Master of Science in Data Analytics and Technologies - Extended

at University of Bolton United Kingdom

Education is a highly complex and increasingly competitive sector. Schools, colleges, universities and other training organisations are under constant pressure to achieve greater successes with fewer resources. The need for inspiring, effective and knowledgeable leaders is greater than ever and a multitude of opportunities are available to appropriately qualified individuals.

Aimed at existing education professionals, this course offers in-depth knowledge and understanding of the principles and theories that underpin educational leadership, as well as an enhanced and critical awareness of current issues facing educational leaders.

We offer a supportive environment in which you can explore the role of leaders and leadership in educational settings, including understanding and interpreting educational data, how to present data to a team and how to work collaboratively with education stakeholders. We’ll encourage you to reflect on your own professional practice and guide you in your journey towards becoming a perceptive, responsive and decisive educational leader.

Highlights

• Our students are drawn from a wide variety of backgrounds – sharing the individual and unique educational insights and perspectives of your peers help to enrich your learning experience.
• We promote research and critical enquiry helping you learn to make sound, evidence-based independent judgements.
• You’ll have the chance to develop enhanced key skills in line with your personal and professional development needs; for instance, autonomy, and professional accountability in relation to educational leadership and in leading learning communities.
• We’ll support you as you learn to critically reflect on and evaluate your own leadership skills, and develop innovative solutions for improvement considering national and local contextual influences.
• Intensive use of learning technologies and multimedia resources, such as virtual learning environments and eLearning tools, enhance your ICT skills and raise your awareness of resources from across the educational spectrum.

Key Features

• Our team of highly experienced, enthusiastic and dedicated experts offer face-to-face and blended sessions as well as one-to-one support.
• We embed the concepts and practice of inter-professional working throughout the programme.
• Our academic team is actively involved in educational research, helping you to explore issues from a robust research-informed knowledge base.
• We’ll support you to develop critical thinking and research evaluation skills and apply these during your independent master’s-level project.
• Our well-stocked library offers a comprehensive selection of relevant texts and access to an extensive online database of multimedia sources including eJournals, podcasts, vodcasts and eBooks.

It’s predicted that by 2022, there will be a worldwide shortage of 1.8 million information security workers , meaning that the future offers qualified cybersecurity professionals access to excellent career opportunities and competitive salaries. Our BSc (Hons) Computing (Cyber Security) course is an ideal route into this dynamic and evolving industry.

Cyber security focuses on protecting data and information systems from cyber breaches. Covering how to design secure computer systems, this unique degree emphasises secure software development and promotes a deep understanding of the structure of computing systems. Throughout the course, you’ll develop technical knowledge and applied skills in security defence techniques and counter-measures, ready to protect computer systems and electronic infrastructures from attack. In particular, we’ll focus on helping you learn to design and develop your own security tools for probing, analysing and defending computer systems against attack.

Our expert and dedicated team will cover how to analyse and evaluate security threats and vulnerabilities to information systems, perform security risk assessments and develop security controls, processes and software. We’ll support you as you learn how to respond to security incidents and implement resolution activities. The department’s strong links with business mean you’ll have the chance to work on ‘live briefs’ in your coursework assignments, so you’ll have the opportunity to enjoy real-world context and application for the skills and knowledge we’ll help you develop.

With class sizes no greater than 30, we can offer you meaningful, personalised learning plans. Our dedicated and enthusiastic lecturers – many of whom are active researchers with extensive industry insights and experience – will help you develop both the theoretical knowledge and the practical, hands-on skills required by the security sector that will put you one-step ahead of attackers from day one. Meanwhile, guest speakers and lecturers give you access to highly relevant and up-to-date input from industry settings.

All of this is backed by our well-equipped IT suites, where you’ll get to apply and develop your learning individually and in groups, with expert guidance and support.

