Bachelor of Arts in Digital News and Media (with integrated Foundation) (Flexible)

at University of Buckingham United Kingdom

Recent corporate scandals across the world have drawn attention to the importance of accountancy and finance. BSc Accounting and Finance 2-year degree programmes are designed to meet the demands of the 21st Century, but which still teach the underlying skills, make it an exciting time to be studying accounting and finance at Buckingham.

The flagship BSc Accounting and Finance degree programme (previously known as BSc Accounting and Financial Management) provides an academically rigorous study of the principal accounting and finance disciplines. It also has a strong vocational orientation, providing significant exemptions from the examinations of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). The combination of a fast-track two-year programme and the number of exemptions attained makes Buckingham Business School a very attractive option to the Accounting and Finance student.

This programme aims to engage energetic and motivated Mathematics students in innovative research in pure Mathematics and its application in Computer Science. The programme is suitable for students with a solid background in Mathematics or in a closely related discipline. This programme, in particular, is a stepping stone for students to join research institutes and universities as PhD students and researchers.

Some of our research projects will seek new directions towards neural networks and AI, and potentially towards industrial application. The significance of interdisciplinary research is emphasised in the UK’s Research and Development Roadmap, which includes innovative proposals for interactions between mathematical sciences, biomedical research, and the Computing industry.

The main research areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Model theory is a branch of mathematical logic, and its applications in a wide range of subjects such as algebra, topological dynamics, combinatorics, and theoretical Computer Science. Specifically, the projects are focused on Fraïssé construction method, automorphism groups of countable homogeneous structures, structural Ramsey theory, asymptotic classes, ultraproducts, and infinite constraint satisfaction problems in theoretical Computer Science. Research proposals in a wider range of areas in mathematical logic, philosophy of Mathematics, pure Mathematics and theoretical Computer Science are also welcome. These include research areas such as formal methods, type theory, set theory, higher-order logics and fuzzy logics.
• Applied Computational Topology and Geometry is a relatively recent and fast-growing field of mathematics that emerged from applying well-established theories in algebraic topology and geometry. Specific projects focus on applications of data-driven Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in the fields of computer vision, medical diagnostics, and multimedia security for image tampering and fake videos. These applications employ Topological Data Analysis (TDA) and its growing list of tools (Persistent Homology, Mapper, etc.) to infer relevant (topological) class discriminating features from high dimensional and complex data. Other projects involve the use of TDA for interpreting Deep Learning (DL) decisions and dealing with the problem of overfitting of DL models.

Throughout the project, students will interact and be encouraged to work with other researchers at the University of Buckingham and other leading research universities in the UK. The students will be part of research networks such as BPGMTC, SEEMOD, MODNET and Data Science groups.

The unique structure of Buckingham’s Law and Criminology degree (LLB), with four full teaching terms per calendar year, enables you to graduate after just two years of study (eight, or nine terms with September start).

In addition to your legal studies, you will complete 120 units of criminology, allowing you to develop a deep and wide-ranging understanding of the origins, causes and consequences of crime and criminality. This includes knowledge and understanding of legal and criminological research methods, referencing protocols and the different primary and secondary sources of law. Criminology itself is an interdisciplinary subject comprised of the legal, social, psychological, and cultural aspects of crime.

The Law and Criminology degree also satisfies the necessary first step for qualifying as a lawyer in various common law jurisdictions, including Canada, Nigeria, the Bahamas, and Bermuda.

For those interested in qualifying as a solicitor in the UK, the Law and Criminology degree provides you with thorough preparation for the Solicitors Qualifying Exam 1 (SQE1), enabling you to choose the accelerated SQE1 preparation courses after graduation. Our innovative and diverse curriculum also contributes to preparation for the practice-orientated SQE2, both SQE1 and SQE2 being necessary for qualification as a solicitor.

For those UK and international students wishing to qualify as an English barrister, the Law and Criminology degree satisfies the academic component of Bar training, the necessary first step to qualifying as an English barrister.

Buckingham Law School also offers a broad range of extra-curricular opportunities to develop your professional skills and experience of legal practice. These opportunities include the possibility, between the first and second year of your LLB, of a sandwich year placement with a professional organisation.

We often accommodate the particular requirements needed to practise in various common law jurisdictions other than the UK. If you are an international student from one of these jurisdictions, we are happy to discuss what subjects you must take to qualify.

Our Law and Criminology graduates who gain a second-class honours degree, or higher, are guaranteed a place on our LLM programme in International and Commercial Law. This opportunity greatly enhances specialist knowledge and enables our students to acquire two degrees in only three years.

This cutting-edge programme is unique to Buckingham. A course with wide appeal, it is aimed at anyone who has an interest in biography or in researching and writing a biography for themselves. The varied mix of backgrounds and interests that students bring to the course, the experience and commitment of the programme director and the friendly small-group setting allow a lively, enjoyable and intellectually rigorous exchange of ideas. Graduates have gone on to publish their own books, and to win prizes. Some have embarked on further research for the PhD in Biography.

When it was founded in 1996, the Biography MA was the first of its kind. Since then Life Writing has become part of the postgraduate menu, but the Buckingham course has kept its distinctive edge. Unlike most Life Writing degrees, it is not linked to Creative Writing, and there is a strong emphasis on research and historical biography. The programme is consistently rated ‘excellent’ by external examiners and inspectors.

Course structure

Students have a choice between following the taught MA or opting for the MA by Research. The taught MA gives an opportunity to produce written term papers on a variety of topics as well as a dissertation of up to 20,000 words. Students accepted for the MA by Research are required to produce written work which includes an extended dissertation of up to 40,000 words. All students produce coursework for the Research  Methods module: an annotated bibliography and a short biography, with supporting material, produced according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography format.

