Masters Degrees (Video Game)

Course Duration

Full-time (Sep): 12 months

Course Summary

MSc Video Game Enterprise and Production is a year-long Masters-level course for the next generation of games industry entrepreneurs and producers. We give people who want to work in games an in-depth experience of the full game development process combined with all the hard-edged business skills they need to run a small games business or manage a studio production. Employers of our graduates include Rockstar North, Traveller’s Tales, Creative Assembly and Exient.

You'll get specialist skills training, mentoring and support from leading game developers, artists, producers and business owners, with experience at such big-name developers as Eurocom, Electronic Arts and Freestyle Games, while Programme Director Zuby Ahmed founded his own company, SmashMouth Games. The course is delivered in a series of ‘boot camps’ followed by one-to-one support, studio based game development and project delivery.

Employment Oppportunity

Successful students will be prepared for roles in production and design; more specifically as project managers, scrum masters and assistant producers within the games industry. They will also be able to work in product development, as product owners, as designers/scripters or in game and business analytics, and will also be confident and able to set up their own video games business.

Previous graduates now work in roles including mission scripter at Rockstar North, associate producer at Rockstar London, assistant producer at Exient and assistant producer at Traveller’s Tales.

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Award: Master of Arts, University of Chichester

If you have a strong interest in video games and a background in music or audio, then this master’s degree course will give you the skills you need to work as a sound designer in video games. As a career it’s both creatively fulfilling and technically challenging. Creating audio worlds, storytelling with sound, finding innovate technical solutions to creative problems is what this postgraduate degree course is all about.

The course has been developed in close consultation with the industry so we know we are teaching you the skills your future employers want you to have. It’s a strongly project focused course and you will develop an effective workflow, remote working and collaboration and a clear understanding of what’s expected of a professional member of the game audio team.

You need to be technically literate and learn software easily. This course does not require you to learn to code but you will be developing a powerful combination of creative and technical abilities that are market-focused. Working in games is all about finding new ways of doing things and creative problem solving. This postgraduate course accurately reflects the working life of a games composer working as part of remote working team.
All your tutors are working professional video game sound designers.

You will work on a inspiring range of games, including commercial releases, provided as part of your course materials. You will learn not only how to create inspiring interactive music and sound but also how to implement your audio inside the game using industry standard middleware like FMOD and WWise.

Game audio courses and sound design schools are relatively few and far between. This is currently the only online master’s degree in game audio available. Whether you are a composer looking to increase your chances of employment or an audio professional with a passion a for sound design, our MA will bring you real-world professional tuition you need to lay the solid foundations of a career in video game sound design and audio.

Course Highlights

- Personal 1-to-1 tuition from top professional sound designers.
- Work on over 30 real-world projects. The workload is challenging but it’s only through hard work that you will truly reach the next level.
- Detailed feedback from working professionals, online workshops and tutorial groups, forum discussions and exclusive webinars.
- Unique programme developing key, industry facing skill sets, to prepare you for a career as a video game sound designer.

Fees

All of our postgraduate courses have a flat fee, regardless of whether you are full or part time.

Course: £8,850 / $12,950 / €11,600

Fees can be paid as one upfront cost, or as instalments spread monthly across the duration of the course.

Students are required to buy, rent or access additional books, scores, recordings, films and other reference material.

Time Commitment

In the UK, an MA involves 180 academic credits and each credit represents a notional 10 hours of work..

For Sound Design for Video Games students there are 24 projects including a longer Major Project at the end of the course.

Practice based creative degrees are notoriously difficult to quantify in terms of how long they take to complete. It depends to a large extent, on how fast you write music. Some students write 5 minutes of music a day while others write 5 minutes a week or less. If you work reasonably productively, i.e. 2-3 minutes a day, which is probably average in the professional working industry, you would complete the work in much less time.

A well organized person, working productively, might be able to complete the course in two or three days a week whereas another working slower, might take 5 days a week. Assume therefore that the full-time lies somewhere between 2 and 5 days a week depending on your work rate. Part time would be pro-rata so a three year schedule would be 1-2 days a week.

The Provisional Schedule

Both full-time and part-time students join the same course. Full time students will compete their taught modules by the end of the 9th month. The rest of the year is spent on their major project. Part time students will do their modules in roughly twice the time.

To encourage a sense of “togetherness”, most of the group activities are not locked into particular modules. Guest lecturers, webinars, workshops and solo live sessions will be scheduled regularly throughout the year and are free for all to attend. The individual module work is normally more focused on individual or small group tuition and so is more flexible in terms of timing.

Application

When you are sure you are ready to apply for the programme, go to the course page and click the “apply now” button. This will take you to our store where you can pay the non-returnable application fee of £50 / €70 / $90.

Once your payment has been processed, you will be able to login and complete the application pack.

We will need your personal details, details of your academic, musical and technical background. If you are offered a place, we will require copies of a number of documents including those confirming your academic history, identity and language ability where English is not your first language.

You will also be required to send us some music.

For full details on the application procedure, please visit our website below.

Visit the MA Sound Design for Video Games page on the ThinkSpace Education website for more details!

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Award: Master of Fine Art, University of Chichester

Video games are evolving rapidly both technically and creatively, and this is creating enormous opportunities for game audio professionals. Our master’s degree in Game Music and Audio has been developed in close consultation with the industry to ensure you are learning the skills the industry requires.

The MFA course is an advanced degree and prepares you for a career as both a video game composer and as a game sound designer, the kind of full-stack game audio professional that is increasingly in demand. Scoring video games is rewarding and challenging but highly competitive. Our real-world project based approach, tutored by working professional game composers and sound designers, is designed to help you compete at the highest level. Being able to provide a complete audio service makes you much more employable.

The course will help you develop as a video games composer, raising your music to a new level, helping you find a voice and distinctive style of your own. You’ll also be going further and learning the technology and creative skills required to work as a video games sound designer, creating immersive audio worlds.

