Bachelor of Arts in Visual Effects and Motion Graphics with Placement (Thick - Sandwich)

at Brunel University London United Kingdom

If you have a passion for theatre and would like to learn how to bring your ideas to life on stage, Brunel’s Theatre course will equip you with specialist skills in a range of performance genres while you grow your knowledge of theatre history and theory.

Blended learning is a feature of the course which includes a mix of theatre making practical classes together with theoretically focussed content to help inform your artistic choices.

Alongside developing your analytical and study skills, you’ll discover ways of expressing yourself and building your confidence along the way.

The course has compulsory modules and numerous optional modules that you can choose from within the Theatre degree. You can opt for a wide selection of modules on the main degree or focus your studies through a specialised degree pathway in Acting, Musical Theatre or Physical Theatre.

Please click below for more information on modules offered throughout the course for each pathway.

Theatre BA pathway module table
You will be supported by a personal tutor who is also your academic seminar tutor and you will be taught by staff who are cutting edge academics and industry specialists. You’ll learn in our Antonin Artaud Performance Centre which includes a main theatre and two studio theatres, in addition to a suite of rehearsal and recording studios.

As we’re close to central London, we regularly organise trips to see productions at places such as the Barbican, the National Theatre, the Royal Court, and Sadler’s Wells and participate in workshops with ground-breaking theatre companies all as part of your course.

Anthropology of Childhood, Youth and Education MSc was the first degree of its kind to be established and is still unique in its deep anthropological exploration on what it is to be a child or to be young.

As part of the course, you will look at historic perceptions of childhood in the West to the development of European rights of protection, compared to experiences of childhood in other parts of the world, like the street children of Brazil.

In a module on learning and education you will compare physical development stages, including how learning is acquired and universal patterns of play, to the range of ways children are prepared or educated to fit cultural expectations.

The course’s key organising principle is that understanding children requires the study of how their relations with others – peers, older and younger children, parents, teachers and other adults – inform their practices, identities and world views.

The course addresses the following issues from an anthropological perspective:-

• Do children of ‘different cultures’ live ‘different worlds’?
• How does education impact upon children’s worlds and upon social and cultural practices more broadly?
• How do the everyday processes of learning – both formal and informal – help to shape children’s ideas of and engagement with society at large?
• What is the role of schools in the transmission and acquisition of cultural values to children and youth?
• Why are adults’ ideas about childhood and youth so important for what children learn and aspire to become?

The distinctiveness of this degree derives from an anthropological approach that focuses on the importance of children’s and youth’s perspectives, on the role that education (formal and informal) plays in children’s learning processes, and in the transmission and acquisition of cultural knowledge.

Anthropology at Brunel is well-known for its focus on ethnographic fieldwork. As well as undertaking rigorous intellectual training, you will be expected to get out of the library and undertake your own, original research – whether in the UK or overseas – and to present your findings in a dissertation.

In recent years, Brunel students have undertaken fieldwork in locations across the world, including India, Mexico, Bolivia, Papua New Guinea, China, Nepal, Peru, Morocco, and New Zealand as well as within the UK and the rest of Europe.

If you have a passion for theatre and would like to learn how to bring your ideas to life on stage, Brunel’s Theatre course will equip you with specialist skills in a range of performance genres while you grow your knowledge of theatre history and theory.

Blended learning is a feature of the course which includes a mix of theatre making practical classes together with theoretically focussed content to help inform your artistic choices.

Alongside developing your analytical and study skills, you’ll discover ways of expressing yourself and building your confidence along the way.

The course has compulsory modules and numerous optional modules that you can choose from within the Theatre degree. You can opt for a wide selection of modules on the main degree or focus your studies through a specialised degree pathway in Acting, Musical Theatre or Physical Theatre.

Please click below for more information on modules offered throughout the course for each pathway.

Theatre BA pathway module table
You will be supported by a personal tutor who is also your academic seminar tutor and you will be taught by staff who are cutting edge academics and industry specialists. You’ll learn in our Antonin Artaud Performance Centre which includes a main theatre and two studio theatres, in addition to a suite of rehearsal and recording studios.

As we’re close to central London, we regularly organise trips to see productions at places such as the Barbican, the National Theatre, the Royal Court, and Sadler’s Wells and participate in workshops with ground-breaking theatre companies all as part of your course.