Guest seminars on the course are led by leading biographers, critics, publishers and agents. Teachers and speakers on the course have included Andrew Motion, Kathryn Hughes, Frances Wilson, Frances Spalding, Caroline Dawnay, Andrew Lownie, Miranda Seymour, Anne Wroe, Angela Thirlwell, David Lough and Ophelia Field.

The BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (3-year degree) combines the three important subjects of Philosophy, Politics and Economics. What makes it different to PPE offered in other universities is its integrated character, with a special focus on explaining how human behaviour shapes economic and political institutions.

In the Philosophy strand, you will take an Introduction to Philosophy module and study the Philosophy of Mind. In addition, there will be more specialised modules in political theory: Introduction to Political Theory; Freedom; Evolution and Human Cooperation. And students will receive a grounding in the Philosophy of Social Science.

The Politics element of the degree focuses on area and country studies, with a particular emphasis on political order and security challenges. Those challenges vary from region to region but typically take the form of political violence (war, terrorism and organised crime), mass migration and economic instability. Students are encouraged to approach these problems from a number of disciplinary perspectives. For example, the study of Latin America would consider the historical, cultural and economic determinants of the region’s politics.

The Economics element of the PPE programme covers the core areas of Microeconomics and Macroeconomics. But in addition, there is an emphasis on the interaction between Economics and Politics. Students also receive a strong grounding in mathematics and quantitative methods.

Another distinctive feature of the degree is that two modules – in Politics and Philosophy – will be based on a series of lectures by prominent academics and public figures. These are taught in London (travel and other expenses will be covered in the fees).

This programme of study aims to train first-degree holders in computing-related areas into specialists in selected areas of IT and computing. Based on the current expertise in the Department, the programme offers students opportunities for in-depth study in secure mobile and wireless communication systems, biometrics and authentication, data mining and knowledge discovery, and Software Project Management techniques and applications.

The programme is carefully designed to suit the varied needs of different students from different backgrounds and with different career objectives, in the IT fields.

On graduating from this programme, you will be able to:

• Understand a range of modern computing technologies
• Apply these technologies in practice
• Describe the roles that modern computing technologies have in many areas of application
• Demonstrate the value of state-of-the-art development in one specific technology and its applications

The BSc Biomedical Sciences is a unique 2-year programme taught on the Crewe campus awarding graduates of this course a BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Sciences degree.

Biomedical science focuses on how cells, organs and metabolic systems function in the human body. Through this understanding of health and disease processes, new treatments and therapies can be created or developed, which makes it a very dynamic and exciting field of study.

Our new flagship MBA programme takes advantage of Buckingham’s unique student-centred pedagogical approach, to give you an unparalleled opportunity to work closely with expert-faculty to develop considerable specialised and general business knowledge. It will help you achieve a more rewarding career and lucrative lifestyle.

On the programme you will:

• Develop knowledge and understanding of organisations, their management and the changing internal and external contexts in which they operate.
• Build knowledge and understanding of the complexity of business management in order to improve the effectiveness of decision-making in organisations.
• Develop as managers who can contribute a balanced outlook which incorporates an understanding of the economic, environmental, social and ethical concerns in the context of managing organisations.
• Develop enduring skills and an appreciation that these skills can be enhanced and developed through life-long learning.
• Develop the necessary knowledge and skills to improve your employability in an increasingly competitive environment.

Modules are designed to enhance your employability by developing your capacity to make high-quality decisions, undertake organizational analysis, lead others and communicate effectively. In particular, the MBA project provides you with the opportunity to develop, but also demonstrate your business acumen through a significant piece of original organizational research or consultancy-style project work.

Based in the city that gave Charles Dickens inspiration throughout his writing life, this groundbreaking London research programme offers students unique access not only to world-class scholars and practitioners drawn from the field of Dickens Studies and the media but furthermore to the unique collections of the Charles Dickens Museum

Charles Dickens Museum - interior and exterior photography is directed by Professor John Drew and Dr Pete Orford, Dickens experts of international reputation, who are also full-time members of the University’s highly regarded Department of English and Digital Media.

The course enables the student to undertake research on a specific topic, agreed with the supervisor, in any area of Dickens Studies: his novels, short fiction, journalism, plays, the public readings, adaptations of his work (cinematic, theatrical) as well as comparative work on translations, writing by precursors, contemporaries, rivals, imitators and inheritors. The research is presented in the form of three ‘Project Preliminaries’: an extended research proposal, an annotated bibliography, and a short research-based case study for which students will be invited to investigate either the archive holdings of the Charles Dickens Museum or the network of Dickens’s collaborators for his journals, as made available by the University’s celebrated project Dickens Journals Online. On successful completion of these three preliminary projects, students will then progress to their dissertation, written under the guidance of the supervisor, of not less than 20,000 words.

A central feature of the course will be its series of ten evening seminars with distinguished speakers, held both at the University’s Gower Street premises and in the Board Room of the Charles Dickens Museum, each followed by a dinner and discussion, in private rooms at a nearby restaurant in Bloomsbury.

In a world of uncertainty and rapid change it is more important than ever to study why and how wars are fought. The University of Buckingham has a well-established Master’s degree in Modern War Studies and Contemporary Military History based in London. The one year (two years part time) course* commences in October with a ‘Course Study Day’ followed by ‘Research Skills’ lectures and culminates, after a period of supervised research, with the submission of a dissertation. The course includes a Saturday ‘Seminar Day’ at the Honourable Artillery Company’s House headquarters, three evening seminars at the university’s London home in Bloomsbury, and a ‘Course Symposium’ at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. This series of talks examines a range of historical subjects as well as those issues affecting modern Defence in all dimensions.