Highlights

• The department – and the wider University – provides a warm and friendly environment for your studies, with relatively small class sizes, purpose-built teaching facilities, and excellent student support and library services.
• Your teaching and tutorial team brings an impressive range of professional experience and technical prowess to the course, so you’ll have the chance to explore and evaluate a range of perspectives relating to your studies.
• A big part of our commitment to your progress is helping you develop your employability and industry networks. The teaching team work collaboratively with industrial partners to ensure that you have access to the latest and relevant industrial skills. So, we’ll encourage you to attend guest lectures that give your learning context, offer access to industry contacts, and contribute to your underlying professional development.
• By underpinning our content and assignments with a strong industrial focus, we foster a keen understanding of the professional IT environment, and help you develop essential skills such as team-working, communication and problem solving.
• This degree offers a comprehensive overview of key cyber security principles, methods and activities, such as types of security, common attack techniques, performing a risk assessment, penetration testing, managing risk and assessing the ‘cyber security culture’ of an organisation.
• We’ll focus on your individual needs, and provide personalised learning support in order to help you find the learning strategies that best support you as you begin your journey towards an exciting and challenging career as a cyber-security.

Key Features

• Our dedicated laboratories, servers and end-hosts feature high-specification hardware and the latest software, so you’ll have industry-equivalent hands-on experience.
• You’ll also get to experience the latest technologies, such as OpenStack – developed by Rackspace and NASA.
• As you’d expect, many of our computing facilities are accessible online, so you can work on your assignments wherever you are, and whenever inspiration kicks in.
• We’ll support you to develop sought-after skills such as background research, critical reasoning and problem solving, as well as professional communication, time management, teamwork, and lifelong learning.
• We’ll also encourage you to build a portfolio of evidence representing the projects and tasks you’ve completed during your studies, ready to impress potential employers.
• We continually monitor and update the course to reflect current and ever-changing issues in computing, and to keep your learning in line with technological advances and innovations.

Professional recognition

• The University of Bolton’s BSc (Hons) Computing (Cyber Security) programme offers you the opportunity to develop the skills to be recognised as a RedHat certified practitioner in systems administration, and gain a number of other industry-relevant professional accreditations. We were the first UK university to become a RedHat academy and offer you access to the accreditation examinations at a significantly reduced cost.

Business management qualifications open doors and are considered essential whether you're looking to pursue a career in business, or achieve higher levels of responsibility in your current work. We’ll support you to enhance your existing Foundation Degree or HND-level knowledge and skills, ready to achieve the status of BSc (Hons) Business Management (Enterprise) Top-up graduate. You can study advanced aspects of business management, law and marketing, enhance your professional skills, and boost your employability.

Building on your prior studies, we’ll guide you as you explore specialist areas vital for entrepreneurship, such as e-commerce and marketing, company law, and financial reporting for management. This Honours-level programme will also support you to gain knowledge of strategic management, and develop critical inquiry and research skills to improve your work and enhance its quality. As a graduate, you’ll also receive the CMI Level 5 Award in Leadership and Management, helping you stand out to employers.

Developing your employability is a key focus of this dynamic and flexible programme. Real-life case studies, guest speakers and industry visits are designed to help you to understand the business environment and the needs of employers in local, national and international contexts. We’ll support you to develop sought-after skills such as communication, data analysis, time management, team working and problem solving.

We also aim to help you develop lifelong learning skills so that you can take ownership of your professional development for the future, maximising your potential for success.

Highlights

• The Institute of Management Greater Manchester – and the wider University – provide a warm and friendly environment for your studies, with relatively small class sizes, purpose-built teaching facilities, and excellent student support and library services.
• On successful completion of this dual award course you’ll receive both an academic degree and a professionally-recognised management qualification – the CMI Level 5 Award in Leadership and Management. You don’t need to take extra exams or coursework to achieve the Award – we combine our degree module and CMI assessments streamlining your route to both qualifications.
• This course is part of our Business Management suite of degrees. At Honours level, depending on your prior studies, you can follow this specialist pathway in Enterprise, choose the core Business Management route, or select one of our other specialist pathways in Law, People Management, Supply Chain, Finance, Marketing or Retail.
• Face-to-face sessions and one-to-one support is offered by our team of highly experienced and enthusiastic lecturers who have worked in a wide range of businesses ranging from multinational organisation to SMEs.
• We’ll introduce you to your course and new study environment through a bespoke induction programme focused on helping you transition smoothly and effectively to Honours-level study.

