Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Psychology

at University of Bedfordshire - Luton Campus United Kingdom

In a constantly evolving field, there’s a growing shortage of qualified cybersecurity professionals with the up-to-the-minute expertise needed to keep on top of the game. This cutting-edge course equips you with the knowledge and skills employers are looking for.

Careers in the cybersecurity field offer huge potential for skilled graduates. This wide-ranging course is designed to develop the diverse skillset you need to identify and manage physical, natural and electronic security breaches and violations in all areas of cyberspace.

Our cutting-edge teaching and training techniques give you a thorough understanding of security processes and practices as well as the complexities and challenges associated with information security; the legal requirements around information-security domains; and post-incident analysis techniques.

Work-based learning and placements enable you to put theory into practice, as you build your ability to understand and analyse threat factors and multi-stage cyber attacks, and put controls in place to mitigate risk and impact.

Why choose this course?

• It is fully aligned with BCS, CESG and IISP requirements, making your qualification highly relevant to a range of employers
• You learn from a dedicated team of cybersecurity experts, trainers and active researchers
• Learning approaches are practice-based and include work-based and placement activities as well as interactive demonstrations by academic staff and guest speakers
• You apply your technical cybersecurity skills using secure virtualised and containerised environments
• Your degree qualification balances technical and management skills, enabling you to enter careers across a wide range of security contexts
• Take the course over four years and include a year’s placement in industry (see below) where you gain experience and make contacts for the future
• If you are stepping up into higher education, you can start with a Foundation Year which guarantees your entry to the Undergraduate course (see below)

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'."

Drawing on the School of Life Sciences’ established research strengths in this area, our BSc (Hons) course gives you the knowledge and skills in biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences to be a professional scientist, able to work in areas where there are significant industry skills gaps.

On this course, you develop a broad range of skills in pharmacology and health sciences, studying areas such as chemistry; microbiology; biochemistry; anatomy and physiology; cell biology; and pharmaceutical sciences.

From this firm foundation, in your second and third years, your studies develop to include subjects such as immunology; pharmacogenetics; translational medicine; toxicology; and drug dispensing and delivery.

Practical laboratory work enables you to apply and develop your skills, while your final-year independent project and dissertation allow you to research and investigate a specific subject in detail.

Why choose this course?

• Benefit from a degree that trains you in both the traditional areas of pharmacological research and new, emerging areas important for the future of the pharmaceutical industry
• Build your practical skills in state-of-the-art laboratories in our modern STEM building
• Follow a career in a field that is one of the most research-led in the UK and includes pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, agrochemicals and veterinary medicine
• Gain a sought-after qualification in an area where a projected major skills gap has been identified
• Study a curriculum aligned to the areas of need identified by the British Pharmacological Society, including public health science and healthcare policy
• Gain valuable work experience through the School of Life Sciences’ strong links to the clinical and industrial sectors
• Take the course over four years and include a fee-free year in industry, gaining work experience, building your CV and making contacts for the future
• If you need to step up into higher education, start with a Foundation Year which guarantees a place on the degree course

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.

Combining practical design skills with creative problem-solving and reflective insight, this inspirational course offers a thorough grounding in contemporary and evolving forms of visual communication across a wide range of platforms, from digital to print, moving image to illustration.

Our degree course explores all contexts where graphic design is found such as digital content; interface design; web and social media; editorial design; print and publishing; moving image; visual identity; typography; and graphic illustration.

Working in creative teams, you learn about materials and methods in a cluster which includes Illustration, Animation, and Advertising and Branding Design. You also study studio practice; collaborative enterprise; context and meaning; and professional practice. This winning combination allows you to develop practical design skills as well as the ability to work collaboratively and show entrepreneurship.

We foster a reflective, outward-looking approach to design challenges; for example, by exploring the ways digital media has created new possibilities for producing, distributing and publishing graphic design work. We also believe a sense of responsibility is essential for a contemporary designer so ethics, sustainability and inclusion are fundamental themes running through the course’s context and debate.

Why choose this course?

• Study in small, lively and committed groups, in spacious, well-equipped studios
• Gain a solid knowledge of the cultural, critical and creative contexts of contemporary practice including how social media has transformed the role of the graphic designer
• Work on live briefs, submit for national competitions and participate in collaborative projects with leading design practitioners
• Learn the team skills required for exhibition curation and group collaborations
• Understand the standards you’ll need to reach to enter the world of professional employment
• Take the course over four years and benefit from a fee-free year 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 into the degree course on completion

This course responds to the growing market demand for graduates who aim to work with the information and organisation needs of businesses.

Students will gain understanding of information and organisation structures in a business as well as skills of using existing software required for designing and developing information systems.

Students will also obtain skills and ability to interact with business analysts, computer programmers, and software engineers. Graduates are expected to be able to obtain knowledge and understanding of Business Processes and their applications.

Why choose this course?