You will work on a inspiring range of games, including commercial releases, provided as part of your course materials. You will learn not only how to create inspiring interactive music and sound, but also how to implement your audio inside the game using industry standard middleware like FMOD and WWise.

Degree courses in game audio are few and far between. This is currently the only master’s degree in game audio and composition available entirely online. Whether you want to learn to compose for video games or are looking for a video game sound design course, our MFA will bring you real-world professional tuition you need to lay the solid foundations of a career in video game music and audio.

Course Highlights

- Personal 1-to-1 tuition from top professional composers and sound designers.
- Work on over 30 real-world projects. The workload is challenging but it’s only through hard work that you will truly reach the next level.
- Detailed feedback from working professionals, online workshops and tutorial groups, forum discussions and exclusive webinars.
- Unique programme developing key, industry facing skill sets, to prepare you for a career as a composer and/or sound designer for video games.

Fees

All of our postgraduate courses have a flat fee, regardless of whether you are full or part time.

Course: £6,875 / $10,050 / €8,995 (per year for two years)

Fees can be paid as one upfront cost, or as instalments spread monthly across the duration of the course.

Students are required to buy, rent or access additional books, scores, recordings, films and other reference material.

Time Commitment

In the UK, an MFA involves 240 academic credits and each credit represents a notional 10 hours of work..

For Game Music and Audio students there are 34 projects including a longer Major Project at the end of the course.

Practice based creative degrees are notoriously difficult to quantify in terms of how long they take to complete. It depends to a large extent, on how fast you write music. Some students write 5 minutes of music a day while others write 5 minutes a week or less. If you work reasonably productively, i.e. 2-3 minutes a day, which is probably average in the professional working industry, you would complete the work in much less time.

A well organized person, working productively, might be able to complete the course in two or three days a week whereas another working slower, might take 5 days a week. Assume therefore that the full-time lies somewhere between 2 and 5 days a week depending on your work rate. Part time would be pro-rata so a three year schedule would be 1-2 days a week.

The Provisional Schedule

Both full-time and part-time students join the same course. Full time students will compete their taught modules by the end of the 20th month. The rest of the year is spent on their major project. Part time students will do their modules in roughly twice the time.

To encourage a sense of “togetherness”, most of the group activities are not locked into particular modules. Guest lecturers, webinars, workshops and solo live sessions will be scheduled regularly throughout the year and are free for all to attend. The individual module work is normally more focused on individual or small group tuition and so is more flexible in terms of timing.

Application

When you are sure you are ready to apply for the programme, go to the course page and click the “apply now” button. This will take you to our store where you can pay the non-returnable application fee of £50 / €70 / $90.

Once your payment has been processed, you will be able to login and complete the application pack.

We will need your personal details, details of your academic, musical and technical background. If you are offered a place, we will require copies of a number of documents including those confirming your academic history, identity and language ability where English is not your first language.

You will also be required to send us some music.

For full details on the application procedure, please visit our website below.

Visit the MFA Game Music and Audio page on the ThinkSpace Education website for more details!

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This is the only degree which offers students the opportunity to specialise as a translation expert in audiovisual translation and in the translation of popular culture.

Who is it for?

This course is for you if you:
-Are interested in popular culture, films, TV, literature, comics or graphic novels
-Love languages, other cultures and their differences
-Are interested in translation and want to learn about systematic decision-making
-Know about translation and want to specialise
-Have an amateur or fan background in translation and want to become a professional
-Have studied foreign languages, linguistics, literature, media, film, theatre, drama or cultural studies.
-Are looking for a thorough grounding in the theory and practice of translation.
-Want to gain an insight into professional practice in audiovisual translation or in literary translation.

The course aims to make students fit for the market as properly trained and highly qualified translation experts.

Objectives

This course:
-Provides you with training in audiovisual translation techniques.
-Uses industry-standard software for subtitling, dubbing and voice over.
-Specialises in the translation of children’s literature; crime fiction; science fiction and fantasy; comics, graphic novels, manga and video games.
-Introduces you to the different conventions and styles associated with popular culture in its varied forms and genres.
-Focuses on the specifics of genre translation and how these shape translation decisions.
-Provides a theoretical framework for the practical application of translation, working with a wide range of source texts from different popular genres and media.

The course:
-Aims to give you a secure foundation in theoretical strategies underpinning and supporting the practice of translation.
-Develops your awareness of professional standards, norms and translational ethics.
-Works closely with professional translators and the translation industry helping you to develop a professional identity.
-Has optional modules in dubbing, translation project management, screenplay translation and publishing.

Placements

There are no course-based placements on this course. Literary translation does not offer placements, while audiovisual companies offer internships which are competitive.

We support and guide our students through the application process for audiovisual translation internships and have a very good record of achievement. Each year, several of our students win one of these very competitive internships and they tend to be offered full time work on completion.

The course is very industry-oriented and we work closely with the translation industry. Industry professionals teach on the course, supervise students or give guest seminars and lectures.

Academic staff have run Translation Development courses, for example in genre translation for professional translators for the Chartered Institute of Linguists, and they are involved in running Continuing Professional Development courses in specialised translation.

We run a preparatory, distance learning course for the professional Diploma in Translation examined by the Chartered Institute of Linguists. We organise a Literary Translation Summer School each July which is taught by professional, literary translators and with lectures by prestigious translators, academics or writers.

The Translation department runs the John Dryden Translation Competition for the British Comparative Literature Association. The competition is sponsored by the British Centre for Literary Translation and the Institut Français. We offer one internship per year in working on this Translation Competition, interacting with translators, translation judges, managing competition entries and learning about the judging process.

Teaching and learning

The course is taught by academics, industry professionals (for example, audiovisual translation project manager) and translation professionals (for example, award winning literary translators, experienced subtitlers).

Teaching is delivered in a combination of lectures, seminars, practical workshops and lab-based sessions for audiovisual translation. In workshop sessions students work individually, in pairs, group work or plenary forum in a multilingual and multicultural environment.

