Master of Arts in Childhood and Youth - Applied Perspectives

at University of Bedfordshire - Luton Campus United Kingdom

The MBA (Logistics and Supply Chain Management) is a flagship qualification designed to meet the needs and aspirations of early career individuals through the combination of a general management education with the specialist area, Logistics and Supply Chain Management.

It is designed for individuals who want to develop both their management skills and new areas of business interest and those seeking fast track career progression opportunities.

This postgraduate degree aims to enhance your professional prospects by developing your capability to apply the latest thinking relating to organisational development and change in the competitive global context.

Successful completion of the MBA (Logistics and Supply Chain Management) highlights your potential to have a real impact on the transformation of the organisation you join.

Our courses are designed to be engaging, attractive and flexible in the current global marketplace. There are six entry points through the year. This allows you to start when it is most suitable.

Your course takes place over three semesters. Depending upon when you join the course, this will determine the order of units which you will study. You will benefit by beginning your studies with others who started at one of the earlier points of entry.

Why choose this course?

• The course adopts a practical and applied business curriculum and aims to develop an advanced knowledge of organisations and their effective management in the dynamic competitive global context, and the ability to creatively apply this knowledge and understanding to complex issues to systematically and innovatively enhance strategic business and management practice.
• This offers a challenging learning opportunity to encourage the integration of theory and practice supported by experienced academics with substantial management experience.
• You will work with academics and professors of practice on live consultancy projects with leading employers in organisations across private, public and not-for-profit sectors to support your personal and professional development as a creative and innovative leader with the knowledge and skills needed in the global, knowledge-based economy.
• You will develop the attributes and skills expected of post-graduates confirmed by partner industry bodies including the Chartered Management Institute and the Confederation of British Industry, including team-working, negotiation skills, leadership, confidence and the ability to apply critical and creative thinking to complex and unclear problems to develop innovative solutions

This course is designed for non-computing graduates who need to apply information technology to their current career, or want to change career direction. It covers 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, as well as an awareness of emerging technologies and developments.

Why choose this course?

• Study key areas of information technology including applications of web technologies, information systems strategy and emerging technologies
• Explore creative and innovative applications of technology  to real-world problems
• Develop your analytical, evaluative and problem-solving skills in relation to IT-based solutions
• Gain a thorough understanding of the social and legal aspects of the Information Technology field (e.g. British Computer Society Code of Conduct and Data Protection)
• Benefit from valuable experience of working on projects for real business, opening up new career opportunities in management, supervision or as a practitioner (eg database/IT developer or system designer/analyst) in industries which make substantial use of computers and information technology.

The study of finance is key to understanding how businesses operate, governments exercise policies and countries operate and compete with each other.

This course will provide you with an intimate knowledge of the structural issues economies are facing and the way they are being realised in today’s economics affairs through the dominance of financial institutions.

Through blended learning you will study the theoretical background and work with industry on real business problems to develop the personal and professional skills you need to be a key player in this global, knowledge-based economy

Why choose this course?

• Study the related areas of economics, financial markets and portfolio management, accounting and finance and strategic management
• Gain advanced knowledge of financial organisations and institutions, as well as of government policies and the critical capabilities to apply theory to complex issues
• Explore your enterprise, creativity and independence – the skills required by employers - through your dissertation unit
• Develop your employability by undertaking a work placement with the opportunity to work on a live project
• Benefit from studying with a Business School that has partners across the world enabling you to examine the cross-culture perspectives essential to organisations in the global markets

In order to remain competitive international businesses are looking for graduates who are able to work in a flexible, collaborative way in order to help provide innovative solutions to often complex and open-ended international problems.

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

Studying this course will help you to gain an insight into the reality of international business that goes beyond what is discussed in the text books and will help you to engage with potential employers in a much more meaningful way.

Why choose this course?

The course isn’t just theoretical; it’s based in industry practice and can be very hands-on. We also have business employers regularly come in to give seminars, which motivates us to work harder.

