Bachelor of Science in Business and Management

at Brunel University London United Kingdom

If you’re keen to develop the knowledge and skills to make the world a better place, this newly established degree could help you to make a real difference as it has been developed for innovators – those who are passionate about introducing change for good.

On the Global Innovations pathway, you’ll acquire knowledge about the causes and effects of real-world problems and will learn key skills to develop innovative and sustainable products and solutions that could change lives.

Within the core spine of your Global Challenges degree, you will take an in-depth look at issues such as climate change, sustainable development, migration, terrorism, aging inequality and poverty and how they affect the world we live in, which will be backed up by the focus on generating possible solutions through the Global Innovation pathway.

Well-designed innovations are needed to improve the world we live in, but real-world issues cannot be solved by technology alone. Your degree will cover a combination of sciences, social sciences and the humanities as different disciplines are woven together to give you a comprehensive understanding of how change happens and what factors determine success.

Hands-on learning is a strong focus of this degree, allowing you to develop skills which you can take to your future career. A large part of the course will be learning how to put your ideas through a process of investigations to test their viability in relation to the challenge you want to address. You will also look at the concepts, theories and history behind innovation.

You will learn how to take a product through important development phases by learning the basics in design, solid body mechanics and electronic systems which will allow you to bring your product ideas to life and will give you a portfolio of practical work to add to your CV.

A third year Enterprise Project will help to bring skills in project management, working to a brief and presenting together as you work on a group project with an external company to help solve a specific challenge.

You have the option to apply for an internship at the end of your first year and can take a one-year placement between years two and three, giving you valuable work experience and a step ahead for your career when you graduate.

Building services engineers are involved with virtually every aspect of a building’s interior environment. They design, install and maintain electrical and mechanical services - heating, cooling, lighting, water, lifts, and telecoms - and advise on issues of health and safety, security, sustainability and energy efficiency.

In short, they help buildings work, whether for residential, educational, commercial, industrial or cultural purposes.

Brunel's Building Services Engineering MSc gives graduates with engineering or technology backgrounds the technical, design and management skills they need to excel in this lucrative and multi-faceted profession.

You'll get a solid grounding in core subjects of heat transfer, energy conversion, acoustics, electrical services and lighting design as well as in the practicalities of building management, fire and smoke control, waste disposal and lifts and escalators.

Additionally, as there is a growing demand for a new generation of environmentally responsible buildings, you’ll also examine energy efficiency and sustainable design.

You can choose to study 1 year full-time at Brunel or the distance learning programme over 3 years.

This course is accredited by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) and the Energy Institute (EI), which means your degree will put you on course to gain Chartered Engineer (CEng) status in the UK.  

Throughout your studies you’ll have use of our state-of-the-art laboratory facilities and 24-hour access to industry standard specialist software for engineering design at dedicated computer clusters on campus, so you’ll have the opportunity and equipment to explore ideas and tackle problems.

With the growing complexity of engineering services in modern buildings and the significance of energy conservation and emissions control, the role of the building services engineer is becoming increasingly important. Your Brunel engineering master’s will give you the technical, creative and managerial expertise that lead to excellent career opportunities.

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 Creative Writing BA course has been designed to encourage high levels of creativity,initiative and originality in the design,production, interpretation and analysis of creative writing.

You will be taught every genre of creative writing by some of the most talented and original writers working today. Between them, they’ve published over 100 books,produced countless scripts for TV, radio and film, and won umpteen awards. The teaching team includes renowned authors like Bernardine Evaristo, Hannah Lowe and Max Kinnings.

From week one you’ll write and interact with your peer group of creative writers. You will also share ideas and give constructive feedback to others on their creative writing work.

In your first year you’ll gain a solid grounding in fiction,drama and poetry writing, and you’ll study world literature.You can choose a variety of subjects in your second year such as journalism and screenwriting. In your final year, the creative industries module helps you consider your career options and shape your future. You’ll start to specialise in your chosen field and choose from a wealth of specialist options.

There are guest lectures covering different aspects of creative writing. Industry expert speakers include book publishers, screenwriters, poets and broadcasters.   

You have the advantage of Brunel’s close location to London, the literary capital of the UK. You’ll benefit from trips to the British Library, Shakespeare’s Globe and West End theatres.

Our BA in creative writing can be studied full-time over three years, four years with a placement year, or part-time over six years.

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 a creative writing placement year, you could find yourself working at magazine publishers, film production companies, or even the London Screenwriters’ Festival. Some placements lead to jobs on graduation.