In all translation modules, there is also a translation project prepared in independent guided study under the supervision of a translation professional in the student’s language pair and language directionality. You can expect some on-line learning, supported by seminar sessions, and industry visits to audiovisual translation companies.

In the Translation project management module, students work in project groups performing real-life translation roles and tasks in a collaborative environment.

Assessment

Assessment is 100% coursework – there are no examinations.

Coursework assignments are a mixture of essays, translation projects, translation commentaries, subtitling and voice over files or project work. The dissertation is 12,000 to 15,000 words long and can either be a research project on any topic relevant to Audiovisual Translation or Popular Literary Translation / Culture or it can be practice oriented: a translation of an extended text or AV clip with critical introduction to and analysis of the translation.

Coursework assignments: 66.6% (120 credits)

Dissertation: 33.3% (60 credits)

Modules

There are five compulsory taught modules plus three elective taught modules, selected by the student from a pool of module choices, plus a dissertation which can be a research dissertation or a practice-oriented dissertation of an extended translation with critical introduction and analysis.

Each taught module is an estimated 150 hours of study. Teaching consists of lectures, seminars and workshops plus independent individually supervised work.

The first part of the translation modules is taught in three-hour sessions (lecture + seminar + practical workshop). In the second part of each translation module, students work on a translation project which is individually supervised by a translation professional who gives written feedback on drafts and provides tailored advice and guidance in individual supervision sessions.

Students can expect between ten and 12 hours of classroom-based study per week, plus time spent on preparatory reading, independent study and research, preparation of assignments.

The dissertation is 60 credits and an estimated 600 hours of study. There are four two-hour research method seminars guiding students through the process of writing a dissertation, plus individual supervision sessions.

All taught modules are in term 1 and term 2 (January – April). Term 3 is dedicated to the dissertation (and completion of assignments from term 2 modules).

Core modules
-Principles and practice of translation theory (15 credits)
-Translating children’s literature (15 credits)
-Subtitling (15 credits)
-Translating crime fiction (15 credits)
-Translating science fiction and fantasy (15 credits)

Elective modules - choose three:
-Principles of screenwriting and the translation of screenplays (15 credits)
-Creating and managing intellectual property (15 credits).
-Dubbing and voice over (15 credits)
-Translation project management (15 credits)
-Translating multimodal texts (comics, graphic novels, manga, video games) (15 credits)
-International publishing case studies (20 credits)

Dissertation - 60 credits
-Dissertation option A (discursive/research)
-Dissertation option B (extended translation with critical introduction and analysis)

Career prospects

The degree is designed to produce graduates who are fit for the market, either working in translation agencies / companies or as a freelancer, addressing the need for properly trained and highly qualified translation experts.

Career options come in a wide range of jobs in the translation industry, ranging from self-employed translator, staff translator or localisation expert to editor, researcher or project manager.

Recent graduate destinations include: video game testing and localisation at Testronic Laboratories; video game translation at Sega; Dubbing, subtitling and voice over at VSI London; translation at the World Health Organisation; project management at Maverick Advertising and Design and at Deluxe Media Europe; freelance translator creative and literary texts.

The degree also lays the foundation to continue to a research degree / doctoral study in any area of translation studies. Currently, graduates from the course are pursuing doctoral study at City, specialising in crime fiction translation.

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Award: Master of Arts, University of Chichester

The course has been developed in close consultation with the industry, so we are teaching you the skills your future employers want you to have. It’s a strongly project focused course and you will develop an effective workflow, remote working and collaboration and a clear understanding of what’s expected of the game composer as a member of the game audio team. All your tutors are working professional video game composers.

You will work on an inspiring range of games, including commercial releases, provided as part of your course materials. You will learn not only how to create inspiring interactive music but also how to implement your score inside the game using industry standard middleware like FMOD and WWise.

There are plenty of music production schools yet, despite increasing interest in video games soundtracks, almost none who specialize in scoring computer games.

This is currently the only online master’s degree in composing for video games. So if you enjoy working in a vibrant and rapidly evolving area of music production, if you embrace the technical and creative challenges that scoring computer games will involve, then come and join us.

Course Highlights

- Personal 1-to-1 tuition from top professional composers.
- Work on over 30 real-world projects. The workload is challenging but it’s only through hard work that you will truly reach the next level.
- Detailed feedback from working professionals, online workshops and tutorial groups, forum discussions and exclusive webinars.
- Unique programme developing key, industry facing skill sets, to prepare you for a career as a video game composer.

Fees

All of our postgraduate courses have a flat fee, regardless of whether you are full or part time.

Course: £8,850 / $12,950 / €11,600

Fees can be paid as one upfront cost, or as instalments spread monthly across the duration of the course.

Students are required to buy, rent or access additional books, scores, recordings, films and other reference material.

Time Commitment

In the UK, an MA involves 180 academic credits and each credit represents a notional 10 hours of work..

For Composing for Video Games students there are 24 projects including a longer Major Project at the end of the course.

Practice based creative degrees are notoriously difficult to quantify in terms of how long they take to complete. It depends to a large extent, on how fast you write music. Some students write 5 minutes of music a day while others write 5 minutes a week or less. If you work reasonably productively, i.e. 2-3 minutes a day, which is probably average in the professional working industry, you would complete the work in much less time.

A well organized person, working productively, might be able to complete the course in two or three days a week whereas another working slower, might take 5 days a week. Assume therefore that the full-time lies somewhere between 2 and 5 days a week depending on your work rate. Part time would be pro-rata so a three year schedule would be 1-2 days a week.

The Provisional Schedule

Both full-time and part-time students join the same course. Full time students will compete their taught modules by the end of the 9th month. The rest of the year is spent on their major project. Part time students will do their modules in roughly twice the time.

To encourage a sense of “togetherness”, most of the group activities are not locked into particular modules. Guest lecturers, webinars, workshops and solo live sessions will be scheduled regularly throughout the year and are free for all to attend. The individual module work is normally more focused on individual or small group tuition and so is more flexible in terms of timing.

