Master of Arts in Early Childhood Education

at University of Hertfordshire - De Havilland Campus United Kingdom

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 learn how to create highly detailed models for a range of disciplines, such as concept cars for the automotive industry, scale models for architects and miniatures for films.

In second year you will learn how to create highly detailed models for a range of disciplines, from concept cars for the automotive industry to the scale models used by architects and ‘movie miniatures’ for films.

In your Final Year you’ll work on major projects and create a professional portfolio to impress employers. Throughout your studies you’ll use the latest computer-aided design

Model Design Successes

The Model Design Programme is the only Special Effects course to have been accredited by Creative Skillset, the industry kite mark of quality following a rigorous assessment process by experts working in the Creative Industries and is awarded to practice-based courses which best prepare students for a career in the industry.

The programme has outstanding links with industry and this results in high profile work experience opportunities for our students. In 2013, our students worked on major feature films at leading UK studios, including making action props on Guardians of the Galaxy, Jupiter Ascending, Exodus and Black Sea.

In 2014, 92% of our second year students undertook work experience on four major feature films at Leavesden, Pinewood, Shepperton and Twickenham studios.

Graduates from this degree often work with leading figures in the creative industries and a host of companies including: Anarchy Ltd, Artem, Asylum, Berry Place, Darkside FX, Ferox Effects, Foster + Partners, Gerry Judah, Seymour Powell, Pipers and Zone Creations etc.

The programme regularly exhibits at the New Blades exhibition (held at Holborn Studios in London). In 2013, our graduates won three prizes making a total of thirteen awards we have won at New Blades in the last 4 years.

Articles about the work have featured in a variety of international publications including Wired Magazine and CNN.

Model Design Facilities

Our students’ work in a large airy purpose built studio (with individual spaces for every student), which is situated above an extensive workshop that contain a wide range of traditional and cutting edge technologies. Students are able to use a wide variety of equipment/machinery and state of the art rapid prototyping facilities: laser cutters, 3D printers, CNC milling and routing. Our students also use a well-equipped sculpture studio, which has excellent life drawing and modelling facilities, a plaster mould making area and industry standard extraction in the fiberglass/resin casting room. The sculpture workshops also provide excellent brazing, soldering and welding facilities for most types of metal fabrication and finishing. In addition to these dedicated workshop facilities, our students are taught a variety of computer aided design processes in both 2D and 3D packages in computer suites, which are situated close to the Model Design studio. Our students have access to all of the facilities across the school including excellent photographic equipment/studios and printing.

This is a unique combination of three interrelated degrees with a combined first year (Model, Character and Special Effects). The lecturing staff all have extensive subject knowledge gained from careers in the creative industries, hence students achieve professional standards in their work. We have excellent links with industry and provide placements on major movies at leading UK film studios.

• You will learn how to create highly detailed models for a wide range of disciplines from concept cars for the automotive industry and product prototyping, through to the scale buildings used by architects or ‘movie miniatures’ used in films.
• Excellent workshop facilities for both traditional model making machinery and cutting-edge prototyping technologies including; CAD, 3D printing, laser cutting and CNC machining sit alongside the specialist industry standard facilities for model making, product prototyping and prop making
• Outstanding work experience opportunities and collaborative projects provided by our very close contacts in the creative industries
• Industry professionals teach across all three pathways of the programme
• Model Effects students achieve consistently high graduate employment rates

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.

• 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

This course enables students to understand the fundamentals of information theory and apply appropriate performance and quality measures to engineer enhanced data communication systems.

Students design state-of-the-art networks using legacy as well as emerging optical and wireless technologies, developing the students’ ability to define and apply appropriate analytic, algorithmic and a mix of simulation and hardware tools for reliable data transfer.

Students will cover subject specific subjects such as Digital Mobile Communication Systems and Optical Communication 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.

• Students who undertake this course will gain knowledge and understanding of the advanced theoretical issues and their practical implementations that underlie recent developments in Communications and Information Engineering.
• Students will be able to explore, explain the engineering challenges inherent in a variety of data communication applications.
• 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.

