Master of Arts in International Relations

at Brunel University London United Kingdom

The Brunel Economics BSc combines a thorough grounding in economic theory with the practical skills needed to apply that knowledge to business, industrial, financial or government environments.

You’ll learn how markets operate from microeconomic and macroeconomic perspectives and how trade and business priorities shape the ways societies function.  Special attention will be given to financial marketins and the banking sector, as well as an introduction to accounting.

Further, you’ll develop the analytical, quantitative, statistical and computing skills used to predict how societies, governments, businesses and households will respond to events, trends and market behaviour.

You will study statistics and econometrics and develop skills in data presentation, analysis and modelling.  This training will use 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.

Our economics undergraduate degree is accredited by ACCA and CIMA, and graduates will receive exemptions from professional papers should they wish to continue their study to become a chartered accountant.

The analytical, quantitative and transferable skills you’ll gain from your Brunel degree are highly valued by employers and will prepare you for a wide range of career and postgraduate study options in the areas of economics, business and finance.

The results of unsustainable human development in the 21st century are evident as climate change, species extinction, pollution, poverty and inequality become inescapable global realities. The next big challenge for society is to transform our economy to incorporate the principles of sustainability. This presents an exciting opportunity to rethink, redesign and rebuild a positive future for business practice.

The global market for environmental products and services is projected to double from USD 1,370 billion per year to USD 2,740 billion by 2020. Half of this market is in energy efficiency and the balance in sustainable transport, water supply, sanitation and waste management. 2.3 million people have in recent years found new jobs in the renewable energy sector alone. Employment in alternative energies may rise to 2.1 million in wind and 6.3 million in solar power by 2030.

This course will provide you with the skills across the disciplines of science, engineering design and business to be a part of this market and to become leaders and innovators in the context of environmental awareness.

The Sustainability, Entrepreneurship and Design MSc (with Professional Development) is a 21 month programme – 12 months of study at Brunel, followed by a short break while you await your dissertation grade, to allow you to finalise your placement. Once you've passed your dissertation, you'll complete a six month professional development phase. There is an option to complete the Sustainability, Entrepreneurship and Design MSc in 12 months without the professional development phase but we’d advise considering the professional development option to achieve the maximum from the programme and to enhance your future career prospects.

Brunel University also offers the Graduate Entrepreneur Scheme (Start-up Visa), which represents a perfect opportunity for our international graduates to apply their new skills in the UK following graduation.

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

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.

Working with and for young people in the developing world offers an exciting career full of challenges and rewards. Our Children, Youth and International Development MA is a varied course with a global perspective which will help equip you for roles in international development organisations, government ministries and global agencies.

You will acquire a breadth of knowledge that will enable you to critically evaluate research, policy and practice in the area of children, youth and development. You will also discover the differing disciplinary perspectives on childhood and youth by studying modules from related disciplines.

As you journey through the course, you also will acquire the skills necessary to design and undertake your own research.

Opt for the 'Applied Learning' module and you will have the opportunity of a short placement (one or two days a week for ten weeks) with an organisation that works in the field of children, youth and international development.

Examples of the ‘Applied Learning’ placements previously undertaken include:

• Action Aid – on a campaign targeting exploitation in the garment industry
• Anti-Slavery International – on a project to eradicate caste-based bonded labour
• Basti RAM – planned lessons for a Global Citizenship project
• BookAid International – helped build up an evidence base for Book Aid’s international programmes
• Commonwealth Secretariat – on the CS’s Youth Programme in Uganda
• International Refugee Trust – development of the online classroom about refugees
• National Deaf Children's Society – developed international exchanges for deaf young people
• Oxfam – mobilised UK school children to get involved in Oxfam campaigns
• Project Hope – several placements including designing a survey on youth experiences, and developing leaflets to help South African adults to identify signs of mental illness
• The Mouth That Roars – helped children in London and Saudi Arabia to create videos through which they communicated their everyday lives to each other

Additionally, an Erasmus agreement exists between the Brunel MA and the MPhil in Childhood Studies at the Norwegian Centre for Child Research (NOSEB) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim.

The agreement allows two students from the MA to spend their second term (January to May) at the Trondheim centre. Erasmus students do not pay tuition fees at NOSEB and are entitled to a grant (€375/month) to cover any additional costs.

