Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Sociology

at Manchester Metropolitan University United Kingdom

The impact humans make on the environment has never been so significant, so pressing or so high profile. Governments, researchers and private organisations are still grappling with the potential solutions for global challenges. Our MSc Environmental Practice provides an answer. It’s your chance to look beyond the headlines and explore the scientific, political and practical realities of protecting the environment.

This course is suited to those looking to enhance their environmental science or management backgrounds, and also those from other backgrounds looking to move into the sector and complement their skills with environmental science and with environmental management aspects.

As such, you’ll cover a diverse range of units throughout the course. On one hand, you’ll develop skills in assessing, monitoring and modelling pollution in the air, water and land, as well as measuring ecosystem degradation. On the other, you’ll learn to apply environmental management tools, impact assessment procedures and carbon management methods.

Finally, you’ll also learn about sustainable development principles and environmental policies – and how to evaluate their implementation. This mix of policy, practice and science will take you from the classroom to the field to the lab. While you’ll develop desk-based assessment approaches, explore key concepts and analyse evidence in lectures and seminars, understanding the environment means getting out into the environment.

So, as well as various opportunities for field trips, you’ll get out into the field for a residential course where you’ll conduct an interdisciplinary environmental assessment. To help you develop your practical skills, you’ll learn in an altogether more cutting-edge environment – with high-spec teaching and research labs equipped with state-of-art analytical and computing equipment.

Advanced project management techniques are no longer only for a few large corporations. Today, a vast variety of organisations across a wide range of industries rely on qualified project managers to make the difference between success and failure. This course can equip you to make that difference.

Whether a recent graduate or a professional project manager, this course offers the in-depth understanding of vital tools and techniques that can launch careers and fuel professional progression.

Skills for success
You will develop the skills and methodologies to plan, organise and control a project’s progression, quality and performance, together with the techniques to sustain its momentum. You’ll master systems thinking and develop essential skills in key areas like managing strategic procurement. Of course, it’s a discipline that is as much about leading people as it is about strategic planning or managing process. You’ll develop the skills to handle a range of leadership issues, from disputes between team members or external stakeholders, to motivating personnel through the complete project lifecycle.

For organisations in every sector, it’s a business-critical discipline that’s central to growth and continued success, making this qualification a truly transferrable asset, whatever your professional ambitions.

Our BSc (Hons) Zoology degree offers an interdisciplinary approach for studying the subject. You’ll cover a wide range of different issues and topics, examining the molecular biology, genetics and physiology of animals, while discovering the ways these areas have shaped animal evolution and behaviour and how systems biology brings together these areas.

Whether you pursue areas like animal evolution and behaviour, movement physiology and ecology, the genetics of animal populations, or population biology of tropical animals, you’ll find a practical focus to your studies. You’ll learn a wide range of field, laboratory and analytical skills, which are not only vital for the study of zoology, but will prove invaluable for your future career.

And, while our laboratories and equipment are excellent, we know that there’s no substitute for learning in the field – so you may have the opportunity to take part in field courses and project work in Europe, Africa and South America.

Our zoology degree also provides the option of spending an extra year expanding your horizons, either studying with one of our partner universities overseas, or working on a placement with a business or non-governmental organisation.

Placement options

The four-year placement route gives you the opportunity to spend your third year on a placement with a relevant employer, such as a conservation or environmental body, zoo or animal welfare organisation, or with local government or a molecular diagnostics company. It’s a great chance to gain experience, build your network and develop transferable skills – all of which can boost your career prospects.

The four-year study abroad route gives you the opportunity to study overseas during your third year in Europe, North America or Australasia.

Graphic Design is a hands-on, ideas-driven studio-based course where you will learn a variety of approaches to visual communication. Distinctive creative personalities are nurtured and the unconventional is actively encouraged.

After developing your creative visual language in Year 1, you will be able to apply your skills to a range of personal and industry-related projects in Year 2. Your final year will see you develop a professional portfolio that reflects your personal interests and individual career aspirations.

At all stages of the course we focus on contemporary and relevant design that embraces intellectual curiosity and design as an experience. You have the opportunity to connect with industry, either through visiting speakers, live briefs or work experience.

This program is firmly rooted in the tradition of drawing and the individuality this discipline instils.

The course will provide you with the opportunity to combine illustration with animation. Through a variety of challenges, you will develop strategies and skills to enable you to successfully cope with a range of visual communication problems and contexts. Ambitions are realised through a research-informed questioning of practice that embraces the potential outcomes of page or screen.

Graduates have gone on to postgraduate study in many national institutions including the Royal College of Art, the National Film School and Manchester Metropolitan University. Graduates have also become freelance illustrators, animators, filmmakers, designers, pre-production artists, storyboard artists, and teachers.