Key Features

• This course is offered within our vibrant Institute of Management environment in Bolton town centre.
• We use small group and tutorial teaching, so you have the opportunity to benefit from the excellent support offered by our teaching staff.
• We regularly invite guest speakers who hold senior positions in industry and practice, enabling you to benefit from their knowledge and advice.
• Course materials are available online, allowing you to prepare work at home and make the most of the highly interactive in-class tuition.
• Contemporary research findings are woven into our teaching. We offer a robust academic underpinning to your studies of business management.
• Our dedicated team will support you as you develop critical thinking and research skills and apply these during your final year dissertation or work-based project (if you’re in suitable employment).

Photographs are the most exciting and important visual form of global communication, forming a significant part of everyday life. It’s estimated that 4.2 billion people now use the internet and that around 1.2 trillion photos were taken last year*. The image has become the most widely used international language, and the ability to communicate concise visual statements that engage audiences is at the heart of our course and teaching.

Our broad-based degree offers you a unique pathway of visual self-discovery. You’ll benefit from the freedom to pursue your own interests while receiving expert support from our industry-experienced tutors, developed with help from a panel of industry professionals. We offer a supportive market-aware environment, in which you can explore a variety of photographic genres such as documentary, fashion, editorial, photojournalism, commercial advertising, portraiture, architectural, wildlife, landscape and fine art.

We’ll invite industry experts to share their knowledge during guest lectures, and offer you opportunities to work on placements, ‘live briefs’ and commissions. Our industry links will help to enrich your learning experience and provide you with invaluable ‘insider’ information and possible employment opportunities. You can be part of this fully integrated programme of practical and theoretical knowledge, building your confidence and skills ready for a career in this dynamic industry.

Highlights

• Our team of highly knowledgeable and enthusiastic photography lecturers offer face-to-face sessions and one-to-one support, ensuring you can access help and advice when you need it.
• Based on your interests and strengths, our experienced team will work to help you identify a potential career path and plan your future professional development based on your individual needs. We want to support you as you establish the foundation of your career in your chosen area of the photography industry.
• Exhibition and display are key themes in the final year, and we’ll offer you the opportunity to present your work in an external exhibition as well as during Bolton School of the Arts’ Creative Showcase.
• We offer opportunities for you to participate in foreign study trips, as well as visit collections and current exhibitions at galleries, museums and arts centres around the UK. In recent years, visits to major cities such as New York, Paris, London and Toronto have proved valuable learning opportunities for our students.
• You’ll also have the opportunity to progress seamlessly onto our Master of Arts Photography programme.

Key Features

• Our custom-designed photography department offers outstanding facilities including darkrooms, a dedicated computer suite with a high output printing facility and four studios with specialist lighting.
• Practical knowledge, such as studio lighting and location techniques, combined with research and critique help you learn to develop your ideas and produce innovative research-led work.
• You’ll have access to a rich visiting speaker programme, providing insight into industry experts’ professional practice and up-to-the-minute developments in the sector.
• The programme offers work placements, internships, masterclasses, awards, competitions and open calls, such as the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition.
• Our specialist tutors and technical support staff have professional experience and industry connections.
• As a graduate, you’ll have a wide range of independent, specialist photographic styles based on your own planning and development.

Business management qualifications open doors and are considered essential whether you’re looking to pursue a career in business, or achieve higher levels of responsibility in your current work. We’ll support you to enhance your existing Foundation Degree or HND-level knowledge and skills, ready to achieve the status of BSc (Hons) Business Management (People Management) Top-up graduate. You can study advanced aspects of business, management and leadership, enhance your professional skills, and boost your employability.

