Bachelor of Arts in History of Art - (Accelerated)

at University of Buckingham United Kingdom

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 BSc Accounting and Finance 3-year programme is designed for individuals who wish to study an undergraduate degree but have non-standard academic qualifications.

Year one will follow the Foundation Pathway programme, and introduce students to key concepts and study skills. In years two and three students will build on these skills and enhance their knowledge, understanding and practice in core subjects. Throughout the three years a student will be equipped with the skills to reach their potential in academic studies.

Recent corporate scandals across the world have drawn attention to the importance of accountancy and finance. Our BSc Accounting and Finance Degree programme is designed to meet the demands of the 21st Century, but which still teach the underlying skills, make it an exciting time to be studying BSc Accounting and Finance at Buckingham.

The flagship Accounting and Finance programme (previously known as Accounting and Financial Management) provides an academically rigorous study of the principal accounting and finance disciplines. It also has a strong vocational orientation, providing significant exemptions from the examinations of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

BA International Studies allows you to study the world  from different perspectives: political, economic, historical and legal. 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.

The BA 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.

For their first year of study students attend the same weekly seminars as students taking the Taught MA in Biography. These provide the critical awareness of the subject which is an essential prerequisite for dissertation work and they are one of the most distinctive and valuable elements of the MA. They take place as follows:

• Autobiography (September to December)
• Special Paper in Biography (January to June)
• Research Methods (January to June)

The modules on Biography and Autobiography are designed to combine the study of classic biographies and memoirs with contemporary writing. In addition, the Research Methods module provides an invaluable and innovative training, especially devised for biographers.

Guest seminars on the course are led by leading biographers, critics, publishers and agents. Teachers and speakers on the course have included Andrew Motion, Kathryn Hughes, Frances Wilson, Frances Spalding, Jeremy Lewis, Rupert Shortt, Caroline Dawnay, Andrew Lownie and  Miranda Seymour.

Research students are expected to produce, as a valuable preliminary to their own research project, written coursework for the Research  Methods module (an annotated bibliography and a short biography, with supporting material, produced according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography format), and one other piece of written work, but the full amount of termly written work required for the taught course is not compulsory. During the early part of the course, research students refine their research proposal under the individual supervision of the course director for eventual discussion with the Research Officer. Once the research proposal has been accepted students concentrate on individual research and the preparation of a dissertation, under the supervision of the course director.

BSc Psychology with Applied Computing looks at the ever-larger role that computers are taking in our everyday lives and the increasing number of jobs in the Information Technology sector. Aadegree covering psychology and IT is a very wise choice. The area of human-computer interaction is an example of an overlap between the two disciplines.

The BSc Psychology with Applied Computing programme is carefully designed to suit the varied needs of different students from different backgrounds and with different career objectives, in the IT and psychology fields.

By choosing to study BSc Psychology with Applied Computing 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 computing and regularly practice skills that are important for employability.

Students of History of Art and other approved subjects, who have accumulated 240 credits at another recognised Higher Education institution, can transfer their credits to the University of Buckingham and graduate with a BA in History of Art. Full-time students join the BA in September and complete their studies in July. They study two modules in their first term, and in their final two terms study a further four modules whilst also writing their dissertation. Part-time students spread their course over two years, taking one module per term during the first four terms, followed by one taught module in each of the final two terms and a dissertation, completing their studies in July of their second year at Buckingham. Teaching is arranged over three terms (Autumn, Winter, Spring), and classes for each taught module are scheduled on one day. Therefore, a full-time student will have classes on two days each week and a part-time student will have classes on one day each week.

A BSc in Computing looks at the computing and communications technologies lie at the heart of modern society. They include hardware, software, networks, tools, telecommunications equipment and required standards that provide the technological framework on which the delivery of information services is based. The IT industry is reporting a widening gap in software skills while hard technology is developing and diversifying fast.

The overall aim of this intensive programme is to enable all students to develop their potential so that they can apply what they have learnt to deal with computational problems and develop solutions in a real-world environment. Through studying this programme, students learn how to specify, design, develop and operate efficient and innovative computer-based systems and gain up-to-date knowledge of the relevant computing technologies at an advanced level within a shorter space of time. Graduates of the degree programme will be able to undertake a variety of careers in the IT industry, including programming, systems analysis and design, network and systems management, and technical support. Alternatively, they can advance their careers in research in computing/computer science in academic institutions at Buckingham, other UK universities or universities abroad.

BSc Psychology with French gives you the skill of another language which is a great advantage to have excellent. The BSc Psychology with French course is a great option  for anyone interested in psychology who wants the opportunity of learning the french language to a high level. See our course Psychology pages for further information on what the Psychology part of the degree will cover.

Based in the city that gave Charles Dickens inspiration throughout his writing life, this groundbreaking London research programme offers students unique access not only to world-class scholars and practitioners drawn from the field of Dickens Studies and the media but furthermore to the unique collections of the Charles Dickens Museum

Charles Dickens Museum - interior and exterior photography is directed by Professor John Drew and Dr Pete Orford, Dickens experts of international reputation, who are also full-time members of the University’s highly regarded Department of English and Digital Media.

The course enables the student to undertake research on a specific topic, agreed with the supervisor, in any area of Dickens Studies: his novels, short fiction, journalism, plays, the public readings, adaptations of his work (cinematic, theatrical) as well as comparative work on translations, writing by precursors, contemporaries, rivals, imitators and inheritors. The research is presented in the form of three ‘Project Preliminaries’: an extended research proposal, an annotated bibliography, and a short research-based case study for which students will be invited to investigate either the archive holdings of the Charles Dickens Museum or the network of Dickens’s collaborators for his journals, as made available by the University’s celebrated project Dickens Journals Online. On successful completion of these three preliminary projects, students will then progress to their dissertation, written under the guidance of the supervisor, of not less than 20,000 words.

A central feature of the course will be its series of ten evening seminars with distinguished speakers, held both at the University’s Gower Street premises and in the Board Room of the Charles Dickens Museum, each followed by a dinner and discussion, in private rooms at a nearby restaurant in Bloomsbury.

The BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (3-year degree) combines the three important subjects of Philosophy, Politics and Economics. What makes it different to PPE offered in other universities is its integrated character, with a special focus on explaining how human behaviour shapes economic and political institutions.

In the Philosophy strand, you will take an Introduction to Philosophy module and study the Philosophy of Mind. In addition, there will be more specialised modules in political theory: Introduction to Political Theory; Freedom; Evolution and Human Cooperation. And students will receive a grounding in the Philosophy of Social Science.

The Politics element of the degree focuses on area and country studies, with a particular emphasis on political order and security challenges. Those challenges vary from region to region but typically take the form of political violence (war, terrorism and organised crime), mass migration and economic instability. Students are encouraged to approach these problems from a number of disciplinary perspectives. For example, the study of Latin America would consider the historical, cultural and economic determinants of the region’s politics.

The Economics element of the PPE programme covers the core areas of Microeconomics and Macroeconomics. But in addition, there is an emphasis on the interaction between Economics and Politics. Students also receive a strong grounding in mathematics and quantitative methods.

Another distinctive feature of the degree is that two modules – in Politics and Philosophy – will be based on a series of lectures by prominent academics and public figures. These are taught in London (travel and other expenses will be covered in the fees).