Storytelling is part of every culture and reveals much about a person’s lived experience, values and aspirations within a given time, whether presented as drama or prose on a page.

Theatre and English BA will help you to become a critical and creative communicator equipped for a variety of creative roles as you discover the richness of theatre making and literature side by side, developing as a creative along the way.

The theatrical side of your course will teach you specialist skills in a range of performance genres like physical, musical and digital theatre.

A blended approach to learning means you’ll have a mix of practical classes in acting, writing and ensemble production, together with more theoretically focussed content, with plenty of opportunities for collaboration.

You’ll learn theatre in Brunel’s purpose-built Antonin Artaud Performance Centre (AA), which is rather like being in drama school with its main theatre, two studio spaces, rehearsal rooms and recording studios.

AA facilities regularly host Arts@Artaud nights showcasing new music, film, creative writing and drama presented by Brunel students.

The English half of your course commences with a module on ‘Reading Resilience’ to help prepare you with the necessary skills for literary studies.

In years two and three a wealth of optional modules await you covering a variety of periods and genres from Shakespeare to Jane Austen, to contemporary and genre fiction.

Established links with the creative industries offer plenty of opportunities to hear from guest speakers and alumni on campus. Off campus, Brunel’s easy access to central London helps to facilitate regular class trips to explore theatre and culture.

Uniquely for a theatre degree, the option of a work placement year is an unmissable opportunity to find out where your interests lie and to increase your attractiveness to future employers.

Students from the course have completed placements in a variety of organisations including the London’s Park Theatre, Rose Wisksteed Casting, Unicorn Theatre and Icarus Theatre Company.

Our Design Strategy and Innovation MA degree concentrates on how design might be a catalyst for innovation at all levels. This includes new products and services, new processes, new ways of working, managing creative teams and collaborating with stakeholders, new businesses and new practices. It aims to give designers and other creatives the skills and knowledge to utilise design thinking and to leverage design in the pursuit of strategic organisational change and improvement in both the private and public sectors.

You’ll have access to modern teaching and learning facilities, including a dedicated master’s design studio. Here you can discuss and exchange ideas with other students passionate about becoming design managers and leaders as catalysts for strategic innovation and change.

Our popular, annual Design Master’s: Industry Student Review Evening is a great opportunity for you to connect with experts from design, brand and business. Their professional and practical perspective will help you to build a strong and clear direction for your research projects and dissertation.

And there’s Made in Brunel - a unique, student-led initiative that showcases our design talent at its finest. Each year our students run a series of industry and community events leading up to the Made in Brunel exhibition. This annual showcase is a highlight of the London design calendar and promotes the incredible work our students produce to the creative community, and is your chance to network with key design professionals.

Politics and Sociology at Brunel is a dynamic combination of high level study in both subjects. Your politics studies will help you address critical questions like: Who has political power? Why do they have it? And in whose interest do they exercise it?

Meanwhile, your studies in sociology will look at subjects like sociological theory, social identities, the sociology of everyday life and the changing nature of modern societies. You’ll be studying people, societies and how people live, and on the other how they are governed or want to be governed.

Both subjects will help to demonstrate your intellectual acumen and understanding of world affairs and real life issues, which will be an asset in so many fields of work.

Whether you’re studying modern world politics or the development of social change and transformations, you’ll not just learn about them, you’ll be analysing them using the tools of political science and social science to help deepen your understanding and critical thinking.

Opt for a placement year and you'll gain valuable experience to help give you the edge in the job market when you come to graduate. Past students have secured placements in the Home Office, HM Treasury, the House of Commons, and the Competition Commission, but the list of possibilities is endless.

It’s a competitive world out there, so you’ll get plenty of support from your lecturers and the University’s Professional Development Centre to help prepare you for your placement year and the world of work.

But why not increase your career options with an accredited journalism course, a free modern language course, or a social media internship? You can even opt to study part of your degree abroad in one of our partner universities in Europe, or participate in an exchange programme to China or the USA.

It’s all available at Brunel to help you make a difference in the world – now and in the future.

Brunel graduates of this subject enter diverse careers. Some go into politics and the civil service, some are at GCHQ and military intelligence, and some go on to further study or into research.

