Master of Arts in International Relations

at University of Hertfordshire - De Havilland Campus United Kingdom

Indicative course structure
A strong business degree is an incredible start to your career. By combining it with accounting you’ll have the chance to build a firm foundation in business with a strong focus on accounting practices.

You’ll study a whole range of key business areas, including accounting, marketing, operations, management, human resources and the role of business in society. We’ll also help you explore everything from strategic leadership, performance and business management to ethics, enterprise and creative problem-solving.

• Develop important skills and knowledge required to become an accountant.
• Enhance your employability skills by undertaking a 12-month work placement to gain the first-hand experience.
• Develop strong intellectual capabilities.

Study with a top History department and be taught from the cutting edge of historical research. Learn to write for a broad audience and communicate your ideas effectively with our colleagues in Journalism.

Our BA History and Journalism gives you the opportunity to study two subjects that will help you to hone your investigative and analytical skills, while developing your writing style.

Through our diverse and inclusive History curriculum you will learn about an array of cultures and identities. What links our work is our focus on people’s history and everyday lives. This is represented strongly in our first year programme, which will give you an insight into the making of the modern world through exploration of faith, magic and medicine, campaigns for freedom and equality, Africa and the world, and America from Hamilton to Trump.

Throughout your degree, the common link between the two disciplines will be the development of research skills. As historians you will learn to analyse historical documents and debates among historians, while in Journalism you’ll explore print, digital, photographic and broadcast journalism.

This ability to work as an effective and confident researcher, honed over the course of your studies, will benefit you in the final year of History if you choose to write a dissertation. This extended piece of work will grow out of a topic that interests you. Previous students have been inspired by their year of study abroad, while others have worked on the history of jiu jitsu, women code breakers at Bletchley Park, the Notting Hill riots, and vice and sexuality in 17th-century London. One of our final year students won the British Commission for Maritime History Prize in 2016 for his dissertation on the East India Company.

We give you: 

• An exceptional History team, conducting world-leading research (REF 2014), and a team of industry-experienced journalists,
• Stimulating, innovative courses - our History students reported almost 94% overall satisfaction with their course (2018 National Student Survey)
• A flexible programme of study, allowing you to concentrate on areas you find especially interesting and the scope to write a History dissertation on a topic about which you are passionate
• intensive, engaging modules in Journalism designed to help make you a confident journalist, ready for the digital age
• CV-building potential and practical experience through work placements and extra-curricular activities

Our LLM Business Law offers two compulsory modules, both of which will give you the foundation you need to specialise in business law: Company Law and Employment Law. You can then build on this foundation with two additional modules from the range of optional modules on offer, to fit your own needs and preferences. Alternatively, you can combine it with other complementary study routes, and graduate with a named joint pathway.

The Company Law module focuses on the fundamental and contemporary aspects of company law, and offers detailed analysis of the internal operations of a company. Topics range from the incorporation of a company, the rights and duties of shareholders and directors, governance, and remedies available to a company. The Employment Law module covers such topics as the concept of employment status, the explicit and implicit terms of a contract of employment, and an analysis of current Equality Law.

These compulsory modules are assessed by two pieces of coursework, and the Company Law module also includes a practical assessment which, for example, consists of a ten-minute presentation and a completed model Article of Association.

The programme is offered in full-time (one calendar year) mode and leads to the award of an MSc Degree in Global Business. Entry is normally at level 7 (with a cognate first-degree qualification). The intake here at Hertfordshire may be semester A (September) for compulsory subjects or semester B (January) for the specialisation and project.

To achieve your dual degree, you will need to successfully study at two different institutions. When you graduate, you will be awarded a sought-after Master’s from each. Along the way you will develop new language skills, supporting future career opportunities in the UK and overseas.

By tailoring your postgraduate study around your own strengths, interests and ambitions, you will create a distinctive degree that helps you carve out the career you really want. You will be equipped with the business understanding, in-depth specialist skills, international experience and language abilities you need to stand out in today’s competitive global business world.

Whichever institution you travel to, IBSA’s focus on theoretical and empirical postgraduate learning enables you to become a truly exceptional business professional, with a strong network of colleagues and outstanding career possibilities all over the world.

This is a vigorous, intensive Master’s degree best suited to self-motivated, ambitious and dedicated postgraduate students. These strengths will take you through a demanding and hugely rewarding year of study abroad and here at Hertfordshire, as well as giving you an excellent basis for your future career.

This award is designed to enable students to focus on their own individual interests and professional priorities in any of the modules studied. This award enables experienced professionals to demonstrate the breadth of their experience and professional interests in creative and innovative ways. Less experienced professionals are supported in developing their professional interests in creative and innovative ways.

The MA Education is offered as part of a suite of awards available through the MA Education Framework.

The programme supports you in developing your knowledge and understanding of issues and practice through enquiry and research. The programme provides a range of module choices, but you are encouraged to bring your own ideas and focus on your own particular professional interests.

