Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Psychology

at University of Bedfordshire - Luton Campus United Kingdom

Models of work are constantly evolving, but one thing does not change: people still need to be recruited, trained, motivated and paid to meet an organisation's requirements. If your interests lie in effective people management, this course puts you on the right path.

You begin your journey with a thorough grounding in business before exploring the many aspects of human resource management (HRM): professional practice; leadership and motivation; creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship; business systems including international business; selection and recruitment; employee relations; and employment law.

Learn from expert tutors as you carry out practical projects that emulate working as a professional manager, and develop your practical experience with an optional year’s paid work placement in a HRM role.

In your final year, study strategic HRM, examining real firms with a view to solving people problems, and carry out an independent research project.

Why choose this course?

• Develop your understanding of how HRM works with other business disciplines, knowledge that will enable you to fit into numerous types of organisation in the future - private, public or not-for-profit
• Learn from experts in their field, active within the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), and in both consultancy and research
• Challenge yourself with an optional sandwich year placement after your second year.
• If you want to step up into higher education, we also offer a degree path with an initial Foundation Year (see below)
• Equip yourself with a range of subject-specific and transferable skills suited to a career in specialist human management roles or professional business and management environments, both national and international

“The University has offered me numerous opportunities to develop my skills and expand my network, and has constantly pushed me outside of my comfort zone, helping me become a real HR professional. My lecturers have always been supportive and understanding, and put great effort into communicating with us. All in all, these have been the most important three years of my life!”

The media impacts on our lives every day and shapes our understanding of the world. This course gives you the practical and analytical skills needed to work in the media industry - and the chance to specialise in a preferred area, whether it's radio, journalism or new media.

This degree provides you with both the academic skills to understand and analyse the media, and the practical skills to work within the industry as an effective communicator and analyst.

You explore the social, historical and political aspects of contemporary media (including radio, film, television, press, media institutions and new media technologies), unpacking how these ever-evolving areas work and the roles they play in modern life. Alongside this, you choose a specialist area (such as radio, online media or journalism) to develop your practical production experience.

You also produce a special project, creating a portfolio of work (ideal to show future employers) or writing a dissertation on an aspect of the media you would like to explore in more depth.

Why choose this course?

• Gives a solid grounding in how the media works, both nationally and globally
• Offers opportunities for specialisation in the area of your choice
• Your independent project helps develop your skills in research, problem solving and analysis as well as building personal confidence and communication skills
• Benefit from a course that paves the way to a career in the media industry but also in the creative industries (print and audio-visual media companies), PR and marketing, media research or teaching
• Take the course over four years and include a fee-free year’s placement in industry (see below), gaining experience and making contacts for the future
• If you need a step-up into higher education, start with a Foundation Year (see below) which guarantees entry to the degree course

The development of safe and effective new drugs is a challenging and rewarding field. Our Pharmacology Master’s gives you the high-quality training, knowledge and key skills required to make your mark in the pharmaceutical industry and ultimately benefit wider society.

The course gives you a broad knowledge of drug discovery and development, focusing on the mechanisms of drug action at molecular level; the treatment of human diseases; and the latest cell and molecular technologies used in pharmacology. You gain an in-depth understanding of individual examples of modern drug research and development before moving on to specialise in one research area through the completion of a laboratory research project.

Why choose this course?

• Study the principles of drug design, pre-clinical evaluation, clinical trials, regulatory affairs and the application of new technologies in the drug discovery and development process
• Explore the latest therapeutic concepts and principles relating to causes, epidemiology, diagnosis and the treatment of human diseases in current clinical practice
• Develop a systematic understanding and critical awareness of new technologies in cell and molecular biology
• Gain a wide range of valuable practical skills and the ability to devise an experimental plan as an independent investigator

The growth and commercialisation of sport and rapid development of digital and social media tools makes sports journalism an exciting and fast-moving branch of the industry. This specialist course gives you the skills you need to be a 21st-century sports journalist.

Learn the core practical skills of journalism and how to apply them to a sports specialism using traditional research and writing as well as new and developing media forms.

