Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Mass Communications

at University of Hertfordshire - De Havilland Campus United Kingdom

Environmental water management is of increasing importance to all types of organisations in the UK and throughout the world. There is a growing need for qualified and trained environmental water managers.

The MSc Water and Environmental Management course focuses on sound water management and the requirements of sustainable development. You acquire expertise in the choice, design and implementation of a range of environmental management tools and methods including environmental impact assessment, integrated catchment management and environmentally sensitive river management.

Whether you are a graduate looking for a career in environmental water management or a professional who already has experience in this area the course advances your knowledge and skills so that you can develop your career in implementing environmentally sustainable solutions in business and organisations around the world. Studying on the MSc Water and Environmental Management course is the first step to becoming a Chartered Environmentalist.

Five core taught modules are taken and students then choose three optional modules. Students also complete two modules (Research Methods and Research Project) which specifically support them through their independent research project. The project can be based on an environmental management issue that interests you or is relevant to your organisation, and you will be assigned a member of academic staff who will guide you through the research process.

Students will begin their studies, both full-time and part time, with a core module in Sustainability and Environmental Systems.

The structure of the MSc Environmental Management degrees is based on six core modules and a choice of three taught modules from specialists ones. Students will begin their studies, for both full-time and part time students, with a core module in Sustainability and Environmental Systems. To obtain a Masters degree you need to carry out a supervised research project comprising of another taught module, research methods and a 10,000-15,000 word research project. The project can be based on an environmental management issue that interests you or is relevant to your organisation. If you do not want to carry out a research project you may graduate with a Postgraduate Diploma.

This course is accredited by IEMA, a professional body for people working in environment and sustainability. This course entitles students to FREE student membership for the duration of the course and on successful completion you qualify for GradIEMA. Graduate membership is a launch-pad for future leaders within environment and sustainability and offers a range of benefits to support you throughout your career. You can then ‘fast track’ to Practitioner Membership (PIEMA) following successful completion of the work-based assessment of competence.

The course has also been accredited by the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) which means that whilst students are enrolled on the programme they are eligible for complementary student membership with that institution. Upon graduation, students will be eligible to apply for graduate membership.

This course is available both full and part-time with intakes in September (Semester A) and January (Semester B). Full time study in Semester A takes 1 year. Full time study beginning in Semester B will take 15 months. Part time study options typically take two years but students are given a maximum of five years to complete.

The course is Suitable for

• This route prepares you for all aspects of environmental management in the water industry world wide
• Accredited by the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) and the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM)
• It is structured around a modular short course structure to enable flexibility whilst working. This allows part-time student to not have to take more than 12 days off a year (if studying over 2/3 years)
• Networking opportunities per module with lunch and refreshments provided within your fees

A degree in English Literature with Film will help you grow from passionate reader and film-fan into a critical thinker able to understand literary and cinematic works by applying a wide range of critical, theoretical, political and historical perspectives. The disciplines of Literature and Film Studies are highly complementary, and as you progress through your degree you will find many fruitful connections between them.

This fascinating degree is both geographically and historically wide-ranging. This means you’ll study literature written in English from the Renaissance to the present day, by writers from all parts of the globe; and alongside this, you’ll explore film and television from America, Asia, Britain and the rest of Europe, from the earliest days of moving images to some of the most exciting contemporary work being produced today.

In both disciplines, you’ll be taught by research-active academics who bring fresh thinking to our accessible, engaging courses. We’ll introduce you to writers and film-makers who will open doors to contemporary worlds and cultures remote from your own, and also help you explore more familiar works – both textual and visual – in ways that challenge your preconceptions.

Whatever your taste in literature, there will be something to interest and provoke you. From The Tiger Who Came to Tea to Jane Eyre, from Paradise Lost to Zadie Smith’s Swing Time, we’ll broaden your literary horizons and hone your critical thinking.

A core Literature module in your first year will equip you to read and interpret both traditional and contemporary literary texts critically as a scholar of English literature. Alongside this you can choose to revisit Shakespeare and consider his cultural relevance today through fictional, cinematic and TV adaptations; or to deepen your understanding of Gothic writing by tracing its origins back to the Romantic era.

In your second year you’ll focus on period-based literature from the Renaissance onwards and gain an understanding of literary history, from Elizabethan verse and drama, via Augustan poetry and the emergence of the novel in the 18 th century, to the radical transformations of the Victorian age, and the emergence of modernity in the twentieth century.

You’ll also have the opportunity to consider ways of reading that go beyond textual analysis or historical context, such as understanding literature through the political or ideological lens of Marxism, feminism and post-colonial theory. You’ll have the chance to specialise in your final year, tailoring your literary study to reflect your own interests. Themed options include children’s literature, young adult fiction, Renaissance tragedy, European crime fiction, literary adaptations and the culture of print in the 18th century.

