Master of Science in Applied Computing and Information Technology

at University of Bedfordshire - Luton Campus United Kingdom

This course examines key issues of media and communication, introducing principles of cultural theories and media research methods, providing a broader understanding of how different aspects of the media interconnect.

Why choose this course?

• Data Analytics Units covers a wide range of topics including programming, databases, security, project management and computer networking.
• This gives 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.

This popular course offers you the opportunity to develop the skills you need to become an Art and Design professional in a supportive community environment. You will work with live briefs, public projects and industry partners including Luton Culture, Departure Lounge Gallery, The Hat Factory and MK Gallery.

Offering a balance of theory and practice, our BA (Hons) Art and Design ensures you develop a range of visual and creative skills while you gain insights into critical theory, the importance of context and contemporary professional practice. If you are unsure of your specialist field, it gives you the opportunity to experience several creative pathways including Art and Design practices; community arts; curating; arts management; arts advocacy; and further study towards a career working in art and design education.

You develop essential skills and knowledge in a variety of 2D, 3D, digital and time-based practices, and engage in critical aesthetic and conceptual debates. You explore visual, social, cultural, environmental and political diversity, expressed through your developing Art and Design practice.

You will become proficient in presenting work to professional standards, including project production, and will develop the skills needed to build relationships in the creative community including networking, exhibiting, and marketing.

Why choose this course?

• All course tutors are practising, internationally exhibiting artists
• You study both traditional disciplines such as drawing, painting and printmaking along with the latest techniques in photography, video and digital media
• You learn through practical workshop sessions, sustained practice in the studio and one-to-one tutorials as well as work-related opportunities
• You work independently, developing your ideas through to outcomes, showing you can select and use materials, processes and environments; research and analyse those ideas and outcomes; and make connections to wider contexts
• Learning is linked to ‘real world’ experience to prepare you for a career across a number of fields
• You are able to consider issues arising from the creative practitioner's relationship with audiences, clients, markets, environments, users, consumers, and/or participants
• Develop personal and practice-based skills such as management, communication and multi-agency working
• You can take the degree over four years with a placement year in industry (see below), which allows you to sample a field of practice, build your CV and make future contacts
• If you are returning to learning or need a launchpad into a degree course, you can opt for Art and Design with a Foundation Year (see below)
• You gain a qualification that will enhance your prospects of a fulfilling and exciting career in a wide range of creative industries. Our graduates have become practising artists and designers, teachers, arts administrators and art managers; they have also continued their studies, both locally and internationally

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

By joining the police service, you’re making a real difference. This course – licensed by the College of Policing – opens up life-changing opportunities to develop personally and professionally.

The Professional Policing degree allows you to develop the knowledge and skills that underpin police work while preparing you for the challenges police officers face. Following the College of Policing curriculum, it combines theory, law and vocational experience (if you choose to be a volunteer or Special Constable) to give you a thorough understanding of modern policing.

The course explores the complexities of crime, crime control and the effects of crime on the individual and communities as well as specific areas of study such as offender management, victim support and public prosecution; criminal legislation; community policing; safeguarding; and mental health and offending.

Why choose this course?

• Study a curriculum designed and licensed by the College of Policing as part of the Police Education Qualifications Framework
• Learn from a specialist multi-disciplinary teaching team which includes former police officers, social workers, mental health workers, forensic scientists and safeguarding practitioners
• Develop your problem-solving skills through investigating the complexities of the police role; current and emerging issues; and the demands on the police and their wider partners
• Benefit from volunteering opportunities, supported by your tutors
• Extend your knowledge and skills through our guest lectures and workshops
• Once you graduate, you can apply for a role as a police constable within a Home Office force in England and Wales, with many future opportunities to specialise and progress
• A degree in Policing equips you with skills and knowledge that transfer to other career paths and sectors

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

This course examines the problem of crime, why people offend and how crime is controlled. It also gives you the practical skills you need and the confidence to apply theories of criminology in real-world settings.

Through the course, you develop an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the criminal mind, criminal justice system, the modern criminological environment and principles around the rehabilitation of the offender.

