Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Video Game Development (Accelerated)

at Birmingham City University - City Centre Campus United Kingdom

Our BA (Hons) Video Game Design undergraduate course responds to the growing and innovative sector by developing skilled, team-orientated, reflexive graduates ready to succeed in the field. Interactive Entertainment and Video Games development are key sectors for contemporary culture, economic growth and employment locally in the Midlands, nationally and globally.

This accelerated two-year course gives you a guaranteed video game development placement in our in-house studio. The work-place simulation approach of our department has been championed by the influential 2009 Livingstone, Hope Next Gen Report which cited us as a national best practice example for developing new talent for the games industry.

What's covered in this course?

The course focuses on digital media asset production and communication. You will gain a grounding within the industry’s design and production principles while developing your creative and teamwork skills.

Building upon your design and production skills, in the first year you will be tasked with a specific role within our in-house game development studio over the summer term. This work experience gives you the opportunity to apply the knowledge and professional practices you’ve learn on the course in a safe and supportive environment.

Throughout the two years you will be provided with a structured program of learning, in line with your chosen specialism of video game design. The course culminates with a project you define yourself which targets a specific subsector of the video games industry.

So, by the time you graduate, a whole year before most students, you’ll have two years of tangible, games development studio experience under your belt, ready to launch your dream career as a games developer.

Fascinated by cyber security in today’s society? It’s a key concern for modern organizations in our digital world. Secure communication technologies form the bedrock of our modern connected mobile society and our BSc (Hons) / MSci Computer Networks and Security degree course focuses on the practical needs of businesses that require high quality computer and network security, ensuring you’re equipped for a career in this increasingly important industry.

What's covered in this course?

The course takes a practice-led approach, making use of equipment and tools found in the industry to give you the best preparation for a successful career.  Our approach prioritises the practical skills sought by industry, backing this up with a thorough understanding of theory. The course delivers the latest in computing, network and security technologies, with the opportunity to gain additional accreditation from Cisco, Juniper, Huawei, Palo Alto and the Linux Professional Institute. Birmingham City University is also home to Cisco Systems, Juniper, Palo Alto and the Microsoft Academy Centres. You’ll learn from a well-rounded curriculum in computer network engineering, programming, server systems, security theory and practice, as well as management-level skills such as project and change management, maximizing your career potential.

Studying computing with us puts you at the heart of an exciting, innovative community. Part of your first-year assessment will involve taking part in our annual Innovation Fest, where students get together to solve society’s problems with creative technology. Previous projects have included medical assistance drones, accessible gaming controllers, and smart housing solutions. The event brings together students, academics and industry guests, so it’s a great way to have fun, build experience and network, and win prizes!

This degree will put you at the heart of music in the UK, with coursework designed to equip you with the skills, knowledge, and experience, not just to work in, but to shape the music industry.

Music is one of the UK’s biggest cultural exports. It’s worth an estimated £5.2bn to the UK economy, and sustains almost 191,000 jobs.

The program is tailor made for anyone seeking to develop a career in music, or with an interest in music as relating to wider creative and cultural industries.

Studying in our industry-standard media centre in the heart of Birmingham, you’ll develop skills through a combination of hands-on learning, supported by critical investigation into the creative cultures, fans, and practices that make the UK music industries world-leading. You will have the opportunity to apply these skills and knowledge through work placements with key organisations within the UK music industries.

What's covered in this course?

You will develop and work on real-world music industries projects with clients, enabling you to add professional jobs to your portfolio. Our learning and teaching is informed by the changing demands of a vibrant and dynamic music industries, to make sure that you are industry ready.

If you want to take an in-depth look at promotion, music PR and music media, running a record label or producing music videos and websites, then this is the ideal course for you. It will help you to position yourself at the forefront of creating and developing innovative ideas, and exploring niche markets within the music industry.

While studying with us, you’ll have the opportunity to set up a record label, promote artists or organise a music event for a paying audience. You will develop practical business know how, applying your skills to a creative music enterprise project, as well as exploring music entrepreneurship, music online, music promotion and PR, music video, and television and music programming.

Digital business is all about the adoption of new technologies to transform businesses and gain competitive advantages in a continuously changing global environment. It is transforming business by integrating digital technologies and business processes in a digital economy.

Businesses are now adopting new technologies, for example the Internet of Things (IOT), Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain to gain competitive advantages in the fourth industrial revolution (industry 4.0), which builds on the preceding three but uses new digital technologies.

In essence, businesses will require people who have the capability to work in the roles, but not limited to Digital Business Transformation, Technology & Innovation Management, Business Data Analytics & Intelligence, Business and Technical Sales, Business Risk and Change Management or Project Management. By the time you complete BSc (Hons) Digital Business you’ll be well prepared for these varied roles, with the relevant knowledge and skills.

This course is designed to develop your digital capabilities, theoretical background and business skills which are required to pursue a career in the digital transformation of business. Hence, the course will equip you with the professional skills that are specifically aligned to the increasing job opportunities in business as it is digitally transformed and changed.

Shoot into the film industry with the world's first Master’s degree in film distribution and marketing. Available as a one-year intensive full-time course,  our MA Film Distribution and Marketing has been designed with industry to reflect the growing need for entrepreneurial producers, marketers and distribution experts.

Graduates from this course have secured roles with companies such as Koch Media (Germany), Kaleidoscope Films (UK), GFM Films (UK) and Red Arrow Media (Europe). You will have an opportunity to experience work placements during the course with previous placements including major industry players such as FilmNation (US) and Sony Picture Classics (US).

