Master of Public Administration

at University of Southampton - Highfield Campus United Kingdom

Explore the relationship between social behaviour and crime with this fusion of 2 fascinating disciplines. On this BSc degree, you’ll examine our perception of what is right or wrong, and how this changes over time and between cultures. You’ll learn from expert tutors who are consulted by the government, criminal justice agencies and the media. A wide range of rewarding sociology and criminology-related careers await, including social and police work.

This programme is highly flexible, allowing you to develop your own specialist research interests in both sociology (examining the identities, relationships and practices within our world) and criminology (the study of crime, law enforcement and the criminal justice system).

You’ll find many optional modules to choose from, including:

• Criminological Psychology
• Race and Ethnicity
• Violent and Sexual Offenders

Your core modules will help you develop key knowledge and skills in areas such as:

• Theoretical approaches and perspectives in sociology and criminology
• The relationship between individuals, groups and institutions
• Research methods in social sciences, including quantitative and qualitative research

Apply your maths skills to the social sciences, and help solve complex problems. Combine mathematics, statistics, operational research and economics, and learn how to use them in varied contexts. You'll learn how to use statistical and mathematical models and gain the analytical and quantitative skills that employers look for.

Your A level results will determine which core or compulsory modules you'll need to take.

Mathematics, Operational Research, Statistics and Economics (MORSE) is a broad, business-oriented mathematics degree. It's ideal if you're thinking of a career as a professional mathematician, researcher, statistician or economist.

Our 3-year programme will give you a foundation in the main areas of mathematics, such as:

• Algebra
• Calculus
• Differential equations

Operational research modules will show you how to use maths to model and solve practical problems. Statistics modules explain how to analyse uncertain data.

Within economics you’ll learn how to create models of the complex interactions in an economic system.

This course will develop your abilities in:

• Problem-solving
• Logical argument
• Deductive reasoning
• Abstraction
• Generalisation

As part of this course you can:

• Choose from a range of optional modules to follow your interests
• Discover a range of mathematical techniques, such as graphical networks, cost models, decision processes and statistical modelling
• Solve real-world problems using mathematics and other skills
• Use our student centre, a dedicated learning and social space for maths students
• Explore mathematical and computational packages such as Python and the statistics package 'R'

We'll teach you through a combination of lectures and workshops. Our staff are leading researchers in fields like game theory, healthcare modelling and experiment design.

This integrated master's degree in economics will help you understand advanced economic theory. You'll use facilities such as our Bloomberg Trading Suite and behavioural economics labs. You'll develop the analytical and research skills you need to become a professional economist.

Your A level results will determine which core or compulsory modules you'll need to take.

You'll gain a specialist knowledge of:

• Microeconomics (the behaviour of individuals and businesses)
• Macroeconomics (the behaviour of the economy as a whole)
• Econometrics (applying mathematical and statistical models to economic systems)

This flexible course has 3 separate pathways you can choose after the first year. These have slightly different module selections. The pathways are:

• Economics - this is the default pathway, which will give you a rounded education in the subject.
• Econometrics - focuses on the quantitative methods in economics, providing the relevant statistical tools you'll need to analyse economic data and policy.
• Behavioural economics - has an additional focus on explaining and predicting human behaviour, and using these insights to evaluate and design economic policy.

You'll also have the freedom to shape your studies by choosing optional modules to suit your interests or career plans. You could choose international banking, risk management or public economics, for example.

Our teaching staff are experts in the field, whose research has influenced international policy. Our facilities include the behavioural economics laboratory and the Bloomberg Trading Suite - a realistic trading room environment with the most detailed financial data available..

You'll graduate as a master of economics, with practical transferable skills essential to a successful career or continued learning.

As part of this course you can also:

• Take part in a 2-week economics summer school at Xiamen University, China
• Spend a semester abroad in your third year
• Spend a year in employment
• Gain vital work experience on our Student Innovation Projects

Explore how society works and discover the causes of social inequality on this MSc Sociology and Social Policy master's course. Here at the University of Southampton, you'll learn about issues such as globalisation, gender and class, and understand how they relate to social policy concepts. These include health, social risk and the welfare state. 

On this UK master’s course you’ll gain in-depth knowledge of: 

• The main themes and debates in sociology and how to use them to analyse social issues
• The main issues in the philosophy of social science
• Conceptual debates in social policy
• Qualitative and quantitative research methods, and data analysis techniques
• Designing and conducting independent research in sociology or social policy

Become an expert in auditing, corporate governance and tax through our MSc Accounting and Finance degree. You’ll also have a rare opportunity to study international accounting and taxation. This course will prepare you for a variety of careers in accountancy and other sectors.

This master's in accounting and finance is ideal if you have studied in accountancy, business, mathematics, or economics. It’s also suitable if you have relevant professional experience and want to improve your career opportunities.  

You’ll evaluate and apply core technical accounting and finance methods to real-world situations, and gain a detailed understanding of global financial markets and accounting systems. You can use our Bloomberg terminals for live financial data as well as a range of key databases for research.  

Throughout the course you’ll cover:

• Equity markets
• Investment decisions
• Management and financial accounting  
• Mergers and acquisitions  
• Internal and external auditing
• Behaviour

Unusually for a postgraduate in accounting and finance, you’ll have an opportunity to study international accounting and taxation. You’ll learn how a country’s social, economic, legal and political environment determines its tax regulations, and the impact of tax on company behaviours.

Other current study choices include the rapidly expanding area of corporate governance. This will give you an understanding of high profile corporate collapses and financial crisis. You can also choose from reporting and markets, or sustainability accounting.

