Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Media and Creative Writing

at University of Hertfordshire - De Havilland Campus United Kingdom

Indicative course structure
A strong business degree is an incredible start to your career. By combining it with accounting you’ll have the chance to build a firm foundation in business with a strong focus on accounting practices.

You’ll study a whole range of key business areas, including accounting, marketing, operations, management, human resources and the role of business in society. We’ll also help you explore everything from strategic leadership, performance and business management to ethics, enterprise and creative problem-solving.

• Develop important skills and knowledge required to become an accountant.
• Enhance your employability skills by undertaking a 12-month work placement to gain the first-hand experience.
• Develop strong intellectual capabilities.

Our Creative Writing course explores and develops your creative writing practice. We offer a stimulating and supportive place in which to explore your ideas, hone your craft and understand a wide variety of texts. Our creative writing modules are taught by lecturers who are themselves award-winning practitioners and who bridge the gap between creative and academic approaches to writing. They include:

• Poetry lecturer Dr Wayne Holloway-Smith, winner of the Poetry Society’s Geoffrey Dearmer Prize and Seamus Heaney Prize nominee.
• Fiction and Non Fiction writer, Dr Lorna Gibb, author of five books, winner of the Granta Memoir prize and shortlisted for the Sperber Biography prize in the US.
• Dramatists Simon Vinnicombe and Drew Pautz, with writing credits that include the whole gamut of scriptwriting, from work in current production as feature films to Eastenders to the Old Vic and Royal Court. They have international reputations with performances, in original and translated versions, in Canada, Europe and the United States.
• Fiction and non-fiction writer, Helen Gordon, a former editor of Granta, with two acclaimed books and numerous short publications.

Over the three years you can choose specialist creative writing modules in poetry, creative non-fiction, drama, short story writing and prose fiction. As well as fostering your own creative writing skill, you will study a huge range of different texts, both literary and commercial, to gain understanding of what makes a piece successful as well as have an overview of the industry marketplace.

Recent successes for our students include short stories published in Bandit and AnotherLenz magazines and poetry published in Rising and international magazine Poetry London.

In your first year, an underpinning core module, Becoming a Writer, will introduce you to genres and forms and examine the universalities of dialogue, plot and language. A second core module, Identity and Contemporary Writing, presents some of the most exciting new writing as a model for your own work, while optional modules enable you to specialise in writing for the screen, develop your critical skills with texts in different genres, or explore twentieth century culture and society.

Other core modules will develop your writing practice in creative non-fiction, short stories, poetry and writing for the stage, while a range of options will allow you to choose between literary analysis, 20th century English literature or writing a historical documentary.

For your final year, your particular creative interest can be channelled into a long piece of writing, which can be poetry, prose or drama. This work will be discussed and reviewed in tailored workshops that will allow you to both explore and develop your own voice. The third year also offers a wide range of core and option modules that look at different fiction genres, including fantasy, crime, horror and romance, as well as writing serial drama, late Victorian literature, and exploring the lives of women from a historical perspective.

Top reasons to study Creative Writing at the University of Hertfordshire:

• The opportunity to develop and explore your writing skill in an encouraging and supportive environment.
• A brilliant team of lecturers who are all recently published writers in their own field and can use their industry experience, as well as their academic skill and knowledge, to nurture your talent.
• A flexible course of study with a wide range of options to choose from, allowing you to focus on the topics that interest you most.
• Careers development helping you to understand the practicalities of how to get published.
• The chance to study at a University with a Gold Rating for Teaching.
• A dedicated (and free!) writing academy before the academic year starts to help with the return to learning, if you have been away from education.

MA Illustration is a Masters award within the MA Art and Design programme at the School of Creative Arts. Within the programme there is strong emphasis on professional practice and the real-world applications of art and design. You will develop key research skills and gain a good understanding of the work of other practitioners in your field.

The aim of the postgraduate programme is to equip you with the skills, knowledge and understanding required to practice at an advanced level, to foster your creativity and enhance your employment opportunities. You will work alongside artists and designers who are involved with a wide variety of media and forms. Induction, seminars and social events for students and staff mean that you will be part of a friendly and supportive postgraduate community, which also includes film makers, musicians and professionals working in new media. Senior research staff and internationally renowned artists work with postgraduate students, helping you to develop original and challenging work.

The MA Illustration degree is designed to develop your imaginative, creative and technical potential as an illustrator. It provides an opportunity for you to examine a range of media in the fields of illustration, including the role of image-making in new and traditional media, and illustration's relationships with fine art and digital media.

