Master of Science in Social Work Studies

at University of Stirling United Kingdom

Equip yourself with a rich breadth of knowledge in business and management with our flexible Business Studies course.

When you choose Business Studies at Stirling, you won’t just be stepping into a leading UK business school – you’ll also open the door to a world of opportunities with the freedom to access subjects from all over the University and, if you wish, combine your degree with one of 17 different subjects. From Spanish to Sports Studies, Psychology to Law, Computing to Accountancy, our flexibility is your strength as you pair your passion with an in-depth grounding in business.

This course will grow your managerial expertise and put foundations in place to ensure you continue developing through your professional life. You’ll also learn how organisations are structured, and gain insight into what makes them function best. Speakers from industry visit regularly to complement our own research-led teaching – giving you real-world and rounded knowledge of business and the tools needed to succeed in it.

By aligning the course with the FRM curriculum, rigorous academic learning is coupled with practitioner-driven insight and certification. Through this combination, students are better prepared to succeed in the challenging field of risk management.

As you study you’ll acquire a broad knowledge of finance, financial theory and the practical methods used to analyse financial data. Further specialist knowledge and analytical skills are developed in financial risk management, including how to identify, measure and manage a broad range of financial risk types including operational risk, foreign exchange risk, liquidity risk and market risk.

You’ll have access to professional financial databases including Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters Eikon, Datastream and S&P Capital IQ. There’s also an opportunity to attend our series of guest lectures by professionals from the industry. All these features help to enhance employability, increase participation, improve learning, and play a part in a world-leading student experience.

Food from aquatic systems is essential for much of the world’s population. However, with wild catches of seafood declining in many places, aquaculture is playing an increasing role as an alternative source of high-quality, nutritious food - and as an employer. Controlling disease is important to the ongoing success of this industry.

Our Aquatic Pathobiology postgraduate degree gives you a unique opportunity to study the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of aquatic animal diseases in cultured organisms. You’ll study at the Institute of Aquaculture, one of the top institutions in this field. The Institute is internationally recognised for both research and teaching and has more than 70 staff and 80 postgraduate students. This Masters in Aquatic Pathobiology has been taught at the Institute for almost 40 years and is the only postgraduate degree of its kind in the world.

The course combines high-quality, practical work and field visits with class-based training in aquatic disease diagnosis and health management challenges drawn from real situations. You’ll also develop an understanding of the biology, husbandry and environment of farmed aquatic species.

The course can also be seen as preparation for anyone who plans to do a PhD in aquatic animal health or disease.

This interdisciplinary Masters degree is jointly taught by leading academics in media and social science research. You’ll gain both a theoretical and practical understanding of social science research methods, and learn how to apply these to the media and cultural industries. Covering social sciences and humanities approaches, our Masters will give you solid, extensive training in advanced media research methods. You’ll be encouraged to explore your own research interests, gain real-world experience of research and develop your own approach to research throughout the course.

The degree is primarily targeted at anyone needing research training before embarking on a higher research degree, such as a PhD. The course also offers an excellent grounding in social science methods, which are transferable to media research for industry, journalism, marketing and advertising research, production research and wider aspects of social research consultancy.

Enhancing your employability is one of our top priorities. That’s why all MRes students are given the opportunity for a research placement as part of our course where you can apply your learning to the real world.

Human Resource Management is a vital part of every business, and impacts everyone from junior members of staff to CEOs. With a CIPD accredited HR degree from the University of Stirling, you’ll gain far-reaching expertise in organisational success and unlock a wealth of professional opportunities.

The course will prepare you to make an impact on key areas of business such as recruitment methods, staff development, performance management and career progression. You’ll also be equipped to enhance an organisation’s adaptability by broadening the skills of its workforce and understanding its broader social and economic environments.

When you study HR at Stirling, everything you’ll learn is rooted in research and contemporary developments in the business world. The course reflects the rapid changes in employment practices, markets, technology and law – ensuring you graduate with the front-line knowledge you need to succeed.

Do you enjoy numbers the way others enjoy music, poetry or art? Do you enjoy using Mathematics to explain real-world phenomena and solve problems?

