Bachelor of Arts (Hons) Joint Honours in English and History

at Manchester Metropolitan University United Kingdom

Games design offers a route into a form of entertainment that’s not only one of the world’s most popular but is also constantly evolving, innovating and redefining its own boundaries. In short, the games industry is an exciting place to be and our BSc (Hons) Games Design course can offer your route into it.

Throughout the course, you’ll find an activity-led approach focused on the practical processes of making games. So, with our support you’ll build up a strong portfolio of games and game-like artefacts. As you progress, you’ll have the chance to pursue the specialist areas of the discipline that interest you most, and with cutting-edge assessments like our ‘Game a Week’, you’ll also build up your abilities as a games designer. Then, in your final year, you’ll not only work solo on your own game, but also work on a large-scale game through a series of smaller projects within a simulated game studio.

The School of Digital Arts offers the perfect setting for that kind of collaboration. That’s because our innovative curriculum paves the way for the same cross-disciplinary teamwork you’ll find in the professional digital sector – by working with students in sound design, animation and media production as well as students from our Department of Computing and Mathematics. The result is an environment that fosters creativity and helps you build a varied, well-rounded skillset. And, because SODA is purpose built with industry-standard facilities, you’ll leave us equipped with industry-standard technical skills too.

As a Games Design student, you’ll find Manchester offers both the perfect backdrop for your studies and an ideal launching pad for your professional ambitions. It’s not only home to a rich heritage of games publishing, but today has the largest media and creative sector outside London. On our doorstep, you’ll find a globally recognised web and UX sector, as well as renowned CG, visual effects and VR/AR agencies and at MediaCityUK in Salford, the BBC’s digital and games teams. All in all, it provides a range of opportunities for a graduate ready to make a statement in the world of games development.

Placement options

SODA Placement Year
As part of your studies with SODA, you will have the chance to take a year working on placement within the industry. During your year, you will spend at least 36 weeks working within an organisation in the industry, developing workplace skills, practical understanding and genuine industry experience.

Marketing has changed with the arrival of the digital era. Today, any business can operate on an international scale via different online channels. With so much competition, connecting with customers has never been more important.

This industry-accredited master's offers you the chance to explore the latest thinking and techniques in this rapidly changing field.

You'll look at both traditional and digital marketing principles and strategies, as you develop an in-depth understanding of the marketing role in organisations of all shapes and sizes.

You’ll also examine the issues and opportunities in marketing, strategy and consumer behaviour.

Optional internship year

If you choose to take the optional one-year internship, you’ll do so once you have successfully completed your taught units. The internship takes place over 36-48 weeks – you will be supported by our Placement Office, who have extensive contacts within the industry and over 25 years’ experience of helping students to find placements..

The Placement Office advertise a variety of opportunities, support and advise on the application and recruitment process and continue to support you whilst you are away from the University.

Our BEng (Hons) Biomedical Engineering degree offers the chance to harness engineering principles to tackle medical issues. For technical thinkers and born problem solvers, it’s a degree that offers the practical skills and cutting-edge understanding to pursue a future in a highly specialised field.

From start to finish, it’s a degree with a hands-on approach: with us, you’ll learn by doing. Even in the first few weeks, you’ll tackle a team-based design-and-build challenge to help you get settled into the subject. Then, at the end of each year, you’ll finish off with a major project – your chance to turn learning into action.

Along the way, you’ll explore a range of topics – from key engineering concepts, design techniques and digital manufacturing processes, to biological systems, anatomy and physiology – while gaining practical experience of the latest technologies, like 3D printing and rapid prototyping.

The course then culminates in a major individual project, capturing all you’ve learned. It’s not only a chance to demonstrate your professional-standard technological skills, but also a career-boosting opportunity to showcase your work at our degree show. Put simply, by the time you graduate, you’ll have what it takes to make a mark in biomedical engineering – not just for today, but for years to come.

Placement options
Like all of our degrees, this course comes with the chance to spend a year getting a taste of professional life – though placements can be limited, so it’s not guaranteed for everyone. If you choose to go down this route, your degree will take one year longer, with the third year spent working in the industry.

These placements not only give you the opportunity to develop your core skills and learn about how an organization in your industry really operates, but it also shows employers that you’re ready to get to work.

If you do choose to pursue a placement, we offer a range of services to help you find the right one – including employer presentations, advice and placement fairs.

Interested in being an influencer in a major corporation? Or mentoring people to overcome challenging situations at work? Or perhaps you want to coach leaders of charities and public organizations?

Business psychology is an emerging topic in the working world. Performance, excellence, talent management, mental health – they’re not just buzzwords, they’re driving a new approach to doing business.

