Key subjects showcase

• Cyber Security

  For the first time, Keele’s GREAT scholarships are applicable to our MSc Cyber Security Conversion Course. This one year masters is available to students from all undergraduate disciplines, and will provide them with the key skills required to design, build, deploy and evaluate cyber security countermeasures. Introductory modules are designed to give you a deeper understanding of computer systems, their vulnerabilities and extend your knowledge of programming. You’ll then move on to the principles of cyber security and advanced topics, often informed by our own research in cyber security, such as cloud computing, cryptography and security management.

  With 24/7 access to our fully equipped computer laboratories, you’ll also learn how to deploy effectively the tools used for the construction and documentation of computer applications, with a particular emphasis on solving practical problems. You’ll also apply your learning to real-world problems as part of your final assessment, either on an industrial placement or tackling an industry-related problem as part of an MSc project.

  By the time you graduate, you’ll have gained the technical knowledge and practical skills necessary to design, build, deploy and evaluate distributed information systems and enterprise applications over the Internet, with a focus on security issues. You could go on to work in threat management and forensics, risk analytics, operations and security management, engineering architecture and design, or policy and strategy.

• Business Analytics

  Rapid development of the Internet and digital technologies has fuelled the demand to harness the power of the huge volume of available data now at an organisation’s disposal. Employers need people who can manage and make sense of data, providing insight and recommendations to improve future business performance.

  Business analysts guide businesses to improve their decisions, processes, products and services through data analysis – bridging the gap between IT and business to improve organisational performance, create efficiencies and add value to the business. Grounded in theory and practice, our MSc focuses on developing your understanding of business, management, data analytics and data science within a global context.

  With unique access to the combined expertise across Keele Business School and the School of Computer Science and Mathematics, you’ll gain a deeper insight into how businesses run their operations within today’s challenging economy. At the same time developing the technical skills and knowhow to identify, manage and analyse the most appropriate data sources to evaluate their performance.

  Referring to real-life business examples and, where possible, working to solve actual client problems, you’ll gain a comprehensive understanding of the operational, human and environmental factors that influence performance within a business context, as well as the different quantitative and qualitative research approaches you can use to analyse these. We’ll look at the options for collecting data from various sources to support analytics programs, how to construct and quality assure datasets, the process of perform different forms of analysis and effective ways to summarise and present information in a way that senior management can understand.

  You’ll graduate with a blended technical and commercial toolset that enables you to not only analyse organisations from different perspectives – strategically, functionally and operationally – but also come up with solutions that are technologically feasible and financially and functionally viable.

• International Business

  On our MSc International Business, whether to help you understand other cultures or how to negotiate different trade models and complex legalities, your learning is grounded in real-world practice. We’ll share case studies from our own research and take advantage of our excellent corporate links to organise study trips, guest speakers and ‘live’ projects to grow your experience.

  Referring to real-life business examples and hearing direct from practitioners, you’ll gain a comprehensive understanding of the strategic and tactical challenges of operating internationally when confronted with, for example, mergers and acquisitions or foreign direct investment. We’ll also share our own research, for example, studying the role of Chinese trade union organisations on collective wage consultation and strikes, and the challenges of developing countries’ labour market, income and employment.

  We’ll uncover some of the different and often fascinating trade practices that exist across continents and countries, such as the varying age restrictions on child labour, often influenced by historical, cultural and social background. You’ll also be exposed to the unique challenges of identifying, managing and training a global workforce with diverse staff of multiple nationalities and ethnicities, with the chance to take part in a practical mock interview scenario.

  Your final project will give you the opportunity to directly transfer your learning to the workplace by researching a current topic, responding to a specific business issue or undertaking a ‘live’ work-based project. One student prepared a business plan for a Staffordshire-based SME which was seeking Chinese investment, investigating international business opportunities on its behalf and assessing challenges including local competition.

  International business knowledge benefits employers in all types of jobs and industries – from sport and leisure, the arts and entertainment to social work, engineering and the natural sciences. We therefore welcome applicants from a wide range of undergraduate disciplines; past students have joined us having studied subjects as diverse as history, sociology, geography and law, as well as business.