Bachelor of Science in Communication and Media Studies with Placement (Thick - Sandwich)

at Brunel University London United Kingdom

Understanding customer behaviour and translating this into how a company communicates and operates is the crux of good marketing practice, which in turn, is integral to a successful business.

Brunel’s Business and Management (Marketing) BSc offers you the chance to explore the principles and practices of modern day marketing, such as market research, database marketing, digital marketing, and the marketing of not-for-profit services.

As with all our Business and Management degree courses, you will be equipped with a broad knowledge of business and management fundamentals as well as the analytical and interpersonal skills required to address the problems that today’s companies face.

You will also learn valuable technical skills along the way including numerical methods and how to use statistical software such as SPSS and EXCEL (A-level maths or the overseas equivalent is not a requirement).

A module on Management Enquiry will help you adapt to university study with learning sessions on working in groups, report writing, and time management.

There is the option to take a year’s work placement between your second and third year which could see you working in the marketing department of a leading brand or organisation. This is an excellent opportunity to gain experience and make valuable contacts for your future career. Find out more on our work placement year page.

You may also obtain the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Certificate in Professional Marketing while you study through the CIM Gateway, as this is a CIM accredited course. The CIM is the leading professional body for marketers worldwide and CIM qualifications are highly regarded by potential employers.

Our Business and Management (Marketing) BSc is also accredited by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), which means you will gain exemptions from some of their professional papers if you wish to undertake further study towards being a chartered management accountant after you graduate.

This course has a placement option. Find out more about work placements available.

All our business degrees include the option of a work placement year between your second and third year.

• In addition to providing the opportunity to put what you’ve learnt in your degree into practice, and to earn some much appreciated money, our students find their work placement experience significantly enhances their career prospects when they come to graduate. In fact many students are offered employment with their work placement company upon graduation. You'll be working in the same capacity as you would when you graduate so it will give you a taste of what's to come, hopefully, including all the challenges and rewards.
• Placements are available at different sized organisations across the public and private sector, so you can choose the type of experience most suited to you. You’ll need to apply for these positions in much the same way as you would a job, so it’ll be useful experience in that respect too.
• The good news is that through our Business Life programme and the University’s Professional Development Centre, you should be well prepared to make the best applications you can.
• Placements tend to last 44 weeks. During your placement, an academic member of staff from Brunel Business School will keep in touch, and your employer will be invited to attend a tutorial day at Brunel with you

Mathematics is a fundamental subject that is critical to our understanding of the world. Through the study of mathematics you’ll advance your problem solving skills, develop your reasoning and increase your analytical thinking. Mathematical models underpin engineering, the applied sciences, computing and many aspects of management today. With the MMath you’ll study for a further year and bring your BSc degree to master’s standard. This means you’ll be able to get that competitive edge when you apply for jobs without having to go through the application process again after Level 3.

You’ll study many aspects of pure and applied mathematics, together with general concepts of mathematical modelling. When it comes to the application of mathematics, we cover finance, statistics, operational research (how maths can be applied to commercial and industrial problems), numerical analysis (the approximate solution of very hard problems) and mechanics.

In your final year you’ll be able to specialise in areas of mathematics that you’re particularly interested in. You’ll produce a substantial research project under the guidance of a tutor in Level 3 and have the opportunity to build upon this as a MMath student.

Follow the five-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.

The Brunel Engineering Management MSc gives graduates and professional engineers seeking to move into management the technical skills and understanding of business, operations and strategy to pursue successful careers in engineering management.

You'll get a solid grounding in managerial essentials within engineering including logistics and supply chain management, manufacturing and production systems design, product development, quality assurance and project management.

You’ll also study how finance and assets are managed within a business, managing people and organisations, customer care, and effective teamworking and motivation techniques. Additionally, with an eye on the future, you’ll examine the challenges new technologies pose to management in the engineering sector.

This on-campus course is studied full-time over one year and is accredited by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). This means your degree will put you on course to gain Chartered Engineer (CEng) status in the UK.

Throughout your studies you’ll have 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 increasing complexity of the engineering sector, job candidates with expertise in business and management as well as engineering are increasingly in demand. Your Brunel postgraduate engineering degree will equip you with the knowledge and skills that will make you a sought-after prospect across the industry.

This course is also available online, giving you a unique learning experience, allowing you to build connections with like-minded professionals worldwide. Find out more about the Engineering Management MSc Online.

Our Chemical Engineering BEng degree is an innovative course that has been developed to equip you with a broad range of knowledge and skills to meet the needs of the chemical and biochemical industry.

The course has been developed according to the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) accreditation guidelines. This innovative approach means modern subjects are taught and delivered through flipped classrooms, problem-based learning and virtual reality.

Throughout your studies, you’ll have access to a new, modern laboratory with equipment and rigs for your experimental work. The latest industry standard engineering software packages are available for you to use in the purpose-built computer laboratories.

Our BEng chemical engineering course can be studied full-time over three years, or four years with a placement year.

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 opt for the placement year, you could find yourself making a difference in the real world working in energy, pharmaceutical or consumer goods.

Brunel Engineers is an annual exhibition that showcases our engineering talent at its finest. It’s a great way for you to network with key engineering professionals and show them the innovative, creative and enterprising work you have produced during your time at Brunel.

National salary surveys consistently place chemical engineers at the top of the engineering pay scales, meaning you will be studying for a lucrative and successful career with our degree.