You’ll have the opportunity to get your work published before you graduate. An anthology of creative work is produced each year, curated and edited by our creative writing students. Your writing talent can also be showcased at a variety of performances hosted by Brunel including poetry, plays, comedy and film screenings, literary debates,and the popular Brunel

Who has political power? Why do they have it? To whom are they accountable? Is violent protest ever justified? If these questions evoke a response in you and raise more questions in turn, politics is the degree for you.

Politics is an exciting and dynamic subject, simulating debate and offering insight into how the ever-changing world around us works. It’s also a degree that can demonstrate your intellectual acumen and understanding of world affairs, which will be an asset in many fields of work.

The broad-based nature of the course at Brunel means you will be studying a wide breadth of modules from British politics to US foreign policy and political change. But you’ll not only be learning about politics – you’ll be analysing politics using the tools of political science to help deepen your understanding and critical thinking.

Opt for a placement year and you'll gain work experience that is highly valued by employers. Brunel students have secured placements in the Environmental Audit Committee, the House of Commons, Directorate of Gender Affairs, HM Treasury and the Competition Commission, to name only a few.

You can also opt to take part of your degree abroad in one of our partner universities in Europe, or participate in an exchange programme to China or the USA to study politics in a different part of the world whilst experiencing a new culture.

Brunel is a dynamic university choice for your politics course. You’ll be taught by politics experts who are often called on to comment on radio and television. The Brunel campus has hosted the filming of BBC’s Question Time and is a political hub during local and national elections.

Brunel politics graduates enter diverse careers. Many of our former students go into politics and the civil service and some are currently at GCHQ and military intelligence. Others work in the public and private sector like the NHS, international banks, business consultancy, law, NGOs and the media. Whichever route you chose, a politics degree with Brunel will set you up for a successful future.

International business is an exciting and rapidly evolving space as politics and economics shift, and societies and cultures evolve. On the course you will gain a comprehensive understanding of the processes of globalisation in the 21st century and the implications that these ongoing processes have for today’s business women and men – and indeed, for tomorrow’s leaders.

The International Business MSc is designed for those seeking to operate within an international business setting or within companies and jobs where an understanding of international business is an asset. The course will help you to develop a sound understanding of international business contexts and to make integrative links across various disciplines.

We will explore the impact of internationalisation on factors such as the management of resources and operations, the financing of business enterprise, and the management and development of people. Aspects of the course will focus on emerging markets. It will also focus on the development of appropriate business policies and strategies to help you put your learning into practice.

You will receive training in research methods with particular application to the empirical study of international management situations, issues and process.

What you learn on the International Business MSc will enable you to further develop transferable skills that can be used to address the challenges of working within an organisation or for yourself as part of the global economy.

Take your knowledge of culture and society to the next level and equip yourself with a big range of practical and analytical skills for a changing world with our Anthropology and Sociology BSc.

Anthropology is concerned with contemporary issues such as multiculturalism, identity politics, racism and ethnic nationalism, changing forms of the family, religious conflict, gender, and the political role of culture. It also addresses fundamental questions about human nature, such as: ‘What do we have in common with each other cross-culturally?’ and ‘What makes us different?’

Sociology, its sister subject, looks at the foundations of social life and the big issues in contemporary society such as inequality, racism, globalisation, and migration.

In particular, your sociology studies at Brunel will be closely related to the central and ever-increasing importance of the communications media in our culture, for example, how poverty is portrayed and the powerful influence of celebrity.

Brunel is a great choice for this combined study with lecturers from both subjects producing cutting edge research alongside their teaching, on both global issues and local problems.

This research expertise filters down into what you will learn. In anthropology students have learnt about youth and motorcycles in Rwanda, and in sociology, about cosmetic tourism.

Choose this course and you can do fieldwork on any subject, anywhere in the world, whether it’s learning about refugees in Athens or mother and toddler groups in inner London.

Around half of Brunel anthropology students carry out a placement or fieldwork abroad, in places as wide ranging as India, Nepal, Australia, South Africa, Papua New Guinea and Jamaica.

Recent UK placement destinations include the Royal Anthropological Institute, Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, Amnesty International and the Department of Health.

Alternatively, could choose a placement that’s more sociologically focussed. Either way, you can choose to take it as two six month placements or one year-long placement.

Take advantage of real-life work experience to gain a competitive advantage on your anthropology degree.