Others go into the public sector – the NHS, social or care work, education or in local authorities, while others go into the private sector working for international banks, business consultancy, law, NGOs, the media and marketing. The opportunities are endless.

Using mathematics to solve industrial and commercial problems has led to vital breakthroughs for human advancement. Mathematical models underpin engineering, the applied sciences, computing and many aspects of business and management today. If you have a skill for mathematics and statistics and a flare for management then this could be the course for you. The combination of skills developed on this course will open doors to a wide range of careers.

This course focuses on how mathematics can solve industrial and commercial problems. You’ll develop a broad knowledge of general management alongside applicable skills and knowledge in mathematics and statistics.

Follow the four-year Professional Placement degree programme and you‘ll benefit from our extensive experience in helping students to find well-paid work placements with blue-chip companies. Our sandwich students find that their mathematical and transferable skills are in demand in many sectors, both in the UK and abroad.

Areas recently offering placements include: accountancy, aviation, banking, defence, finance, insurance, IT (software development, network management and design), management (public and private sector), marketing and telecommunications.

This programme will meet the educational requirements of the Chartered Mathematician designation, awarded by the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, when it is followed by subsequent training and experience in employment to obtain equivalent competences to those specified by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) for taught master's degrees.

Our Civil Engineering BEng degree is a highly innovative course that has been developed to equip you with a broad range of knowledge and skills to meet the real world needs of the civil engineering and construction industry.

You will study the traditional elements of civil engineering including design, structures, materials, fluid mechanics, geotechnics and maths. You’ll be introduced to a range of construction topics and then progress to specialist subjects such as structural analysis and computational mechanics.

Access is available to custom-designed technical facilities to work on your laboratory experiments. These include fluids and hydraulics laboratories, and structures, materials and geotechnics labs. The latest industry standard engineering software packages are available for you to use in dedicated computer clusters.

During your studies, there is a residential field trip with hands-on experience in surveying and geology using industry standard equipment. You will also benefit from guest lectures delivered by industry professionals, as well as visits to construction sites and civil engineering development projects.

Due to recent changes to the engineering curriculum, our accreditation is currently being reconfirmed with the Joint Board of Moderators (JBM). The JBM compromises the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Institution of Structural Engineers, the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation, and the Institute of Highway Engineers. We have every expectation that our accreditation will be renewed later in the academic year.

This BEng degree in civil engineering can be studied full-time over three years, or four years with a placement year. The BEng degree meets the educational requirement to become an Incorporated Engineer (IEng). You may wish to transfer to the MEng route of study at the end of your second year, subject to meeting the progression requirement. The MEng degree fully meets the educational requirement to become a Chartered Engineer (CEng) and involves a further year of academic study.

We encourage the placement year option. This time in industry helps you to further prepare for the world of work and you’ll have a year’s worth of invaluable professional experience when you graduate. If you decide to go on an engineering placement year, you will have the opportunity to work in the civil engineering sector. It could be for a contractor, consultant or government authority.

Delve into a degree that will teach you the intricacies of how societies work and learn to understand how people cope with inevitable societal changes on our exciting Sociology BSc. You’ll develop the skills to put yourself in other peoples’ shoes as you study their behaviour and understand why they think in a certain way.

Your degree will give you a thorough understanding of how social issues such as poverty, unemployment, social conflict, and the social and economic consequences of rapid and profound industrial and economic change are redefined by contemporary processes of individualisation, globalisation and the growth of new forms of communication.

The first year is designed to offer you a solid base in theoretical and methodological innovations in sociology. As you progress through the course, you will be able to choose modules you are interested in to actively shape and apply your learning to the issues you wish to interrogate. In your third year, you’ll work on a dissertation focusing on an area of interest of your choice. Your dissertation can be a theoretical or practical dissertation, so you can work to your own strengths.

Depending on the modules you choose, you may have the option go on fieldtrips where you will be able to apply your learning to current issues and broaden your theoretical imagination. Previous fieldtrips have included: Barbican; British Board of Film Classification; London Migration Museum; Museum of Comedy; Museum of London; regeneration areas (e.g. Spitalfields, Smithfield); and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

As you’ll be taught and supported by academics who are not only experts in their field but are actively engaged in research, you’ll develop skills that can be applied from the classroom to the workplace. They know the industry inside out, so you know you are learning from experienced professionals who will bring their unique insights into the classroom and will ensure your learning is up-to-date.

