Master of Arts in Photography

at University of Plymouth United Kingdom

The study of human behaviour and relationships creates a lens through which to see the world better. At Plymouth, you’ll hold that lens to the world around you so you can play a positive role in it. Here we look inwardly at our surroundings as much as we look beyond them, and you’ll spend time immersed on the streets of the city you’re living in, putting Plymouth society under the microscope. See how change is made by working with local support groups and projects like Landworks.

Key Features

• Learn from passionate and committed academics with active and wide-ranging research expertise. Our research and specialisms include health, well-being and social policy alongside politics and identities. .
• Explore a wide-range of topics including sustainability, tourism, health and wellbeing, media, deviance, work and employment, gender and sexuality, global development, methodological innovations, philosophy of social science and food, culture and society.
• Apply sociological theory to contemporary issues in an interactively taught environment.
• Explore and experience first-hand the world beyond the classroom with national and international field trips and exchange opportunities.
• Engage in a pioneering, well established work-based learning programme along with voluntary opportunities to enhance your employability.
• Develop key transferable skills that employers actively seek through novel research methods training.
• Benefit from studying with a faculty of highly regarded staff who engage in innovative and experiential learning spaces.
• Experience varied and engaging assessment formats supported through personal tutoring.
• Join a course where overall student satisfaction is consistently rated at over 90% in the National Student Survey (NSS), as reported by DisoverUni. The latest NSS results show 100% overall student satisfaction.*
• Know that your teaching and learning is informed by prominent research, with 62%of our research rated as world leading or internationally excellent (Source: Research Excellence Framework, 2014).

Discover how and why underlying issues such as poverty, environmental degradation, societal inequities and politics create the international framework in which security conflicts emerge. Gain a sophisticated understanding of the dynamics that drive global politics, and the ability to use this knowledge in fields as diverse as diplomacy, journalism, finance, industry, public relations and risk analysis.

You'll look at both the theory and practice of international relations in terms of the threats to, and vulnerabilities of, global security and development. Three compulsory modules will give you a basis for understanding global security, global governance and how to conduct advanced research. You'll then choose three specialised modules, giving you the opportunity to shape your degree to suit your interests. The certificate and diploma are available for those only completing part of the progression route. For the masters degree, you’ll complete a final dissertation on a specific aspect of the current security and/or development problems confronting policymakers in world politics. You’ll undertake a research and methodology module to support your masters research and equip you for your career. Learn through lectures, seminars and, in some cases, simulation exercises. Assessment of modules will be by a mixture of essays, seminar presentations, report writing, exams, and the dissertation.

Key Features

• Gain a understanding of such topical issues as global politics, the rise of religious fundamentalism, human rights, world trade, poverty and climate change.
• Take the opportunity to study the politics of several world regions – Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Asia – and critically debate their different perspectives.
• Attain invaluable research skills – by studying this programme you will be able to conduct and present an extended piece of research.
• Tailor your masters to match your career aspirations by choosing the subjects that most interest you from a range of elective modules.
• Become part of a lively research community with the opportunity for interdisciplinary discussion and collaboration. Several of our students have gone on to work as research assistants.

This course enables you to gain an in-depth practical understanding of the role of human resource management (HRM) in today's businesses, which sets you apart in the world of graduate employment. The course involves extensive involvement from guest speakers, as well as a range of practical activities, role play and case studies, enabling you to apply your knowledge of HR to real-life scenarios.

You’ll be taught by staff that have a considerable depth of human resource management experience from large employers such as the NHS and have undertaken research for professional bodies such as CIPD and ACAS. You will also be supported in your study by subject tutors and receive individual support for your academic and personal development from your personal tutor. You will acquire improved competences that will significantly enhance your employability in an HR role.

Key Features

• Gain a well rounded academic experience, through the provision of a mixture of taught modules and independent learning. 
• Benefit from the extensive use of guest speakers. This enhances the practitioner and practical focus elements of the programme and brings an added dimension of current practice and recognised issues directly to the classroom.
• Accredited by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
• Graduate with Associate Membership of the CIPD.
• Be taught by staff that have a considerable depth of human resource management experience from large employers such as the NHS and have undertaken research for professional bodies such as CIPD and ACAS.
• Undertake a range of practical activities to enhance the application of your learning to HR and managerial roles in an organisational context; this will include role play and case study activities.
• Choose and utilise a range of skills and techniques relevant to the management of people, including recruitment, selection, reward and retention.
• Learn to successfully manage and deliver a project on time.
• Gain the skills to write reports for commercial and academic audiences.
• Focus on enterprise and sustainability in human resource management and organisational practice.
• Evaluate actions and performance to enhance self-management, and devise plans to enhance personal and career development.
• Benefit from individual support - you are supported in your study by subject tutors and receive individual support for your academic and personal development from your personal tutor.
• Acquire improved competences that will significantly enhance your employability in an HR role.
• Progress on to further study with our MA Human Resource Management programme, or move into a graduate scheme entry.

