Bachelor of Arts (Hons) Joint Honours in Politics and Philosophy with Placement/Overseas Study

at Manchester Metropolitan University United Kingdom

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.

On this course, you’ll explore the scientific, health and psychosocial factors influencing health and safety in the 21st century.

You’ll study current and emerging legal and compliance issues and consider the many factors that influence workplace safety and health, such as legionella, contaminated land and air quality.

You’ll learn how to formulate, implement and evaluate safety, health and environmental (SHE) management systems for an organisation, including concepts and techniques of occupational health and safety management.

Topics you’ll investigate include the principles and practices of risk management in the workplace, environmental protection and management, and the principal diseases of significance to public health.

You’ll develop your knowledge of hazard and operability analysis (HAZOP), major incident contingency plans (MICP), and occupational hygiene management. You’ll consider topics such as benchmarking safety and risk management and assessment of hazards, risks and dangers at work, including processes in the development and management of ISO 14001 (environmental management) and ISO 45001 (occupational health and safety management) standards.

As well as studying theory, you’ll have practical sessions. You’ll learn skills in how to identify, evidence and analyse concerns for safety at work, such as assessment and control of occupational risks that arise from exposure to hazards at work including noise levels and extreme working environments.

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.

Placement options
The Department of English works closely with a number of local schools and voluntary organisations that give students the opportunity to gain experience in a range of areas, including youth work, education, creative workshopping and video production. These placements are generally on a voluntary basis, though some work in local schools has been waged.

Our human biosciences degree combines academic theory with applied practice. You’ll develop a broad understanding of the human biosciences and their significance in the contemporary world – and how you can apply that knowledge in the workplace.

You’ll study human function and structure in depth, the causes of abnormalities in humans and the consequences of human action. Typical areas of study include human physiology, cells and molecules, human neuroscience, and infection and immunity. In our specialist laboratories, we’ll also train you in the various scientific techniques used to study human biology.

Group study brings vital teamwork and communication skills, while in your final year you’ll get the chance to focus and develop your academic interests through an independent piece of laboratory-based research or a dissertation.

The degree will also launch you on a professional path and by the time you’ve finished you will have partly met the academic and experience requirement for membership of the Royal Society of Biology and Chartered Biologist (CBiol) status.

There are endless opportunities in the international hospitality industry spanning everything from catering and tourism to events, hotel management and so much more.

And much of the knowledge, skills and operational experience gained on the BSc (Hons) International Hospitality Business Management degree can pave the way for a career in business, marketing, human resource management or finance.

You’ll start preparing for your career on day one. During induction week, you’ll learn about the exciting opportunities ahead. Placements, volunteering, events – there are lots of ways to make your CV stand out if you’re prepared to make the most of them.

Our industry partners are with you every step of the way; which has never been so important given the challenges the industry has faced during the global pandemic. You’ll learn first hand how the industry is changing, adapting and overcoming obstacles, from managers and alumni in the know, and in real-time.

Placement options

Our BSc (Hons) International Hospitality Business Management degree offers the chance to spend a year getting a taste of professional life. Opportunities are available worldwide with a wide range of companies, from boutique hotels to five-star deluxe properties, gastro pubs to Michelin star restaurants, and cruise liners to theme parks.

A year out not only gives you the opportunity to develop your core skills and learn about how a 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.

Businesses and governments rely on economists to help them examine issues, identify trends and deal with financial uncertainty. By studying our BA/BSc (Hons) Economics degree, you’ll explore how organizations and individuals invest and allocate their resources.

Throughout the course, we’ll challenge you to think about choices people make and how those decisions affect every aspect of our lives. You’ll explore everything from employment to distribution of wealth, government spending to international trade.

Please note that all students will apply directly to the BA (Hons) Economics. After studying BA (Hons) Economics in the first year, you can choose to continue on the BA (Hons) Economics, or transfer to BSc (Hons) Economics through the second and third year of study.

