Bachelor of Arts in Digital News and Media (with integrated Foundation) (Flexible)

at University of Buckingham United Kingdom

Our BSc Psychology degree is designed to give you a head start in your career as a psychologist or in people-centred employment; covering all the core content you would expect from a British Psychological Society (BPS) accredited degree, in addition to exciting optional modules in the second year.

By choosing to study BSc Psychology at the University of Buckingham, you’ll benefit from a committed team of lecturers who genuinely care about the people they teach. Students will learn through Buckingham’s unique tutorials, which are in addition to lectures and seminars. These sessions ensure that you are not just a face in the crowd, your tutors will get to know who you are and encourage you to engage in debates and discussions. During tutorials you will develop your knowledge about psychology and regularly practice skills that are important for employability. If you’d like to try out a tutorial, come along to one of our free taster sessions.

As a student, you will learn core theory and have the opportunity to study the eight areas of practitioner psychology, enabling you to make an informed choice on your future career as a psychologist. In addition, we have modules in distinct areas of study such as creativity and cyberpsychology. As one of the only two-year BPS accredited BSc Psychology degrees in the UK, you’ll be able to fast track your career within this popular field, or opt to consolidate your learning through postgraduate study once you have graduated.

This programme is accredited as conferring eligibility for the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership of the BPS (British Psychological Society), provided the minimum standard of a Second Class Honours is achieved.

Our BA in International Studies lets you see the world and study from other perspectives: political, economic, historical and legal. This course does just that. It enables you to understand the interconnectedness of everything. A graduate in International Studies will have a sophisticated grasp of our shared world and the flexibility to find solutions. This is an asset prized by major employers.

A key feature of the global economy is the rapid adoption of new technology. Technology has proved to be an agent which encourages cooperation across national boundaries. Technological developments in transport, telecommunications and computing have encouraged economic changes such as the decline in barriers to trade, the internationalisation of financial markets, the rise of global companies, and a massive increase in the volume of international trade in goods and services. These trends have been accompanied by political developments such as the rise of regional trading groupings of countries, international efforts to agree about common legal and technical rules to govern business dealings, arguments about ‘tax competition’ between countries, as well as increasing concern about the environmental consequences associated with world economic development. Enormous social tensions arise as these international forces come into conflict with long-established ways of doing things in every country. Political and social systems are in a continuous process of adjustment to an increasingly open world.

Our BA in International Studies course at Buckingham gives you an opportunity to learn about these fundamental problems. With students coming to Buckingham from over 80 countries, it is an ideal environment to learn about matters of international concern and to discuss them with people from differing cultural backgrounds.

The unique structure of Buckingham’s Law and Criminology degree (LLB), with four full teaching terms per calendar year, enables you to graduate after just two years of study (eight, or nine terms with September start).

In addition to your legal studies, you will complete 120 units of criminology, allowing you to develop a deep and wide-ranging understanding of the origins, causes and consequences of crime and criminality. This includes knowledge and understanding of legal and criminological research methods, referencing protocols and the different primary and secondary sources of law. Criminology itself is an interdisciplinary subject comprised of the legal, social, psychological, and cultural aspects of crime.

The Law and Criminology degree also satisfies the necessary first step for qualifying as a lawyer in various common law jurisdictions, including Canada, Nigeria, the Bahamas, and Bermuda.

For those interested in qualifying as a solicitor in the UK, the Law and Criminology degree provides you with thorough preparation for the Solicitors Qualifying Exam 1 (SQE1), enabling you to choose the accelerated SQE1 preparation courses after graduation. Our innovative and diverse curriculum also contributes to preparation for the practice-orientated SQE2, both SQE1 and SQE2 being necessary for qualification as a solicitor.

For those UK and international students wishing to qualify as an English barrister, the Law and Criminology degree satisfies the academic component of Bar training, the necessary first step to qualifying as an English barrister.