This course shares its first stage with our other related BSc degrees to give you a foundation in the subject while providing a platform for specialist study in the second and third stages.

The course is broadly based yet carries enough depth to provide credible vocational skills; because of the wide range of courses taught in the department a number of special equipment is accessible in areas such as biometrics, robotics or computer graphics, which allows you to encounter the context of use of various concepts in Computer Science.

Computer Science is a complex and wide-ranging subject, and includes the study of computation theory, the design of systems and artificial intelligence.

This course shares its first stage with our other related BSc degrees to give you a foundation in the subject while providing a platform for specialist study in the second and third stages.

You will concentrate on essential areas such as systems architecture and security, acquire practical programming, modelling and software development skills before focusing on a chosen specialist area for your final stage project.

Why choose this course?

• Learn a broad-based range of subjects but in enough depth to give you high value vocational skills
• Study in a carefully structured but flexible way, sharing the first foundation stage with our other related BSc degrees before specialising in the second and third stages
• Develop your practical skills in a variety of programming languages
• Gain confidence in the use of specialist biometric, robotic and computer graphic equipment
• Explore the latest developments in artificial intelligence
• Challenge yourself as you decide which specialist area you would like to focus on
• Benefit from studying with highly qualified specialists in dedicated laboratories using the latest hi-tech equipment

Success in the media industry means creating powerful products that communicate with their target audiences through a constantly evolving range of media platforms. This course gives you the skills and insider knowledge needed to make that success happen.

Producing media content is an exciting, up-to-the-minute form of social communication, strongly influenced by cultural, economic and political factors. To create innovative, effective communications across a range of platforms, you must be able to combine media theory with practical production skills.

This broad-based course focuses on the production process while giving you the theoretical grounding you need. So you study practical units such as digital design, making sound and images, film-making and experimental production, combined with units ensuring your understanding of media theory and research, digital cultures and future digital production.

Why choose this course?

• Access to a wide range of professional production equipment including broadcast-standard TV and radio studios, green screen and 360 production
• Study with industry-experienced, research-active tutors
• Explore the latest world-class research through the Research Institute for Media, Art and Performance (RIMAP)
• Participate in and contribute to student festivals and competitions, building your experience and your portfolio
• Develop portable skills in communications and team-working, increasing your employability
• Benefit from a course that opens up careers in television production, digital media production, journalism, teaching, advertising, media and PR
• Take the course over four years and benefit from a year’s placement in industry (see below), gaining experience and making contacts for the future.
• If you need to step up into higher education, start with a Foundation Year (see below) which guarantees entry to the undergraduate course

Models of work are constantly evolving, but one thing does not change: people still need to be recruited, trained, motivated and paid to meet an organisation's requirements. If your interests lie in effective people management, this course puts you on the right path.

You begin your journey with a thorough grounding in business before exploring the many aspects of human resource management (HRM): professional practice; leadership and motivation; creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship; business systems including international business; selection and recruitment; employee relations; and employment law.

Learn from expert tutors as you carry out practical projects that emulate working as a professional manager, and develop your practical experience with an optional year’s paid work placement in a HRM role.

In your final year, study strategic HRM, examining real firms with a view to solving people problems, and carry out an independent research project.

Why choose this course?

• Develop your understanding of how HRM works with other business disciplines, knowledge that will enable you to fit into numerous types of organisation in the future - private, public or not-for-profit
• Learn from experts in their field, active within the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), and in both consultancy and research
• Challenge yourself with an optional sandwich year placement after your second year.
• If you want to step up into higher education, we also offer a degree path with an initial Foundation Year (see below)
• Equip yourself with a range of subject-specific and transferable skills suited to a career in specialist human management roles or professional business and management environments, both national and international

“The University has offered me numerous opportunities to develop my skills and expand my network, and has constantly pushed me outside of my comfort zone, helping me become a real HR professional. My lecturers have always been supportive and understanding, and put great effort into communicating with us. All in all, these have been the most important three years of my life!”