Building on your prior studies, we’ll guide you as you explore advanced topics such as international human resource management, learning and development, and the employment relationship. This Honours-level programme will also support you to gain knowledge of strategic management, and develop critical inquiry and research skills to improve your work and enhance its quality. As a graduate, you’ll also receive the CMI Level 5 Award in Leadership and Management, helping you stand out to employers.

Developing your employability is a key focus of this dynamic and flexible programme. Real-life case studies, guest speakers and industry visits are designed to help you to understand the business environment and the needs of employers in local, national and international contexts. We’ll support you to develop sought-after skills such as communication, data analysis, time management, team working and problem solving.

We also aim to help you develop lifelong learning skills so that you can take ownership of your professional development for the future, maximising your potential for success.

Highlights

• The Institute of Management Greater Manchester – and the wider University – provide a warm and friendly environment for your studies, with relatively small class sizes, purpose-built teaching facilities, and excellent student support and library services.
• On successful completion of this dual award course you’ll receive both an academic degree and a professionally-recognised management qualification – the CMI Level 5 Award in Leadership and Management. You don’t need to take extra exams or coursework to achieve the Award – we combine our degree module and CMI assessments streamlining your route to both qualifications.
• This course is part of our Business Management suite of degrees. At Honours level, depending on your prior studies, you can follow this specialist pathway in People Management, choose the core Business Management route, or select one of our other specialist pathways in Enterprise, Law, Supply Chain, Finance, Marketing or Retail.
• Face-to-face sessions and one-to-one support is offered by our team of highly experienced and enthusiastic lecturers who have worked in a wide range of businesses ranging from multinational organisation to SMEs.
• We’ll introduce you to your course and new study environment through a bespoke induction programme focused on helping you transition smoothly and effectively to Honours-level study.

Key Features

• This course is offered within our vibrant Institute of Management environment in Bolton town centre.
• We use small group and tutorial teaching, so you have the opportunity to benefit from the excellent support offered by our teaching staff.
• We regularly invite guest speakers who hold senior positions in industry and practice, enabling you to benefit from their knowledge and advice.
• Course materials are available online, allowing you to prepare work at home and make the most of the highly interactive in-class tuition.
• Contemporary research findings are woven into our teaching. We offer a robust academic underpinning to your studies of business management.
• Our dedicated team will support you as you develop critical thinking and research skills and apply these during your final year dissertation or work-based project (if you’re in suitable employment).

Professional recognition
Graduates of our BSc (Hons) Business Management (People Management) Top-up course will receive the Level 5 Award in Leadership and Management from the CMI (Chartered Management Institute).

The BEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bolton has been awarded professional accreditation by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and uses UK-SPEC learning outcomes designed to meet in part the academic requirements leading to Chartered Engineer (CEng) status.

This course may also be studied as a part-time option on a dedicated one day a week basis. It's ideal if you're an HND student looking to top-up your qualification to degree standard. Year 2 or 3 HND students will be selected according to their level of mathematics, science, and experience. If you’re interested in a degree apprenticeship, the department is actively looking at collaboration with local companies.

The department provides a friendly, yet challenging, environment where the emphasis is on both the theories and principles of mechanical engineering and their application in a work context. You’ll carry out case studies, practical and laboratory work and problem-solving projects. You’ll also develop the presentation and managerial skills that you'll need to manage engineering projects and support your future employment in the industry.

Highlights

• You’ll have the opportunity to work on live engineering projects, both as an individual and as part of a group.
• There are also opportunities to participate in inter-university student competitions including the IMechE’s annual undergraduate design challenge, which includes all the universities in the North West.
• Professionals from national and multinational mechanical engineering firms are regularly invited to give guest lectures about the sector and job opportunities. You’ll also have industry visits and work placements.
• You’ll get hands-on experience using state-of-the-art equipment and software such as SolidWorks, Ansys, and MATLAB, for analysis and design, prototyping and control.
• Your final year project allows you to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding when investigating and providing solutions to engineering problems. Some projects may be on ‘live’ problems from local industry or in-house research activity.

