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Careers and Employability Opportunities in our School

Opportunities for experiential and career-focused learning are a top priority for many Birkbeck students, whether they aim for a career change, want to gain new skills, develop their professional profile, or are trying to land their first job after graduating. While some programmes offer specific professional development opportunities and placements, we want all students to have the opportunity to take work-oriented modules, whatever their stage of learning. In the School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication we assist you by offering carefully designed workshops, modules, placements, and other resources directly related to employability.

In our school, you will gain critical insights into the changing networks, institutions, technologies and working practices of the cultural and creative sectors, from world-leading researchers and practitioners. Our aim is to complement the robust resources available through Birkbeck Careers and Enterprise with a bespoke programme of experiential and career-focused learning aligned with the ethos of your programme of study.

Read below for more details on our employability opportunities at different levels of study.

Undergraduate COURSES

  • On arrival, all undergraduate students are automatically enrolled on a tailored online space that presents experiential and career-focused learning workshops, modules, placements, and other resources offered by the School and the College.
  • Towards the end of your first year, you will have access to foundational workshops to make an early start on your employability, in specific areas such as your professional online presence, as well as strategies for including career-related considerations throughout your studies.
  • In your second or third year, you can opt to take our career focused option modules: Working in the Creative and Cultural Sector, where you can better acquaint yourself with lines of work that interest you, and further develop how you present yourself professionally; and Writing in the Workplace, which draws on our school’s expertise in creative writing and journalism to help you develop excellent and transferable writing skills across a range of mediums, from press releases and social media posts, to reports and executive summaries.
  • In your final year, our module Industry Placement / Career Development Report gives you have a chance to gain first-hand experience working at arts and media-related organisations, social enterprises, charities and publishers. Alternatively, the same module lets you complete under supervision extended independent research into an employment sector.
  • Throughout your undergraduate study, you will have access to our school’s Languages for All initiative. Whether as part of your degree or via standalone modules, you can acquire a foreign language (French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish) and the related cultural understandings that are essential for developing a global career. Placement tests may be required for those who have studied their desired language before.
  • Depending on your programme of study, you will also have access to core and option modules that give you professionally relevant skills, and often access to guest speakers, in areas such as writing scripts or feature articles, audiovisual techniques with cameras and software editing, or web design or social media strategy.
  • You can also further develop and augment your skills and knowledge in software applications, creative techniques, presentational abilities and much more by taking one of more than 20,000 expert-led and certified video courses through the subscription to LinkedIn Learning that is included with your Birkbeck enrolment.
  • All undergraduate students have access to wide range of career development tools, programmes, jobs and support through Birkbeck Careers and Enterprise, as well as opportunities to be mentored by Birkbeck alumni.

Postgraduate Taught Courses

  • On arrival, all postgraduate taught students are automatically enrolled on a tailored online space that presents experiential and career-focused learning workshops, modules, placements, and other resources offered by the School and the College.
  • All MA students can opt for our School-wide postgraduate option module Inside out of Culture: Organisations, Placements and Practice. This module follows case studies of cultural institutions, exploring the working practices and policies of arts and cultural organisations, and providing a pathway for students to identify, apply for and negotiate work placements.
  • Your MA programme may also offer a bespoke core or option module that includes a placement or other form of experiential learning, geared to your specific field of study. Your programme may also include core and option modules that give you professionally relevant skills, and often access to guest speakers. Depending on your programme, this might be in areas such as writing scripts or feature articles, audiovisual techniques with cameras and software editing, or web design or social media strategy.
  • You can also further develop and augment your skills and knowledge in software applications, creative techniques, presentational abilities and much more by taking one of more than 20,000 expert-led and certified video courses through the subscription to LinkedIn Learning that is included with your Birkbeck enrolment.
  • All postgraduate research students have access to wide range of career development tools, programmes, jobs and support through Birkbeck Careers and Enterprise, as well as opportunities to be mentored by Birkbeck alumni.

Postgraduate Research Courses

  • On arrival, all postgraduate research students are automatically enrolled on a tailored online space that presents experiential and career-focused learning workshops, modules, placements, and other resources offered by the School and the College.
  • Our postgraduate research students are offered a plethora research training opportunities, from the School’s core research training programme extending to the wider optional suite of support and training offered by the Birkbeck Graduate Research School.
  • The School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication’s involvement in two UKRI Doctoral Training Partnerships – CHASE and UBEL – means you will frequently have access to events run through CHASE Essentials Training and UBEL Training and Development. These not only cover skills towards academic careers, but often also toward research-related careers beyond academia.
  • Our School’s academics lead an impressive diversity of research centres, institutes and networks, which provide a platform for research students to gain experience in organising academic events and developing scholarly resources, sometimes as paid interns.
  • You may be able opt to audit postgraduate taught core and option modules in the School that give you professionally relevant skills, and often access to guest speakers, in areas such as writing scripts or feature articles, audiovisual techniques with cameras and software editing, or web design or social media strategy. All Birkbeck students can also audit modules from within the Postgraduate Social Research Programmes, which provide highly transferrable skills in qualitative and quantitative methods.
  • You can also further develop and augment your skills and knowledge in software applications, creative techniques, presentational abilities and much more by taking one of more than 20,000 expert-led and certified video courses through the subscription to LinkedIn Learning that is included with your Birkbeck enrolment.
  • All postgraduate research students have access to wide range of career development tools, programmes, jobs and support through Birkbeck Careers and Enterprise, as well as opportunities to be mentored by Birkbeck alumni.