Application

When you are sure you are ready to apply for the programme, go to the course page and click the “apply now” button. This will take you to our store where you can pay the non-returnable application fee of £50 / €70 / $90.

Once your payment has been processed, you will be able to login and complete the application pack.

We will need your personal details, details of your academic, musical and technical background. If you are offered a place, we will require copies of a number of documents including those confirming your academic history, identity and language ability where English is not your first language.

You will also be required to send us some music.

For full details on the application procedure, please visit our website below.

Visit the MA Composing for Video Games page on the ThinkSpace Education website for more details!

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About the course

The video game industry is a vastly growing sector in both the UK and worldwide and the need for highly skilled and educated individuals is in high demand across the globe. With Brunel’s Digital Games Theory and Design MA programme, individuals will engage in, and experiment with, practical game design focussing on the process of devising the gameplay experience itself, including (but not limited to) the creation of rules, gameplay mechanics, narrative, world design and user experience, among many other aspects that make up the art of game design.

Coupled with a theoretical underpinning that focuses on the formal characteristics of games and analysis as well as the social and cultural contexts that shape the development of games, players, and society, this exciting programme offers students the opportunity to develop a range of skills that are required for success in today’s competitive job market.

Our programme is staffed with seasoned games designers and internationally published scholars who bring with them an extensive understanding of the nature of the video game industry, the importance of networks and the need for scholarly engagement in order to create innovative games for the future.

Aims

You will gain a comprehensive and sophisticated understanding of the advanced academic study of digital games and the techniques and principles used in their design.

You will be provided with the relevant expertise, teaching and learning environment to support your critical and creative engagement with issues at the cutting edge of analysing and designing digital games. You will contribute to the process of defining ‘game studies’ as a new academic discipline.

You will develop skills and knowledge to gain employment in the digital games industry and make contributions to the development of innovative games that go beyond current markets.

You will acquire the skills necessary to undertake doctoral level research.

Course Content

The MA consists of compulsory modules, a typical selection can be found below. Modules can vary from year to year, but these offer a good idea of what we teach.

Each module will have a range of assessments; some practical, others written.

Game Design 1 (term 1, 30 credits) - practical group design projects (small); written evaluative case study 2000 words; assessed presentation

Critical Approaches (term 1, 30 credits) - 2 x 3000 word essays

Game Design 2 (term 2, 30 credits) - 1 x practical design project tailored to a specific platform (large); written evaluative case study 3000 words; assessed presentation

Socio-Cultural Contexts (term 2, 30 credits) (1 x 6000 word essays)

Dissertation in Digital Games Design: Theory and Design - either 12,000-18,000 words or 8,000 words with practical component - delivered in either digital format or as a design document (term 3, 60 credits)

Students are expected to use the MA forum for discussions and are encouraged to participate in extra-curricular support activities such as game jams, local game related and networking events in order to practice the creative and technical skills developed throughout the programme and foster conversation and connections that are an invaluable part of the post-graduate experience.

Special Features

Students will engage in, and experiment with, practical games creation, with workshops led by designers working in the industry, as well as explore a range of theories and concepts with which to analyse the values of games, play and pleasure.

This programme offers a unique focus on practical games design, informed by theory that is not offered by any other university. It is not a software or graphics training programme.

We have a team of experienced games researchers teaching on the programme, some of whom have played a pioneering role in making game studies a new academic discipline.

Assessment

Assessment is via a combination of practical games-making work, presentations and essays of varying length.

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Course Duration

Full time (Sep start): 12 months

Course Summary

Gamer Camp Pro (MA/MSc Video Games Development) has been created in partnership with the likes of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe,Codemasters,Rareand Exient. We aim to help you become a perfect recruit for a career in the games industry- with not just the skills, but also the experience you’ll need. Our graduates have been employed by companies including Sony Evolution Studios, Ubisoft and Rockstar Games.

The course was developed in partnership with the industry to provide a ‘finishing school’ that produces work-ready graduates with the practical skills they needed to be successful. Many companies recruit directly from the course, giving you access to jobs that you would not come across elsewhere.

You will get specialist skills training, mentoring and support from leading game developers, the chance to design and build a working game that can be published, and experience at every stage of the games development cycle. You will receive real game briefs, training and mentoring from industry partners such as Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Exient, Rare and Codemasters.

Employment Opportunity

Students leaving Gamer Camp course have gone onto work with many of the industry’s biggest names. Roles secured by our graduates include Concept Artist at Sony Evolution Studios, Character Artist at Sega Hardlight Studios, Associate Producer at Spicy Horse Games, and Environmental Artist at Rockstar. MA and MSc students have also set up their own studios.

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Game and Media Technology

This Master's programme concentrates on the technological aspects of gaming and multimedia in the context of computer science, with a unique thematic focus for research-minded students.

Gaming and multimedia have assumed an important place in our society, giving rise to a booming industry with turnovers exceeding the entertainment movie industry and leaps in computer software and hardware development. Advances show no sign of slackening with new types of games and hardware reaching the market regularly. Moreover, the value of games as an educational tool is increasingly being recognised and the integration of multimedia tools into everyday life is still continuing, creating fertile grounds for those with a high-level degree in the area of Game and Media Technology.

The research field deals with modelling virtual worlds, creating characters and behaviour, generating effective scenarios, building multi-sensory interfaces and redesigning didactic concepts. Simulating the physics, biology and psychology of the real world and bringing it to life in multi-sensory simulations are major challenges on their own. In this context, media technology plays an important part as it deals with the effective transfer of information using audio, speech, sound, and music, video, 3D objects, interactive virtual environments.

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-Join a programme that is sharply tailored to respond to the current demand for creative professionals who are able to provide sound and music content for the film and video game industry
-Develop a showreel demonstrating your creative talent in composing music and designing sound for a wide range of media (video, film, video games), opening up a 360º horizon of possibilities and opportunities for work
-Collaborate with MA Film students in our School of Creative Arts
-Learn in the university’s top-class facilities, assisted by tutors who are themselves industry professionals

Why choose this course?