Key Features

• Our engineering department has a strong tradition in the field of engineering education and high-quality engineering courses have been delivered successfully at Bolton for many years.
• It has modern, dedicated engineering laboratories and state-of-the-art design development and project facilities. These include CAD, analysis, optimisation, CAM and CAE software.
• You’ll be taught in a supportive learning environment with small class sizes. Your tutors are experienced professionals and academics, highly qualified in their fields, and many of them are chartered engineers.
• We’ll encourage you to develop an understanding of all aspects of engineering projects; for example, costings, the science and maths of these projects, functional design materials, and project management.
• You’ll have opportunities to develop business skills for a career in this field, including problem-solving, managing workloads, and communicating with a range of personnel. You’ll also be able to develop your decision-making abilities and your ICT capabilities.
• Our mechanical engineering graduates enjoy high levels of employment, finding interesting and financially rewarding professional careers in the UK and overseas.

Whether you’re seeking to forge a career as a solicitor, barrister, costs lawyer, legal executive or conveyancer, or aspire to work in sectors such as business management, the civil service, politics, HR or finance, our LLB (Hons) Law is an excellent choice.

Our experienced team will guide you as you explore the sources of the law in England and Wales, how it is made and developed, the institutions within which that law is administered, and the personnel who practice law. You’ll study the law as it regulates the functions of the state, the relations between private individuals, and the ownership and control of land and other property. You’ll also be able to choose additional legal areas that are of interest to you or your career aspirations.

We’ll support you to develop the skills required to practice law; for example, you’ll be expected to take part in mooting debates (a mock legal hearing where points of law are argued) in our purpose-built courtroom. We’ll challenge you to develop sought-after critical reasoning, communication and advocacy skills, along with valuable transferable skills such as analytical thinking, practical problem-solving, presentation, negotiation skills and teamwork. Overall, our dedicated team are focused on helping you gain the skills employers value along with a deep and critical understanding of the law.

Highlights

• Your study will be based on the requirements defined by the Joint Academic Stage Board (JASB) and the Legal Training Review (LETR), which represents the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) and the Chartered Institute for Legal Executives (CILEx) for the initial or academic stage of training to practise in the legal profession. The JASB is responsible for making sure that all Qualifying Law Degrees meet a nationally recognised standard. At Bolton, we are gratified that our law degree meets that high national standard.
• The University of Bolton’s Legal Advice Centre launched in September 2019, where law students are guaranteed a work placement (of at least one semester) and can put their acquired skills into practice by assisting members of the public with their legal enquiries.
• Few law schools have their own courtroom. Our state-of-the-art Moot Law Court gives you the opportunity to apply your academic and forensic skills to practical situations in front of your peers.
• We have our own dedicated Law library, as well as a specialised law librarian. Online legal database resources are available via Lexis Library and Westlaw and we use the virtual learning environment, Moodle, to create an interactive learning environment.
• We maintain strong partnerships with local law firms and other legal service providers, facilitating work shadowing opportunities and regular visits by guest speakers. We also run the prestigious annual Ryder Lecture series and are home to the Centre for Contemporary Coronial Law.

Key Features

• We offer a deep understanding of the fundamental legal principles, concepts, values, rules and techniques, establishing your knowledge and understanding of the doctrines and principles which underpin the law of England and Wales.
• Our research active academic law staff offer you access to expertise in a range of disciplines, including alternative dispute resolution, commercial, employment, European, family, healthcare, intellectual property, international and judicial reform.
• We’ll guide you in the use of research data, including primary sources such as legislation, EU law, case law, and secondary source materials such as government reports, white and green papers, and refereed journal articles.
• You’ll be encouraged to gain practical experience of presentation, argument and applying legal method skills as you take part in mock interviews, moot debates and negotiations.
• We recommend that you join the University of Bolton’s Student Law Society, which offers access to work placement opportunities, presentation skills development sessions and court trips.