This course is at the forefront of production design and manufacturing practices and brings together students from creative and technical backgrounds, to foster original approaches to product design for manufacture. It supports you to explore and develop personal design methodologies and philosophies, and locate these within a deep understanding of historical, contemporary and future design practices, and wider social and cultural contexts.

You will undertake core units, delivered by production design specialists, consisting of design theory and practice lectures, material and manufacturing workshops, group seminars, individual tutorials, live external projects, and research study trips. Practical design development is supported by extensive hand and machine workshops for wood, metal, ceramics, glass and plastics, and digital workshops for laser cutting and large scale CNC routing.

Optional units facilitate innovative cross-disciplinary opportunities, supporting the development of collaborative working with students from within the material making and manufacturing cluster of MA/MSc/MFA Craft and MA/MSc/MFA Textile, and across the wider postgraduate design community. There are cross-faculty options to study within the faculty of “Science and Engineering”, acquiring advanced 3D CAD skills for industrial production, and utilising the latest advanced 3D printing processes. The Manchester Metropolitan Business School option addresses commercial aspects of design, enabling students to locate their ambitions within a defined financial model.

You will able to explore and challenge all aspects of product design, embracing opportunities for innovation across markets and production levels, from one-off making and batch fabrication, to flexible digital manufacture and high volume industrial production.

At the heart of the Manchester Writing School are our Master's programs in Creative Writing, available to study on campus in Manchester, and also from anywhere in the world via online distance learning.

On our Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program, you will explore and practice techniques and styles of modern and contemporary writing and apply these through the development of your own full-length book or script.

MFA students undertake all of the elements of our MA Creative Writing program (a taught element blending writing workshops with reading units, an elective, and a dissertation), then take an additional unit about the publishing, literary and arts industries and submit a full-length manuscript: a completed novel or short story collection, poetry collection, book for children or young adults, script for stage, screen or radio, or book of creative non-fiction.

You will be introduced to professionals from the publishing industries, which may include literary agents, publishers, broadcasters and arts practitioners, and the School has strong links with many major arts, educational and cultural organizations. Our MFA model is exceptional in coaching students through the development and completion of a full-length book under the sustained guidance of distinguished, practicing writers and seeing those students achieve success in publishing.

You will specialise in one of the following routes: Novel (including Short Fiction), Poetry, Writing for Children & Young Adults, Scriptwriting (for stage, screen or radio) or Creative Non-Fiction.

Over the course of our Biomedical Science degree, you’ll gain an in-depth understanding of the biological principles that relate to the workings of the human body, as well as the characteristics and diagnosis of disease leading to possible therapeutic interventions.

After gaining a solid grounding in the principles of biomedical science, you’ll move on to specialist topics, acquiring the in-depth understanding and advanced techniques vital for professional practice. That means you’ll study a range of areas, from cell and molecular biology, physiological systems and research skills, to blood science, cellular science, and techniques and applications in biomedical science, to name but a few.

In your final year, you’ll get the chance to develop your own particular interests with a major project. With our excellent facilities and close links with local hospitals, by the time you graduate you’ll be ready for the next stage of your career.

In French and Spanish, emphasis is placed on communicating effectively and developing transferable skills such as translating, interpreting, and interview techniques. Practical language classes embrace speaking, listening, reading and writing. We offer a wide choice of subjects, which may include society, cinema, culture and linguistics.

Both languages can be studied post A2 level. You can study either French or Spanish from beginners level in the first year by taking a fast track option (please note, you cannot do beginners level for both languages).

The course is taken as an equal honours route. You will have the opportunity to spend your third year abroad in France and Spain. The experience of being immersed in another culture for several months is one our students find both beneficial and rewarding. They return having made new friends, experienced new places and have grown in confidence. After this year, you return to the University to study for your final year.

Placement options

• You will have the opportunity to spend your third year in France and Spain or Latin America, and we will assist you in choosing from a wide choice of partner universities where you can study.