• 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.

Join the next generation of media professionals, with a powerful, practical course that gives you the skills and agility to thrive in a rapidly changing industry. Explore the nature of language, communication and the media. Write news, features and fiction. Study films, music and celebrity. Design magazines, websites and a fascinating, successful future.

The media world is evolving fast. Digital and social media are developing at breakneck speed and changing the way we talk to, learn from and understand each other. Here at Hertfordshire, our mass comms course focuses on communication and media practice, encouraging you to be entrepreneurial and professional, with a diverse set of sought-after creative skills.

You’ll have a whole range of opportunities, including exploring publishing and PR, examining the ethical and legal aspects of journalism, developing your voice as a writer, studying the context behind films, spending a life-changing year abroad or taking a year-long work placement.

Bridging theory and practice — Students studying this course will gain a theoretical and critically reflective understanding of media whilst gaining practical skills as an author and designer of published material. The majority of our courses are assessed by 100% coursework.

Value added — Every student is allocated a personal tutor to monitor and advise on their overall academic and personal development supplemented with drop-in skills sessions and specialist tutors to refine and polish your writing. Our Media Matters series of Media Industry talks and Creative Writing talks are career focussed, delivered by industry specialist professionals. 

The MA Journalism and Media Communications (with Advanced Research) is a two-year, full-time taught programme. This route is available to those students who would like the opportunity to have a research focus in a specialist area of media practice developing innovative solutions to ‘real world’ problems. 

Study our MA in Journalism and Media Communications and gain the skills you’ll need for a successful, dynamic career in today’s complex global media industries.

This Masters course aims to prepare you in both practice and analysis of global journalism and media. You’ll benefit from our extensive links with the media industry, including the BBC and the Sunday Times, and gain a grounding in all its aspects, from fast-changing multimedia to magazines, advertising and the excitements of sports journalism.

You may have studied humanities subjects and be looking to deepen your research interests. Or you may have been working in areas such as business or healthcare and need communications skills. Whatever your background, taking this MA will enhance your career by equipping you to operate effectively in a professional media environment. Our business-facing approach means you’ll be taught by lecturers with extensive professional experience of print, web design, journalism and PR, giving this MA its strong focus on your future employability.

During the course you’ll explore the synergies between social media, PR and journalism, focusing on current media practice and the technologies of convergence. You’ll consider how to make communication more effective in professional settings by looking at journalism and its associated business models; learn how to interview and report on events; gain expertise in internal and external corporate communications; and analyse the impact of technology on the communications industries.

Modules may change from year to year but are likely to include Corporate Communication, PR and Advertising; International Journalism Trends; Writing for Magazines; Sports Journalism; and Media Production as well as modules on research methodology. You also have a range of options for your final project. This can be a dissertation on a media subject of your choice, a short work placement, the one-year sandwich placement or a larger media research project, depending on your chosen route.

For Media Production you’ll create multimedia – podcasts, video and advertising – for online magazines, pitch and measure a campaign and use social media to promote your work.  A strong practical element in Writing for Magazines will equip you to write for social media and understand how to create content and engage audiences.

Our module International Journalism Trends explores news ownership and media production on a global scale and provides deeper insight into the theoretical and cultural framework of media and journalism. Sports Journalism will give you a grounding in the exciting practices of sports journalism, from interviewing top stars to reporting on breaking sports stories.

Two modules on research methods and critical and theoretical debates will equip you with advanced research skills and the transferable communications skills - including interviewing, identifying a story and building connections - that are vital for roles in PR and Corporate Communications.

In addition to these modules, in your second year you will also take Advanced Media Research (30 Credits) and the Media Project (60 Credits). The focus of these modules is to develop your professional practice by applying skills learnt to advance your career.

