Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Photography

at University of Bedfordshire - Luton Campus United Kingdom

Find your specialism and become the writer of your dreams with our innovative, skill-building course which encourages you to experiment with different modes and genres across a range of media platforms. Our small cohort sizes mean you benefit from personal, tailored support.

Explore writing in a way you may not have experienced before, from from the speculative genres of horror, fantasy, and science fiction, to scriptwriting and performance poetry. Your academic team are all experienced writers who will encourage you to find where your aptitudes and enthusiasms lie, helping you to develop your own writing practice and style.

This course benefits from a close relationship with other creative courses such as media, art and design, journalism, and computer games development so you work in an atmosphere of collaborative, artistic energy. You also have many opportunities to share your work, including in our annual published anthology of student writing and open-mic nights.

Graduates from the course have gone on to successful careers in a range of fields, from published authors of fantasy writing and innovative poetry to editorial roles, from professional YouTubers to Creative Writing lecturers.

Why choose this course?

• We are a student-centred course where the emphasis is placed on your development as a writer
• Belong to a vibrant and diverse writing community and have the freedom to focus on the aspects of writing that interest you
• Optional pathways in genre fiction, innovative forms, and screenwriting, taught by writers from those areas, and the opportunity to collaborate with Computer Games and Illustration students to develop games and graphic novel projects
• Meet with writers and other industry professionals
• Focus on your professional development and your future after completing the degree

The media impacts on our lives every day and shapes our understanding of the world. This course gives you the practical and analytical skills needed to work in the media industry - and the chance to specialise in a preferred area, whether it's radio, journalism or new media.

This degree provides you with both the academic skills to understand and analyse the media, and the practical skills to work within the industry as an effective communicator and analyst.

You explore the social, historical and political aspects of contemporary media (including radio, film, television, press, media institutions and new media technologies), unpacking how these ever-evolving areas work and the roles they play in modern life. Alongside this, you choose a specialist area (such as radio, online media or journalism) to develop your practical production experience.

You also produce a special project, creating a portfolio of work (ideal to show future employers) or writing a dissertation on an aspect of the media you would like to explore in more depth.

Why choose this course?

• Gives a solid grounding in how the media works, both nationally and globally
• Offers opportunities for specialisation in the area of your choice
• Your independent project helps develop your skills in research, problem solving and analysis as well as building personal confidence and communication skills
• Benefit from a course that paves the way to a career in the media industry but also in the creative industries (print and audio-visual media companies), PR and marketing, media research or teaching
• Take the course over four years and include a fee-free year’s placement in industry (see below), gaining experience and making contacts for the future
• If you need a step-up into higher education, start with a Foundation Year (see below) which guarantees entry to the degree course

To succeed in the modern world businesses need managers with the skills and knowledge of how to trade on the international stage. You will study the core business disciplines such as strategic management, accounting annd finance, global brand communications and reputations and international business competencies.

As you develop your knowledge of business in an international context, you will gain the attributes to contribute to the global business strategy of organisations and resolve international business problems.

There are six entry points through the year. This allows you to start when it is most suitable.

Why choose this course?

• Study aspects of strategic and operations management such as global supply chain management and international marketing through collaborative activities within a wide international business perspective.
• Gain advanced knowledge of organisations together with the theory of international business and apply it to solve real business problems through our employability practice approach to teaching and learning.
• Develop your knowledge of key strategic and operations such as accounting and finance, investment treaty arbitration, international business competencies and strategic management within an international context.
• Benefit from a course that inspires teamwork and engagement to contribute to ethical and innovative practice.
• Gain the knowledge and skills required for a career as a Trading Executive, Product Manager, Business Development Manager or Buyer or further your existing management career by achieving a leadership position in your current organisation.

More than ever before our lives are defined by the spaces in which we live, work and play, and interior architects are ground-breakers when it comes to creating experimental, imaginative and stimulating environments. This course will fire your imagination while giving you the skills and knowledge you need to follow this exciting career path.

Nowadays, people actively want the spaces they inhabit to serve their needs, reflect their personality, and offer ergonomic and environmental innovation. On this course, you explore the relationship between interior spaces, architectural forms and human experience and interaction, considering such aspects as space planning, scale, structure, colour, texture, lighting, branding and user experience.