Gain an insight into life after your studies by putting your learning into practice by opting for a one-year work placement or two short placements for six months at a time. You will graduate with valuable work experience to enhance your employment prospects and will be able to develop an understanding the working world. We have excellent links with a wide range of notable external organisations, so you will have the opportunity to apply for high quality placements across London.

Some of our sociology students have done their placements abroad working as teachers in Ghana. Others have undertaken placements at a variety of companies including Deluxe Entertainment, the Disney Channel, the Home Office, British Youth Council, Citizens Advice Bureau and the Department of Work and Pensions.

This is a broad-based degree which will enable and encourage you to specialise in areas which particularly fascinate you. As a graduate of this dynamic degree, you will leave us with various transferable skills that are key to the contemporary employment market. 

The Business Computing BSc degree is a challenging course that provides highly relevant, hands-on experience. Through a mixture of theory and real-world practice, you’ll learn how to determine a dynamic mix of processes, which allow information delivery systems and users to carry out business effectively and efficiently. You’ll come to intuitively understand how an organisation’s information systems need to adapt to the changes and developments natural to growth and progress.

The modules on this degree course cover a range of topics, including the basic properties of software artefacts like information, algorithms, programs, common commercial system, and network architectures. System development approaches are also covered, including requirements capture, design methods, models, tools and techniques, implementing and testing systems, and software maintenance. Appreciation of project management issues arising from team-based software development is a key feature of the degree.

We’ll ensure that you have a strong approach to problem-solving both individually and in groups involving model-building and analysis, applying both theoretical and empirical knowledge to make choices and find solutions. You will also master commonly used notations and methods to reason and communicate clearly about requirements, specifications, designs and solutions. All factors which contribute to whether a business sinks or swims.

Our course is designed for flexibility, so if you’re not sure which route you want to go down, you can select modules and specialise gradually during your time with us. You can transfer between Computer Science and Business Computing up to the start of Level 2, then should you wish, you can choose a specialism up to the start of Level 3.

We know that when you graduate, you’ll be working on large projects. That’s why one third of each year of our programmes is project-based. On Levels 1 and 2, you’ll build a software solution in a team, and in your final year you’ll carry out an individual project. You’ll also have the opportunity to showcase your projects at the annual Made in Brunel (Software Innovation) event, with awards presented by the likes of Cisco, Sky and Xerox.

As part of your degree course, you’ll have the chance to take a year-long work placement between your second year and third year. We’ll support you in finding that all-important paid professional experience, in the UK or abroad. The feedback we’ve received is that those who have taken a placement are much more likely to find a job for which their degree was a formal requirement as it gives you a competitive advantage. Recent graduates have gone on to work for well-known names such as Accenture, Toshiba, Microsoft, British Airways, O2, and Barclays.

Our programmes are accredited by the British Computer Society, the Chartered Institute for IT, for the purposes of fully meeting the academic requirement for registration as a Chartered IT Professional (CITP)  The accreditation also allows you to apply for professional membership of the BCS after you have successfully completed your degree.

Brunel’s Computer Science department has been awarded an Athena SWAN Bronze, recognising our dedication to the advancement of gender equality in STEM subjects. We now have an ongoing three-year action plan to further implement strategies and improve our practices. As part of this endeavour, Brunel’s Women in Engineering and Computing mentoring scheme provides our female students with invaluable help and support from the industry.

Opt for a one-year work placement while you study to gain real-world technical and soft skills which will set you apart from the competition after you graduate from your Computer Science degree.

• All of our undergraduate computing courses come with the option of undertaking a year’s placement out in the industry. This means that you have the opportunity to experience a real working environment and develop your softer skills like presenting, negotiating and working to a specific brief and tight deadlines.
• A dedicated placement tutor from the Professional Development Centre will work with you to help secure your work placement, which could be in market, product or research development areas. Previous students have taken their placement year in companies such as Microsoft, BMW, GlaxoSmithKline, IBM, and Xerox.