• You have the option to undertake two six-month placements, or a year-long placement whilst studying one of our anthropology degrees.
• If you opt to go on two six-month work placements, then you can use the first one to help determine an area of interest to you in the future. You have the freedom of choice when looking for placements and can be based locally for one and go abroad for the second one.
• You’ll have support from day one of your anthropology course from your personal tutors and the Professional Development Centre in finding a suitable work placement according to your interests. They can range from working in a church, in a museum to supporting charities on-sites and studying a local community within a village.
• This invaluable experience will not only build your confidence but also provide you with a platform to showcase your project management, organisational and creative skills in the workplace.
• Some of our students have completed their placements in Guatemala, London, Malaysia and Morocco which really gives a global perspective.
• Fieldwork can also be conducted as volunteering to give you a real insight into cultures and communities. For example, one of our students did charity work in Cambodia and enjoyed experiencing different cultures and working with a range of people from different backgrounds.

Far from being just knowledge of the past, studying issues related to important world events, defence, security, intelligence and strategy are not only insightful, they’ll be highly valued in a troubled world by employers within these fields, and beyond.

A varied set of core modules will take you into scope of studying history at University, whether you’ve got a history qualification or not. Modules like ‘What is History’ which uncovers the themes and tools used by historians and ‘Total War in the Modern Era’, chronicling key wars and their influence, will help prepare you for the more specialist modes to follow later in the course.

A wide range of optional modules in years two and three will help you decide where your interests lie in preparation for your final year project, including the option to study intelligence and security taught by experts in the University’s internationally renowned Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies (BCISS).

Along the way, you will build a toolkit of transferable skills gained through evidence gathering, analysis, problem solving, drafting and communications, which can be applied to a wide range of industries within the public and private sector.

Opt for a placement year and you’ll be adding a year’s experience in a job role and industry sector that will help to show future employers where you might be a good fit for their organisation. Your placement doesn’t have to be related to history and you’ll get plenty of support from staff and resources in the University’s Professional Development Centre.

Studying military and international history at Brunel has many advantages. Situated in London, the course has established links to world-renowned archives and libraries based in and close to London, including the Caird Library (National Maritime Museum), The National Archives and the Imperial War Museum, among others.

Additionally, the original WWII operations bunker used by Sir Winston Churchill on the former RAF Uxbridge is a walk away from campus where Brunel students regularly volunteer.

On Brunel’s Computer Science BSc course, we’ll help you gain the ability to develop software solutions to business problems. You’ll learn to specify, design, code, modify and test different types of software, from web-based systems to mobile solutions, in a contemporary programming paradigm. All of this will be done using an appropriate commercial grade development environment and associated database tools.

In addition, you’ll acquire in-depth knowledge of algorithms, design, programming and testing techniques. By the end of the course, you’ll have confidence in your knowledge of common system and network architectures and system development approaches, requirements capture, design methods, models, tools, and techniques.

You’ll become well-versed in implementing and testing systems and software maintenance. Key to this course is cultivating a reflective approach to project management issues arising from team-based software development.

This exciting degree course is also increasingly using technologies such as drones and robots in coursework and projects.

Our course is designed for flexibility, so if you’re not sure which route you want to go, 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, to 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), and on behalf of the Engineering Council, for the purposes of fully meeting the academic requirement for Incorporated Engineer (IEng) and partially meeting the academic requirement for a Chartered Engineer (CEng). 

The accreditation also allows you to apply for professional membership of the BCS after you have successfully completed your degree.

The 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.

Our planet is constantly evolving. What are the major challenges faced by our global environment and how are todays actions going to affect tomorrow’s world? Follow your passion to make a difference by studying for an Environmental Sciences MSci. From deforestation to waste disposal or natural resource depletion to global warming, Brunel’s Environmental Sciences MSci will provide you with the foundations to pursue a career that makes a difference to our world.

Studying for an MSci means that you’ll graduate with an integrated master’s. From your employers perspective you’ll stand out from the crowd because you’ll have developed your skills to a greater depth than you would on the BSc. The MSci will give you the chance to specialise in an important Environmental Science area of your choice. At Brunel you’ll develop your scientific skills in the classroom, laboratory and through field work.

Your course is based on the 15 “most wanted skills” identified from a national employer’s survey by the Natural Environment Research Council. This means that in addition to studying scientific topics, you’ll learn to use computer programs such as GIS, you’ll perform data analysis and be trained in areas such as public engagement, communication, leadership and teamwork.

You'll also have the option to carry out a placement as part of your degree, giving you the experience to create a stand-out CV. The Environmental Sciences MSci offers a unique compressed degree where you can carry out two placements within your four year degree during summer vacations, where you’ll earn a graduate level salary. You can also carry out a one year placement between years two and three, as part of a five year degree.