The remit of a professional interior architect is wide so, while studying, you are encouraged to develop unique proposals for a range of environments, from bars, restaurants and theatres to workplaces, retail spaces and exhibitions. You focus on a number of commission areas including refurbishment, film and exhibition design, and virtual environments.

Where possible, design briefs are collaborative, with real sites, real clients and opportunities to network with professional practitioners, building your practical skills and giving you valuable experience in preparation for a career in the field.

Why choose this course?

• Develop a creative and critical understanding of building structure and fabric while studying the design of interior environments in urban, suburban and rural contexts
• Be able to interpret the different ways in which people, activities and places relate to and with each other
• Learn about the latest innovations used to solve contemporary design problems
• Explore specific specialist areas of the field such as anthropometrics, ergonomics, environmental control and sustainability, and orthographic representation
• Benefit from project-based teaching that covers 2D and 3D computer-aided design, digital image creation and manipulation, and video production and editing
• You have the option to take the course over four years and include a fee-free professional placement (see below) which will give you relevant experience, build your CV and offer networking opportunities for the future

This course allows you to develop a deep theoretical understanding and practical knowledge of tourism and aviation management. It will help you understand the changing nature of international tourism as it faces the challenge of rapid growth, emergence of new destinations, climate change, and the ethics of managing a business in which the prime attractions include the natural environment and people’s culture.

This innovative and interdisciplinary course provides you with a critical view of the broad range of global issues which affect how international tourism and aviation are organized and managed.

Topics include: management; heritage, cultural, social, environmental and political issues; and sustainable development.

This course will also provide you with a basic understanding of the nature, structure and organisation of the aviation and airport industry. It examines the key developments within aviation sectors and focuses on the component sectors of the industry and their operating characteristics.

The University of Bedfordshire is a member of The Association for Tourism in Higher Education (ATHE). ATHE is the subject association for tourism in higher education in the UK. It represents universities that are leading providers of tourism programmes.

Why choose this course?

Following a career in the field of psychology, you can make a real difference to people’s lives. The skills and knowledge you’ll gain on this course – accredited to the British Psychological Society – will put you on the path to making that difference as a chartered psychologist.

Psychology can explain so much about our lives, from why we fall in love and need sleep to how others influence us. This course - taught by an academic team actively involved in leading-edge research - covers all the major areas of psychology, including cognitive, biological, social and developmental psychology, as well as individual differences and how psychology applies to everyday life. It also offers you the opportunity to specialise in your areas of interest such as counselling, criminal behaviour, mental health and occupational psychology.

Your studies also develop your own abilities and understanding as you learn to consider and evaluate different perspectives; increase your self-awareness through enquiry, analysis, evaluation and reflection; build your independence and confidence through team activities and your own final-year research project.

Why choose this course?

• It is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) and is your first step towards becoming a chartered psychologist
• Our academic team are members of the Research Centre for Applied Psychology, applying psychology to a range of ‘real world’ situations and problems
• You benefit from a wide variety of teaching methods including workshops, problem solving, simulations, computer-based activities and guided learning
• You take part in research studies and run your own studies as part of your learning and assessment
• The findings of your final-year research project are made available to your peers as part of the Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference
• You can take the course over four years (see below) and include a fee-free year’s placement in industry where you gain practical experience, build your CV and make contacts for the future
• If you would like a step-up into higher education, you can take a Foundation Year which guarantees you entry to the Undergraduate course (see below)

This 2 year Master’s courses will give you the opportunity to be awarded a subject-specific degree in International Business with Data Analytics. As the business world morphs to accommodate the dynamic economic environment of today, this course introduces non-specialists to a range of business functions areas to enable you to become knowledgeable and effective managers.

The course focuses on developing an awareness of business operations in an international environment, the management of corporate reputation and brands, international finance, and cultural awareness in global contexts.

The Data Analytics units cover a wide range of topics including programming, databases, security, project management and computer networking, giving you both the underpinning theory and the ability to apply it to complex real-world problems

Why choose this course?

