Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Games Design with Placement Year

at Manchester Metropolitan University United Kingdom

Exercise can be an incredibly powerful tool – whether to drive elite athletic performance or to fight obesity, cancer, depression and a range of other conditions. Our BSc (Hons) Health and Exercise Science program can help you master that tool, with a unique blend of human biology, physiology and psychology.

Studying a wide range of units, you’ll develop an in-depth understanding of the structure and function of the human body, exploring how it responds to various forms of exercise at different points across the lifecycle.

You’ll get a good grounding in the key scientific principles, before developing higher-level knowledge focused on responses to the physical, psychological and environmental stressors that affect sports, exercise and health. Then, in your final year, you’ll focus on the specialist area that interests you most with a major research project.

Placement options

• You can opt to spend your third year getting a taste of professional life in a sports or health organisation with the four-year placement route.

On this three-year course, you’ll explore topics from the structure of language and how speech sounds are expressed, to anatomy, the psychology behind our development, and the effects of politics on the provision of speech and language therapy in the community.

You won’t simply learn the theories and research behind how we communicate and why people have difficulties in communicating, you’ll also learn the practical skills you’ll need.

You’ll study the techniques, skills and methods used to assess, analyse and manage clients, such as using boards with symbols that children can point to or swallowing tests for adults who have suffered a stroke to determine the treatment they need.

You’ll complete clinical placements in each year of study. Past placements have included working in a hospital with adults who have had strokes, special educational needs (SEN) provision for teenagers in a secondary school, and in community clinics.

The world around us is changing – and our environmental science degree will help you understand how. You’ll learn the skills and knowledge to measure, model and assess environmental change and its impact. Developed with employers, including environmental agencies and private businesses, this is a program with real-world relevance, built around developing the techniques and expertise you’ll find in the workplace.

The course combines aspects of physical and life sciences, helping you build an understanding of environmental issues today. You’ll also gain a wide range of practical and analytical skills, working in the lab and the field. By the time you graduate, you’ll be able to collect, process and analyse data from a range of sources across different scientific disciplines – giving you the understanding to make informed recommendations in a professional context.

Placement options
All of our geography and environment degrees have been designed to be flexible. You can opt for the four-year placement degree route and spend Year 3 on a professional placement with a degree-related organisation.

Alternatively, if you opt for the four-year study overseas route, you will spend your third year in Europe, North America or Australia.

By bringing management theory into the practical world, our Sports Business Management degree will help foster the understanding and ability you’ll need for a career in the sport, recreation and leisure industries. Throughout the program, we’ll encourage you to think creatively, bringing your own ideas to tackle real-life business challenges, from running recruitment campaigns and managing events to developing a marketing strategy and conducting market research.

With guest lectures from industry experts and field trips to sports clubs, you’ll meet plenty of professionals working in the sector. And with our connections across sport, we’re ready to help you gain vital experience. You can volunteer for organisations or events in the area, or spend a year studying abroad or working on an industry placement – developing your skills and boosting your career prospects.

Once you've graduated, you’ll have everything you need to chart your future in the business of sport – following in the footsteps of some of our other graduates, working for organisations including BBC Sport, England Netball, and British Swimming.

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.

Proficiency in modern languages will help you to gain a competitive edge in the global jobs market. In both the private and public sectors there is demand for professionals with strong language skills who can work in culturally diverse environments. We have created our own multi-cultural community, including British, exchange and international students, along with foreign language assistants, allowing you to be absorbed into the everyday use of foreign languages.

We have been providing professional language courses for more than 30 years and our staff are nationally, and in many cases internationally, recognised experts in their field. Our strong local, national and global links will help to enhance your study and future employment opportunities. If you study Spanish you will be required to spend a year abroad in 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 having grown in confidence.

This course places language learning within the wider context of Spanish Studies including culture, society, literature, film and history. The language units emphasise communicating effectively and developing transferable skills such as translating, interpreting and interview techniques, with practical language classes embracing speaking, listening, reading and writing.

MA Painting provides a discipline-led environment in which to develop your practice in contemporary painting. Through a strong focus on your individual studio practice you will engage in the most significant current debates on painting and the histories from which they emerge. The MA Painting will encourage you to question the boundaries of your practice, embracing current ideas of ‘expanded painting’ and painting being ‘beyond self’ alongside questions posed within the more typical parameters of the picture plane and modes of representation.