As the various elements of the mass media converge, it is increasingly appropriate to develop a broader understanding of how different aspects of the media interconnect. This course examines key issues of media and communication, introducing principles of cultural theories and media research methods.

For this course you must complete a series of units that address the central issues and concepts informing the study of the media in a culturally diverse environment as the nowadays society.

The course offers units dealing with fundamental principles and topics of the subject area (e.g. Current research in mass communications; Media institutions, structure and policies; and Research Methods in the area of media); and a core unit focuses on international development.

The course includes a final self-directed independent study project, in the form of a dissertation based on a research project. It is this project work that provides you with the opportunity to tailor the course to your own interests (subject to staff supervisory expertise).

You can start your studies in October and complete the course in 12 months. Alternatively start the course in February and complete it over 15 months

Why choose this course?

• Study the theories, which underpin the practice of media and communication, and discuss theoretical aspects of media through a range of case studies.
• Apply knowledge of the media and its cultural forms to the analysis of contemporary issues
• Employ skills in critical analysis, research, and communication as well as an array of generic and creative skills to propose solutions to contemporary issues in mass communications
• Develop and employ strong academic skills in research and critical thinking, problem-solving and analysis.
• Apply knowledge of cultural and media processes to the examination of policy and ethical issues, whether in the public domain or in other aspects of democratic participation and citizenship.
• Acquire skills needed to continue your studies and progress into MPhil and PhD.

With its strong emphasis on real-world and real-work experience, this industry-facing, entrepreneurial-focused course gives you the skills you need to achieve success in the business of film-making.

The degree offers a business-based approach to film production, providing you with the knowledge and expertise you need to establish a successful career in this fast-paced, exciting field. It is particularly relevant if you’re thinking of starting up your own film production company.

In your first year, you explore creating content; film production; and making images and sound. You go on to study essential skills such as freelancing; both fiction and non-fiction film-making; and writing for the screen. You also work independently on a special film project of your own choosing.

Why choose this course?

• It offers a unique 70/30 practice/theory balance
• Study in our industry-standard production and post-production studio facilities, giving you a head-start if you wish to set up your own production company
• It gives you the skills you need in digital technology to be an independent film-maker producing low-budget projects, corporate promotions, event profiles and much more
• Learn from an academic team with key roles in the British film industry, many of whom have made documentaries and dramas for TV, cinema and gallery exhibitions
• Take on real-work creative briefs from the local film community - including Luton Culture and Clearhead Productions - as well as our in-house agency Media Junction
• Develop key transferable skills such as critical and analytical thinking

This course offers you the opportunity to combine hands-on experience of  film making to a professional standard with sound theoretical underpinnings.

You will study with world-class practitioners and academic experts and your final project will challenge you to make a film, which can be a fiction, a documentary piece of work, or a hybrid – or research and produce a dissertation.

During your studies you will meet leading filmmakers, film editors and industry executives and you should acquire all the transferable skills and specialist knowledge to do well in your chosen career.

Why choose this course?

• Study with a dynamic and experienced team of acclaimed film-makers and published scholars on a course blending practice and theory
• Explore a range of areas including: cross-media approaches to story-telling, scriptwriting, production planning and development, digital film production, editing and post-production techniques, film history and theory
• Develop your industry network and future employment potential through meeting leading filmmakers, industry executives and academic experts
• Gain experience of making film to a professional standard, from scripting through to post-production and develop specialist knowledge of specific areas of the media - of particular value if you want to develop a career as an independent film maker or work in the television and film industries
• Benefit from a degree equipping you with a range of important transferable skills relevant to work in broadcasting, journalism, arts or media administration, governmental regulation of the media, research, marketing, sales and advertising or enable you to continue to MPhil and PhD research degrees.