This course is conceived to meet the current industry’s demand for creative professionals who are equally versed in music composition as well as sound design, and can work effectively across a range of media – whether it’s video, narrative film or interactive games.

All aspects of the soundtrack are systematically explored in both linear and non-linear environments, leading to a fuller understanding of the discipline, of the industry, and of the production processes.

On this course, you will harness the whole gamut of sonic resources for your creative practice – from acoustic instruments to electroacoustic sound, utilising all the latest studio techniques and technologies.

You’ll study in the University’s top-class studios, supported by tutors who are experienced industry professionals, with potential to collaborate with students from our MA Film course.

With targeted sessions and expert guidance, you’ll develop a showreel demonstrating your creative talent in providing sound and music for a wide range of media (video, film, video games), opening up a 360º horizon of possibilities and opportunities for work.

What our students say

“The course is well structured, giving opportunities to explore the field of composition in a very broad way and also focus on particular areas of interest. I have genuinely found it exciting and inspiring to participate and I found the atmosphere just as I hoped: creative, relevant, stimulating, professional and fun.”
Nicola Hutchison, teacher at Hertfordshire College of Music and active multidisciplinary artist

"The MSc Composition course was a real eye-opener as to the many applications of composition, allowing me to produce work far beyond the realms of what I thought possible."
Chris Moorhead, freelance composer for media, and session player

"It has been a life changing experience for me, and that is no overstatement. Your particularly vigorous and passionate dedication to cracking open our own personal artistic consciousness underpinned a revelatory roller coaster ride from which I learned and will continue to learn a great deal."
Alex Simler, instrumental teacher at Hertfordshire Music Services

Careers

Graduates from this programme will be ideally positioned to pursue a career in the thriving field of acoustic/electroacoustic composition and sound design for film, television, and interactive games. You may, in addition, consider positions in music publishing, music journalism and criticism, teaching or you may continue your higher education at doctoral level.

Graduate successes

Sebastien Crossley graduated in 2010, and is currently composing for a new Channel 4 sitcom.

Nichola Hutchison graduated in 2011 and teaches composition at Hertfordshire College of Music. She is also active as a multidisciplinary artist creating A/V installations for galleries.

Chris Barn graduated in 2012 and is composing for the Channel 4 Random Acts series with renowned poet Benjamin Zephaniah.

Edward Abela graduated in 2013, and has composed for several short films for SABB productions, SMMusic Library, and Candie & Bell, amongst others.

2014 graduate Jamie Stonehouse is now working as an assistant composer and audio engineer at media company Urban Soul Orchestra, and has just been awarded a 3-year studentship for doctoral studies at Kent University.

Callum Judd graduated in 2015 and is working as a free lance composer for a variety of commercial projects, including a documentary on Japan.

Teaching methods

Lecture, seminars and tutorials are typically scheduled over two consecutive days a week, plus some extra sessions for particular workshops, performance, recording, as necessary. In addition to scheduled sessions, students are expected to engage in continuous self-directed study and studio practice.

Structure

Core Modules
-Creative Economies
-Major Study:Music Projects
-Music, Media and Production (Discourse/Reflection)
-Practice 1:Soundtrack and the Cinematic
-Practice 2: Soundtrack in Digital and Interactive Media
-Research and Enquiry

Optional
-Creative Economies (Online)
-Research and Enquiry (Online)

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Our Computer Science MPhil and PhD programme gives you an opportunity to make a unique contribution to computer science research. Your research will be supported by an experienced computer scientist within a research group and with the support of a team of advisers.

Research supervision is available under our six research areas, reflecting our strengths, capabilities and critical mass.

Advanced Model-Based Engineering and Reasoning (AMBER)

The AMBER group aims to equip systems and software engineering practitioners with effective methods and tools for developing the most demanding computer systems. We do this by means of models with well-founded semantics. Such model-based engineering can help to detect optimal, or defective, designs long before commitment is made to implementations on real hardware.

Digital Interaction Group (DIG)

The Digital Interaction Group (DIG) is the leading academic research centre for human-computer interaction (HCI) and ubiquitous computing (Ubicomp) research outside of the USA. The group conducts research across a wide range of fundamental topics in HCI and Ubicomp, including:
-Interaction design methods, eg experience-centred and participatory design methods
-Interaction techniques and technologies
-Mobile and social computing
-Wearable computing
-Media computing
-Context-aware interaction
-Computational behaviour analysis

Applied research is conducted in partnership with the DIG’s many collaborators in domains including technology-enhanced learning, digital health, creative industries and sustainability. The group also hosts Newcastle University's cross-disciplinary EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Digital Civics, which focusses on the use of digital technologies for innovation and delivery of community driven services. Each year the Centre awards 11 fully-funded four-year doctoral training studentships to Home/EU students.

Interdisciplinary Computing and Complex BioSystems (ICOS)

ICOS carries out research at the interface of computing science and complex biological systems. We seek to create the next generation of algorithms that provide innovative solutions to problems arising in natural or synthetic systems. We do this by leveraging our interdisciplinary expertise in machine intelligence, complex systems and computational biology and pursue collaborative activities with relevant stakeholders.

Scalable Computing

The Scalable Systems Group creates the enabling technology we need to deliver tomorrow's large-scale services. This includes work on:
-Scalable cloud computing
-Big data analytics
-Distributed algorithms
-Stochastic modelling
-Performance analysis
-Data provenance
-Concurrency
-Real-time simulation
-Video game technologies
-Green computing

Secure and Resilient Systems

The Secure and Resilient Systems group investigates fundamental concepts, development techniques, models, architectures and mechanisms that directly contribute to creating dependable and secure information systems, networks and infrastructures. We aim to target real-world challenges to the dependability and security of the next generation information systems, cyber-physical systems and critical infrastructures.

