Master of Science in Management and Marketing

at Birmingham City University - City Centre Campus United Kingdom

The MSc User Experience Design course will provide you with in-depth theoretical knowledge and hands-on practical experience in designing, developing, and evaluating digital products across a range of platforms and state-of-the-art technologies. The course places a strong emphasis on the development of professional technical skills that are in high industry demand and will position you well for careers around the field of user experience (UX).

What's covered in this course?

The course has been designed to support graduates from a wide range of disciplines (including those with technical and non-technical backgrounds) who wish to specialise in the area of user experience (UX) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). The key topics taught on the course include interaction design (techniques for user-centered design), front-end development (using industry-standard development environments), visual design (creating interfaces with strong aesthetics), accessibility (methods for supporting inclusive design), and usability testing (collecting and analyzing data via user evaluations). You will also have the opportunity to consider and create user experiences for technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, eye gaze tracking, speech interfaces, mid-air gesturing, haptic systems, and brain-computer interfaces.

The course philosophy is focused around industry and research-led activities, supported with assignments that are closely aligned to the development of essential knowledge and technical skills used in practice. You will therefore have the opportunity to work closely with academics, researchers, and industry partners on real-world project briefs thus supporting you in developing a strong portfolio of work (which is essential for gaining employment in this field). The course will also provide opportunities to collaborate with academics based in the School of Computing and Digital Technology’s Mixed Reality and Human-Computer Interaction research group to work on cutting-edge research projects.

Graduates from the User Experience Design course will be well placed for industry roles that are in high demand including front-end developers, user experience designers/developers, information architects, usability consultants and UX researchers, web designers/developers, and interaction designers.

Professional Placement option

The Professional Placement option 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.

Through the skilful manipulation of materials, processes and ideas artists are able to offer creative insights which shape who we are and how we exist in the world around us. These are valuable skills in the fast-changing and interconnected web of ecological, political and socio-economic and philosophical contexts.

Our BA (Hons) Fine Art course embraces important traditional making skills such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, installation, digital media and performance, and places an emphasis on the fusion with new developments in creative practice framed within a professional working context to improve employability. This hybrid approach, coupled with discipline-specific studios and specialist workshops, will equip you to navigate the growing and changing face of the Creative Industries into the future.

Looking for Birmingham psychology courses? Our BSc (Hons) Psychology degree is accredited by the British Psychological Society and allows you to take a year-long industry placement.

Make sense of the real world through gaining a deep understanding of how the core and specialised areas in psychology contribute to our understanding of contemporary issues, as well as looking at the role of brain function across multiple psychological perspectives.

You’ll apply scientific reasoning and evaluate patterns of behaviour, gaining key transferable skills in communication, teamwork and problem-solving.

What's covered in this course?

You will explore scientific approaches to understanding the mind, brain and behaviour. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the historical and scientific underpinnings of the discipline of Psychology and how these underpinnings change across the core curriculum topic areas. Explore how the six core areas in Psychology can explain factors that influence the mind, brain, behaviour and experience, and of the complex interactions between these.

You will develop knowledge and understanding of Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods. Our Psychology department works in partnership with the nationally recognized Advance HE to continually develop the quality of both our staff and the course, focusing on self-development, contemporary learning practices and integrating practice within the community.

Our MA Art and Design: Interdisciplinary Practices develops your professional practice while engaging with the hybrid nature of art and design in contemporary culture. You will apply art and design methodologies to challenge conventional viewpoints. A multidisciplinary team of expert staff encourages you to work across mediums, processes and working methods (such as photography, installation, print, digital media, sculpture, illustration, curatorial practice, textiles, drawing, sound, graphic design, site-specific art, participatory arts or 3D design).

What's covered in this course?

This stimulating course offers you an education in contemporary art and design from an interdisciplinary perspective. You will be supported as creative individuals from a range of tutors and practitioners, with the aim of pushing your existing practice in new directions. The course helps you develop a wider contextual understanding of your practice, while gaining strong research skills in order to develop interdisciplinary projects underpinned by contextual and theoretical debates.

You will be encouraged to develop independent study in relation to different cultural perspectives and a range of contemporary art and design practices, such as fine art, curation, visual communication, fashion, product and interior design.

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.

You will be responsible for finding and securing your own placement. The University, however, will draw on its extensive network of local, regional and national employers to support you in finding a suitable placement to complement your chosen area of study. You will also benefit from support sessions delivered by Careers+ as well as advice and guidance from your School.

We live in a time of rapid social, economic and environmental change. Demand for housing is increasing, but not enough new homes are being built. Not only that, home ownership is out of reach for a lot of people. The type of housing we need is changing, and this course will give you the opportunity to meet these challenges head on.

Design for Future Living aims to develop exciting and innovative design thinking, questioning preconceptions about how society lives now and into the future. Developed in collaboration with TV architect George Clarke’s Ministry of Building, Innovation and Education (MOBIE), the course places you at the forefront of the next generation of designers tackling the design and delivery of new homes. You could break new ground through an interdisciplinary, collaborative approach to designing for future living.The course prepares a new model of creative, skilled and disruptive designer with knowledge of home, digital technologies and creative design.