Our Design and Branding Strategy MA degree focuses on using design to address key issues in branding. It examines how design thinking can develop a new brand, or improve or expand an existing brand and enhance customer engagement. It aims to produce master’s qualified creative design management graduates capable of making a major contribution to the use of design in branding practices in organisations, both large and small.

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 design management and design-led branding strategy.

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.

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.

Films can evoke a multitude of emotions as we watch them on the big screens, but do you often wonder what goes into creating the masterpieces that can stick with you for a long time? Turn your creative curiosity into a career you’re passionate about by studying Brunel’s Film Production BA.

Your degree will give you a thorough understanding of film by combining the production with the theory of visual digital media. Delve into practical film and video-making, scriptwriting, filming and editing, whilst honing your critical analysis and research skills to develop a comprehensive understanding of how the film and TV industries work.

The course will allow you to bring your ideas, thoughts and inspirations to the screen. By using the fantastic editing suites with up-to-date production software including Avid with accredited training facilities for Final Cut Pro 10, you will be able to bring your creations to life.

As well as enhancing your learning by attending screenings at the British Film Institute, the Institute of Contemporary Arts and other cinemas across the capital, you will also be eligible to enter our annual Brunel University Film Festival (BUFF) with categories including Best Fiction, Best Non-Fiction and Best Overall Film. This will allow you to put what you have learnt into practice and will give you the opportunity to showcase your talent.

Learn with confidence knowing that you are taught by some of the best film academics in the UK. Not only are they experts in the industry, but they have published work in the field so some of the books on your reading list may be written by those teaching you.

Gain an insight into life after your studies by putting your learning into practice by opting for a one-year work placement. You will graduate with valuable work experience to enhance your employment prospects and will be able to develop an understanding the working world within the film industry. 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.

Previous students have undertaken placement at many prestigious venues including The Pinewood Group, Fremantle Media, Objective Productions, WaterAid and BalletBoyz.

You will graduate with the confidence to be a creative and imaginative cultural producer with solid knowledge of film culture and practical experience which will put you in good stead for your future career.

The human body is amazing but when things go wrong, either mentally or physically, people often aren’t able to do activities that matter to them. What are the barriers to activity? Are there ways to overcome these barriers? These are the questions you’ll be finding the answers to as an Occupational Therapist.

At Brunel you’ll be integrating theory with practice. You’ll learn to examine the physical, psychological and contextual aspects of a patient. This can be from the acute stage through to the general rehabilitation in the community. You’re encouraged to be creative in your approach and to develop ways to solve their problems. For instance you could be helping someone who has had an amputation to use a wheelchair and identifying ways to have their kitchen adapted. On the course you’ll be encouraged to use your own skills and hobbies to aid rehabilitation. This can be anything from art or music to hair braiding.

You’ll learn to use research and literature and to look at evidence to help your understanding of a patient’s condition. Eventually you’ll learn the skills to create your own research.

Brunel is ranked first in London for Occupational Therapy in The Complete University Guide 2019. If you’re positive, a motivator, good at coming up with solutions to problems and looking for a career that’s rewarding and really makes a difference to people’s lives then this is the course for you.

NHS Values

Patients, public and staff have helped develop this expression of values that inspire passion in the NHS and that should underpin everything it does. Individual organisations will develop and build upon these values, tailoring them to their local needs. The NHS values provide common ground for co-operation to achieve shared aspirations, at all levels of the NHS.

Handling large amounts of data efficiently and quickly is becoming an increasingly important aspect of computing; businesses need to understand trends in data which will allow them to make informed and timely decisions. Artificial intelligence (AI) and the techniques it embraces provide opportunities for this to happen and to make sense of big data.

Qualified graduates with the skills and ability in AI to take advantage of these opportunities are in great demand. Brunel’s Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence) BSc, will expose you to the foundations, theory and practical aspects of computer science and AI.

You’ll gain a good understanding of computer science and a grasp of the important elements of a computer system. You’ll also learn how to build different types of software, from web-based systems to mobile solutions.

By specialising in AI you’ll develop a range of techniques which can be applied in software to solve complex problems. AI is inherent in modern games, financial trading systems and medical systems and enhances the software solutions in each of these areas.

You’ll be confident in your knowledge of the nature, diversity and limitations of software artefacts (or programs) that display apparently intelligent behaviour, understand a range of machine learning paradigms, and be able to apply them to the production of innovative and useful artefacts.

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.

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

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.

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