Through this programme you will

• Develop and deepen your knowledge and understanding of issues relating to education practice through critical reflection, analysis and enquiry
• Develop your ability to critically analyse educational theory and how it links to practice
• Become a member of a supportive learning community and learn from professionals from a range of educational settings
• Become a successful practitioner researcher

Studying Philosophy, Religion and Ethics at Hertfordshire will enable you to explore the connections and contradictions between thought and faith in the world today.

You may have taken Religious Studies at A-level or be fascinated by how religious belief is a driving force behind social and political events in today’s globalised world.

This degree course offers you the opportunity to explore the beliefs that guide people’s lives using the logical and critical skills gained through philosophical inquiry.

You’ll be taught by internationally regarded academics, who will help you understand how the practices of religion and philosophy have influenced – and been influenced by – the modern world. You’ll learn to address the arguments and beliefs of others and to engage with them, so that you can arrive at your own conclusions and create your own original work.

All our lecturers are active researchers, so you’ll share the excitement of doing original work in a supportive and highly-rated academic community. Our Philosophy team is in the top 15 in the Guardian League Table 2019 and rates as one of the 100 best Philosophy departments worldwide in the 2017 QS rankings.

In your first year you’ll take philosophy modules exploring ethics, mind, knowledge and reality alongside an introduction to four of the major world religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. This will be given a modern context through a module on religion and the contemporary world.

Seminars in your first year will explore how to investigate and discuss different beliefs and ideas and to develop your critical thinking, all within a respectful and empathetic environment.

In your second year you’ll study the philosophies of religion, and explore virtues, vices and ethics. Focusing on specific virtues such as forgiveness, hope or love from both a secular and religious point of view, you’ll examine what it means to live a good life.

Alongside options in your final year to explore religion and popular culture, as well as feminist and political philosophy, your dissertation will allow you to develop your particular interests, perhaps encompassing an exploration of some aspect of your own religious belief system.

• An exceptional academic team, conducting internationally renowned research
• A flexible programme of study, allowing you to concentrate on areas you find especially interesting
• The opportunity to write a dissertation on a topic about which you are passionate
• CV-building potential through extra-curricular activities

The MPhys allows you to study astrophysics to a greater depth and breadth than the BSc. It’s particularly recommended if you’re interested in pursuing research in industry, government or academia, or if you want to go on to further postgraduate study. During the course you’ll study more advanced topics such as galaxy formation and evolution, high-energy astrophysics and atmospheric physics. You’ll also undertake a large research project within our Centre for Astrophysics Research. We have an innovative strand of industrial projects, supported by the Institute of Physics, that gives you direct experience of working in industrial research. You’ll also have the exciting opportunity to spend a year at a major astronomical research centre or an international observatory.

• The MPhys programme allows students to study astrophysics to a greater depth and breadth than our BSc programme. An MPhys is particularly recommended for those students interested in pursuing research in the industrial, government and academic sectors, and who are likely to consider undertaking further postgraduate study (MSc and/or PhD degrees).

• The MPhys programme allows students to study astrophysics to a greater depth and breadth than our BSc programme.
• In the MPhys year you will study more advanced courses in a range of Astrophysics and Physics specialisms (including Galaxy Formation & Evolution, High Energy Astrophysics, and Atmospheric Physics), plus undertake a large research project within the Centre for Astrophysics Research.
• Your research project will form a third of your final year and you will be closely supervised and guided by one of our experienced researchers while you work on a cutting-edge problem in modern Astrophysics. Previous projects include developing Lucky Imaging cameras at our observatory, studying extreme variable stars in the Milky Way, studying observations of powerful Active Galactic Nuclei, and designing new space telescopes to study extrasolar planet atmospheres. We have an innovative strand of industrial projects supported by the Institute of Physics that give you direct experience of working in industrial research.

Philosophy explores and challenges the assumptions that frame the way we think, act and see the world around us.

Here at Hertfordshire, you won’t just be learning about philosophers and understanding their theories, you’ll be doing rigorous and creative thinking of your own. Our internationally regarded academics will help you learn to address the arguments of others, to understand and engage with them so that you can arrive at your own conclusions and create your own original work.

All our lecturers are active researchers, so you’ll share the excitement of doing original work in a supportive and highly-rated academic community. Our Philosophy team is in the top 15 in the Guardian League Table 2019 and rates as one of the 100 best Philosophy departments worldwide in the 2017 QS rankings.

On this course no prior knowledge of philosophy is assumed, although students with Religious Studies A-level may be familiar with topics such as ethics, mind, knowledge and reality. In your first year you’ll explore new dimensions to these topics and consider questions about the meaning of life. You’ll also study social and political philosophy, the central concern of which is the best way of organising society. A first-year module on the philosophy of film and literature takes you beyond the mainstream. Studying fiction and films such as Back to the Future allows you to address the assumption that anything is possible in fiction and consider to what extent that is true.

In your second year you’ll be able to delve deeper into areas such as philosophy of art and philosophy of mind. A module on virtues, vices and ethics focuses on specific virtues, such as forgiveness, hope or love, from both a secular and religious point of view and examines what it means to live a good life. 

