Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Product Design and Technology (Optional placement year)

at Aston University United Kingdom

You’ll master key theories and concepts of economics and finance, and gain quantitative skills that are in high demand in the global job market. Developed in collaboration with industry practitioners, this course will equip you for a range of career paths including one within the financial sector.

This course will provide you with the tools for a variety of financial positions in a range of organizations, from blue-chip companies to not-for-profit groups.

You’ll enjoy a stimulating range of teaching methods including lectures, seminars, simulations, and lab sessions. You will use advanced statistical software packages and have access to Datastream, a global financial and macroeconomics data platform, to enhance your practical skills.

There is also the opportunity to develop other practical business skills, such as writing business plans, and country and market reports. You’ll be able to benefit from visits of guest speakers who are leading industry experts in the field of economics and finance.

This course, which combines electronic engineering and computer science knowledge and experience, will enable you to be skilled in digital electronics, a highly sought after skill set in the current employment market.

Modern digital electronics, computing systems and gadgets are all significant in commerce, industry and the home, impacting our lives on a daily basis.

Our Electronic Engineering and Computer Science course aims to expand the breadth and depth of our students’ knowledge in electronics, internet technology, computing, digital systems and software design.

Our courses are developed in collaboration with a wide range of industry sectors to give a broad but relevant degree so teaching won’t just be standard lectures and you’ll be encouraged to discover how science fiction becomes fact. Designing your own products and working with cutting-edge equipment will be a core part of the course.

What you’ll learn
You’ll gain a solid grounding in software engineering and computing systems, complemented by engineering expertise in digital electronics and telecommunications. To build a bridge between hardware and software specialists you’ll study computing and electronics with single honours students from the electronic engineering and computer science subject groups. In the second and final year, you’ll be able to choose specialist options in preparation for your future career. These options include digital system design, telecommunications systems, optoelectronics and signal processing. In your final year you’ll undertake an in-depth project, based on your area of specialism.

We place particular emphasis on encouraging the development of essential professional skills, including communication and the ability to work as part of a team.

Health psychology investigates how the way we behave influences health, illness, and how we care for people living with long-term conditions.  

A health psychologist uses their knowledge of psychology to understand health behaviours and to develop psychological interventions to support behaviour change. They perform a vital role in a variety of areas such as:

Assisting patients with their emotional and psychological needs.
Working alongside healthcare professionals to help them establish clear communication and productive relationships with patients.
Working with health and social care organisations to develop protocols to engender good health and wellbeing.
 
From health inequalities and public health, to psychobiology of illness and long term conditions, our full-time, on-campus Health Psychology MSc will provide you with an in-depth understanding of the theory underpinning health psychology. This course has been designed to give you an ideal base for a rewarding career in health psychology and related fields.

A unique combination of strategy, management consulting, and international business, our MSc Strategy and International Business can kick-start your career.
This course will equip you with the skills to analyze companies’ strategic situations and develop practical strategic solutions for complex commercial problems. You’ll learn the vital role middle managers play in implementing strategy and how you can make strategy work in practice.

Study Design Engineering at Aston to advance your creative skills and transform your ideas into reality, as you help to address global challenges for generations to come.

What you’ll learn
Our course introduces a full range of core engineering science modules coupled to practical projects, ensuring a highly integrated and industry-relevant degree program.

From your first year, you'll be working on major projects, often in partnership with commercial engineering companies. You’ll work with colleagues, staff, and engineers from the industry to develop real solutions to life problems.

You’ll look at key areas such as design, prototyping, and developing ideas, as well as the engineering science and mathematics behind these subjects. Specialist modules in areas such as control systems and solid mechanics will make sure your technical skill set is excellent and ready for application in any engineering sector.

Unlock even more career opportunities with the MEng Chemical Engineering, an extended, broader-based qualification with four years of academic study.

You could improve the quality of many lives through the products and materials you design and develop as a chemical engineer.

You will learn how to ensure the safe and profitable production of the chemicals and materials required to create products such as clothing, food, medicine, transport and home entertainment systems.

Chemical engineering is a challenging and fascinating profession with extensive career opportunities. With a masters in chemical engineering you will combine a detailed knowledge of chemistry with an understanding of engineering principles in order to design, construct and operate chemical process plants.

What you’ll learn

Our course is designed to develop your engineering skills, in the context of a firm grounding in chemistry. To ensure this, you’ll share your first year with chemists, giving you a good grounding in the subject before gaining a deeper insight into the industrial processes. Subjects you’ll cover include process design, health and safety, biological chemistry, biomaterials, inorganic materials and polymer synthesis.