This masters degree gives you an opportunity to develop advanced knowledge and skills in the use of narrative storytelling and its relationship to illustration, as well as illustrative conventions in children's and adult literature, comics and other media. We encourage you to develop the entrepreneurial and commercial skills necessary to help develop your work to its full potential and to equip you with the practical and intellectual skills to thrive as a practicing artist. Through working alongside artists and designers on other postgraduate courses you will explore the possibilities for the illustrator today, questioning conventions and refining the direction of your practice.

Our staff are experienced in research and professional practice, and you will also benefit from contributions from visiting designers and professionals, as well as from involvement with our international exhibitions programme. The course also has close links with a wide range of industry partners.

One of a range of degrees from the taught Master's Programme in the Department of Computer Science

This award is targeted at those who have a good Honours degree in computer science or a very closely related discipline, and who wish to extend and deepen their knowledge in two or more different sub-discipline areas. This course will enable you to enhance your career prospects or prepare for a programme of research that requires knowledge of one or more of these sub-discipline areas. You will have a wide range of taught modules from which to choose, and will be expected to complete a major project that extends and applies what you have learnt in one or more of the taught modules they have taken.

• This MSc is available with an optional one-year industry placement. The 'with placement' programmes give you additional industrial experience by applying the skills you have learned throughout your studies.
• One of a range of advanced courses within our postgraduate Master's programme in Computer Science, this particular course provides you with a specialism combining theoretical knowledge and practical skills in advanced computer science.
• This MSc will help you develop skills using and critically evaluating a range of methods and tools currently employed in at least two specialist topics of computer science to advanced depth.
• Taught by a highly-regarded and long-established computer science department with strong links to business.
• Half the research outputs in Computer Science at the University of Hertfordshire have been rated at world-leading or internationally excellent in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014.

A wide range of opportunities exists for qualified legal practitioners to work within the energy industry. The University of Hertfordshire’s LLM Energy Law and Environment will provide you with the knowledge and skills you will need to underpin your chosen career.

Two compulsory modules – International Energy Law and International Environmental Law – will give you a firm foundation for your studies. In addition, you will select two optional modules which will complement your learning and equip you to meet the challenges and opportunities related to the legal aspects of the oil and gas industry, and the environment.

The International Energy Law module examines the main types of international and national regulatory frameworks and contractual arrangements within the sector. You will also cover key policy issues relating to law, regulation and contracts as well as the jurisprudence of courts, along with emerging legal issues. The International Environmental Law module examines contemporary global environmental challenges, enabling you to understand and critically reflect on issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss. The modules are both assessed by way of written coursework.

This course develops students’ in-depth knowledge and skills of a broad range of Electronics Engineering. It builds strong design skills for the seamless integration of software and hardware for sustainable and smart applications using Microprocessor/DSP/FPGA technology.

Students will cover a selection of subjects such as Smart Embedded Systems Engineering and Mixed mode and VLSI Technologies alongside cohort taught subjects to develop their management skills and their employability.

The successful postgraduates of the course will acquire the knowledge and understanding, intellectual, practical and transferable skills necessary for the analysis and synthesis of problems in engineering and manufacturing through a combination of experimental, simulation, research methods and case studies. They can expect to gain work in a range of disciplines within a variety of industries from specialist technical roles to positions of management responsibility.

Why choose this course?

• Students who undertake this course will gain broad knowledge and understanding of the recent advancements in Electronics Engineering.
• Students who wants to develop their knowledge and understanding in embedded intelligent systems with coverage of artificial intelligence, sustainability and smart system engineering.
• Supported by the School which has over 25 years' experience of teaching electronic engineering and has established an excellent international reputation in this field.
• We offer extensive lab facilities for engineering students, including the latest software packages.

Studying an MBA can transform the way you think and the way you work, change the way others see you and open up new leadership and management opportunities.

This full-time MBA enables you to develop the critical and reflective strategic leadership skills you need to succeed in an uncertain world, challenging your assumptions, cultivating flexible thinking, effective decision making and responsible management.

What will I study?

Our teaching and learning methods ensure you are able to actively engage with your own development. You’ll benefit from a blended learning approach which utilises web-based activities and reading, alongside simulations, reflective writing, discussions and live enterprise projects.

All of the teaching resources have been designed in a highly structured way and complementary way to take you progressively through business concepts and to give you confidence, enhance your skills and expertise when completing specific tasks.

