Master of Science in Social Work

at University of Bedfordshire - Luton Campus United Kingdom

Develop the skills and confidence to deliver real-world, research-informed health and social care, on a degree course that opens up a wide range of career roles.

This course gives you a broad understanding of contemporary health and social care and its application in the wider social, policy, legal and organisational environment, both within the UK and internationally.

Areas of study incorporate sociology, public health, law and the human services. In your second and third years, follow your interests with optional units in mental health, disability, safeguarding, addictions, human rights and care of older people. In your final year, undertake an independent research project, with the support of our experienced academic team.

There is a strong vocational focus, ensuring you develop transferable, employability-enhancing skills. Take this course over four years and include a fee-free one-year placement in industry* where you gain practical experience, build your CV and meet potential future employers.

Why choose this course?

• Understand and confidently apply evidence-based theory to practice, delivering excellent health and social care outcomes to all those who access these services
• Study with an academic team who have wide experience in the field and are actively involved in health and social care research
• Benefit from the opportunities offering by the University of Bedfordshire’s new Health & Social Care Academy, run in partnership with local councils and NHS Trusts, to recruit and train health and social care workers
• Take the course with a placement year (see below) and benefit from our wide range of relevant placement opportunities including roles in research assistance, social media and community advocacy as well as internships
• If you need to step up into higher education, start with a Foundation Year (see below) which guarantees entry to the undergraduate course
• The course opens up career paths within local authorities, public health, civil service, social enterprises and the NHS as well as in the private and not-for-profit sectors
• Our Health and Social Care course received a 91% satisfaction rate in the National Student Survey 2020

This course examines key issues of media and communication, introducing principles of cultural theories and media research methods, providing a broader understanding of how different aspects of the media interconnect.

Why choose this course?

• Project Management Units covers a wide range of Project functional areas so that you become knowledgeable and effective managers

Computer Science is a complex and wide-ranging subject, and includes the study of computation theory, the design of systems and artificial intelligence.

This course shares its first stage with our other related BSc degrees to give you a foundation in the subject while providing a platform for specialist study in the second and third stages.

You will concentrate on essential areas such as systems architecture and security, acquire practical programming, modelling and software development skills before focusing on a chosen specialist area for your final stage project.

Why choose this course?
MSc in Computer Science is an ideal course for computing graduates who want to continue studying computing technology but are looking to explore a wide area in computer science without the need to focus (solely) on one particular subject at this stage. The course is therefore ideal for those students who want to keep their career options open. A range of topics from Networking and Data Modelling to Smart Technologies will be studied which will equip you to fully understand the application of computing technology in real-world situations. You will also do a MSc final project to demonstrate a deep and systematic understanding of a selected area within computer science, including theoretical and methodological approaches issues at the forefront of research or professional practice in that area.

This popular course offers you the opportunity to develop the skills you need to become an Art and Design professional in a supportive community environment. You will work with live briefs, public projects and industry partners including Luton Culture, Departure Lounge Gallery, The Hat Factory and MK Gallery.

Offering a balance of theory and practice, our BA (Hons) Art and Design ensures you develop a range of visual and creative skills while you gain insights into critical theory, the importance of context and contemporary professional practice. If you are unsure of your specialist field, it gives you the opportunity to experience several creative pathways including Art and Design practices; community arts; curating; arts management; arts advocacy; and further study towards a career working in art and design education.

You develop essential skills and knowledge in a variety of 2D, 3D, digital and time-based practices, and engage in critical aesthetic and conceptual debates. You explore visual, social, cultural, environmental and political diversity, expressed through your developing Art and Design practice.

You will become proficient in presenting work to professional standards, including project production, and will develop the skills needed to build relationships in the creative community including networking, exhibiting, and marketing.

Why choose this course?

• All course tutors are practising, internationally exhibiting artists
• You study both traditional disciplines such as drawing, painting and printmaking along with the latest techniques in photography, video and digital media
• You learn through practical workshop sessions, sustained practice in the studio and one-to-one tutorials as well as work-related opportunities
• You work independently, developing your ideas through to outcomes, showing you can select and use materials, processes and environments; research and analyse those ideas and outcomes; and make connections to wider contexts
• Learning is linked to ‘real world’ experience to prepare you for a career across a number of fields
• You are able to consider issues arising from the creative practitioner's relationship with audiences, clients, markets, environments, users, consumers, and/or participants
• Develop personal and practice-based skills such as management, communication and multi-agency working
• You can take the degree over four years with a placement year in industry (see below), which allows you to sample a field of practice, build your CV and make future contacts
• If you are returning to learning or need a launchpad into a degree course, you can opt for Art and Design with a Foundation Year (see below)
• You gain a qualification that will enhance your prospects of a fulfilling and exciting career in a wide range of creative industries. Our graduates have become practising artists and designers, teachers, arts administrators and art managers; they have also continued their studies, both locally and internationally

This course will help you understand the changing nature of international tourism as it faces the challenge of rapid growth, emergence of new destinations, climate change, and the ethics of managing a business in which the prime attractions include the natural environment and people’s culture.