The MEng builds on the BEng course and is enhanced by additional subjects including process synthesis, advanced management, bioenergy, and a major research project.

Our MEng is a challenging and demanding course which will enable you to progress more readily after graduation to Chartered Engineer (CEng) status which, in turn, equips you to aim for the highest levels in industry.

You have the option to spend a year on placement in industry after your second academic year. Many students find this experience extremely beneficial in terms of their personal development as well as their academic performance and development as an engineer.

Study a BSc (Hons) Sociology and English Language degree course at Aston University to explore the English language, how it works in society and its role in the world today and learn about issues and policies affecting the world.

What you’ll learn
Our Sociology and English Language course will provide you with an in-depth understanding of social processes, inequalities, organizational dynamics, and inter-group relationships. To understand how these issues perpetuate existing inequalities and unequal life chances, we analyze how politics is intertwined with the profit-making aims pursued by big corporations and how their combined interests dominate our social imaginations.

Sociology will equip you with the knowledge and analytical skills that will enable you to think critically and work independently. This includes how to design a research project, collect empirical data, handle complex datasets (e.g., through applying coding techniques) and, most importantly, develop an advanced analytical mindset. This training will be essential for your final-year dissertation during which you will carry out your own individual research project. This experience will provide you with a skill set that is highly desired in a wide range of industries and areas of work.

This degree combines the essential knowledge from economics and management that you will need to be able to understand how organizations develop and implement strategies to compete against each other in both domestic and international markets.

What you’ll learn
Studying this course will give you an in-depth understanding of business and strategic decision-making while developing both your analytical and quantitative skills. Knowledge of statistical and experimental methods used in economics is increasingly important for a successful professional career.

Theories, models, and methods are brought to life through teaching that focuses on active learning and content that stresses real-world examples and applications. The placement year helps to equip you with highly relevant transferable skills that further increase your value in the graduate labor market.

The course will help you to understand the relationships between different parts of an organization, and its interactions with the economic environment. Theories and frameworks in both management and economics education also develop your decision-making skills and your ability to manage teams effectively.

There has never been a time where so much data has been available in conjunction with the tools to make the most of it. These tools constitute the field of data science. There has also never been a time with so many global challenges to tackle, from the shortage of resource and the impact we have on the environment to the strive to automate and optimise a variety of systems such as transport, energy, health and communication. There are almost limitless opportunities to use these tools in the various domains and applications for making real impact on industry, society and policy making.

This course is for you if you want to use your mathematical and numerical skills to embark on a career in data science and its application. During the course you will develop the necessary analytical and computational skills alongside an informed and critical appreciation of scientific and industrial developments in data.

What you’ll learn 

You will gain a thorough grounding in the fundamental concepts of data analytics to understand the data lifecycle, including problem formulation, data collection and cleaning, exploratory data analysis and visualisation, statistical inference and decision making. Additionally, you will have the chance to apply your knowledge in a research project on a subject of your choice.

You will be trained in a wide range of modern data science and analytics methods in the MSc in Data Analytics programme including the following modules:

Statistical Machine Learning, where you will be able to develop simple, but practical, statistical models for complex real-world data. The models can be used to automate decision making and predictions, such as detecting diseases or deciphering signals.

Algorithmic and Computational Mathematics that focuses on the in-depth study of key general algorithms, with their numerical implementation, which are the heart of data processing and modelling. This includes approximation techniques, interpolation, sampling, etc. that are practiced with hands-on coding.

Data Science Programming will teach you the use of Python and R for data analysis in scientific computing. You will learn how to use Python libraries such as: (i) NumPy and Pandas, for performing complex numerical analysis tasks; (ii) Scikit Learn, to build machine learning models; (iii) Matplotlib and R for 2D data visualisations and (iv) PyTorch, to develop deep learning applications.

In a globalised environment, economics can unlock answers to some of the biggest questions faced by business and wider society. Combine a theoretical and applied understanding of economics with an international business focus to equip you for a career in any sector.

What you’ll learn
You will understand how businesses work from an international perspective, gain analytical skills to evaluate the international market, and make informed decisions relevant to any business setting.

You will be asked to communicate economic theories from an international business perspective to audiences who do not specialise in this area, giving you the opportunity to develop your verbal and written communication skills.

Your interest and knowledge of international markets will be put into practice in your placement year, which you will do overseas. This helps you to put your learning into practice and also explore the areas of economics and business that you are most interested in. It also provides you with invaluable experience that will stand out on your CV and support your future career prospects.