Sharpen these skills with an in-depth understanding of the political, social, historical and economic sporting environment - as well as the legal and ethical frameworks journalists work within - adding depth and authority to your reporting.

You benefit from studying with a team of industry specialists in both sports reporting and general journalism, across a range of platforms, and have opportunities to hear from leading academics, sports participants and masterclass speakers from the worlds of both sport and media.

Why choose this course?

• Gain core communication and multimedia skills that are highly valued across a range of graduate industries
• Put your skills into practice via real-life sports reporting assignments
• Explore opportunities for work experience within radio, television, print and online journalism
• Develop a portfolio of work and contacts while honing your skills through regular news days
• Report from your first year for our news website and present your own show on our community radio station, Radio Lab
• There’s the option to take this course over four years and benefit from a fee-free industry placement (see below) where you gain experience, build your CV and make contacts for the future
• If you need a step into the full degree, you can start with a Foundation Year (see below) which guarantees entry to the Undergraduate course

Following a career in the field of psychology, you can make a real difference to people’s lives. The skills and knowledge you’ll gain on this course – accredited to the British Psychological Society – will put you on the path to making that difference as a chartered psychologist.

Psychology can explain so much about our lives, from why we fall in love and need sleep to how others influence us. This course - taught by an academic team actively involved in leading-edge research - covers all the major areas of psychology, including cognitive, biological, social and developmental psychology, as well as individual differences and how psychology applies to everyday life. It also offers you the opportunity to specialise in your areas of interest such as counselling, criminal behaviour, mental health and occupational psychology.

Your studies also develop your own abilities and understanding as you learn to consider and evaluate different perspectives; increase your self-awareness through enquiry, analysis, evaluation and reflection; build your independence and confidence through team activities and your own final-year research project.

Why choose this course?

• It is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) and is your first step towards becoming a chartered psychologist
• Our academic team are members of the Research Centre for Applied Psychology, applying psychology to a range of ‘real world’ situations and problems
• You benefit from a wide variety of teaching methods including workshops, problem solving, simulations, computer-based activities and guided learning
• You take part in research studies and run your own studies as part of your learning and assessment
• The findings of your final-year research project are made available to your peers as part of the Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference
• You can take the course over four years (see below) and include a fee-free year’s placement in industry where you gain practical experience, build your CV and make contacts for the future
• If you would like a step-up into higher education, you can take a Foundation Year which guarantees you entry to the Undergraduate course (see below)

This PG degree gives you the flexibility to develop your own practice, whilst working on cross-disciplinary projects and building a research and practice portfolio. The MA provides an exciting environment for you to develop your personal practice supported by established practitioner/tutors in your chosen field.

The course offers:

• A wide range of facilities with access to technical and digital media such laser-cutting, 3D printing, image processing software, moving image software, high definition photographic equipment and high quality photo screen-printing.
• A teaching and learning strategy that is aimed at giving a robust focus to your artistic or design practice.
• Dedicated studio space for you to work, access to workshops and technical support
• Collaboration and guiding undergraduate students hands on practice
• One-to-one contact with staff with an emphasis on your personal creative development. Personal tutor in your discipline

How can we understand, intervene and promote health and wellbeing across the course of life? Health psychology works to answer this question, looking towards the interaction of psychological, social and biological factors to understand health and illness.

Health psychology moves away from the medicalisation of health and illness. Instead, on this course, you take a more whole-person approach to understanding health and illness, studying social issues and aspects such as obesity, lifestyle and stress. Taught by an academic team actively involved in research in the field, you benefit from their up-to-the-minute knowledge and research skills.

This course forms stage one of the training you need to become a chartered psychologist member of the Division of Health Psychology within the British Psychological Society.

Why choose this course?