• Learn how IT plays an essential role in supporting the strategic, operational and tactical needs of domestic and international business
• Study the importance of IT systems to business analysis and intelligence
• Develop your knowledge of system analysis and design, modern database practices, decision support systems and data mining
• Gain a thorough understanding of project, finance and virtual management techniques
• Explore the entrepreneurial possibilities of IT, and discover how the needs of business can offer an enormous range of opportunities
• Challenge your preconceptions of what makes a business successful, and refocus your ambition
• Benefit from a series of talks and guidance offered by inspirational speakers and leaders from a range of business sectors

This BPS-accredited conversion course is open to anyone with a recognised undergraduate degree in any subject who now wants to take the first step towards becoming a chartered psychologist.

This unique course – accredited to the British Psychological Society (BPS) - provides you with the knowledge and skills you need to go on to develop a successful career in the field of psychology.

You study the essential core topics of individual difference, developmental, social, cognitive and biological psychology. You need to have studied these areas to gain BPS Graduate Membership, the first step towards becoming a chartered psychologist specialising in a chosen area such as health, forensic, counselling, education or clinical.

Why choose this course?

• Study how psychology can be applied in daily life, in the specific areas of health, wellbeing and criminal behaviour
• Explore intellectual functions, the biological basis of behaviour and the effects of impairments on the mind
• Develop a deep understanding of the role learning and memory play in our everyday lives
• Focus in more detail on the specialist areas of health and forensic psychology
• Gain the skills and expertise necessary to use the qualitative and quantitative methodologies commonly used by professional psychologists
• Benefit from access to a wide range of departmental facilities, including expert advice and specialist software such as SPSS, ATLAS, EEG and driver simulators

This is a course for our times, responding to the challenges of globalization. The degree will challenge those from the UK and beyond to think past their national perspectives. To get the full story you need to transcend geographical borders and traditional divisions.

Today's big stories are complex, simultaneously political, economic, hyper-local and global. You will learn about transnational organisations, critique theories relating to the role of the media and globalisation and practice journalism across various media platforms.

Why choose this course?

• Study with professionals from the industry, including alumni of this course, who will share practice examples, give you tips on entering the industry and help you develop your network
• Explore career options in regional, national and transnational reporting, or as a political, economic and foreign correspondent as you develop into a rounded journalist capable of seeing the whole 'global' story
• Develop your resourcefulness and enterprise – with an ability to identify and pursue stories and to challenge, test and critique evidence, while adhering to ethical codes of conduct
• Gain first-hand knowledge, by visiting national and/or international news organisations such as Reuters and Bloomberg, as well as UK/EU parliaments; work on the University community radio station and student newspaper or gain experience with local and regional newspapers and radio stations
• Benefit from a degree that gives you relevant transferable skills in publishing, copywriting, public relations, in-house press office positions, teaching, sports journalism, media research and digital media production, or enable you to continue to an MPhil or PhD research degree

Pursue your dream of performing in TV, film, radio, on stage or online with this degree covering the creative and technical aspects of radio programme making, directing, script development, performance management, and lighting for the stage and for the camera.

On this wide-ranging course, you gain the skills to work within the professional media industries as an actor or presenter before the camera. Optional units also widen your skill base to include production/technical roles like scriptwriter, director, production manager, stage manager or radio presenter.

Graduates of this course are now working in front of the camera, presenting on CBBC, CBeebies, community channel local news, internet sports radio and news programmes. Other Media Performance graduates are working behind the camera as directors, in production roles or working within radio, at Radio 1, Radio 1 Xtra, Kiss and BBC local radio.

Why choose this course?

• Develop the necessary skills, knowledge, self-motivation and professional approach to follow a satisfying and stimulating career path
• Study a variety of approaches and techniques, with your practical work underpinned by media and cultural theory, along with the historical, cultural and social dimensions of performance
• Enjoy masterclasses and workshops from leading figures with opportunities to learn insights, make industry connections and take up placements
• Gain opportunities for work experience via the course unit in Performance Management - Work Based Learning.
• Take the course over four years and include a year’s placement in industry (see below), gaining experience and adding to your contacts
• In your third year, you are eligible to join Spotlight as a TV presenter
• As a postgraduate, you can progress to the Screen Performance and Communications Techniques MA

This course is ideal for computing graduates who want to prepare for a general career in IT without the need to specialise at this stage.
Subjects range from data modelling, embedded systems and systems architecture to intelligent agents, equipping you to fully understand the application of computing technology in real-world situations whilst gaining the practical business skills that employers seek.

Why choose this course?

• Study a broad range of IT disciplines including online database applications, intelligent agents, programming embedded systems, professional project management systems architecture, network systems, distributed and parallel architectures and cryptography and cryptanalysis
• Explore and analyse current trends in the continually expanding area of internet technologies including wireless internet and network configurations and enjoy opportunities to work with innovative distributed environments and architectures
• Develop practical and business skills necessary for a wide range of careers in IT from management to high-level web application development or system administration
• Gain in-depth skills in network management and administration (allowing you to work as a Network Manager) including essential security aspects, grid-computing and fault tolerance
• Benefit from developing expertise equipping you for a career as an IT Consultant, Programmer, Systems/Business Analyst, in web development/web services or in further study on an MSc by Research, MPhil or PhD.