Professional recognition

• Your study will be based on the requirements defined by the Joint Academic Stage Board (JASB) and the Legal Training Review (LETR), which represents the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), the Bar Standards Board (BSB) and the Chartered Institute for Legal Executives (CILEx) for the initial or academic stage of training to practice in the legal profession.
• The Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Bar Standards Board have accredited the University of Bolton for the purposes of the solicitors’ and barristers’ academic stage requirements.
• The JASB is responsible for making sure that all Qualifying Law Degrees meet a nationally recognised standard. At Bolton, we are gratified that our law degree meets that high national standard.

If you’re looking for a postgraduate course that exactly matches your strengths and ambitions then your search is over. The University of Bolton's MA/MSc Professional Practice (Specialism): Extended allows you to design your own master’s degree. We’ll help you personalise your postgraduate education by combining the disciplines that matter for your future. This bespoke course will support you to gain a combination of academic, analytical, and employment-focused skills that will prepare you for a career in your chosen professional area, as well as provide a sound basis for doctoral-level study.

Supporting your choices
Working with our expert tutors, you can choose two modules from across the whole spectrum of master’s level modules available at the University of Bolton. You’ll also be supported to devise a master’s-level dissertation or major project that develops your research and critical thinking skills and allows you to demonstrate your expertise. We’ll counsel you as you make these choices to ensure you create a coherent programme of study – one that is achievable and that will support you to develop the skills and knowledge you seek. We offer a wide range of subjects and you can choose modules from a single area or from two different disciplines, depending on your interests, prior qualifications and experience.

Capture essential employability, transferable and business skills
Alongside your subject-specific studies, you’ll have the opportunity to build the essential employability, transferable and business skills you need to compete with confidence for your dream job or build your own successful business from the ground up. You’ll focus on developing the skills that are most valuable to you as an individual, as shaped by your prior learning and future plans. We’ll guide you to explore areas such as influence and impact, self-management, creativity and innovation, and professional identity, bringing in business and psychological concepts to enhance your development as a professional.

Focusing on your future
We want to help you gain the skills and self-belief to showcase your worth in your chosen field. We’ll guide you to explore and understand the postgraduate labour market in the sector you wish to join, preparing you to apply your new knowledge, attributes and experiences so that you can satisfy and impress your stakeholders (such as employers, clients, commissioners and funding bodies). We’ll help you learn about the recruitment methods used by different types of organisations in your field, explore your personal brand and self-positioning, and prepare for recruitment and selection or self-employment. In addition, we’ll support you to develop skills in commercial ability and acumen, networking and professional relationship management, as well as strategies for career maintenance and growth.

Tried and tested research-informed coaching
Throughout the programme, we’ll use tried and tested, research-informed coaching and training methods to support your development. These will range from postgraduate-level skills in research, critique, problem-solving, professional presentation and synthesis to interpersonal and business-relevant skills such as innovative thinking, team working and project management, the effective use of technology, public speaking and professionalism. All this knowledge will be tailored to your chosen employment context to help you achieve your vision for your future.

An ideal course for graduates and professionals in a wide range of areas
This course should appeal to (but isn’t limited to) graduates and professionals in areas such as art and design, accountancy, science, engineering, business management, film FX, performing arts, community development and youth, computing, games, construction, law, crime and criminal justice, early years, education, English and creative writing, mathematics, nursing and the caring professions, media, psychology, the humanities and sport.

Would you prefer to complete your course over a different timeframe?
We also offer this course full-time over 12 months or part-time over 24 months. For details of the 12-month course, please visit our full-time MA/MSc Professional Practice (Specialism) course search web page. Alternatively, to find out more and apply for the 24-month course, please visit our part-time MA/MSc Professional Practice (Specialism) course search web page.