There is a choice of optional units for those with individual interests, such as youth justice, crime and the media, youth and crime, and violence in modern society. In your final year, you also undertake an independent research-based project, supported by expert staff who are all actively involved in research themselves.

Why choose this course?

• Develop your research skills and the ability to make sound judgements based on in-depth knowledge
• Explore your commitment to the principle of equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory practice
• Study with academics who have world-leading research expertise in areas such as community safety, offending and youth justice
• Take the course over four years and include an optional year’s placement in industry (see below), allowing you to gain practical skills, build your CV and make contacts
• If you need to step up into higher education, start with a Foundation Year (see below) which guarantees entry to the undergraduate course
• Graduates of this degree also benefit from opportunities for postgraduate study at the Vauxhall Centre for the Study of Crime
• It can lead into careers in the criminal justice system or wider human services, including youth justice and youth work, offending teams, policing, community safety, local government and research into criminal behaviour

With the world facing a host of food-safety issues and diet-related health problems, food and nutrition have never been more relevant. This course gets you to the heart of this fast-developing field, opening up a wide range of exciting career paths.

Nowadays food travels as fast as people and the need to supply adequate quantities of safe, healthy and diversified food from production to consumption calls for skilled, knowledgeable and practice-ready food scientists.

This degree gives you the skills and knowledge you need, starting with the core fields of food and nutrition: human anatomy; physiology; microbiology; biochemistry; and the principles of food and nutrition. You then go on to explore specialised areas such as clinical nutrition, immunology, food microbiology and biotechnology. Throughout you develop your ability to relate results to theory, with practical laboratory training in the latest biochemical and molecular experiments.

Why choose this course?

• Develop your understanding of practical aspects of food production such as food spoilage, safety and quality control, and public health nutrition
• Using our modern laboratories, become skilled in analysis including the microbial and chemical contamination of food, nutrition content, and the effect of nutritional supplements
• Think globally about problems such as the effect on health of over-consumption in developed nations or poor nutrition in economically under-developed countries
• Learn from our expert Life Sciences team, all of whom are actively involved in research
• Gain a range of transferable skills including independent thinking; planning and problem solving; observation and analysis; and communication
• If you need a step-up into higher education, take the course over four years and include a Foundation Year (see below) which guarantees entry to the degree course
• As a graduate, benefit from career opportunities in food and nutrition research and development across a variety of sectors including government, health, academia, pharmaceuticals and the biotechnology industry

The MBA (Human Resource 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 of Human Resource Management (HRM).

It is designed for individuals who want to develop their leadership and management skills along with their interest in Human Resource Management and for 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 (Human Resource 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.

The media industry is constantly changing, and you need to go into it with up-to-the-minute skills and expertise. At Bedfordshire, you gain cross-industry editorial and production skills - gained through working in radio studios, edit suites and our high-tech newsroom - so you're ready to hit the ground running when it comes to your career.

With our multimedia approach and real-world platforms, this course covers all aspects of journalism: news gathering and reporting (including location work); feature writing and editing; and producing and presenting your work across radio, internet, film and print.

You’ll be based at our well-equipped media arts centre, which features industry-standard radio studios and edit suites as well as our newsroom, which has the latest Apple technology and access to the Press Association news-wire feed.

We give you an essential understanding of the industry back story by teaching media law, ethics and regulation; the theory and current practice of journalism; and the global nature of modern journalism. We also offer insights into future developments.

Why choose this course?

• You’ll be taught by a team of industry and academic specialists
• We organise regular, experience-widening trips and masterclasses from industry guest speakers
• You can specialise, taking optional units in PR and marketing, radio, and magazine and online publishing
• There’s the opportunity for you to gain work experience and build links within journalism through an extra work placement year
• You can put your skills into practice, reporting for our news website or developing your own radio show for our on-site community radio station, Radio LaB
• It opens up additional career paths including research; editorial production (sub-editing and proofreading); new media production; and broadcast presenting
• Past graduates have taken up positions within the broadcast sector at Radio One, Kiss FM, Channel 5 and CBeebies

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'."