Teaching Innovation Group

The Teaching Innovation Group focusses on encouraging, fostering and pursuing innovation in teaching computing science. Through this group, your research will focus on pedagogy and you will apply your research to maximising the impact of innovative teaching practices, programmes and curricula in the School. Examples of innovation work within the group include:
-Teacher training and the national Computing at School initiative
-Outreach activities including visits to schools and hosting visits by schools
-Participation in national fora for teaching innovation
-Market research for new degree programmes
-Review of existing degree programmes
-Developing employability skills
-Maintaining links with industry
-Establishing teaching requirements for the move to Science Central

Research Excellence

Our research excellence in the School of Computing Science has been widely recognised through awards of large research grants. Recent examples include:
-Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Centre for Doctoral Training in Cloud Computing for Big Data Doctoral Training Centre
-Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Centre for Doctoral Training in Digital Civics
-Wellcome Trust and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Research Grant: a £10m project to look at novel treatment for epilepsy, confirming our track record in Systems Neuroscience and Neuroinformatics.

Accreditation

The School of Computing Science at Newcastle University is an accredited and a recognised Partner in the Network of Teaching Excellence in Computer Science.

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Internationally recognised scholars in English Literature teach this intensive research-focused Masters degree. You’ll work with cutting-edge research-active staff to push forward the latest developments in literary criticism.

The English division in the Department of Humanities has a number of exciting and interdisciplinary research groups, with particular strengths in the Early Modern period, the Long Eighteenth Century, Modernism, Gender, and Popular Culture.

You’ll have the opportunity to develop your own scholarly interests by researching and writing a 20,000 word dissertation. Recent MRes projects have encompassed a range of subjects including a feminist critique of the Tomb Raider video game franchise, the female authorship of eighteenth-century medical tracts, and an examination of loss in the works of Joseph Conrad.

Whether taken for the love of literature, or for personal or professional development, the MRes will enhance skills such as communication, self-management and project planning.

This course can also be taken part time - for more information, please view this web-page: https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/study-at-northumbria/courses/english-literature-dtpeli7/

Learn From The Best

This MRes reflects – and is informed by – staff interests across periods, locations, and theoretical approaches: from the Early Modern period to contemporary writing; British, American and transnational literature; class, gender, and sexuality.

Northumbria’s Humanities department works with a range of cultural partners including New Writing North, the co-operative movement, Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums and Shandy Hall, providing students with direct industry exposure and live project opportunities.

Many staff are well-known figures in their own research fields and the department boasts a significant number of staff at professorial level.

Teaching And Assessment

The MRes is a postgraduate degree that allows you to embark upon a closely-supervised research project. At the same time, you will participate in taught modules that comprise a framework designed to aid the acquisition of a wide range of transferable skills that are at once generic to all researchers and specific to your chosen discipline.

By progressing through this robust and dynamic framework of research training, and building on your strong undergraduate degree, you will gain an understanding of research methods, contemporary digital literacies, and acquire expert professional skills in communication, self-management, and project planning.

Our assessment is carefully designed to promote and nurture student-centred learning, and is tailored to the diverse needs of our students. Assessment encompasses traditional and innovative modes, including a 20,000 word dissertation (or equivalent project), oral and written presentations, critical reviews, and portfolios of work.

Learning Environment

Humanities at Northumbria is composed of three subject teams: History, Literature & Creative Writing, and English Language & Linguistics, and is also developing strengths in the fields of American Studies and Heritage Studies.

The Humanities department is made up of a community of learners all the way through from first year undergraduate to final year PhD level. All Humanities staff are engaged in research and actively create the knowledge that is taught in the department.

English Literature MRes students, as part of Northumbria’s Humanities department, will have access to the new Institute for Humanities which houses a range of specialist research resources.

Research-Rich Learning

We are recognised for world-leading research in all our Humanities’ disciplines. Our researchers have attracted major funding from Research Councils UK as well as the British Academy, Leverhulme Trust and Nuffield Foundation.

Northumbria is rated in the UK top 15 for the quality of its English Literature, Language and Creative Writing publications. You can explore some of the key themes here.

Furthermore, as an MRes student in English Literature you will engage with the activities of the Institute for Humanities, which is home to five international journals in English studies and which regularly hosts an exciting range of seminars, symposia and conferences on topics as varied as Memory, Heritage and Identity; Transnationalism and Societal Change; Digital Humanities; Medical Humanities; and American Studies.

Give Your Career An Edge

On completion of the MRes, you will have improved your employability through enhancing your critical skills, presentation skills, and reflective and evaluative abilities. You will be self-motivating, capable of making decisions in complex situations, and possess a thirst for independent learning.

In addition to these personal skills, you will have demonstrated a critical awareness of the current research and scholarship within your discipline, facilitating your ability to interpret knowledge in a variety of professional fields.

The MRes builds on undergraduate skills, distinguished by the level of intensity, complexity, and density of study. Advanced communication skills and media literacy must be demonstrated along with exceptional ability for time management, ethical and professional understanding, and highly developed research and inquiry skills.

From the start of the course you are encouraged to access the central university Careers and Employment Service, to seek advice on areas such as career guidance.

Your Future

The MRes is perfect for people wishing go on to study a PhD, while ensuring that those students who move on to work as researchers outside the university system will have the skills necessary to meet the needs of the public services, the professions, and of employers generally.

The course offers a qualification that may enhance promotion prospects in some professions – most notably teaching, professional research, museums/archives, public policy, and project management.

Helen Maria Storey came to Northumbria as a mature MRes student. She says, “I would never have achieved what I have done without the support of Northumbria University and the staff encouragement to continue.

…[I enjoyed most] the opportunities to meet acclaimed academics at seminars and conferences that I never would have had the chance to meet.

Don't think about it, just do it!"

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Film and Television develops technical skills in compositional techniques and studio-based work. Designed for advanced composers, it provides an in-depth specialist training. Contextual knowledge of mainstream repertoire and significant previous experience of composition and orchestration are required.

