Bachelor of Science (Hons) in International Relations with Politics

at University of Plymouth United Kingdom

This course focuses on tackling real-world industrial challenges through the development of bespoke and innovative products, services and experiences in the context of the Industry 4.0 agenda. Develop your ideas into businesses in the digital sector, working with a range of industry partners, academic staff, and new facilities for Digital Fabrication and Immersive Media.

Key Features

90% of world trade is carried by sea, with a navigation and maritime science degree you can become a professional in this exciting and vital industry. Our graduates go on to careers in the shore-based maritime sector and, for those who follow the accredited route, to become a Ships Officer. Our degrees are accredited by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency and the Merchant Navy Training Board. You will study an exciting programme that develops the skills sought by employers across the sector.

You can increase your employability with an optional one-year industrial placement in a relevant maritime business or, if sponsored, work at sea towards the professional qualification of Officer of the Watch. We embed our full mission bridge simulator and sailing vessel in the teaching of this challenging applied degree. By studying with us, you will develop the skills required to join the next generation of leaders in the maritime sector.

Key Features

• Lay strong foundations for your successful career in the maritime sector. Our students go on to work in a diverse range of maritime industries. Whether you aspire to be a professional navigator, a marine manager or yacht racer, the world’s oceans could literally unfold before your eyes. 
• Distinguish yourself with a degree that’s accredited by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, as well as the Merchant Navy Training Board*.
• Immerse yourself in the latest technology; we've equipped our Marine Navigation Centre with an advanced full mission ship simulator and the latest in electronic charts.
• Develop your 'sea-sense' with hands-on experience on our dedicated 13 metre sail and navigation training vessel 'Take The Helm' on Plymouth Sound. If qualified and approved, you'll be able to skipper the vessel yourself.
• Ensure you have the practical, communication and problem-solving skills employers are looking for. With a mixture of lectures, tutorials, and practicals featuring group and individual problem-based learning.
• Many of our students gain sponsorship from shipping companies or training providers. In many cases sponsorship becomes available to students already on our programme.  
• Students may also receive funding towards tuition fees and living expenses from the sponsoring company, greatly reducing costs. They go to sea as trainee officers to gain practical experience from a seagoing placement year.

Do you want to design large structures or be involved in projects that have great benefit to societies around the world? This accredited 4 year MEng course provides all the further learning required for you to proceed towards becoming a Chartered Civil Engineer. Our Plymouth Civil Engineers imagine, design and create the structures and technical approaches that provide shelter, clean water, sanitation, transportation, energy security and protection from natural hazards.

You will learn how to communicate effectively, manage projects and work in professional teams. You may choose to take a paid year in industry with a civil engineering employer and can further boost your professional development by attending specialist seminars and talks. We can also offer you a mentor drawn from our network of engineering professionals. The final year develops your advanced understanding of core civil engineering disciplines and finishes with an integrating design project.

Have you considered

• BEng (Hons) Civil Engineering
• MEng (Hons) Civil and Coastal Engineering
• BEng (Hons) Civil and Coastal Engineering
• BEng (Hons) Civil Engineering with Foundation Year

Key Features

Make, use and analyse images, engaging directly with the world around you while exploring the medium’s endless potential. Develop a clear understanding of photography in its wider historical, cultural and professional context and be equipped with the skills to achieve and sustain your career ambitions in the creative industry. Our diverse teaching team, purpose-built environment and advanced facilities enable you to establish your unique style and personal visual language.