 Autonomous systems will increasingly be adopted into every aspect of our daily lives. The future of autonomy, in the transport sector alone, is projected to grow tenfold to over US$550 billion by 2026. Plymouth is fast becoming a global centre for excellence in marine and robotic autonomy systems development. You will have the opportunity to use our specialist laboratories including the COAST and Robotics Laboratory for your dissertation.

Our one year course covers core principles of this emerging field: sensor technologies for machine perception; machine learning and AI for adaptation and decision making; embedded systems, communications, security and data management, for safe and efficient operations of an Autonomous System. The course also encompasses general ethical issues related to the societal acceptance of these systems. The course has been designed in conjunction with employers who contribute seminars and guest lectures.

Key Features

Create truly unforgettable events. Our hands-on degree – developed with industry – gives you the insight, know-how and skills to become a critical, creative events professional. Study on a course where our students gave us a 95% satisfaction rate in the 2018 National Student Survey. Collaborate with a range of UK event companies – so you’re ready to impact the way events are produced and managed in the future.

Key Features

• Plan and deliver real, live events – including conferences, high-end banqueting, exhibitions and trade fairs. You’ll bid for the opportunity to manage your preferred event, and learn collaboration skills by working with your course mates on the delivery of all staged events.
• Be inspired by extra-curricular activity that helps you become a well-rounded events professional. Take part in team-building activities at Skern Lodge in Devon. Learn from guest speakers and attend event conferences. You’ll have the chance to acquire industry-related professional qualifications too.
• Expand your horizons with our international fieldwork. Build confidence, understand different cultures and get to grips with industry standards. In the past our students have visited event venues in Prague, attended a bespoke training session at Disneyland Paris and explored Amsterdam at night through a series of free events across the city.
• Lay strong foundations for a successful career using our extensive industry links to secure a one-year work placement in the UK or abroad. Gain vital industry experience – students have worked at international exhibitions, organised Christmas parties for over 900 guests, and taken part in marketing activities and corporate team building.
• Learn from the best – our teaching staff are all actively engaged in the research of industry leadership, employer needs, planning, communication, event innovation, evaluation and other management issues.
• Create a portfolio before you even graduate. Assessments are linked to real clients throughout the course, and you’ll have the chance to develop professional materials and presentations to explain your ideas. In previous years, clients have used winning ideas in their business operations.
• Future-proof your career and benefit from a course that views sustainability as a crucial factor in the events industry. You’ll examine the social, economic, political, cultural and environmental dimensions related to the issue of sustainability. 
• Seize the opportunity to learn a foreign language.
• Empower yourself with our unique course. Challenge normal thinking. Ask the difficult questions. Take the long view and become an advocate for better business practice. 
• In the 2019 National Student Survey, 91% of students were satisfied overall and 94% of graduates felt staff were good at explaining things.*

Deepen your knowledge of the business environment and your understanding how organisations operate. Discover how and why businesses innovate and why enterprise is critical in the marketplace. Prepare for a career in the world of business and improve your professional and business communication skills.

Designed as a one or two year top-up programme, BA (Hons) Business provides an opportunity for students some prior higher education or relevant work experience to be employable, enterprising and well equipped for lifelong learning and the professional world through a combination of academic analysis and the development of a broad range of key personal, cognitive/intellectual, transferable, practical and employment skills.

Key features

• Study this course over two years (Level 5 and 6) or one year (Level 6 only). Providing a route for students from a range of business foundation degrees (and equivalent) to top up to Honours. The two year programme offers students the opportunity to undertake a placement between their first and second year.   
• Our innovative one or two year course embraces a broad spectrum of industry relevant modules and is especially attractive to students who wish to build a career in business. We aim to provide students with the ability to exercise personal responsibility and decision-making in the competitive world of business.
• Develop an appreciation of the dynamic marketplace in which businesses operate and the implications of this for business decisions and organisational culture.
• All undergraduate modules within Plymouth Business School have integrated within them a CV building activity, for example, through micro-credentialing; real world problem-based learning; or embedded direct employer activity.
• Benefit from academic staff with strong relevant industrial and academic experience and tutors who not only provide excellent teaching but also great pastoral care.