In your final year you can pursue your own research interests through a dissertation. Recent topics have included the ethical issues of playing video games, the nature of the imagination, environmental philosophy and the obligations of the state, and a proposed solution to the paradox of the liar. You’ll also build on previous specialisms to explore in more depth philosophers such as Nietzsche or Wittgenstein, feminist or political philosophy, contemporary moral philosophy, or the philosophy of psychology.

• An exceptional academic team, conducting internationally renowned research
• A flexible programme of study, allowing you to concentrate on areas you find especially interesting
• The opportunity to write a dissertation on a topic about which you are passionate
• CV-building potential through extra-curricular activities

Philosophy explores and confronts the assumptions that frame the way we think, act and see the world around us. Creative writing offers a way for you to do this by exploring new perspectives on familiar themes, expanding your imaginative capacities, and finding ways to articulate ideas in novel and illuminating ways.

On our BA Philosophy and Creative Writing degree, you will be introduced to a range of literary texts, genres and practical approaches to writing, and you will learn how to formulate your own philosophical arguments, to arrive at your own conclusions.

In your first year, you will embark on becoming a writer, including writing for the screen, whilst exploring central philosophical questions, such as whether anything can give meaning to life, and whether our striving to achieve anything of significance is ultimately futile, even ridiculous. The philosophy of film and literature module addresses the assumption that anything is possible in fiction and considers the extent to which that is true.

All our Philosophy lecturers are active researchers, so you’ll share the excitement of doing original work in a supportive and highly-rated academic community. Our Philosophy team is in the top 15 in the Guardian League Table 2019 and rates as one of the 100 best Philosophy departments worldwide in the 2017 QS rankings.

Our Creative Writing team are published and practicing novelists, poets and dramatists and you will gain a clear, theoretical understanding of the discipline, as well as practical skills that will shape your ability to express yourself.

In your second year as a writer, you’ll turn your attention to writing for the stage and consider poetry as well as prose writing. In Philosophy, you’ll choose from a variety of topics, which includes a module on the nature of art, expression and representation (in literary as well as visual art), and modules on influential texts in philosophy, such as Plato’s Republic, which is written in dialogue form.

The final year allows for even more opportunity to tailor your degree to reflect your own interests. In Creative Writing, you will embark on your own project, either on poetry, prose or script writing, whilst in Philosophy, you’ll choose from a variety of modules, including modules on feminist philosophy, the nature of language and meaning, and a module on Nietzsche, who is well-known for his literary style.

• A flexible programme of study, allowing you to concentrate on areas you find especially interesting
• An exceptional academic team, conducting internationally renowned research
• Stimulating, innovative courses that allow you to make rewarding connections between two disciplines
• CV-building potential through work placements and extra-curricular activities

All three of our model design courses share the same First Year, giving you an excellent introduction to model making, prop making, sculpture and special effects. Building on this foundation, you’ll learn to use a wide range of specialist materials and processes to create original sculptural characters, props and set dressings – including the option of developing stop-motion puppets or collaborating with special effects students.

In your second year you will explore a wide range of specialist materials and processes such as sculpting, moulding and casting that enable the creation of original characters, props and set dressings

In your Final Year you’ll work on major projects and create a professional portfolio to impress employers. Throughout your studies you’ll have access to traditional model-making equipment and cutting-edge prototyping technologies. This course is accredited by Creative Skillset, reflecting the highest standard of teaching and facilities.

Model Design Facilities

Our students’ work in a large airy purpose built studio (with individual spaces for every student), which is situated above an extensive workshop that contain a wide range of traditional and cutting edge technologies. Students are able to use a wide variety of equipment/machinery and state of the art rapid prototyping facilities: laser cutters, 3D printers, CNC milling and routing. Our students also use a well-equipped sculpture studio, which has excellent life drawing and modelling facilities, a plaster mould making area and industry standard extraction in the fiberglass/resin casting room. The sculpture workshops also provide excellent brazing, soldering and welding facilities for most types of metal fabrication and finishing. In addition to these dedicated workshop facilities, our students are taught a variety of computer aided design processes in both 2D and 3D packages in computer suites, which are situated close to the Model Design studio. Our students have access to all of the facilities across the school including excellent photographic equipment/studios and printing.

This is a unique combination of three interrelated degrees with a combined first year (Model, Character and Special Effects). The lecturing staff all have extensive subject knowledge gained from careers in the creative industries, hence students achieve professional standards in their work. We have excellent links with industry and provide placements on major movies at leading UK film studios.

• You will explore a wide range of specialist materials and processes such as sculpting, moulding and casting that enable the creation of original characters, props and set dressings.
• You can also combine designing and making characters with animation using stop motion armatures, or with animatronics (in collaboration with students on the special effects degree).
• You will develop skills in traditional workshop machinery and cutting-edge technologies and have access to specialist industry standard facilities for sculpting, mould making prop making and model making.
• Outstanding links with industry, which provide excellent work experience opportunities and live collaborative projects.
• Leading visiting lecturers teach part time alongside their full time work in creative industries
• Character and Creative Effects students achieve consistently high graduate employment rates