Muscle and bone. Brains and biochemistry. The fuel we consume and the air we breathe. Develop an expert understanding of the systems and organs that make humans tick. Our MSc Human Physiology course offers a detailed look at physiology, letting you explore the fundamental systems of human life.

On this master's course, you’ll build advanced knowledge of different systems or specialisms. You will not only learn how our bodies work, but you’ll also develop the key techniques and technologies for investigating normal and abnormal physiology. From the lab-based work that helps to develop new treatments and therapies to the clinical care that touches (and saves) lives.

You will have the opportunity to deep dive into a topic of your choice with an independent research project. You will be able to tackle the issues that fascinate you – exploring areas that match your personal interests and career ambitions.

With our BSc (Hons) Applied Computing degree, you’ll gain an insight into IT and computing industry practices. Alongside developing your technical knowledge and skills, you will also gain an understanding of how these skills are applied in an organisational context by learning about systems analysis, project management, software development, the management of data and the administration of information systems.

You’ll start by studying the core technical subjects of 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. You’ll then begin to specialise, studying topics such as IT project management, systems analysis and design, the software development process, computer networks and the implementation of database models. As you progress into your final year, you’ll learn about IT systems operations and administration, data management, database architecture and performance and you’ll conduct a large-scale project.

In addition to the computing skills you will develop, you will also gain key employability skills such as team working, report writing, communication and negotiation skills. 

Music and sound design is a field that mixes the artistic and the technical to produce the vital ingredient for a range of media. On the one hand, it’s a discipline of creative composition and emotional interpretation. On the other, it’s about harnessing the latest technology and studio techniques to produce compelling music and sound content. Our course offers the chance to learn both sides, letting you explore your creative passions while equipping you for a career in the fast-paced digital arts and media sector.

The School of Digital Arts aims to prepare you for a career in the creative sector. It’s home to a dynamic community that spans skills and approaches, creating a space for collaboration and experimentation. And, as well as the human element, this is a space for technical skills, equipped with industry-standard tools and technology.

More than a purpose-built school, we also have the perfect setting. Manchester is a city at the forefront of the creative and digital sector in the UK (second only to London), home to a wide variety of broadcasters, creative agencies and media businesses. More importantly, it’s also one of the world’s musical capitals – much like Detroit and a handful of others. This is a city known around the world for its thriving, distinctive music scene.

Study with us and you’ll have the chance to tap into this vibrant city, making the most of our links with Scruff of the Neck, Louder Than War and other key promoters, labels and venues, not to mention youth music organisations, DJ educators, schools and cultural producers. With the chance to learn from, and connect with, these key figures and organisations, we offer the chance to study in a city that provides an ideal starting point for building your network, developing your experience and starting your career.

Politics is the study of power and how power operates in all its forms: through individuals, structures, internationally and domestically. Its principal focus is on power relations among individuals, social groups and nations. Philosophers specialise in critically making sense of ourselves and everything around us. Their currency is rigorous argumentation about subjects from consciousness to the nature of power relations themselves.

The Joint Honours degree will provide you with the skills to explore the philosophical and political landscape of human consciousness throughout time and place. You will gain a critically informed grasp of political and current affairs, seeing beyond the news headlines to the real issues of politics. By studying this course, you will be strongly equipped to understand ideologies and be in a better position to comment upon and understand what the politicians are really saying.

A wide variety of options means that you can pursue your own interests - with things becoming increasingly flexible as you progress through the course. We also offer opportunities to learn with a language from your second year of study. With practical skills training, including advanced analytical approaches, as well as possible opportunities to study abroad - with all the experience that brings - this degree opens doors to a range of interesting and rewarding career possibilities and provides the skills to progress to higher research programs.

Zoos play a crucial role in animal conservation. Whether they’re carrying out important research into animal behaviour, taking part in breeding programmes, educating the public or advising policymakers, they are important players in international conservation.

Study our masters in Zoo Conservation Biology and you can play your part too, as you develop expertise in the science which underpins the management and maintenance of captive populations and explore the links with species conservation on a worldwide scale.

The main core unit is Zoo Conservation, which we deliver with the help of our partners at Chester Zoo – giving you access to the zoo’s collections and facilities. Within the course, you can participate in a field course in Poland, Ecuador or East Africa or apply for a three-month work placement at a zoo or aquarium. Other core units, delivered at our Manchester campus, include practical techniques and analysis, statistics and research design and organismal genetics. Amongst a wide range of option units, you’ll also have the chance to specialise in subjects like species recovery and behavioural biology.

This all then feeds back into your research project, where you’ll combine your own data collection with background research and data analysis, and communicate your findings in a comprehensive dissertation.