Master of Arts in Criminology

at Birmingham City University - City Centre Campus United Kingdom

Do you want a fashion degree that will enable you to pursue a career within the industry, specifically fashion communication and branding?

Then this course is for you. Its unique mix of both fashion communication and branding will give you the skills you will need to be a creative, confident, well-informed fashion communicator, ready for the industry.

What's covered in this course?

You will be taught by an industry-experienced teaching team and by visiting industry professionals. There is also the opportunity to participate in live industry-based projects and competitions, such as working with Textile View 2 magazine, and L’oreal Brand Storm.

You will develop visual and written communication skills across a broad range of creative media (creative direction and styling, art direction and graphics, print and digital design, branding strategy and journalistic writing) associated with the fashion industry. There will also be the chance to showcase your final-year work to industry leaders, at events such as Graduate Fashion Week in London.

Based at our City Centre Campus, you will have access to photography studios and equipment, relevant software and computer equipment, as well as a faculty of creative students to collaborate with. You can also take part in the international Erasmus exchange program and choose to follow our four-year sandwich option, which features a one-year industry internship.

MA Feature Film Development will help you to understand what is required to make sure a major film is ready to be pitched to investors. You’ll learn all about the extensive pre-production activities all big-budget movies currently go through before they are green-lit. You’ll be taken through each stage of pre-production development to navigate, understand and avoid common problems.

MA Feature Film Development is suitable for Directors, Producers, Editors, Film Makers, Screenwriters, Directors of Photography, Concept Artists, Production Designers, Art Directors, Animators, Technical Directors, Story Artists, & Pre-Visualisation Artists looking to start or further a career in feature film.

This course is part of Birmingham City University’s Film Futures suite, designed with industry to reflect the growing need for highly skilled film graduates who can fulfil roles within the international film industry. Focusing on film development, pre-production, story art and pre-visualization, you’ll become part of a vibrant and multidisciplinary film community.

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 behaviours 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.

Want to study both psychology and sociology at University? Our BSc (Hons) Psychology with Sociology degree combines both subjects and allows you to take a year-long industry placement.

Our innovative course will give you a deep understanding of how the core and specialized areas in psychology and sociology contribute to our understanding of contemporary issues. You will apply scientific reasoning and evaluate patterns of behaviour, gaining key transferable skills in communication, teamwork and problem-solving.

Sociology helps us make sense of the societies in which we live and our place within them. Our Psychology with Sociology course brings together two closely interrelated areas, allowing you to gain significant knowledge and insight.

What's covered in this course?

Over your three years of study, your Psychology modules will help you gain an understanding of a person’s mind, behavior and actions, while the Sociology side will equip you with the knowledge of group interactions and society as a whole. Practical in nature, our course will enable you to apply both Psychology and Sociology to human behaviour and society.

Our focus on contemporary and innovative learning practices will help you gain key employability skills, such as communication, teamwork and problem-solving, as well as key skills in two innovative, intriguing disciplines.

Want to study a Master’s in finance management? Our MSc Management and Finance degree is accredited by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI).

Our Management and Finance course teaches you the fundamental skills and attributes you need to become a successful international manager in the finance sector. You’ll become adept at strategic and tactical business decisions, developing core skills in managerial finance and managing and motivating staff in businesses on an international scale.

What's covered in this course?

Initially in the first stage, you will examine the key challenges faced by global businesses to fully appreciate the complexity and dynamics of leadership and management practice. This will see you broaden your skills in organisation, communication and working with others, particularly within an increasingly diverse cultural context.

During the second stage of your course, you will explore international financial management, including international investment strategies, Capital Asset Pricing and the financial aspects of national and international merger and acquisitions. You’ll learn how to navigate the risks of foreign exchange rates and the intricacies of dividend policy theory and practice for international firms.

You’ll be taught international business strategy while also developing your research skills in preparation for your major project. In addition to the Major project, you will also study both personal and institutional portfolio management, covering key areas such as shares, bonds, property chattels and commodities, and fund management principles and issues.

Professional Placement option

For our Management Master's degrees, you will have the opportunity to take the Professional Placement version of the course, which 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 and transferable skills. The placement experience will allow you to evidence your professional skills, attitudes and behaviours at the point of entry to the postgraduate job market.

Our Human Resource Management (HRM) degree equips you with the tools you need to develop the high-performing workforce and innovative teams demanded by business.

This course teaches you about the importance of motivating and managing people within a business, showing you the link between successful performance and the people you employ.

Drawing upon all aspects of people management enables you not only to gain the building blocks of knowledge and understanding but also a high degree of professional competence in the field of people management and development.

Reflecting on the current evolution of the HR profession and looking ahead into the near future, you will be provided with progressive opportunities to experience the use of digital technology and advanced technologies in some of the main functions of HRM: immersive realities for Recruiting and Selection, Training and Development, Onboarding, Performance Management to name a few.

The course is accredited by the relevant professional body, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), demonstrating the high-quality provision of our course. It has been designed to meet the core knowledge and core behaviours of the CIPD Profession Map and incorporates the core curriculum requirements of that organisation such that when you successfully graduate from the course will have full exemption from the academic component of associate membership of the CIPD.

You will keep up-to-date with the latest issues and innovations in human resources, supported by your lecturers who have experience of working with some of the biggest names in business, in manufacturing, retail, services, hospitality or management consultancy. Guest speakers, from industry and academia, will be invited to provide expert input at both module and course level.