Course detail

The MMus in Composition for Film and Television at London College of Music (LCM) is one of the longest-established qualifications of its kind. The course provides an ideal opportunity for in-depth examination of specific techniques (both historical and current) employed in the creation of music for modern media, and for drawing upon these procedures in a practical context by composing music for a diverse range of genres, including…

• television thrillers
• animation
• video game trailers
• science fiction
• dramatic cinema
• silent film
• costume drama
• documentary and…
• …horror!

In addition, you will hone and refine your skills as orchestrators by writing for a variety of specified ensembles. You will also expand your musical and dramatic vocabulary via an imaginative series of compositional pastiche exercises (an integral feature of the portfolio submission during Semester 1).

You will undertake further assessments in film score analysis (taking the form of an extended contextual essay, based upon a score/composer of your own choice) and in-studio ensemble conducting, working 'to click' with a group of 'live' performing musicians.

Modules

• Practical Composition 1 and 2
• Film and Television Score Production
• Business of Music
• Orchestration
• Combining Sounds
• Composers' Workshop Series.

Format

The course is taught mainly through individual tutorials, but may include group work, workshops, seminars and lectures.

Assessment

We assess written portfolio work through portfolios of compositions responding to verbal briefs, and in the second semester (or second year for part-time students), composing direct to picture. There is also a practical assessment in the Film and Television Score Production module and an extended essay project for the Business of Music module. There is a viva voce exam as part of the portfolio submissions in both semesters (or both years for part-time students).

Career and study progression

Course alumni have gone on to compose music for an excitingly diverse range of projects and for an impressive list of clients, including the BBC, BBC Worldwide, BBC Three, The National Theatre, Youth Music Theatre UK, Projection Pictures, The National Theatre, Sky, Channel 4 and the British Film Institute.

Also, in addition to orchestrating their own music, many specialise in orchestrating and conducting the music of other (notable) film composers.

While most students progress directly into the industry after completing this course, graduates may alternatively choose to undertake a PhD or further their compositional studies with a DMus.

How to apply

Click the following link for information on how to apply to this course: http://www.uwl.ac.uk/students/postgraduate/how-apply

Scholarships and bursaries

Information about scholarships and bursaries can be found here: http://www.uwl.ac.uk/students/postgraduate/scholarships-and-bursaries

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Aims

Music Technology is a rapidly evolving field of study with a diverse and expanding range of possibilities.

The MSc in Audio Technology is designed to go beyond the simple provision of training, and to instead enable you to engage with current debates and actively participate in some of the most vibrant areas of contemporary research.

Throughout the course you will be encouraged to demonstrate self-direction and autonomy as you critically explore and define your position within the wider field. One overarching aim is that you should leave the course as not only an adept user of various hardware and software technologies, but as someone able to actively shape and develop their own, responding as necessary to future developments.

Thus, in addition to developing your theoretical and methodological understanding, the MSc in Audio Technology features a strong emphasis on practical work in a number of different (but related) areas. For example, you will study modules in Advanced Studio Practice, Sound on Screen, Music Computing and Musical Human-Computer Interaction. These are supported by a technology-orientated Research and Development module that provides robust foundation for the final Audio Technology Project.

Acting as summary of all that you have learned and a portfolio going forward, the Audio Technology Project provides an opportunity to plan and execute a substantial project in an area of personal specialism or interest. Innovative projects are encouraged, and there exists the potential for interdisciplinary and/or collaboration with practitioners in other fields.

Fees and finance

2015/6 Home/EU International
Full time £5,750 £11,960
Part time £2,875

These fees are applicable for new entrants in 2015/6. Fees are for the academic year only, any subsequent years may be subject to an annual increase, usually in line with inflation.

The University also offers a postgraduate loyalty discount: If you have completed an undergraduate degree at the University of Wolverhampton, you may be eligible for a 20% discount on the first year of a taught postgraduate programme.

Employability

The course will actively equip both graduates and those already in industry with a diverse range of skills to enhance their career prospects. It will also develop a range of opportunities for experience and employment in areas such as studio recording, media production and content creation, video game and software development, education (FE/HE), research assistantships/studentships, and employment in HE institutions.

In addition to subject-specific practical skills, you will also acquire a range of transferable skills relevant for pursuing a research degree. These include critical, analytical, project management and research skills from the study of a broad spectrum of literature, research, and external projects.

Outcomes

- Demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of a variety of issues in the expanded field of contemporary music technology, taking an independent and rounded perspective.
- Apply theoretical discourse relating to aspects such as technologised production and performance, reactive/interactive/non-linear media, and computational creativity (etc.) to practice through a systematic understanding of historical, contextual, philosophical, technical and scientific theory.
- Select, interpret, develop and apply a variety of research methodologies appropriate for their work.
- Critically evaluate and use a wide variety of hardware and software technologies, and, where appropriate, develop their own.
- Exercise personal autonomy in learning through effective self-organisation and management of workload in both individual and group scenarios.
- Understand the possibilities afforded by the contemporary, expanded field of music technology (including its gaps and trends), and be able to position their own work, interests and aspirations within this wider context.

Why Wolverhampton?

The course offers an explicit and concerted move away from the notion of “training” in how to use specific software and/or other music technologies in favour of a more balanced synthesis of theory and practice.

The proposal for the Audio Technology Project is developed in the Research and Development module, providing time and opportunity to consider the project’s direction thoroughly, and to explore possibilities for collaborative/interdisciplinary working.

Course staff specialise in both traditional/well-established areas of music technology (studio production, film sound, audio synthesis and processing) and flourishing areas of contemporary research (musical interaction, generative music).

A wide range of career routes are open to graduates of the course. These are largely dependent upon the nature of the work the student chooses to produce, but may include: studio production, sound for games and film/video/animation, interactive media, interaction design, creative software development, design for music technology, post-compulsory and higher education.

The University of Wolverhampton continues to develop state of the art facilities to greatly enhance your learning experience. The Performance Hub, opened in 2011, has a diverse range of fully equipped music teaching, performance and practice rooms (accommodating single person to large band / ensemble), two high-end professional recording studios, and two bespoke technology suites boasting sixty Apple iMacs running industry standard software including Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Max, Pure Data and SuperCollider.

