of different programming language paradigms. Carrying out a large-scale project will give you the chance to hone the skills you’ve learned and put them into practice.

This course rethinks the use, practice and industry of Textiles within the 21st century. It is responsive to an emerging global landscape that requires, sustainable, design-led, innovative positions to be adopted from which to anticipate and forecast our Textile futures.

Manchester and the School of Art have been at the forefront of textiles innovation since the late 19th Century and this course is built on that rich heritage, offering students the opportunity to challenge and innovate in equal measure.

As a student, you will develop innovative study hubs of interdisciplinary expertise, which will both rethink and regenerate textiles within its expanded field (including Textile Craft, Innovation and Digital specialisms). You will address the future paradigms of environmental and social change, new materiality, and the development of 4.0 Textile Industry. Hybrid creative learning environments such as the Manchester Met Digital Lab and specialist Textile facilities support advanced digital learning and making, electronics, 3D printing and multi-media material making practices to be explored.

You will develop individual specialised projects which will become beacons within the expanded field of design. Learning is creative, innovative and interdisciplinary and teaching features design workshops, guest lectures, design events, reading groups, live industry projects and study trips.

Manchester has been identified as one of the major games industry hubs outside of London* (*source: 'A Map of the UK', Nesta, 2020). As home to organisations such as Gameopolis, the city is a driving force for building and coordinating the future of the games industry.

With our MSc in Computer Games Development, you’ll gain the skills required for an exciting career within this growing industry, both here in Manchester and beyond. You’ll learn the core essentials of programming for games and you’ll conduct playtesting sessions and user research to ensure that your games are fun, impactful, and that they effectively reach their target audience.

You will also complete a masters project. While you’ll have plenty of support along the way, it’s a solo research project designed to develop confidence, autonomy and self-sufficiency – qualities that can take you far in the workplace.

By the time you complete your masters, you’ll not only have the technical knowledge, you’ll also have gained key employability skills such as team working, communication, project management and negotiation skills. With the mentorship of passionate games-focused staff at Manchester Met, you will be able to build a refined and diverse portfolio, to help you work towards securing a job in the games industry.