Our LLM in International Human Rights will expose you to the fundamental aspects of the field and provide you with the opportunity to critically examine the impact of the international human rights standards on national constitutions and laws, with particular focus given to the conflict between international standards and national provision.

The LLM International Human Rights also provides you with an opportunity to assess how international human rights law offers protection to different categories of vulnerable groups.

Additionally, our LLM provides an opportunity to acquire, or build upon existing skills gained from your undergraduate course - enhancing employment opportunities in the legal profession and providing a basis for progression to doctoral studies.

Professional Placement option

For our International Law LLM degrees, you will have the opportunity to take the Professional Placement version of the course, which 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 and transferable skills. The placement experience will allow you to evidence your professional skills, attitudes and behaviours at the point of entry to the postgraduate job market.

The BSc Cyber Security course is designed to equip you with state-of-the-art technical knowledge, intellectual know-how, management capabilities and practical skills that will enable you to succeed in meeting the cyber security challenges facing modern organisations. In the 21st century, data has become a necessary commodity, which has value in isolation and more so when viewed as a larger data set for trends and habits.

Data is key to the functioning of modern business and the protection of this data is key to the ongoing success of the digital economy. As systems, such as IoT, both generate and consume data grow in capability and complexity, the need to protect the data created, stored and transited across public and private networks intensifies. Due to this, the need for suitably qualified cyber security practitioners has never been greater.

This course will provide you with the knowledge and skills needed by the employers. Our strong links with industry enable us to teach the most demanding and up-to-date topics. You will learn state-of-the-art technical knowledge, intellectual know-how, management capabilities and hands-on practical skills to succeed in meeting the cyber security challenges faced by modern organizations.

This course is supported by a vibrant research environment within the centres for Cyber Security and Cloud Computing at BCU and by traditionally strong industrial links with CISCO, Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, UK Fast, Linux Professional Institute and BT.

Our BEng (Hons) / MEng Electronic Engineering course will teach you a broad range of skills, helping you to become a rounded electrical engineer.

Throughout your degree study, you’ll have access to our state-of-the-art technology and resources, plus you’ll have the opportunity to secure yourself an industry placement, giving you instrumental electrical engineering work experience.

What's covered in this course?

The Electronic Engineering BEng (Hons) / MEng will give you an understanding of the social, commercial, legal, ethical, economic and environmental factors associated with engineering, as well as comprehensive knowledge of the science and mathematics associated with the discipline.

You will also develop the key transferrable skills that modern employers require, such as problem-solving, project planning, presentation and communication. Our competitions, such as the annual Engineering Show, which includes the international micro-mouse competition, gives you the opportunity to participate in a range of competitions centered on autonomous and non-autonomous robotic vehicles.

Our engineering courses focus on project-based activities, giving you lots of opportunity to work in teams on projects from design to implementation. This will give you practical experience of applying engineering science to real-world problems, working in multidisciplinary teams to develop your interpersonal skills, and prepare you for a key aspect of modern engineering practice.

Do you want to be a design thinker? Is your goal to use a design strategy to transform businesses, cultures, and lives? Alternatively, do you want to develop your own design business? If your answer is yes, then this course is for you!

This course invites designers and non-designers to apply design thinking and business-speak to create innovative and purposeful outcomes. On this course, you sharpen your strategic edge through expanding your entrepreneurial and business capabilities. If you are a non-designer, you learn to be a creative thinker.

You bring the knowledge from your past education and practice, combine them with the subject knowledge of design management, and create solutions that are not just aesthetically pleasing but also functional, viable, and purposeful. The course brings excellent networking opportunities for you to facilitate knowledge building and collaborative learning.

On this postgraduate course, we teach you the interdisciplinary issues that design managers work with, such as business, marketing, technology, and art. Immersed in practice, you acquire the skills and the confidence to manage and lead a project. You are encouraged to push the boundaries and to put forward new, improved ideas that are innovative and purposeful.

Design thinking, design strategy, creativity, research, and problem-solving are applied extensively to all the modules. You undertake projects individually and in a team, where you learn communication, management, and interpersonal skills. You work with industry partners with the utmost professionalism. You pursue an industry-based inquiry, which may be a placement. And, you acquire and apply people management, client management, and project management tactics while working on industry projects and teams.

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 behaviours 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.

Want to study a Film Production degree? Explore the fundamentals of technology in film, from narrative, composition and film theory to camera testing, designing digital production workflows and post-production.

Like the film industry itself, BSc Digital Film Production enables students to exercise a broad range of technical and creative skills with the support of the university’s cutting edge facilities and software, including our Parkside Media Centre.

What's covered in this course?

The Digital Film Production degree course combines a study of audiovisual technologies and production processes, with contextual investigations and production experience. You’ll develop knowledge, understanding and skills relevant to the production of digital film content and to the wider film, television and video industries.

You’ll focus on fundamental technical concepts, including the physics of sound and light being recorded during production (and the tools and techniques required to do this), as well as the technology used to digitally store and manipulate both images and audio in post-production.

When you graduate, you will be versatile, technically literate, and creative: well-equipped to perform a variety of craft roles within film, television and video production and will bridge the gap between technology specialists and creative artists.

Birmingham City University is a great place to study - the city has an active and accessible film-making community, and you will be studying in the same campus as undergraduates studying a range of arts, including acting, music, photography, fashion and theatre.

You’ll also be encouraged to engage with industry, with a number of flexible paths to help you gain work experience, including: basing selected modules around work experience, taking a placement year and working on commercial productions within the University.