Key Features

• Experiment - a key feature of our course is the space to experiment. During the three years there is a great deal of focus on the way you develop your photography, both in practice, and in ideas.
• Document - a growing aspect of the course, in response to contemporary practice, is the importance of the photographic document. This includes opportunities to develop as a contemporary documentary practitioner.
• Collaborate - a valuable skill for any creative practitioner, collaboration is sewn throughout our course including short studio projects, group presentations, a collaborative practice module, and our unique Set Construction Project that allows you to work collaboratively and develop the skills to build, style and photograph your own studio sets.
• Think differently - an important aspect of our course is the development of you as a critically aware contemporary photographer. This means that you can move between ways of working that span the commercial and artistic worlds. The life of a contemporary practitioner is a varied and multi-faceted affair, and the skills taught on this course help you to navigate this exciting world.
• Plymouth - take advantage of our stunning location in the South West. This natural resource will inspire your creative practice with its rural and city landscapes, brooding moors and dramatic coastline.
• Explore - broaden your understanding of photographic practice in other cultures - our international opportunities include a residential field trip to Europe in year 1 and rich opportunities for studying abroad in countries like Germany, Romania, Sweden, Cyprus, Slovenia, France, Slovakia, Norway, New Zealand and the USA in year 2.
• Facilities - achieve your creative goals with our excellent facilities and resources, including a custom-built analogue and digital resource and an extensive Artist Book Collection. Be free to work when the inspiration takes you with our resources open from 8am to midnight, seven days a week and throughout the holidays.
• Visitors - deepen your understanding of the subject with our lively visiting speaker series, featuring well-known practitioners and former students talking about their work and career paths. Past speakers have included: Brett Rogers, Director of the Photographers Gallery; celebrated documentary photographer Ed Clark; image makers Anna Fox, Simon Roberts, Charlotte Dumas, Ori Gersht, Martin Parr, Mark Power, David Goldblatt, Laura Pannack and more.
• We also work with Specialist Professional Practice visitors who create clear links between the creative practice of the course, and professional outlets in the future.
• The future - follow in the footsteps of our impressive, prizewinning photography students, including graduate David Hedges, a press photographer who recently won two major awards for his images and video work; Anna Jay, prize winning art director for The Debrief; or Louis Little assistant to Martin Parr.
• Unistats - 87% of students agreed staff were good at explaining things and 90% of students agreed the course provided opportunities to explore ideas or concepts in depth (National Student Survey 2019).*

Are you passionate about biology in all of its forms? Do you want to study a broad biology degree without the constraints of choosing a specialism too soon, with equal emphasis on lab and field skills? You will build an understanding of biology from viruses to mammals and from freshwater to rocky shores, gaining state-of-the-art practical and transferable skills highly sought by employers, graduating ready to shape the future of fields from ecosystem management to laboratory research.

In the 2019 National Student Survey, 97% of students felt staff on this course were good at explaining things and 95% found the course intellectually stimulating.* This programme focuses on biology of a wide range of environments from soils and the oceans to hydrothermal vents and volcanic lakes.

Key Features

This IEMA accredited programme provides an outstanding foundation for a career in environmental management by providing diverse perspectives and practical training on the scientific, economic, ethical and political challenges of sustainability and environmental protection.

Classroom and field-based teaching and a short placement enables you to investigate your specific interests and to gain first-hand experience and skills in developing practical solutions to environmental management issues and 21st century global challenges.

Key Features

Geography explores the relationships between people, places and the environment. Our Geography with Ocean Science course allows you to focus on the physical side of this and also spend time studying ocean science. Plymouth is the ideal setting for this, giving you hands-on experience of the physical geography of a dynamic estuary and coast within walking distance of campus.

Our geography degrees make the most of geography’s strengths in tackling head on the biggest global challenges we face. Modules have been designed to address many of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals – developed by the UN as the 'blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all' – all of our degrees are fully accredited by the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG).

Key Features

• Our newly designed Geography curriculum places sustainability challenges at the centre, with modules designed to help address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
• Choose from an exciting range of physical geography and ocean science modules. Establish a sound knowledge base across all areas of ocean science, with options to study physical oceanography and meteorology, biological and chemical oceanography, and coastal oceanography.
• Our supportive staff are expert researchers and many are world leaders in their field.
• Teaching is innovative and student-centred. You will learn through lectures, seminars, practicals, national and international residential fieldwork, tutorials and one-to-one dissertation support.
• Learn to use Geographical Information Systems to analyse and communicate complex spatial data.
• Take advantage of a wide range of study abroad possibilities in Europe, North America and Australia.
• Experience a valuable work placement programme, opening up a range of career opportunities such as consultancy, policy development and management, teaching, planning and conservation.
• LABplus is a unique open access laboratory and resource centre designed for students studying science and engineering courses. The lab provides a flexible workspace, computing facilities, specialist software, access to microscopes, microscope cameras and bespoke resources.  
• Benefit from our unique location, in the heart of the historical city of Plymouth, bordered by Dartmoor National Park as well as the Tamar Valley and South Hams Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Devon and Cornwall have glorious beaches, coasts, rivers and estuaries.

Physical geography and geology examines how the Earth’s surface is shaped by natural and human processes. This knowledge is key to addressing many of the complex sustainability challenges facing the planet. Our new modules explore geohazards and risk, clean energy transitions, and long term environmental change. Students gain specialist academic, international fieldwork and laboratory skills providing a springboard to an exciting and diverse range of careers.