Specialists also give regular guest lectures and will share insights with you from current research and industry issues. This will enhance your studies and career options, giving you real networking opportunities.

Use geographical data to solve real-world problems on this master’s degree in applied geographical information systems and remote sensing. On this UK MSc course you’ll use the latest technology and develop key programming and analytical techniques. You'll learn the skills to work in a range of careers, from environmental consultancy to government research.

Gain the knowledge and practical skills to analyse geospatial data from remote sensing technology such as satellites and radar. You'll be able to use that data to create geographical information systems (GIS).

These interactive applications are used in everything from engineering and disaster management to understanding the carbon cycle.  

On this master's degree from a UK Russell Group university you’ll:  

• Focus on real-world problems in areas such as public health and environmental management  
• Study 2 key technologies in a single programme

A unique feature of the course is the chance to learn programming in both IDL (remote sensing) and Python (GIS), to allow you to automate big GIS and remote-sensing tasks. These programming skills are often required by employers in this field.  

Our academics are all active researchers, so you’ll directly benefit from their latest findings. And you’ll be able to choose your own specialism through your choice of optional modules.

Your studies will be enhanced by the use of facilities such as a high-end geoprocessing suite and terrestrial laser scanning equipment.

Develop the theoretical knowledge and practical skills to design and engineer the next generation of connected devices and systems on this Internet of Things master’s course. You’ll learn about key hardware and software components, and the tools and methods to protect and optimise them. The course combines elements of computer science and electronics, and is ideal if you’ve graduated from either discipline.

On this Internet of Things MSc you’ll gain knowledge and practical skills in:

• The main elements of Internet of Things (iot) systems and how to design and build them
• Embedded programming and iot hardware components such as microprocessors, microsensors and energy harvesters
• How data moves between devices, apps and the cloud
• Iot system vulnerabilities and how to secure iot devices and their networks against malicious attack

You’ll also have the flexibility to explore specialist IoT topics through your choice of optional modules. Typical subjects include:

• Managing and analysing the data produced by iot systems
• The architecture of embedded processors, and how to design and build them
• The design and optimisation of wireless communications systems using machine learning techniques
• The applications of modern cryptography
• Signal processing and computer vision

You'll learn from researchers who are advancing IoT technologies for applications as varied as smart homes and cities, environmental monitoring, healthcare and disaster relief.

Our Electronics and Computer Science department is also home to the Centre for Internet of Things and Pervasive Systems research group. Much of the course content is informed by their work, so you’ll benefit from the latest knowledge in this field.

Our MSc Mobile Communications and Smart Networking master's programme prepares you to become a capable wireless engineer. We'll help you build core areas of expertise, from understanding the fundamentals of wireless transmission, coding and signal processing, to building wireless transceivers and designing intelligent wireless networks.

Wireless communication has had an enormous social impact on our civilisation, and the need for wireless engineers with advanced skills will continue to grow as our world becomes more connected. Future wireless networks will have to intelligently manage a massive number of 'Internet of Things (IoT)' devices in a highly complex environment and in real-time.

This programme will prepare you to become a proficient wireless engineer with in-depth knowledge and the ability to apply it. You'll gain an advanced understanding of areas such as:

• Transmission and coding
• Signal processing
• Transceiver design
• Network design

You'll also have access to outstanding experimental research facilities, including our world-class high-voltage lab and a £110m interdisciplinary clean room.

The key strength of this programme is that we place an emphasis on fundamental concepts and how they relate to recent advances in wireless system and network design. We use real-world examples to emphasise the relevance and importance of these concepts.

This accredited 4-year business analytics degree with placement will give you specialist skills to help organisations understand their customers and use data to make effective business decisions. You'll get a solid education in business, plus hands-on experience by spending a year on a work placement.

Your A level results will determine which core or compulsory modules you'll need to take.

You'll develop the mathematical skills needed to gain insights from a range of data sources, including the internet and social media.

On this BSc Business Analytics course with placement you can:

• Spend your third year on an approved industry placement in a business organisation
• Gain experience of industry-standard analytics software, including the most commonly used SAS (Statistical Analysis System) package
• Explore possible career paths by studying interdisciplinary modules, including languages and web design
• Learn the fundamentals of programming
• Put your knowledge into practice by working on a project to address a real-world industry issue
• Benefit from the expertise of our research-focused academics, as well as input from industry

You'll graduate with a degree accredited by:

• CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants)
• AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business)

Our BSc Business Analytics with placement course is very flexible because you can choose some of the modules you'll study. For example, you can deepen your accounting and finance knowledge or study relevant business and management topics.

On this MPhys degree you’ll explore photonics – the science of light – while deepening your knowledge in the core areas of physics. An unrivalled range of specialist modules will allow you to fine-tune skills that are in high demand in this well-paid, rapidly expanding industry.

We’re home to the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) - the largest photonics research institute in the UK.

We’re also the only UK university to offer an undergraduate physics degree with photonics and you’ll join a research community with a history of revolutionary discoveries. These include the optical fibres and amplifiers that make the internet possible.

Our direct link with the ORC, a global hub for photonics research, gives you a unique opportunity to explore all the possibilities in depth.

As part of your course you’ll also:

• Learn key skills in computer modeling, mathematics and statistical analysis
• Use the latest equipment in our physics and photonics labs
• Develop problem-solving skills to test theories and conduct experiments

Additionally, you’ll spend time in one of our research groups in year 4. Past projects have included holography, photosensitive materials, nanoscale x-rays, optical fibre and silicon photonics.