Buckingham Law School also offers a broad range of extra-curricular opportunities to develop your professional skills and experience of legal practice. These opportunities include the possibility, between the first and second year of your LLB, of a sandwich year placement with a professional organisation.

We often accommodate the particular requirements needed to practise in various common law jurisdictions other than the UK. If you are an international student from one of these jurisdictions, we are happy to discuss what subjects you must take to qualify.

Our Law and Criminology graduates who gain a second-class honours degree, or higher, are guaranteed a place on our LLM programme in International and Commercial Law. This opportunity greatly enhances specialist knowledge and enables our students to acquire two degrees in only three years.

BSc Psychology with English Literature looks at the discoveries and hypotheses of psychologists who over the last 100 years have been enriching the study of English literature, either as a way of understanding the mind of the artist or of the characters they create. Studying BSc Psychology with English Literature at Buckingham as with English Literature as your minor subject, gives you the chance to ‘apply’ the insights which the scientific study of individual and group psychology provides to a range of powerful and enigmatic works of literature, from the plays of Shakespeare, through the Gothic and Romantic projections of the late 18th-century, to the short stories and novels of British and American women writers writing in a post-Freudian universe.

Both subjects require the close analysis of texts (spoken, written, uttered) and the discipline of clear report and essay-writing. Their combination in this programme gives you the imaginative scope of an arts programme with the vocation and professionalism of a Bachelor of Science degree.

BSc Psychology with Business Management looks many important aspects of business, such as human resource management, ergonomics and aptitude testing. Indeed all psychology students take a course called Business Psychology, which all business students also study. This combination is an excellent choice for anyone wanting to go into business or industry.

Over 70% of the world’s economy is services. The MSc Management in a Digital Service Economy aims to equip graduates with the ability to create and deliver reliable customer centred service –  a key differentiator for business today. In many industries, profit margins on product sales have shrunk enormously, leading to an increased focus on generating profits through value-added services. Thus, the best firms now bundle customer-centred service with a manufactured product and create service centred solutions. Some, like IBM have moved completely to service and solutions.

Service Management as a body of knowledge has made immense progress in the last decade. Economies are more and more service-focused and it has become imperative to study all aspects of managing service. Buckingham is among the very few universities in the world to have responded to the demand for the creation of expertise in this area and to have established a track-record of success

The academic staff in the Applied Computing Department (ACD) are all engaged in research and publications. Considering its modest size, ACD has successfully attracted research funding from various sources in the UK and the EU, including industry, research councils, HEA and EU framework projects such as FP6. Furthermore, ACD has been working and collaborating with many European research institutions.

For the academic year, 2012-2013, two PhD and six MSc students (one in Mathematics) have graduated, four of whom graduated with Distinction. The two PhD students have made it for the March graduation and we expect to have three or four more completing their PhD research programmes for the next graduation. One of our new PhD students in Computing joined the Department last October, and three other PhD students have joined us since. Over the last few years, the number of research students in ACD has grown steadily to (currently) 29 PhD and two Master’s research students.

We have had over 20 refereed conference and journal papers published during the last 12 months, and two of the papers have been awarded best paper awards.

ACD supports diverse research topics addressing varied applied computing technologies such as:

• Image processing and pattern recognition with applications in biometric-based person identification, image super-resolution, digital watermarking and steganography, content-based image/video indexing and retrieval, biomedical image analysis.
• Multi-factor authentication and security algorithms.
• Wireless networks technologies (Multi-frequency Software-Defined / Cognitive Radios, convergence and integration of different wireless technologies and standards such as WiFi and WiMax, IPv4 and IPv6, wireless mesh technologies, intrusion detection and prevention, efficiency and stability of ad hoc networks).
• Hybrid navigation and localisation integrations for mobile handsets, including using Cellular and WiFi in conjunction with GPS and Glonass for seamless positioning indoors, Multiplexed receive chain of GPS/Glonass with on-board handset Bluetooth/WiFi, GNSS signals multiplexing for real-time simulation.
• Cloud computing, including the readiness of mobile operating systems for cloud services and focusing on techniques for fast computing handovers, efficient virtualisation and optimised security algorithms.
• Data mining techniques, including database systems, the application of data mining techniques in image and biological data, human-computer interaction and visual languages.
• Research and development of Apps for mobile devices and smart TVs, particularly for application in the areas of education and healthcare.
• Differential geometry – Einstein metrics, quasi-Einstein metrics, Ricci solitons, numerical methods in differential geometry.