• 2 year subject specific degree with data analytics.
• This course introduces non-specialists to a range of business functions areas to enable you to become knowledgeable and effective managers.

Companies are reporting that business is becoming ever more competitive and that industries are becoming more volatile. In order to remain competitive businesses are looking for project management graduates who are able to work in a flexible, collaborative way in order to help provide innovative solutions to often complex and open-ended problems.

The ability of organisations to develop projects and deliver them successfully is becoming increasingly important and the management of these projects is a much sought after skill.

This course is specifically designed to enable you to develop Project Management and Business skills through an exciting programme that links academic theory and real world business projects in realistic business settings.

You will be challenged to develop awareness of your own skills and learning needs and will be encouraged to offer innovative and creative approaches to Project Management and business problem solving.

If you’re interested in a career in forensic science, we have a crime scene for you! A unique mix of biosciences and criminal psychology, our degree course offers you the opportunity for practical forensic processing in our crime scene facility.

Technological advances have made the role of the forensic scientist – the expert who collects, preserves and analyses evidence - increasingly important in crime investigation, and also in other fields such as archaeology.

The course starts with an introduction to psychology and the sciences relevant to forensics, followed by more detailed applied forensics including the preparation of evidence for court, pathology, medical physiology and haematology. You’ll also study the most recent advances in DNA analysis, toxicology, criminal psychology, and fire and explosive analysis.

Why choose this course?

• The Forensic Science team includes international experts in the psychology of criminal behaviour and forensics experts from a variety of operational backgrounds
• Our teaching is rated as ‘Excellent’ by the QAA and the team is part of a highly experienced department that has run biological science courses for over 30 years
• You’ll study in a specialist forensic laboratory, with key laboratory skills incorporated into most of the taught units, especially your final-year research project
• You’ll learn the skills and techniques needed to evaluate a real-life crime scene in our scene-of-crime lab, designed to resemble an 'normal' flat
• There’s the option to take the course over four years and include a year’s work placement (see below) to gain experience and industry contacts
• If you’d like to step-up into higher education, you can take an introductory Foundation Year (see below), which guarantees entry to the Undergraduate course

    "Studying forensic science with Bedfordshire has been an awesome, inspiring experience, with lecturers who are specialists with industry experience in the areas they teach. I highly recommend anyone wishing to study this subject with Beds to 'Go 4 it'."

Criminal offending and the state’s response to it are constantly evolving, and this course explores the latest ideas, thinking and research into the subject. Benefiting from the practice and practical knowledge of highly experienced tutors and lecturers, you will reflect critically on the latest theories and the many explanations used to explain why crime occurs.

The department’s expertise is deep and wide ranging, and covers youth crime and justice, substance abuse, gang related crime, corporate crime and forensic mental health.

You will be taught by leading researchers from the Institute of Applied Social Research, whose studies on sexual exploitation, trafficking, and disability is internationally renowned and at the interface between research, knowledge, policy and practice.

Why choose this course?

• Study the social, political and cultural contexts that inform criminology, and develop a critical in-depth knowledge and understanding of the subject
•  Explore and research a particular topic of interest, and as you do this sharpen your independent study skills and become highly specialised in a particular area
•  Develop the ability to apply originality in the application of knowledge that addresses problems relating to criminal justice, crime and offending
•  Gain a wide range of new skills and qualities that are relevant to the workplace and will give you the opportunity to seek employment at a senior level
•  Benefit from the ability to take part in critical discussions, systematic reviews and the analysis of complex, unfamiliar or unpredictable criminological problems, and work to produce an understanding that is informed by current scholarship.

Criminology at the University of Bedfordshire is taught by subject experts who are all members of the Vauxhall Centre for the Study of Crime under the direction of Professor John Pitts - a key member of the Home Office gang strategy’s expert advisory group. This dynamic programme considers developments in the academic study and research evidence of criminology in the context of an increasingly globalised world.

You will have the opportunity to critically reflect on theory while drawing on a depth of practical knowledge, theory and professional expertise from the teaching team. In addition, the team have an interest in the personal development of Masters students through a system of seminars and personal tutorials. This allows both staff and students to get to know each other well and fosters a shared commitment to the subject.