A participative style is used throughout to enable you to learn from your fellow students, as well as from teaching staff. Experiential learning is central to our teaching philosophy.

There is a considerable emphasis on the utilisation of theory and knowledge to make sense of your own and fellow participants' experiences at work. Case study material is widely used alongside case histories developed by fellow participants.

The MBA at the University of Hertfordshire has multiple pathways for students:

• MBA
• MBA (Human Resource Management)
• MBA (Entrepreneurship)
• MBA (Digital Marketing)
• MBA (Finance)
• MBA (Healthcare)
• MBA (Public Services)
• MBA (Sustainable Industries)
• MBA (Data Analytics)
• MBA (Project Management)
• MBA (Management Consultancy)
• MBA (Information Systems)

The MSc Clinical Skin Integrity & Wound Management has been developed to meet the needs of practitioners with a special interest in skin integrity and wound management while benefiting from shared, inter-professional learning. This skin integrity programme is unique in that it recruits both UK/EU and International allied health professionals to this specialist master’s degree.

The MSc Clinical Skin Integrity & Wound Management is a taught postgraduate programme aimed at practitioners wanting to undertake further specialist training and develop career aspirations in skin integrity and wound management. This unique postgraduate programme combines the closely related specialties of wound management and dermatology and offers wound and skin integrity modules that appeal to healthcare professionals who want to develop a deeper understanding of chronic wound healing and conditions affecting skin integrity.

This programme has an emphasis on developing practical competencies; good diagnostic skills, appropriate and timely management of common wounds and skin integrity problems and allows flexibility to study related specialist content to broaden student’s clinical expertise which is invaluable in today’s competitive workplace.

The MSc Clinical Skin Integrity & Wound Management is designed specifically for health professionals with at least two years of general clinical experience who have a special interest in skin integrity and wound problems.

The course is suitable for clinicians wishing to develop expertise and gain experience in skin integrity, wound management and associated skin conditions including hospital doctors, family practitioners, specialist nurses/ therapists, podiatrists and pharmacists. 

Key features:

• Face to face classroom teaching 
• Lectures from respected subject specialists 
• Clinically relevant modules
• Clinical skills teaching and a focus on practice
• Shared, inter-professional learning
• Excellent networking and peer support
• Mix of home & international students providing a global perspective
• Approachable tutors providing a high level of student support 
• Clinically relevant assessment strategies
• Two intakes per year: September and January 
• Credits may be awarded for prior learning.

The School has a strong international reputation for research in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics and this expertise influences this course which explores current research and practice in artificial intelligence and robotics. This MSc can lead to a career such as a designer of intelligent systems or in research.

Why choose this course?

• Through your placement year you will gain industrial experience and be able to practice applying the skills you have learned throughout your studies.
• One of a range of advanced courses within our postgraduate Master's programme in Computer Science, this particular course provides you with a specialism in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.
• Advanced topics studied include artificial life with robotics, neural computation and machine learning, theory and practice of artificial intelligence.
• Taught by a highly-regarded and long-established computer science department.
• Computer Science saw 90% of its research ranked as world-leading (Research Excellence Framework, 2022).

All three of our model design courses share the same First Year, giving you an excellent introduction to model making, prop making, sculpture and special effects. Building on this foundation, you’ll focus on developing your artistic and technical skills to produce models, animatronics and other effects. You’ll also gain hands on experience of the specialist equipment used to produce rain, fire, smoke, wind and snow, and learn about the safe use of pyrotechnics.

In Second Year, you will acquire an understanding of special effects design and receive a thorough grounding in the practical aspects of this. You will be able to combine your artistic and technical skills to produce animatronics, action props, models and special effects.

In your Final Year, you’ll work on major projects and create a professional portfolio to impress employers. Throughout your studies you’ll use a mix of traditional techniques and modern technology. This course is accredited by Creative Skillset, reflecting the highest standard of teaching and facilities.

• Combine your artistic and technical skills to produce animatronics, action props, models and special effects.
• Gain ‘hands on’ experience of special effects equipment used to produce, rain, fire, smoke, wind and snow etc. and learn about the safe use of pyrotechnics.
• Use of traditional workshop machinery and cutting-edge technologies, plus access to specialist industry standard facilities for animatronics, model making and prop making.
• Close contacts with industry, which provide outstanding work experience opportunities and collaborative projects.
• High graduate employment rates for Special Effects students. 
• The only Creative Skillset Tick accredited Model and Special Effects course in the UK.