At the same time, your minor in Film will further hone your analytical skills, and give you a sophisticated appreciation of the craft of filmmaking. You’ll look at how the film and television industry has evolved and adapted to new technologies, how novels are recreated in film and how film gives us fresh perspectives on the world. You’ll also have opportunities to design and run film programmes, write and produce your own short films and hear guest lectures by film, television and media professionals. Topics covered range from silent movies to the Golden Age of Hollywood, the birth of the blockbuster, the influence of European style on American film, the way digital technology has transformed the industry, and why franchises have proved so successful, from James Bond and Star Wars to the Marvel cinematic universe.

• This BEng Honours degree course in Aerospace Engineering with Pilot Studies places is a particular emphasis on the flying qualities from a pilot's point of view;
• You will get the opportunity to gain a UK National Private Pilot's Licence whilst doing your degree;
• The flying is offered locally at an attractively discounted rate.
• Our BEng Aerospace Systems Engineering with Pilot Studies students have previously completed work placement years at companies including: Rockwell, Eads Astrium, and MBDA
• Recent Aerospace Engineering graduates have gone on to work at organisations including The Royal Air Force, Martin-Baker Aircraft Company, and Chester Hall Precision Engineering

This unique course gives you the flexibility to pursue an engineering career designing aircraft from a pilot’s perspective, or to take the first step to become a commercial pilot. The compulsory flying element is mainly in the Fourth Year and is provided by a nationally recognised flight centre either in the UK or the US. There are additional fees for this, but with at an attractively discounted rate compared to other flight centres. There are also opportunities to fly in the First and Second Years as an extracurricular activity, including the chance to use various flight simulators.

More about the course

The aerospace industry is increasingly in need of Systems Engineers with the skills to integrate modern communication systems with conventional aerospace systems to enhance aircraft performance.  This variation to our Aerospace Systems Engineering degree can be the first step for those wishing to become professional pilots.  It combines the multidisciplinary nature of the Aerospace Systems Engineering degree with pilot studies to a National Private Pilot’s Licence level and beyond. 

The compulsory flying experience is mainly in the Fourth Year, provided locally by a nationally recognised flight centre either in the UK or the USA. There are additional fees for this, but with an attractively discounted rate compared to other flight centres. There are also opportunities to do some flying in the First and Second Years as an extracurricular activity, including use of various flight simulators.

Our BA Philosophy and Media degree allows you to learn more about how various media function and to examine the philosophical issues surrounding our attempts to represent the world. You’ll develop practical and theoretical knowledge of how various media techniques are implemented, whilst exploring and challenging the assumptions that frame the way we think, act and see the world around us.

In your first year, you’ll be introduced to a variety of ways in which communication can be achieved. You will learn to think critically by examining reasoning and persuasion and how that might be inflected by the medium in which it is conveyed, including the use of rhetoric and propaganda. You’ll also study social and political philosophy, covering topics such as freedom of speech, as well as examine the nature of knowledge and reality. There is also a philosophy module dedicated to exploring the scope and limits film and literature in what they can represent about reality.

All our philosophy lecturers are active researchers, so you’ll share the excitement of doing original work in a supportive and highly-rated academic community. Our Philosophy team is in the top 15 in the Guardian League Table 2019 and rates as one of the 100 best Philosophy departments worldwide in the 2017 QS rankings. The media staff are academics and practitioners in the creative industries and will give you the knowledge and understanding to be successful for a career in media.

In your second year, you’ll be able to select areas on which to focus, such as on influential works of philosophy, ethics, metaphysics, the philosophy of mind, and social and political philosophy. There is also a philosophy of art module, which tackles the question of the relation between artistic representations (in various media) and reality. You’ll also gain knowledge of research methods in the communications industry and learn about publishing.

In your final year, you’ll delve deeper into the media industry and into more specialist areas of Philosophy, including the opportunity to develop your understanding of the nature of communication in the philosophy of language module, or on the nature of the representation of women in the module on feminist philosophy.

Why choose this course?

• A flexible programme of study, allowing you to concentrate on areas you find especially interesting
• An exceptional academic team, conducting internationally renowned research
• Stimulating, innovative courses that allow you to make rewarding connections between two disciplines
• CV-building potential through work placements and extra-curricular activities

You’ll be introduced to Linguistics, the scientific study of everything to do with language, from its structure and how it develops in children, to the ways it reflects society, how it’s used, and how it changes over time. You’ll be taught by research-active academics working in cutting-edge areas such as language and gender, formulaic language, corpus studies, bilingualism, bilingual processing and codeswitching.