Have you Considered

• BSc (Hons) Geography
• BSc (Hons) Geography with Ocean Science
• BSc (Hons) Geology
• BSc (Hons) Geology with Ocean Science

Key Features

• Our new modules address critical sustainability challenges: reducing risk from natural hazards, harnessing cleaner energy sources and how to combat climate and environmental change.
• Our approachable staff share their cutting-edge research and expertise through varied teaching practices in lectures, tutorials, practical classes and field courses.
• Learn to apply the latest techniques in the field and laboratory. Our substantial fieldwork programme provides opportunities in a variety of UK and overseas locations including Death Valley USA, Spain, Sicily and Cyprus.
• Study modules dedicated to addressing the connection between physical geography and geology, such as ‘long-term landscape development’.
• Progress your skills in our open access laboratory, LABplus.
• Develop your confidence with a personal tutor, providing you with weekly guidance throughout your first year.
• Our PALS mentoring scheme provides you with support from students in the year ahead.
• Plymouth's coastal location, close to Dartmoor and two UNESCO World Heritage sites provides the perfect setting for studying geology, with opportunities for fieldwork right on our doorstep.
• Receive essential field safety equipment free as part of your welcome package.
• Work towards becoming a Chartered Geologist, our accreditation by the Geological Society, the world’s oldest and most prestigious national learned society for geology, helps you to gain the required experience.
• Take the opportunity to spend your second year studying abroad in Canada, Australia, USA or elsewhere through our direct exchange, Erasmus or ISEP programmes. Plymouth is currently the only UK institution to offer exchanges through ISEP, giving our students the greatest range of Earth science exchange opportunities available.

This one year MA Architectural Design program explores architecture, design and urbanism, with an emphasis on the critical investigation of space through practical, theoretical research interests and creative activities. Design is the crucial agency for exploring spatial creativity, coupled with an experimental design practice that operates from a core architectural discipline, yet celebrates the blurring of disciplinary boundaries to forge innovation and new disciplines in spatial enquiry.

You will undertake architectural design studio projects that immerse you within spatial debates and cross-disciplinary activities, including working on live projects, community engagement and public events. Supporting your work in the design studio, you will engage with emerging research in architecture, connecting sustainable practices and integrated technology. You will generate a dissertation through detailed design development of a selected aspect of your design studio work. Support is provided in the design studio through weekly tutorials, workshops and seminars. All students will be encouraged to develop a personal and critical path of design discovery. The studio culture fosters a unique design-led research practice, converging theory, design and technology.

Key features

• Encouraging discovery and critical development in a studio-based culture that fosters a unique research-led practice, converging theory, practice and technology.
• Co-taught with the RIBA-validated Part II programme, sharing coursework, projects and studio space.
• Advances the understanding of the role architectural design plays in today’s most pressing societal, environmental and cultural challenges.
• Encompasses a wide range of skills, theory and practice from urban situation to building performance.
• Develops the capacity to conceptualise spatial thought in relation to architectural design and production at all levels of design, fabrication and use.
• Framed by issues of place, people, tectonics and environmental concerns

Healthy eating, nutrition and lifestyles are becoming key issues in today’s society. By focusing on the impact of food and nutrition on health, you'll use your knowledge and skills to make a difference to people’s lives. By combining theoretical modules with real life clinical placements you’ll gain all the skills you need for your future career.

You'll be eligible to apply for registration with the Health and Care Professions Council on successful completion of the course. You’ll benefit from research informed teaching, and tailored facilities in our multi-million pound Peninsula Allied Health Centre. The course is accredited by the British Dietetic Association.

Key Features

• Experience cutting-edge nutrition research with world-class academics, who are developing the future Dietetic Profession and putting research into practice
• Shared Inter-professional learning for all students within a highly supportive learning environment. Innovative student-led Peer Assisted Learning (PALS) programme in place.
• Undertake placements in a range of clinical and community settings facilitated by experienced dynamic dietitians, including unique specialist placements in paediatrics and mental health.
• Explore an emerging range of professional opportunities for dietitians beyond our traditional role, including freelance and private practice, the world of media and the commercial sector.
• Undertake placements in each year of the course, gaining experience in many different dietetic specialities in a range of different settings.
• Experience education in superb modern facilities which include a purpose built food preparation laboratory ideal for teaching dietetic practical skills.