This course is a flexible and challenging master's, offering a range of potential specialist routes, such as Medieval and Early Modern, War and Conflict, Race and Gender, Country House, or a general History route.

We offer a wide range of modules that draw on the strengths of our research-active staff and the course aims to provide students with the skills to progress to higher research programs.

You can choose to undertake a placement related to your research interests, organized in collaboration with staff members, and drawn from our extensive network of regional contacts. Previous placements have included National Trust properties, the People's History Museum, and the Holocaust Exhibition and Learning Centre (Huddersfield).

The world of digital media is a rapidly changing one that rewards hard work and creativity – if you’re looking to plug yourself in, we’re here to help.

This is a degree made for inquiring and creative minds – and it’s especially geared to those seeking careers in creative digital industries. Study with us and you’ll explore the creation, manipulation and processing of digital content for new communication and media technologies. But you’ll also go further behind the scenes – looking at the social science and theoretical frameworks beneath this content production.

Supported by a team of committed and enthusiastic lecturers and researchers, you’ll be encouraged to find your own creative identity and express yourself through a variety of digital content, media and genres, including documentary, photography and much more. You’ll also acquire a range of business planning and research skills that will boost your employability in today’s multiplatform digital environments.

With the rapidly changing nature of social and digital media, content needs to be designed strategically, engagingly and at pace.

Our BA (Hons) Future Media Production offers the skills and understanding to work at the forefront of the creative and digital sectors. It’s a course that will equip you with the tools to design, create, manipulate and deliver engaging digital media content for a wide range of audiences.

The course brings together key aspects of contemporary professional media practice, learning beyond the narrow confines of any single discipline. As such, you’ll learn alongside and collaborate with artists and designers across a range of exciting projects – laying the foundations for industry networking, technical and creative skills that will prove vital for a professional future in the creative media industries.

As a student at the School of Digital Arts you will work in an environment that is purpose-built for today’s fast-moving creative and digital sectors – offering boundary-breaking, cross-disciplinary learning that reflects modern project-based working practices. It’s a place that offers the opportunity to discover your passions and explore your role through collaboration within our dynamic creative community of animators, sound designers, filmmakers, games developers and more. And, just as it’s home to a cutting-edge creative community, it has the facilities to match. This means that you can develop industry-standard skills for creating content across the latest digital platforms.  

Just as SODA offers the perfect place as a creative student, Manchester provides the ideal setting. It’s a globally renowned and intensely creative city, second only to London as a hub for the UK’s media and creative sectors. The nearby MediaCityUK is home to major media and television businesses including the BBC and ITV, along with a host of independent operators, while the city also hosts a substantial animation, film and digital/tech sector. For students, it makes this a city for learning industry-relevant knowledge and workplace-ready skills. For budding creative media professionals, it makes the city a starting point for building a network, gaining experience and embarking on a career in the media, games and digital tech industries.

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.

This course takes an innovative, modern approach to literature, focusing on drama, prose, fiction and poetry from the 17th century to the present – balancing the traditional with the modern.

Flexibility is key to our approach and as your course progresses you’ll be able to choose course units to suit your own particular interests, such as creative writing, film and cultural theory. Or why not focus geographically and culturally on writing from the USA, Ireland, Africa, India and the Caribbean?

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 opportunity to spend a year expanding your horizons, studying with one of our partner universities overseas. In your final year, you’ll get a chance to explore your interests in-depth with a substantial piece of project work presented in a thesis, building on the knowledge and skills you’ve been developing over previous years.

Our lively department is home to internationally renowned writers and critics, and there’s a strong research culture, creating a learning environment that is both supportive and intellectually challenging. And with our extensive cultural links both in Manchester and further afield, you’ll be in the right place to begin building a creative network for your future.

Placement options
Placement opportunities may be available both in the UK and abroad, in a variety of roles and sectors.

Our dedicated placement team have developed excellent links with various industries. You will be offered support through a preparation program of activities, including guidance on selection procedures, working overseas, CV preparation, interview and selection techniques.