What links our work is our focus on the applied use of English language, from English Language teaching to the use of forensic linguistics in solving language-related real-life problems such as plagiarism and crime investigation, to speech and language therapy and the study of language disorders.

In your first year, alongside core linguistics modules, you’ll study language and mind, where you’ll analyse child speech transcripts and consider language acquisition. You’ll also explore the diversity of use of the English language including regional variants, pidgin and creole English, language and ethnicity, and slang and street English.

Core modules in your second year focus on English grammar and the sounds of English. You can explore theories of how and why language developed and take a language competencies module leading to a work placement.

In your final year you can develop your own interests in short projects, or follow modules in different topics, including child language and communication, clinical linguistics, gender and language, and formulaic language, informed by our academics’ own research specialisms.

One final year option is corpus studies in English language, which will develop your research skills through your use of Sketch Engine, a text analysis tool that allows you to search vast samples of language, or corpora. Want to know when the word ‘Brexit’ first appeared in print or when ‘backstop’ acquired a new meaning? Find out by delving into databases of billions of words, to pursue your own original research projects.

This broad-based aviation course, covering computer simulation and design, technology, production, manufacture, management and business studies, equips you for a wide variety of career paths in aerospace. You’ll develop your practical skills in the early stages in workshops and well-equipped laboratories, before learning your management skills in the second half of the course. You’ll find a particular emphasis on computer-aided engineering, including 3D modelling, computer-aided analysis and computer- aided manufacture. You’ll also take part in group work, enabling you to develop your team-working skills and improve your employability.

• This BSc Honours degree course in Aerospace Technology with Management is part of our suite of aerospace degree courses
• Our longstanding, good reputation and our contacts with industry ensure a very high record of graduate employment
• We maintain close links with industry to keep our courses fresh and relevant
• You will have access to the best equipment: flight simulator, wind tunnels, specialist laboratories and CAE software
• Our courses include input from aircraft makers, research projects and leading industry figures
• Our BSc Aerospace Technology with Management students have previously completed work placement years at companies including: Airbus Industries, Duxford Aviation Society, and Lockhead Martin
• Recent Aerospace Technology graduates have gone on to work at organisations including Zodiac Aerospace, Stansted Airport, and Toyota
• You do not need an A-level in Mathematics or Physics to gain entry to this course, you simply need the correct UCAS points and your enthusiasm for the subject

The MSc Sustainable Planning programme for 2019/2020 consists of three courses in MSc Sustainable Planning, MSc Sustainable Planning and Environmental Management and MSc Sustainable Planning and Transport. The programme provides students with the skills and expertise they need in order to meet contemporary sustainability challenges in planning, allowing them to contribute to a much needed and fast changing professional area. 

The Royal Town Planning Institute has formally granted accreditation to the University of Hertfordshire for its Master’s degrees in Sustainable Planning.

The breadth of material covered in our MSc in Sustainable Planning gives students the skills they need in order to meet contemporary sustainability challenges in planning. Planning has a key role to play in improving the condition of life in our towns, cities and rural areas. Towns and cities themselves impact on global sustainability and can play a very influential role in tackling global environmental, social and economic problems. Equally, implementing sustainability principles within urban and rural areas is essential for the well-being of the local residents and improvement of the local environment. Creating more sustainable towns and cities will be central to the future of society and the planet. The planning system is so important because it provides one of the most sophisticated mechanisms for regulating environmental change. Recent policy changes have made planning in neighbourhoods and in communities even more important.

Increasingly planners are being required to facilitate the creation of more sustainable urban environments. This requires expertise and skills in a diverse range of disciplines and nationally there is a shortage of relevant skills. This course offers both personal opportunities for students to gain valuable skills that make them highly employable, and allows them to contribute to a much needed and fast changing professional area.

Why choose this course?

This exciting new course is specifically aimed at people wishing to gain expertise in contemporary sustainability issues. It provides graduates with excellent career opportunities in planning, environmental management, urban design, community development, regeneration, transport management, climate change mitigation and other planning related careers.

The course is Suitable for

• Students who have work experience in planning or related discipline and require a postgraduate qualification and subsequent professional accreditation to develop their career further.
• New graduates starting their career in planning with a first degree in geography, environmental science, conservation, sociology, architecture and urban studies.
• Students from other disciplines who have developed an interest in planning from voluntary work, work experience or project work.