Why choose this course?
We give you:

• A broad range of media communications skills with a strong focus on digital media
• Expert lecturers widely experienced in the communications industry
• An opportunity to take a short work placement in a media-based environment
• Insights into emerging trends in the fast-changing digital media world
• Research and transferable skills valued by a range of related industries

The aim of this programme is to equip you to meet the stringent demands of today's highly competitive industrial environment. The programme provides a balance of theory, practice and participation and includes visits to a range of organisations within the manufacturing sector. It provides an excellent basis for employment which has resulted in student employment rates upon graduation of over 95%. The programme is taught by staff from the School of Engineering and Technology which was recently awarded an excellent grading in the HEFCE auditors' report. All study is assessed through continuous assessment.

Graphic Design is a very broad subject, with students increasingly able to choose a wide variety of career paths after they graduate. This pathway, based around the current successful BA (Hons) Graphic Design course, allows students to gain the specialist skills required for advertising and branding projects. Workshops will introduce art direction, copywriting, campaign development, brand strategy and how to design dynamic visual identities. Dedicated modules will give a thorough grounding and understanding of the commercial applications of both subjects, as well as exploring creative applications of emerging technologies

Our location on the doorstep of London means we’ve been able to develop relationships with some of the world’s biggest and best agencies and brands. In recent years our students have worked on live briefs with the likes of Prada, Lacoste, Sky, and Mini. We’ve also partnered with design and creative agencies that include Droga 5 (named D&AD’s ‘Best Agency 2019’ and Campaign Magazine’s ‘Agency of the Year’ 2019) and DesignStudio (the designers of the Premier League, Airbnb and Deliveroo branding). Students on the Graphic Design & Illustration programme have a phenomenal record in the highest-profile award schemes, including winning a prestigious D&AD New Blood pencil every year since 2011.

• Outstanding connections to industry, including high profile live briefs.
• A forward-thinking curriculum which prepares our graduates for a career in rapidly evolving industries.
• A reputation for success in the most-coveted student award schemes.

This multi-award-winning course will give you a thorough grounding and understanding of the commercial applications of illustration. Our aim is to develop creative thinkers and visual communicators who aren’t confined by the conventional boundaries of the industry. We encourage you to think imaginatively to develop engaging and purposeful ideas, and to execute them beautifully. The First Year is about core skills and finding the right pathway. Teaching guides you to be creative, generate ideas and solve problems, with workshops in software, typography and printmaking. Later, we focus on professional projects, emphasising commercial constraints and expectations. We also explore areas like digital design, interaction and motion graphics. In the Final Year you’ll produce a high-quality portfolio.

We have an enviable record of success. In recent years our students have won over many awards in all of the most prestigious national and international design and illustration competitions. These include: the overall winner of the Carmelite Prize, coveted D&AD pencils; various awards at New Designers; countless YCN awards; and many short listings and nominations in competitions such as the Penguin Random House Design awards, Folio Society, the London Transport and Lloyds TSB Illustration awards.

Clever, original ideas and excellent craftsmanship are vital for a successful career working at the top end of the profession and our course is committed to teaching students how to achieve these skills. We foster a fun yet demanding atmosphere that encourages our students to think independently, question the world around them and be opinionated.

This course gives you a firm understanding of key business functions and the basic principles of accounting and finance. You’ll learn about corporate reporting, auditing, corporate law and management accounting, as well as develop your general business and commercial awareness. You’ll study and research the key areas of financial accounting and corporate finance in great depth, and choose from a broad range of specialist modules. These cover topics such as financial strategy, taxation, Islamic banking and information systems. During the course, you’ll have the opportunity to study abroad or take a work placement for a year.

This course offers exemptions from the professional examinations of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

• Developed in collaboration with ACCA, ICAEW and CIMA, our course gives you exemptions from professional exams, helping you qualify faster.
• Input from industry leaders and professional bodies adds real-world skills to academic theory, giving you the competitive edge.
• You’ll be taught by leading academics and innovative industry specialists with years of hands-on experience in commercial accounting.
• We’ll help you find a valuable work placement, developing sought-after skills either in the UK or overseas.
• You’ll also have the opportunity to study abroad for part of your course, developing confidence, experience and practical language skills.