The MSc Clinical Psychology offers masters-level clinical training that will provide you with the practical experience and knowledge you need to fast-track your future career in clinical practice. You will acquire an advanced understanding of clinical practice and research with a hands-on approach to learning, with the training of key clinical skills embedded in all elements of this course.

This includes the acquisition of competencies and understanding of group and family work, the cognitive behavior approach, and interventions to encourage behavior change. Working alongside doctoral trainees, extensive access to service users will provide you with a secure foundation for clinical practice, or preparation for doctoral training in clinical psychology.

Key features

• Learn through experience: activities that teach key clinical skills are embedded throughout the programme, allowing you to put your new knowledge directly into practice.
• Obtain accreditation for clinical skills and competencies, with the option to study part-time alongside clinical practice.
• Extensive access to service users provide a competitive advantage for the acquisition of real-world skills and experience.
• Gain insights on further training by working alongside trainees and tutors on our clinical doctoral training programme (DClinPsy).

Are you passionate about biology in all of its forms? Do you want to study a broad biology degree without the constraints of choosing a specialism too soon, with equal emphasis on lab and field skills? You will build an understanding of biology from viruses to mammals and from freshwater to rocky shores, gaining state-of-the-art practical and transferable skills highly sought by employers, graduating ready to shape the future of fields from ecosystem management to laboratory research.

In the 2019 National Student Survey, 97% of students felt staff on this course were good at explaining things and 95% found the course intellectually stimulating.* This programme focuses on biology of a wide range of environments from soils and the oceans to hydrothermal vents and volcanic lakes.

Key Features

Take a fresh look at childhood. Exploring the theory and reality of children’s early years from many points of view, this innovative course will help you find your niche in this competitive sector and graduate with a clear view of where your career is going. Investigate issues through the lenses of sociology, social psychology, history, and philosophy.

Work directly with young children and their families during the Work Based Learning module or choose the option of gaining professional recognition of your practice. Our Work Based Learning Plus module enables you to meet Early Years Educator standards and be counted in the ratios in an early years setting through relevant assessed practice experience.

Key Features

• Explore the relationships between play and learning in your own studies as well as in child development
• Expand your options beyond traditional teaching and open up further career opportunities in education, social care, community work, psychology, management and research.
• See for yourself how theories and policies are applied in practice by visiting a wide range of provision for children and families.
• Learn on the job during the work-based learning placement.  You will gain the practical skills employers are looking for.
• Take a broader view of children’s development by studying the subject in practical, historical and international contexts.
• Develop essential skills through a variety of coursework-based assessments – from essays, surveys and child observations to group presentations and video commentaries.
• Learn from experienced lecturers and tutors who are actively engaged in national and international research projects.
• Make the most of the opportunities presented by being part of a department that has strong links with universities in Europe, Canada, Africa and the USA and through the International Students’ Exchange Programme.

Are you ready to make your mark? If you’ve studied a foundation course in law and business at one of our partner colleges and want to obtain a law degree, BSc (Hons) Law with Business will prepare you for a career in the legal or business professions and beyond. Develop a breadth of transferable skills, and benefit from our focus on teaching law in the ‘real’ world.

*Please note: the first two years of the degree are only available through University of Plymouth partner colleges which provide you with a foundation degree in law, enabling you to join the third year of our law and business programmes to obtain the BSc law degree.

Key Features

• Choose from a range of relevant third year law and business options from the LLB (Hons) Law programmes and BSc (Hons) Law with Business Studies.
• Top-up your degree with a one year Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) before applying for the solicitors’ Legal Practice Course or the Barristers’ Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC). 
• Benefit from working with a faculty of highly qualified law and business staff who provide a great mix of research-informed and practice-led teaching.
• Pursue further business study – we offer a range of postgraduate options at the Plymouth Business School.
• Take part in relevant work experience and research in areas such as business, criminal justice, employment and family law via our Law Clinic.
• Benefit from being part of a very successful Business School which was recently shortlisted for the national Business School of the year.

*Please note: the first two years of the degree are only available through Plymouth University’s partner colleges which provide you with a foundation degree in law, enabling you to join the third year of our law and business programmes to obtain the BSc law degree.