Our Digital Design and Branding MSc degree is a modern, hands-on course that combines digital technology and creative design. It has been designed to equip you with advanced knowledge and practical skills required for a creative role in the digital branding industry.

You’ll develop deep understanding of advanced digital design practices within the context of branding.

Our modern, industry standard digital media facilities include a green screen and post-production studio, motion capture, sound and photography studios, 4K digital cinema cameras, and a dedicated render farm. You'll have independent access to exclusive PC and Mac computing workshops and benefit from the latest industry standard specialist software for graphic design and image/video editing, 3D animation, digital compositing and rich interactive content creation. There's also the opportunity for you to use our immersive virtual environment laboratory. This includes an immersive dome (planetarium) set up for Brunel by the National Space Centre in Leicester, and is one of only a few in the UK!

There are guest lectures covering lots of different digital media topics and the visiting lecturers provide advice on how to structure your portfolio and showreels. Speakers include creative and design directors, user experience designers, 3D graphic supervisors, as well as mobile and web developers.

Visits are arranged to TV and photography studios, and post-production houses. There’s also the opportunity to go to conferences and this is your chance to build networks with key industry experts. In addition, you have the advantage of Brunel’s close location to London for trips to exhibitions celebrating the creative industries.

Our digital design and branding MSc can be studied full-time over one year or part-time over two years.

A calendar highlight is the BrunelDigital degree show hosted on Brunel’s one London campus. Exhibiting your creative work at this event is a great way for you to connect with leading creative technologists and showcase your talent.

As the amount of digital information increases, major institutions in sectors such as finance and medicine rely on robust structures that can grow and adapt. By specialising in software engineering, you’ll focus on how to build high quality systems which will be easier to maintain and develop as the requirements of the system change and available technologies evolve. The techniques involved include testing, service-oriented architectures, and refactoring.

On the Computer Science (Software Engineering) BSc degree course, you’ll also learn how to build different types of software, from web-based systems to mobile solutions. In the final year you’ll take compulsory modules in advanced computer science and choose optional modules that interest you in a variety of compelling areas.

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 specialist degree course allows you to display an in-depth knowledge of the management, organisation and execution of large-scale software design and development activities including reuse and integration. All our degrees emphasise acquiring knowledge and skills to develop your new understanding creatively and professionally. Although this is an academic degree, the course balances theory with real-world practice in information and computer management.

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.

The Human Genome Project is having a huge impact on the field of science and genetics. How will it provide new insights and therapies for the treatment of genetic diseases? If you’re interested in the field of genetics and the treatment of genetic diseases then this specialist course is perfect for you.

At Brunel, we understand that your specialist knowledge should be built on a sound grounding of all the areas of biomedical sciences. This means that your first year will cover areas such as the human body, biochemistry and research skills. As you continue through your degree you will study specialist areas that will teach you how the role of various genetic mutations alter cellular processes and biomechanical pathways in normal metabolism, and also how these pathways may be altered during specific human disease.

And if you change your mind about your specialist area, don’t worry. The flexibility of our course at Brunel means that you can switch to another specialist pathway in the second year or even take the general Biomedical Sciences BSc.

The Royal Society of Biology has awarded its accreditation to all of Brunel’s undergraduate Biomedical Sciences courses. This means you can be confident that your degree will prepare you for the working world – and your prospective employers will know this too. You'll receive a one year’s membership as an Associate Member once you graduate, integrating you into the sector with access to key contacts and up-to-date knowledge.

In your final year you’ll have the opportunity to contribute to our research programmes in cellular and biochemical pathways, the regulation of gene expression, DNA repair and immunological responses to microbial infection. This will give you first-hand experience of real-world laboratory research and prepare you for your future career.

Life sciences are at the forefront of modern science. With this degree you’ll have a mix of skills, in areas chosen by you, across a range of science streams. Recent employment research from several Research Councils has highlighted the need for graduates to have interdisciplinary skills and the ability to use the latest analytical and computational techniques. At Brunel, we’ve responded to this research, and our programme is designed to get you job ready. An example of this is the computational data analysis option which gives you the skills increasingly required by employers.

You’ll choose from a wide range of science subjects including biological, environmental, psychological and sport sciences. You’ll learn computational and statistical data analysis and quantitative research giving you the skill sets to work with big data sets – a fundamental part of modern science. You can even opt for modules such as languages and creative writing. You’ll graduate with a unique set of skills so that you’ll be ready to enter the world of work with a competitive edge.

The Brunel Accountancy BSc provides students interested in entering the profession with the knowledge, skills and insights that inform current accountancy practice and financial management.

You’ll get a comprehensive grounding in the conceptual, professional and practical aspects of accountancy at national and global levels, and develop your ability to identify and solve complex accounting problems across a range of business scenarios.

You also gain a firm understanding of the financial drivers underpinning business leadership, strategy, planning, governance and ethics.

You will be trained in Sage Accounting software as well as in analytical packages widely used by business and financial institutions such as SAS, EViews, Bloomberg, Reuters and STATA.

We offer two study options. You can choose three years full-time or four years full-time with a one-year professional placement between years two and three that will give you hands-on experience in a real-life working environment. You can tailor the final year of your course to specialise in an area of particular interest.

ACCA and CIMA accreditation is available on selected modules within this degree, which means you’ll gain exemptions from certain professional qualifying exams.

The theoretical and practical expertise you’ll gain from your Brunel Accountancy BSc will make you a ‘business ready’ graduate preferred by employers in the public and private sectors.

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.