Our two recording studios offer the perfect blend of digital and analogue technologies giving students the opportunity to combine classic analogue recording technique with the flexibility and reliability digital technology provides. As well as a dedicated live room each for recording, for increased flexibility and choice of room acoustic, any of the music rehearsal rooms surrounding each studio can also be patched into the studio's control room.

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Experience a rigorous interdisciplinary graduate program in Social and Political Thought, in a supportive and personalized environment – the only one of its kind in Atlantic Canada.

In Acadia's graduate program in Social and Political Thought you will dive into the study of political and social life through theoretical questions and engagements. The program is interdisciplinary in nature since social and political thought is a nexus connecting political thought, social theory, philosophy, postcolonial thought, literary criticism, media studies, cultural studies, environment studies, and gender studies. Working in close collaboration with its nationally and internationally celebrated faculty, you will take courses spanning several disciplines, increase your exposure to other areas of inquiry and approaches to theory through the core colloquium, and undertake a final interdisciplinary thesis (in year two).

Be Inspired

As a graduate student of Social and Political Thought at Acadia, you will benefit from the small school environment with small class sizes and high faculty-to-student interaction. Only MA programs without PHD programs above them can promise this kind of support, attention and engagement. While having access to professors with a diverse set of research interests, you can also expect a personalized research agenda. To ensure attention to the interdisciplinary nature of the program, you will be guided in your research by your supervisor and a second reader (selected from another discipline).

This program is designed around student engagement. The Social and Political Thought program hosts: a bi-weekly colloquium attended by students, faculty and guest lectures; a newly-founded graduate journal in social and political thought titled: To Be Decided; a community speakers forum; a film series; and a robust graduate student culture. The program also hosts a bi-annual graduate conference on social and political thought in the spring, attracting students and scholars nationally and internationally.

Research Interests

-Paul Abela: Kant; Moral theory
-Andrew Biro: Critical theory; Environmental political theory; Political ecology/economy
-Rachel Brickner: Comparative political theory; Latin American politics
-James Brittain: Critical Development Studies; Latin American Society and Politics; Political Economy; Social Change and Revolution
-Michael Dennis: The political economy of the New Deal era; social movements and political reform in the United States; globalization and the American South; American economic history of the postwar period; and the civil rights movement.
-Marc Ramsay: Ethics and philosophy of law
-Jon Saklofske: Literary studies; Media forms and functions; Narrative ideologies; Digital cultures; Virtual environments; Video game studies
-Donna Seamone: Ritual studies; Ethnographic study of religion
-Tony Thomson: Marxism; Organized labour in Canada; Critical criminology; Social theory
-Brenda Trofanenko: Public history and pedagogy; Museum anthropology; Postcolonial theory; Memory studies
-Geoffrey Whitehall: International political theory; Contemporary Political Thought; Discourses of Culture and Technology; Philosophy of Space and Time
-Ian Wilks: Medieval philosophy; Philosophy of religion; Ethics and bioethics

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Humber’s Music Business graduate certificate starts in May and is a condensed summer program with two semesters rolled into one (May - August) followed by a third semester work placement in the fall. This program prepares you to work in any number of areas in the music industry. The program offers a unique combination of theoretical and practical knowledge of the music industry as well as entrepreneurial, business and project management skills. You will study the structure of the Canadian music industry, music production, manufacturing, contracts, licensing and copyright, national and international distribution, marketing, promotion, and sales. You will develop foundational music business expertise, including communication and interpersonal skills, in order to respond to industry demands for professionals who can interact with diverse teams and audiences. Opportunities for applied work and industry connections are important components of the program.

Course detail

Upon successful completion of the program, a graduate will:

• Situate music business decisions within key historical and current contexts of the music industry.
• Articulate the unique responsibilities of key personnel in the music industry.
• Analyze the marketplace and trends in the music industry and use the analysis for decision making in the music business environment.
• Develop and implement a viable and realistic business plan for a professional musician or musical company.
• Develop and implement a music marketing plan that includes sonic branding.
• Collaborate with a team to market an artist or new music.
• Adhere to legal principles, government legislation and regulations, copyright and contract requirements, and professional and industry codes of conduct.
• Assess existing and emerging market entry options for music products or services and implement the optimal market entry strategy.
• Apply negotiation, effective interpersonal communication, and human resource management skills to establish and maintain effective working relations.
• Prepare and interpret financial statements to inform music business decisions and/or practices.
• Identify and access public and private sources of capital to support music business plans.

Modules

Semester 1
• MUSB 5000: Music Industry Overview and History
• MUSB 5001: Government Relations and Industry Organizations
• MUSB 5002: Music Business and Finance
• MUSB 5003: Music, Brands, and the Media
• MUSB 5004: Communications, Psychology and Creativity
• MUSB 5005: Contracts, Legal Issues and Ethics
• MUSB 5500: Artist Management and Development
• MUSB 5501: Music Sales and Marketing
• MUSB 5502: Streaming and New Models
• MUSB 5503: Copyright, Licensing & Sync
• MUSB 5504: Touring and Events
• MUSB 5505: Music Enterprise

Semester 2
• MUSB 5549: Music Business Seminar
• MUSB 5550: Music Business Internship

Work Placement

Students are required to complete an industry work placement internship totalling 300 hours.

Your Career

Ontario is home to Canada’s largest and one of the world’s most diversified music sectors. Graduates from our program will be prepared to enter the industry and find employment with radio stations, recording studios, post production facilities, film houses, theatres, video game companies, performance groups, distribution companies, sync agencies, media manufacturers, record labels, as well as various agencies for artist representation, promotion, copyright and legal, royalty collection, presenters, and festivals, as well as industry organizations such as CIMA, CARAS, Music Canada, OMF and others.

How to apply

Click here to apply: http://humber.ca/admissions/how-apply.html

Funding

For information on funding, please use the following link: http://humber.ca/admissions/financial-aid.html

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