Highlights

• Dr Selva Pankaj, the author of ‘Thinking into Character – A Proven Methodology for the Creation of Success & Self-Fulfilment’, is a valued partner of the University whose work will support you in the development of business and career planning, confidence and knowledge.
• This course allows you to focus on one subject or to combine two areas of interest to follow an interdisciplinary route. When you successfully complete the master's, your degree title will be chosen to reflect the focus of your studies.
• Our highly qualified and professionally experienced staff have strong links with many economic sectors, offering opportunities for industry masterclasses and lectures, joint projects, and networking.
• The University of Bolton offers a host of world-class facilities across our campus and faculties. Depending on your choice of modules, you'll be able to make use of our specialist facilities to support your studies.
• This MA/MSc is part of the University of Bolton’s ‘Career Development Masters’ suite, which offers shared modules designed to give you a wider business perspective, including tax self-assessment, invoicing, intellectual property and risk assessments, as well as knowing how to start a business and to take advantage of opportunities for enterprise development.

Key Features

• Teaching and supervision are delivered by dedicated staff chosen for their expertise and experience in fields relevant to your areas of study and professional development needs.
• We offer an engaging programme of visiting speakers and practitioners that gives you opportunities to network with and learn from industry professionals.
• We'll offer you opportunities for interdisciplinary work and collaboration.
• Your studies will culminate in your Professional Dissertation, an independent and substantial piece of research that will further your knowledge and practice. This will demonstrate your mastery of an aspect of your field, showcasing your expert knowledge to employers as well as forming an ideal preparation for doctoral-level studies should you to wish to pursue a PhD.
• Your final master’s degree title will reflect your specialist areas of study (please note that the final award title will be selected in agreement with the University within the parameters specified in programme documentation). If you have chosen two specialist subject areas with equal weighting, the title will reflect both specialist subject areas; for instance, MA Professional Practice Creative Writing and Computing. If one of your specialist subject areas has a greater weighting than the other, the word ‘with’ will be used instead of ‘and’ between the two subject areas; for example, MA Professional Practice Creative Writing with Computing.

The study of literature is the study of the representation of life, a metaphor for understanding how the world works. Our BA in English aims to broaden your life experience, by introducing you to a wide variety of literary texts – fiction, non-fiction, drama, poetry, historical, contemporary, from near and far. Through close study, you’ll develop your critical skills, and learn to consider texts from many different perspectives.

We want foremost to expand your understanding of literature and its relation to society – how books have informed, persuaded, shocked and delighted their readers over the centuries and up to the modern day. We’ll support you as you develop your written, oral and critical abilities in a challenging and supportive study environment.

We offer small classes full of big ideas. Our lecturers are renowned scholars and award-winning teachers, who will work to meet your individual learning needs. Through research, discussion, argument and analysis, we offer opportunities for you to learn about the workings of the world around you and to use language effectively and powerfully to achieve your goals.

Highlights

• Our English and Creative Writing courses are ranked second in the UK by the Guardian University Guide 2020.
• The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2020 also ranks our English subject area as top in the UK for student experience and second in the UK for teaching quality.
• You can benefit from our strong links with external creative organisations, including the nationally acclaimed Octagon Theatre, Bolton, where you can gain behind-the-scenes access and workshop experience.
• You’ll have access to reduced-price tickets for Octagon performances and other events related to your course, including poetry readings.
• We’ll encourage you to submit your work to our recognised literary magazine The Bolton Review so you can gain publishing experience.

Key Features

• We offer popular options in women’s writing, Gothic fiction, children’s literature, film adaptation and contemporary poetry, in addition to a range of exciting core modules that build on our close links with the Creative Writing team.
• Our English tutors actively research the three core areas of poetry, prose and drama, feeding their knowledge back into the curriculum so you can benefit from the latest thinking and discoveries.
• We work to help you develop a range of skills that are highly valued by employers, such as written and verbal communication, presenting information and ideas, argument and persuasion, working to deadlines, research and critical analysis, listening, IT, cultural awareness, and lifelong learning.
• You’ll be encouraged to attend guest lectures from literary scholars, and to hear contemporary writers read at the University’s regular, well-established “Live Literature” events.