This unique course lets you combine your interests in human behaviour and business operations. You don’t need any psychology or business knowledge when you join us – just curiosity and a willingness to learn. We’ll go over everything from scratch, introducing you to the business environment, and helping you develop the academic and professional skills you’ll need to succeed.

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.

With our BSc (Hons) Chemistry degree, we blend laboratory study with classroom learning to ensure you graduate with a balanced understanding of the subject, from inorganic and organic chemistry, to physical and analytical chemistry.

We’ve worked to shape our curriculum around industry needs and developments, so we’ll equip you with the skills and strengths that employers want. And, while the units you’ll study provide a well-rounded understanding of the subject as a whole, you’ll also have the flexibility to focus on those areas that interest you most – developing the knowledge, experience and skills you’ll need to fulfill your professional or academic ambitions. As such, we cover a wide range of specialist areas, including physiochemical processes, materials chemistry, drug discovery, green chemistry, catalysis, computational chemical modelling, spectroscopy, and synthetic chemistry.

Our chemistry 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 in industry.

Placement options
The four-year placement route gives you the opportunity of spending your third year on an industrial placement. The Department of Natural Sciences offers help with finding a suitable placement and experience has shown that placements can lead to improved performance in the final year and improved employment prospects after graduation.

How might modern-day pressures be impacting on children’s mental health? How do our individual experiences of childhood influence our views and perspectives? How can children and young people participate in society and how can this contribute to changes in policy and practice?

From exploring feminism and queer theory to analysing the thinking of key philosophers, on this course you’ll study the complex factors that affect children’s lives and explore ways to positively shape and influence their futures.

In each year of the course, you’ll learn about the different elements that impact on a child’s development. Studying subjects drawn from a range of disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, philosophy, and criminology, you’ll consider ethics, welfare, and the importance of policy and legislation relating to children, such as the Human Rights Act (1998). You’ll also learn about how childhood has changed over time both in the UK and globally and consider alternative perspectives relating to child development, including post-structuralism, socio-cultural theory and creative play.

You’ll reflect on your own experience of childhood and explore how it was shaped by society. You’ll also consider the diverse experiences of children, young people, families and communities and how policy on local, national and international levels affects children’s lives.

This course will give you the opportunity to study for an Early Years Education Level 3 qualification alongside your degree. When you graduate you will receive a degree, and a Level 3 Early Years Educator qualification which meets the national requirements set by Ofqual.

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.

Decision making, big data, management… there’s more to accounting and finance than numbers. By studying our accounting and finance degree, you’ll explore every aspect of the area and learn to support businesses across different sectors.

Whether you want to work in a top accountancy firm or start a career in research, we’ll help you develop the expertise you need. You’ll take some of the professional exams too, so you’re one step closer to professional or chartered status when you graduate.

The MArch is a lively student-centered environment, where peer-to-peer learning, practice-based research and live events projects connect students, expert academics, design professionals and wider communities. During the MArch, you will develop, expand and refine your design and theoretical skills whilst creating a portfolio that will enable you to find employment in a leading architecture practice.

An international relations degree will help you to gain appreciation of how states, international organizations, and non-state actors interact on the global stage. This course is about using theories and models to best explain and understand power in the world, why the world is the way it is, and how we can change it. This takes place at all levels, from individuals to whole global systems, and understanding this allows us to question what we think we know, what we think matters, and how we can develop a better world. Supported by knowledgeable and passionate staff, you’ll start by looking at the core critical and emancipatory theories of International Relations and their underlying methods.

You’ll get a broad grounding in the key issues of today’s world and the contested historical development of world politics; studying topics informed by staff research such as terrorism, security studies, human rights, cultural politics, and many others.

A wide variety of options means that you can pursue your own interests – with things becoming increasingly flexible as you progress through the course, and in your final year, you will engage more directly with current academic debates and contemporary political developments.

We place a heavy emphasis on employability and offer valuable practical skills training, including advanced analytical approaches, which many employers look for when offering placement opportunities. This, alongside the possible opportunity to study abroad – with all the experience that it brings – means that an International Relations degree opens doors to a range of interesting and rewarding career possibilities.

You can also combine international relations with another subject and broaden your outlook still further, and in your third year, you may have the opportunity to take a placement year with an employer or study abroad, broadening your horizons and boosting your employability.

Placement options

Through a placement year, you may have the chance to spend a year getting a taste of professional life and show employers that you’re ready to get to work. This is a valuable opportunity to develop core employability skills and explore how your course, and the knowledge you’ve gained from it, can be transferred to the real world.

Students are free to choose placement opportunities from a wide range of roles both in the UK and abroad. Students choosing this option are supported by a dedicated placement team who provide links to employers through presentations, events, and fairs, and provide a specialist program of guidance on recruitment procedures including CV and interview preparation, as well as work readiness and working overseas.