Key Features

• A combination of stimulating academic study and strong career orientation
• Focus on the role of planning in addressing key sustainability concerns: climate change; urban sprawl; social cohesion; and demands for personal mobility
• Using the latest techniques including GIS; urban design tools and community design engagement techniques such as charettes
• Practical problem based approach to learning that uses real planning issues and case studies
• Flexibility of study based on a programme of short courses scheduled over two or three days at weekends
• UK field trips including visits to the start of town planning nearby at Letchworth and the first New Towns
• International study visit to look at European best practice in France and Germany.
• It is structured around a modular short course structure to enable flexibility whilst working. This allows part-time student to not have to take more than 12 days off a year (if studying over 2/3 years).
• Networking opportunities per module with lunch and refreshments provided within your fees.

This course is available both full and part-time. Full time study in Semester A takes 1 year. Full time study beginning in Semester B will take 15 months. Part time study options typically take two years but students are given a maximum of five years to complete..

Biochemistry is the study of the fundamental processes of life. Biochemists seek to answer questions about life, health, disease, the natural environment, and materials and compounds, using scientific techniques developed in chemistry and biology. After an initial grounding in chemistry, genetics, cell biology, microbiology and human physiology, you’ll learn the complex biochemical processes that underpin the very latest discoveries. Explore how biochemistry affects the quality of people’s lives, from the discovery of new drugs and the design of medical treatments to the industrialisation of laboratory processes. Our strong links with industry offer you fantastic opportunities to gain valuable experience during your placement year. This degree is accredited by the Royal Society of Biology.

• Biochemistry is the scientific study of the chemistry of living cells, tissues, organs and organisms.
• On this degree programme you will study how biochemistry affects our lives, from the discovery of new drugs and the design of new medical treatments , to the industrialisation of laboratory processes.
• Our links with industry provide you with fantastic opportunities to gain valuable experience in the biosciences industry during the placement year.

A degree in English Literature and Journalism will help you grow from passionate reader into a critical thinker and literary scholar; it will also develop your practical, professional writing skills, shed new light on how the media works, and get you some hands-on experience that employers are really looking for.

On a degree in English Literature and Journalism, we’ll introduce you to writers who will open doors to contemporary worlds and cultures remote from your own, and also help you explore more familiar literature in ways that challenge your preconceptions. This means you’ll study literature written in English by writers from all parts of the globe, whose voices are relevant and important in our modern world. You’ll also develop your journalistic skills in exciting ways: you’ll learn the different requirements of writing ‘news’ and ‘features’, while learning how to carry out research, conduct interviews, and structure your writing in order to get published.

You’ll be taught by academic staff who bring fresh thinking to our accessible, engaging courses. Some are active researchers of international standing who bring their own passion for their discipline into the classroom; others are dynamic teachers with extensive industry experience.

Whatever your taste in literature, there will be something to interest and provoke you. From The Tiger Who Came to Tea to Jane Eyre, from Paradise Lost to Zadie Smith’s Swing Time, we’ll broaden your literary horizons and hone your critical thinking.

A core Literature module in your first year will equip you to read and interpret both traditional and contemporary literary texts critically as a scholar of English literature. Alongside this you can choose to revisit Shakespeare and consider his cultural relevance today through fictional, cinematic and TV adaptations; or to deepen your understanding of Gothic writing by tracing its origins back to the Romantic era.

In your second year you’ll focus on period-based literature from the Renaissance onwards and gain an understanding of literary history, from Elizabethan verse and drama, via Augustan poetry and the emergence of the novel in the 18th century, to the radical transformations of the Victorian age, and the emergence of modernity in the twentieth century. You’ll also have the opportunity to consider ways of reading that go beyond textual analysis or historical context, such as understanding literature through the political or ideological lens of Marxism, feminism and post-colonial theory.

You’ll have the chance to specialise in your final year, tailoring your literary study to reflect your own interests. Themed options include children’s literature, young adult fiction, Renaissance tragedy, European crime fiction, literary adaptations and the culture of print in the 18th century.

Your study of English Literature will enhance your ability to analyse and synthesise complex ideas, and to express yourself clearly in both written and spoken English. These skills will be hugely beneficial to your study of Journalism, but this part of your course will extend your range far beyond just print media. As the course progresses, you’ll discover how journalism varies across video, radio and the internet, hear from inspiring industry guest speakers, and take placements in real newsrooms.

Why do we carve pumpkins, blow out birthday candles or leave ‘love-locks’ on bridges? When and where did these customs start? From urban myths to local legends, the stories we tell and the traditions we follow are part of our folklore, the shared beliefs and oral traditions that are handed down through generations.

The University of Hertfordshire’s MA Folklore Studies explores legend, ritual, belief and tradition in British society, providing students with a thorough grounding in the history of the discipline of Folklore Studies and examining current work in the field.

Aimed at recent graduates in related subjects such as literature, history, archaeology, anthropology or religion, who have perhaps touched on folklore in their dissertations and want to develop this further, this MA also offers opportunities for mature students looking to turn their interest in local folklore into an academic qualification.