As well as researching the chosen subject, our students engage in delivering seminars weekly, attending conferences and workshops, attending online webinars and discussion forums, attending training and focused group studies, supervising tutorial and laboratory sessions for undergraduate students, peer reviews and final year project supervision, among a host of technical and networking activities to enhance their skills and techniques.

The LLM by Research requires an original contribution to the body of knowledge in a particular academic or professional discipline. It will take approximately one year to complete with full-time study and two years of part-time study.

This postgraduate research degree is offered by the Cyber and Interpersonal Behaviour Research (CIBR) hub at the University of Buckingham. The main focus of this research hub is the exploration of human behaviour, emotions and experiences in relation to technology and the impact of technology on individuals both online and offline. We are engaged in a number of external collaborative projects with colleagues at other universities, organisations and schools. Key topic areas we explore include:

• Cyberbullying, cyberaggression and other online risks
• Parental and school mediation strategies in relation to online safety
• Motivations and social effects of gaming
• Media consumption and influence on attitudes and beliefs
• Individual differences in online expression and self-presentation
• Bystander behaviour, prosocial behaviour and social identities

This programme leads to the award of an MSc (Research) in the area of Cyberpsychology. In addition to completing a 25,000 word thesis within a topic area relevant to Cyberpsychology, you will gain wide knowledge of the broader field through guided self-study topic areas and research skills workshops. This will mean that you develop an in-depth knowledge of the area, which is informed by current issues and advanced research.

As a result of your studies, you will develop a strong knowledge base and core transferable skills which will enable you to become an independent researcher in your field, and will provide you with a solid foundation for further study and/or employment.

You will complete your MSc studies in 12 months (full-time; 24 months part-time), and we will support you to achieve timely completion by setting out key progression milestones such as submission of the research proposal, comprehensive literature search, completion of self-study topics, ethics application etc. Full milestone details will be sent to you when we invite you for interview.

BSc Business Economics if a perfect programme for you to pursue a business career, or if you want to work as a consultant or as a specialist business economist in the private sector.  This programme offers the spread of subjects that are likely to be most useful. It enables you to supplement the basic economics modules with modules from the Department of Manage

How will the rise of digital currencies affect international business? How will disruptions to international supply chains affect businesses post-pandemic? How will remote working impact the management of businesses?

Our fast-track 2-year Business Economics programme will explore these topics and many others. The course is designed to equip students with the quantitative and analytical skills to progress into economics and management related jobs in finance, business and consulting, as well as preparing them for master’s level study.

On this course, we blend business management, business strategy, macro and micro-economics, financial markets and consumer behaviour, together with practical real-world analysis and applications. There are many optional choices built into the programme so you can tailor your degree towards economics or business to suit your career or academic preferences.

We regularly host events and seminars where we discuss the latest research from our academics and invite speakers from the world of business and entrepreneurship.

Our academics offer a supportive, diverse and creative environment for you to explore your interests and ensure a successful educational experience. You will join an international community of students, staff and alumni.

A dedicated professional development course runs through the degree covering academic and job market skills. You will also benefit from internships and research opportunities in the Vinson Centre for Economics and Entrepreneurship.

Our graduates continue their studies with us at master’s level or go on to careers in business management, financial markets, corporate finance and economic/business consultancy.

ment thus providing a rounded view of business activities.