• Gain new insights into the theory and practice of health psychology
• Learn to show how the links between scientific theory and practice can guide the collection and interpretation of empirical data
• Develop a systematic understanding and critical awareness of current problems in the field
• Gain confident knowledge of qualitative and quantitative research methods which will allow you to perform complex data analysis, interpretation, evaluation and synthesis
• Develop your competence in a range of techniques including multivariate analyses
• Benefit from a strong sense of personal responsibility and professionalism that will enable you to practise or conduct research within ethical guidelines

As the science of life and living organisms, there’s never been a more important time to study Biological Science. It touches almost every aspect of modern life, from developing drug and immune treatments to cloning and climate change.

This course gives you a wide understanding and knowledge of this exciting specialist field. You begin with a foundation in microbiology, cellular chemistry and anatomy before progressing to biochemistry and biotechnology; human health and environment; the application of biology in industry; and the impact of human population growth on our environment. In your final year, you develop your knowledge of the biochemical and biological mechanisms related to health and disease, exploring areas such as pathopharmacology, immunology, and cell and molecular biology.

The course also helps you evaluate and confidently discuss the ethical issues around biological developments like cloning and the Human Genome Project.

In your final year, you undertake your own research project, under the guidance of the Biological Science team, all of whom are actively involved in research themselves.

Why choose this course?

• It’s a leading-edge course, exploring the impact of the latest advances in areas such as biotechnology and medicine
• You are taught in our state-of-the-art laboratories, within the University’s new, centrally placed STEM building
• Our Biological Science team has over 30 years’ experience and are involved in a range of research projects from environmental science and cancer treatment to biophysical analysis of proteins and drug interactions
• The course offers a broad-based training so you’ll graduate with key transferable skills like critical thinking, review writing, data interpretation and communication
• It opens up a variety of possible career paths, not only in science-related industries but in education, scientific sales and marketing, and technical media

The MSc International Finance and Banking is designed to enable you to become a more effective and enterprising manager in a range of financial organisations in a knowledge-based global economy.

Finance and Banking as a study area is distinct from Accounting in that it is interdisciplinary and draws upon a wide range of soft and hard sciences.

Thus at post graduate level the study must be integrative, blending economic, mathematical and financial theory with analytical approaches to solving complex problems and implementing solutions.

Finance must also be treated as international in context to ensure relevance in the global economy.

The course aims to enable you to critically analyse the role of banking within international financial markets.

Attention is also placed on developing a contemporary empirical understanding of the behaviour of international financial markets that is particularly relevant for the aspects of international banking, alongside providing you with the ICT and research skills required by employers in this highly competitive banking sector.

It is specially designed for those seeking a management career in the international banking system, international corporations or in capital markets.

If you’re interested in a career in forensic science, we have a crime scene for you! A unique mix of biosciences and criminal psychology, our degree course offers you the opportunity for practical forensic processing in our crime scene facility.

Technological advances have made the role of the forensic scientist – the expert who collects, preserves and analyses evidence - increasingly important in crime investigation, and also in other fields such as archaeology.

The course starts with an introduction to psychology and the sciences relevant to forensics, followed by more detailed applied forensics including the preparation of evidence for court, pathology, medical physiology and haematology. You’ll also study the most recent advances in DNA analysis, toxicology, criminal psychology, and fire and explosive analysis.

Why choose this course?

• The Forensic Science team includes international experts in the psychology of criminal behaviour and forensics experts from a variety of operational backgrounds
• Our teaching is rated as ‘Excellent’ by the QAA and the team is part of a highly experienced department that has run biological science courses for over 30 years
• You’ll study in a specialist forensic laboratory, with key laboratory skills incorporated into most of the taught units, especially your final-year research project
• You’ll learn the skills and techniques needed to evaluate a real-life crime scene in our scene-of-crime lab, designed to resemble an 'normal' flat
• There’s the option to take the course over four years and include a year’s work placement (see below) to gain experience and industry contacts
• If you’d like to step-up into higher education, you can take an introductory Foundation Year (see below), which guarantees entry to the Undergraduate course

    "Studying forensic science with Bedfordshire has been an awesome, inspiring experience, with lecturers who are specialists with industry experience in the areas they teach. I highly recommend anyone wishing to study this subject with Beds to 'Go 4 it'."