Social work is a varied and rewarding profession centred on people. It offers careers working with children, young people and adults, supporting families, care leavers and older people, as well as those with mental health issues, learning difficulties or physical disabilities. As a social worker, you’ll work in multidisciplinary environments alongside professionals from other agencies, such as housing services, the police and health and social care teams, to empower individuals, families and communities within society.

Our HCPC-approved BA (Hons) Social Work focuses on helping you learn to use your professional judgement and build relationships, both with the individuals and communities you serve as well as with colleagues from other professions and services. Our passionate and knowledgeable staff will support you to develop the sound knowledge of social work theory, models, legislation, policy, ethics and interventions that will underpin your professional decision-making. We’ll cover areas such as the impact of injustice, demography, and social inequality, as well as safeguarding and the signs of harm, abuse, neglect and exploitation. We’ll guide you as you gain key skills, values and behaviours including professional curiosity, inter-personal and communication skills, initiative, leadership, research and critical reflection, partnership working, self-care and resilience, record keeping, and workload management.

Our focus is on preparing you to become a confident, highly competent, compassionate and professional social worker. On successful completion of this qualification, you’ll be able to use your professional expertise to work, assess, plan, implement, evaluate and intervene putting the needs of people first, and ensuring their voice is central to decision making. You’ll be ready to maintain professional and ethical standards while supporting positive change in people's lives in order to improve their wellbeing and independence.

Highlights

• The University of Bolton’s BA (Hons) Social Work is approved by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). On successful completion of this programme, you’ll be eligible to apply for registration with the HCPC as a Social Worker.
• You’ll gain first-hand work experience and have the opportunity to develop an invaluable network of professional contacts during your two work placements. You’ll undertake a second-year placement of 70 days and a final year placement of 100 days. Placements are available in a diverse range of social work areas, helping to prepare you for the changing environments you’ll encounter during your career.
• We offer 30 skills development days that focus on helping you learn specific skills, such as interviewing families, communicating with children, family group conferencing, solution-focused approaches, ‘clarifying, probing and challenging’, resilience for practitioners, case recording and giving evidence in court.
• We’ll help you develop an awareness and appreciation for differing cultural values and behaviours, the factors that influence our journeys from pre-birth through to death, and the effects of age, sexuality, gender identity and expression, capacity, learning ability and physical ability. You’ll also be encouraged to recognise how your own values and experience influence the judgements you make.
• Our professional expert academic tutors come from a wide range of professional and academic backgrounds, including social work and a number of allied health and social care professions. They weave essential knowledge of inter-professional and multi-agency working into their delivery of the theory elements of the course, helping prepare you to work effectively with colleagues from a variety of other professions and agencies.

Key Features

• Our programme offers 200 days of practice-based learning opportunities. We’ll arrange two work placements for you totalling 170 days, and you’ll benefit from an additional 30 skills development days that take place on campus.
• Throughout the course, specialists in the field of social work, other key allied health and social care practitioners, senior managers and policy makers will be invited to join us as guest speakers. You can also expect to meet service users and carers who have direct experience of services and who can offer their unique and valuable perspectives on the role of social workers in the community.
• Our dedicated team will guide you as you develop critical thinking and research evaluation skills and apply these during your honours-level project. This experience will support your on-going professional development in future and help you evaluate evidence to inform your practice and decision-making in the field.
• Social work can be very demanding and carries a lot of responsibility so we’ll support you to learn strategies and techniques that can help you to build your professional and emotional resilience and successfully manage the situations you face.
• On successful completion of this programme, you’ll be awarded a BA (Hons) in Social Work from the University of Bolton.

Professional recognition

• This programme is approved by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
• On successful completion of the programme, you’ll be able to demonstrate that you meet the standards of proficiency required by the Health and Care Professions Council and professional capabilities for qualifying social workers. You’ll be eligible to apply for registration with the HCPC as a Social Worker.