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.

Accredited by the Chartered Institute of Marketing, our BA (Hons) Marketing with Consumer Psychology degree gives you the practice-based skills needed to succeed in the ever-changing discipline of marketing.

This approach not only gives you the marketing knowledge needed but also the personal skills employers demand, allowing you to make an immediate impact upon graduation. This experience is further enhanced by the opportunity to undertake a yearlong placement.

Businesses value marketing more than ever due to its ability to identify opportunities, shape experiences and drive profits. It is an ever-evolving discipline, constantly responding to changes in technology and consumer behaviour.

To be successful in this exciting area not only requires a depth understanding of the core principles, but also relies on having the acumen and practical abilities to apply and adapt this knowledge in a wide variety of scenarios. This in-demand course has been designed to give you the practical and professional skills that employers seek through our practice-based learning approach.

The applied nature of our BA (Hons) Business Economics degree prepares you to work across all areas of the economy, especially the private sector.

Specifically, your degree combines the study of economics, with a wide variety of applicable business-related theories/models such as E-business, sustainability and innovation among others.

In this course the focus lies on three key pillars: it is applied enabling you to make sense of the impact of policies; it centres on enhancing your employability; finally, it provides you with a global outlook critical to sustainable growth within an organisation. 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. In addition to this you’ll also have the opportunity to gain industry experience by going on a professional placement, or to travel overseas to study abroad at one of our partner universities.

Economics is a major social science which studies the economy and its impact on society and the natural environment. Economics draws on and influences other social sciences and it is also a core business discipline, which is integral to understanding organisational behaviour, strategy and corporate performance. This course will equip you with a firm foundation of economics through a unique pluralist approach, which will bring to life diverse economic ideas and empower you to understand the relevance of competing economic theories and their application to business decision-making.

In order to do this effectively, this course equips you with a vast analytical toolkit, which includes mathematical and statistical analysis, critical thinking and the use of business tools and techniques to provide a richer understanding of the challenges contemporary businesses face within both the UK and International economies. During your study here you will have the chance to access to our Trading room and to work on a live client project with our Business Advice Centre. Finally, you will also gain critical communication and IT skills with our expert teaching team that has industry experience.

On our MSc Quantity Surveying degree, you will learn how to add value to projects through demonstrating excellent knowledge and skills in managing cost and information, advancing practices and procedures, and managing risk effectively.

What's covered in this course?

The Quantity Surveying course will develop your skills of critical thinking, problem-solving, business development, team collaboration, cost management and awareness of sustainability in the built environment. You will learn how to ensure construction projects are delivered to the satisfaction of the client and other construction professionals and influence a better future in the built environment.

You will develop knowledge and skills to meet the challenges presented by change and innovation in the sector.

The course provides opportunities for graduates from diverse backgrounds including students from the UK and international students, students with limited exposure to the built environment, as well as students looking for mid-career development in a quantity surveying specialist area.

The course is designed to challenge you to question your current thinking and practices in the face of a rapidly changing global construction industry, and develop your ability to be innovative and creative in solving unique problems.

It will encourage you to engage in life-long learning and become an independent professional learner through a range of modern interactive teaching.

The world of finance is rapidly changing, with new innovative financial products being developed on a constant basis. The present times have also witnessed an unprecedented number of companies failing because of poor financial management. All these challenges call for dynamic and brilliant people who can design financial solutions and make the world a better place.

The degree is designed to equip you with wider business and Finance environment knowledge. Offering you the opportunity to acquire key business and financial skills, explore innovative practices and entrepreneurial skills. The course is accredited by Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments (CISI). The course also aligns with various other professional bodies courses such as Association of Corporate Treasures (ACT), Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), and many others.

Delivery of the course is flexible and includes a blend of lectures, workshops, field trips and online learning. The modules, which feed into the course, are widespread, broad, covers key current topics such as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and help you to appreciate finance from a range of perspectives. Ultimately, decision making in finance, calls for one to exercise their judgement and intuition and this course helps you to strengthen that judgement.

The course team has, between it, years of industrial experience in the finance field as well in academia. Therefore, students with little or no background in finance are assured of getting all the help they need in order to excel in the course. You will learn a lot from course team’s knowledge and experience, as you will be regularly engaging in inquiry based and experiential learning, which has been designed to assimilate work-based scenarios.

In order to enhance your employability, extra-curricular activities such as trading trainings, conferences and field trips will be arranged throughout the academic years. Outside speakers from industry will also be invited to give presentations on how best to improve your employability. Moreover, you’ll also have the opportunity to gain industry experience by going on a professional placement, or to travel overseas to study abroad at one of our partner universities. In a nutshell, the knowledge attained from the course will help you to seek a variety of employment in the sector nationally and internationally.