Mathematical training develops specific skills and broad analytical expertise, which are valued across all professions. There is also a particular demand for graduates who not only have quantitative skills, but also know how to use them.

This course delivers that sought-after combination – through our teaching style, and our focus on real-world applications of both mathematical and statistical techniques. For example, you’ll use the mathematics computing laboratories as an integral part of your learning process, making your study as much experimental as theoretical.

Our Computing Science and Mathematics division provides a stimulating and supportive learning environment, and we’ve a strong and active research group. Its primary interest is the application of mathematics to biology, economics and life sciences, and we offer combined Honours degrees in the relevant disciplines.

The University of Stirling MBA (accredited by the Chartered Management Institute) is designed to transform capable managers into successful business and organisational leaders. Our MBA qualification is unique in the way it focuses on the practices, processes and outcomes of managing in a range of contexts, from large multinationals to small and medium sized enterprises. There is an emphasis on personal development, responsible business, strategy and how to effectively manage limited resources with maximum impact. These are supported by the professional and personal development modules that are designed to help each individual focus on developing current skills as well as identifying and developing new skills.

This sought-after qualification will give you a thorough understanding of the functional areas of business and management including:

• Accounting and finance
• Marketing
• Operations management
• Human resource management

By completing this course, you'll gain the confidence and resilience to respond to continually developing circumstances, the skills to build and lead a team, and the theoretical knowledge and its link to practice to successfully manage the challenges of the modern business environments.

Scotland is internationally recognised for its crucial contributions in drug discovery and development, medical technologies, stem cells, bio-manufacturing and bioinformatics.

We’ve worked with Forth Valley College and business to develop a fully integrated degree course in Applied Biological Sciences. Our course is making a difference by solving the problem of skills shortages in life sciences. We’ll give you technical expertise and proficiency in the vital practical and research skills sought-after by employers.

The degree is taught jointly at Forth Valley College and the University of Stirling and also receives input from employers across the Scottish life sciences community. Classes for the first two years will be delivered at Forth Valley College’s campus in Falkirk. Classes for the last two years will be delivered at the University of Stirling campus.

Your study will begin with fundamental science and laboratory skills before focusing on the cellular and molecular aspects of biological sciences.

Your final year will focus on proteomic and genomic aspects of biological sciences, plus your research project. Our research-led teaching, together with the experience and insight gained by your work placements, will make you work-ready for a modern career in biosciences.

Choose our Criminology and Sociology degree and you’ll benefit from studying two closely related disciplines; with training both in criminology and the theory and methods of applied social science. Learn how to ‘think like a criminologist’ and apply criminology to the context of modern life, social diversity and inequalities in society. Criminologists are interested in how activities are defined as criminal, explanations for crime and social reactions to crime.

You’ll explore fascinating questions surrounding the criminal justice system, the social contexts of crime, and the relationship between behaviour and punishment. Why and how do people break the law? How can the criminal justice system define this, and how do we police, prosecute and punish people?

Our Criminology and Sociology course reflects the latest developments in social research and is taught by experts in their fields.

Health psychology is the study of psychological and behavioural processes in health, illness, and healthcare. It is concerned with understanding how psychological, behavioural, and cultural factors contribute to physical health and illness.

Health Psychologists promote healthier lifestyles. They try to find ways to encourage people to improve their health and also to improve the healthcare system as a whole. For example, helping people to lose weight or stop smoking, or advising doctors on better ways to communicate with their patients.

You’ll learn to use your knowledge of psychology to promote general wellbeing and understand physical illness. We will teach you the skills needed to help people deal with the psychological and emotional aspects of health and illness, and to support people who are chronically ill.

Our MSc Health Psychology has a strong experiential focus and emphasises the application of health psychology to real world settings. The course includes contributions from healthcare practitioners. You will carry out a brief placement in a healthcare setting, which can include the NHS, third sector (charities) or industry, and you’ll usually arrange this placement yourself with support from the course team. You are encouraged to carry out research in healthcare contexts where possible.