The Business Management course will offer you a practical-based degree applicable to a wide range of sectors. You will be able to contribute to critical debates on industry-related contemporary issues and understand the dynamic needs of business managers in the 21st century to reflect current knowledge and best practices.

You will gain specialist knowledge on a number of core functions of management, building your self-confidence to prepare you for a progressive and successful career in management. Exciting opportunities including integrated work projects and business placements in the UK or abroad are all featured in your course, therefore your career can start whilst achieving your qualification. You will have the benefit of renowned industry speakers and live projects to inspire and help you to develop.

This course gives you an opportunity to undertake specific modules designed for those who seek a deeper insight into the operation and complexity of the supply chain. You will explore contemporary supply chain initiatives and review corporate strategy, globalisation, international alliances and the key features of procurement and outsourcing.

This program provides you with the opportunity to examine the tools and techniques used to sustain and develop global supply networks. If you are successful you will be able to apply for modular exemptions, should you wish to pursue the professional qualifications of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS).

The international focus of the course is derived through a variety of means including the student body, the teaching team and the use of international teaching materials. Moreover, students can choose to spend a year or a full semester studying their modules overseas at a partner institution. Similarly, the Business Management course embeds the UN Sustainable Development Goals as an integral part of the course.

Interested in security sector jobs in Birmingham? Our BA Criminology and Security Studies course covers a range of topics, from war and conflict to counter-terrorism.

Our degree will equip you with a wide range of knowledge about both national and international politics and intelligence. It will also show how politics can impact both security and insecurity in Birmingham and the United Kingdom.

What's covered in this course?

In your second and third years, this wide knowledge base will be built upon as you specialise in your learning. Your knowledge of the core ideas in Criminology will be re-enforced throughout these two years, and you will learn more about topics such as the role of MI5 and MI6, extremism, terrorism and counter-terrorism, the Middle East and conflict in the modern world, and International Relations.

Together these two years will provide you with a well-rounded knowledge of the political and historical issues which are leading to continued conflict and instability in the world today. This is an exciting and dynamic course whose modules directly reflect what is happening around the world and which is at the cutting edge of current scholarship.

The program acknowledges and contributes towards Birmingham’s vast industrial heritage and geographical position, maximising professional links, trade fairs and its transportation network.

What's covered in this course?

• MA Product and Furniture Design challenges perceptions around 'alternative living', exploring what else might be possible in a world already full of things.
• You’ll be prepared for a successful career in a wide range of product design-related roles.
• You will also benefit from studying in a large, diverse and dynamic postgraduate community brought together through a well-equipped workspace at our City Centre Campus.

Our pioneering MA Arts and Education Practices course focuses on the exploration of educational models at the intersection of practice, teaching and pedagogic theory.

The only Arts Education MA in the UK based in a School of Art, we provide a unique platform for the art educator. This setting helps to facilitate an innovative community of experienced and aspiring art educators, welcoming those willing to critique current practices to ask not only how we should teach art, but also how art can teach us.

What's covered in this course?

Our students come from diverse phases and sectors in the field of art and design education and the expanded fields of gallery, community and self-organised educational practices. Through the course individual perspectives and experiences meet with those of your peers providing you with the stimulation and challenges that different perceptions can bring. We seek to evolve a dialogue through direct experience and engagement with the arts and their value as taught subjects, both within the institution and outside of it.

Our taught modules strengthen your subject knowledge and connect you with contemporary creative and educational practice.

MA Arts and Education students follow a core modular structure that explores the past, current and future practice of arts education. You can personalize your learning through your choice of an optional module and pursue your interests within the expanded field of arts education through research and practice.

The structure of the course enables you to focus your research within the context of your own creative field and workplace. Through this study you build independent research leading to your major project that can be focused through educational models, workshops, creative practice and encounters that inform and are responsive to art educational contexts.

The course offers opportunities to connect with and expand your knowledge of your creative field through collaboration, live projects and visits that explore educational situations and projects.

Professional Placement option

The Professional Placement version of the course is optional and is offered as an alternative to the standard version of the course.

This will allow you to complete a credit-bearing, 20-week Professional Placement as an integral part of your Master’s Degree. The purpose of the Professional Placement is to improve your employability skills which will, through the placement experience, allow you to evidence your professional skills, attitudes and behaviors at the point of entry to the postgraduate job market. Furthermore, by completing the Professional Placement, you will be able to develop and enhance your understanding of the professional work environment, relevant to your chosen field of study, and reflect critically on your own professional skills development within the workplace.

Do you want to turn your passion for video games into a rewarding career? Apply for one of the only video games degree courses of its kind in Europe, designed to produce ‘work ready’ graduates for the industry. With access to PlayStation 4 developer kits and real games briefs, this two-year fast-track degree can prepare you to work for companies such as Sega and Sony.

Interactive entertainment and video games development are key sectors for contemporary culture, economic growth and employment, whether that be locally, nationally or globally.

Our BSc (Hons) Video Game Development course responds to this growing and innovative sector by developing skilled, team-orientated, reflexive graduate professionals ready to succeed in the sector. On the course you will learn the most important programming languages for game development, as well as industry-standard game development tools such as Unity and Unreal.

This accelerated two-year course gives you a guaranteed video game development placement in our in-house studio, taking place over the summer term of the course. The work-place simulation approach of our department (School of Games, Film and Animation) has been championed by the influential 2009 Livingstone, Hope Next Gen Report which cited us as a national best practice example for developing new talent.