You will become a self-directed, self-regulated reflexive learner, using an awareness of opportunities for careers or further study in the event industry.

With a good grounding in business and marketing the course offers students an industry focus in event management with good employment opportunities across a range of roles in both marketing and events e.g. Strategic Event Designer, Trade Show Manager, Events Marketing Communication Managers, Social Media Event Managers, Sporting Events Manager.

This inter-disciplinary course combines key subject areas of business, marketing and event management in a practice-oriented way that allows you to develop a deep theoretical understanding and practical knowledge of events management.

The University of Bedfordshire is a member of The Association for Tourism in Higher Education (ATHE). ATHE is the subject association for tourism in higher education in the UK. It represents universities that are leading providers of tourism programmes.

Why choose this course?

Our BSc (Hons) Construction Management Top-up course will provide you with the skills and knowledge to succeed in an exciting career in construction.

This degree will give you the opportunity to expand on your current skills, knowledge and understanding of design and construction, and to advance as a construction professional.

As an industry experiencing major shortages in skilled construction professionals, on completion of this qualification you will be well-positioned as a valuable asset and to continue on the path to senior management positions.

You will be working on real-life scenarios and case studies, and will explore key areas of construction management from a number of perspectives, including contracting and procurement, management of project resources, programmes and teams, as well as managing project finances and economics.

There is a strong focus on employability. As well as bringing a wealth of industry experience to our construction courses, the teaching team also utilise close collaborative relationships within industry, including both regional and national employers, to bring the latest developments, techniques and technologies into the taught curriculum. This typically involves specialist presentations and seminars from industry experts as well as site visits, which in recent years have included visits to individual projects worth over £1bn.

Industry presenters have included project managers and directors, civil engineers, local authority planners and construction professionals, government agency representatives, professional bodies, and have also included past graduates from our courses who have progressed into senior positions in the industry.

The course will improve your knowledge and skills (including creative leadership and problem solving skills) to manage projects effectively in the commercial, public and -third' sectors (including the voluntary sector); including managing projects for todays global companies over international boundaries.

This course provides you with those all-important real-life experiences. The course will enable you to learn from your experience of managing real projects by critically assessing a range of project management methodologies/bodies of knowledge, theories, issues, and tools and techniques.

Our interior spaces are where we spend most of our lives so their design affects us every day, whether we’re at home, at work or at play. This course gives you the skills to explore and create amazing interior designs for true ‘living’ spaces.

The course shares with Interior Architecture a fascination with how people, activities and places interrelate. It gives you many opportunities to study a range of real-life interior spaces as well as developing your own design solutions that work in creative, practical and functional ways.

You gain skills and expertise in space planning, ergonomics, design composition, colour theory, building technology, environmental control and design for sustainability. You also learn to use the latest digital design technologies such as computer-aided design; digital image creation and manipulation; and video production and editing.

Why choose this course?

• Develop a creative and critical understanding of building structure and fabric while exploring the design of interior environments in urban, suburban and rural contexts
• Study the refurbishment of existing buildings; television, film and exhibition design; and virtual environments
• Learn from an experienced academic team, applying the latest innovations to contemporary design problems
• Gain confidence through the course to work independently on a final-year project
• Work in bespoke studio spaces, surrounded by creatives, in the University’s repurposed Art & Design centre, Alexon House - formerly home to a leading fashion label
• 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

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

It’s never been more important to understand the impact of human action on the environment as well as the effect environmental change may have on human health. This integrated course works at the cutting edge of environmental and health science, exploring the issues, challenges and new technologies that will decide our own and our planet’s future.

This degree gives you a sound base in biology and biochemistry where you explore the functioning of living organisms; the diversity of life on the planet; and the interactions between the environment and humans. You also develop your understanding of how the human body functions in health and disease, and how this is related to the environments in which we live. Focusing on the environment, you investigate the impact humans have on ecosystems; the consequences of environmental change, locally and globally; and the sustainable management of food production, the food chain and the importance of food security to human health.

Laboratory work is an essential part of the course and you build your skills in this area as well as your expertise in the practical and analysis techniques relevant to working in environmental and health sciences.

Why choose this course?

• Develop your understanding of environmental protection and the role of individuals, organisations and governments in preserving the environment
• Be able to discuss the ethical issues and challenges around environmental protection
• Study with an academic team with established research expertise in areas across biomedicine, biochemistry, immunology, microbiology, genomics and bioinformatics
• Benefit from our academic collaborations with the University’s Schools and Research Institutes as well as with external institutions and organisations
• Gain work experience through the Life Sciences Liaison Board, which has strong links to a network of industry and practice organisations
• When you graduate, there are a number of career paths open to you including government agencies; industry; science laboratories; higher education institutions; and environmental agencies
• Take the course over four years and include a fee-free year in industry, gaining work experience, building your CV and making contacts for the future
• If you need a step up into higher education, start with a Foundation Year which guarantees you a place on the degree course