ARU College

From the design of a family home to an entire city, architects shape the world in which we live. You can start your journey towards becoming a qualified architect with a Foundation Year – no portfolio is required to begin your degree! During your Foundation Year, you will be introduced to practical art and design skills including visual storytelling, image-making both in traditional and digital media, visual language and communication. Your Foundation Year prepares you for progression onto the BA (Hons) Architecture degree. You’ll gain a strong understanding of university-level study and develop the essential skills needed to succeed.

Do you have a passion for graphic design, oil painting, or fashion? Whatever your outlet, a foundation in Art and Design will help you to develop a knowledgeable approach to sharing your point of view. Our Pathway of Art and Design targets the skills you will need in university to critically assess information, develop your design portfolio, and express yourself through visual language. Students will be introduced to practical art and design skills including developing skills of visual storytelling, image-making both in traditional and digital media, visual language and communication, formulating an independent creative response to a broad range of subject matter. For a hands-on degree, many of your classes are going to utilise project and portfolio based strategies to help you begin developing your portfolio and find your areas of passion. Our staff are actively engaged in their own creative pursuits, and they’ll support you all the way. Plus, there’s the opportunity to attend seminars and workshops, which feature guest presentations from specialist academics and researchers. Think and create with limitless possibilities, your journey starts here.

Do you want to own your own business, be a consultant or manager, market new and interesting products? Whatever the end goal, a foundation in Business will help students understand real-world application of business theory and strategy. Our Pathway in Business begins by helping you understand the basics needed in any business industry and a variety of intercultural situations. Based in Cambridge and Chelmsford, you’ll interact with businesses and get inspired by guest speakers like our ‘Be Your Own Boss’ Seminar series. Our business school has many opportunities to begin implementing your ideas, even before you graduate with many industry contacts and ARU’s Big Pitch business idea competition. Here is the place to set yourself up for the professional world.

ARU’s Business School stands out because the courses focus on the real world of business. Many of the courses combine sound academic theory with solid management practice. At ARU College, develop industry-level skills needed to thrive in our modern global environment. Learn to be adaptable and agile across all areas of business management and economic sectors. Get involved with our wide range of student initiatives like ARU’s Big Pitch entrepreneurship competition to inspire your ideas and support you towards making your mark. ARU College’s Pre-Masters pathway (Cambridge) leads onto a number of business, finance and management Masters courses at ARU, which are taught at either our Cambridge or Chelmsford campus. Modules: MSc – Accounting and Finance; MBA – Finance

Our close links with the electronics, software, audio and creative industries mean we stay up to date with what your future employers need and ensure we’ll help you develop the skills and knowledge to become an expert in emerging and important technologies. Improve your computer science expertise by developing industry level skills to design, develop and implement web solutions for clients worldwide. Specialise in cloud infrastructure within modern data centres, web application programming and IT security within business. Take your computer game development skills to the next level. Study, plan, produce and test games in our specialist studios. Learn how to identify new and existing cyber threats and determine methods and processes to minimise attacks. Information technology (IT) is the application of computers and telecommunications equipment to store, retrieve, transmit and manipulate data. Modules: MSc Engineering Management

Our Pre-Master’s course in Criminology and Law will provide you with the academic skills necessary to study law and criminology related subjects at postgraduate level. You will learn to work independently and will develop transferable skills that will support you in your master’s degree and professional life such as, independent learning, research skills, ethics, and analytical skills. ARU College’s Criminology and Law Pre-Masters pathway is aimed at students looking to progress to one of the prescribed postgraduate degree pathways at Anglia Ruskin University. If you’re progressing to International Business and Commercial Law LLM or Advance Legal Practice LLM, this pre-master’s course will present you with some of the fundamental aspects of Law and Governance to support you with your master’s degree. You will also develop the crucial academic and communicative skills necessary for successful study at postgraduate level. If it’s Criminology that you’re interested in then you will study slightly different modules, including Psychology and Ethics where you will learn why knowledge of risk management and ethical approval are important for research studies and good professional practice. By studying Law or Criminology at postgraduate level, you will develop the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in international law firms and businesses, or for a career in criminal justice, such as with the Police, youth justice, the Home Office or border agencies. Modules: Criminology – MA

Our Pre-masters Pathway in Education, English Language, and Creative Writing will help to prepare you for studying these subjects at postgraduate level. You will develop a range of academic and communicative skills such as, research theory and practice, independent learning, psychology and ethics, qualitative and quantitative research, and scientific/ social sciences research methods. With an Education related master’s degree, you will develop and enhance your skills and understanding of professional practice. Working in partnership with recognised bodies, mental health trusts and hundreds of schools, ARU are accredited and well connected. You’ll benefit from those connections, along with opportunities to go on placement, and pioneering research that feeds into our teaching. With content relating to policy and practice in schools, reflecting contemporary theories, a master’s degree in Education provides scope for exploring key issues in school settings and refining personal professional practice and your research skills. If it’s English Literature that you’re interested in studying, rest assured that ARU is the place to do so! Our English Literature BA concentrates on three periods of literary history, focusing heavily on politics and social change and ARU were judged “world-leading” in the Research Excellence Framework 2021 (REF2021). If you’re looking to advance your teaching career or move into academia, then MA English Literature could be the perfect choice for you as the skills you will learn will provide new directions for your future career and form the basis for your future study. Cambridge is a city famous for language teaching and MA Applied Linguistics and TESOL will help you to improve your theoretical understanding of language learning and develop professional teaching skills. Furthermore, with our Creative Writing MA you will be given the opportunity to study the most acclaimed writers of the past 200 years and discover the techniques they used, as well practising and sharing your writing skills with a group of fellow writers. Modules: MA English Literature; MA Creative Writing

Students in these disciplines will find it necessary to work confidently in multi-disciplinary teams throughout their careers. A foundation in Engineering, Computing and Technology is structured around projects working with others from different degree programmes, enabling them to begin to develop this extremely important transferable skill. Develop the knowledge and skills you need to create technologies and applications that will change the world. During your Foundation, you will have opportunities for practical work and experimentation across a range of elements, including engineering design tasks centred on developing simple robots, in order to introduce the challenges and benefits of realising theoretical ideas. There’ll be lectures and seminars combined with work-based learning and plenty of course options to personalise your studies.

Our health and social care pathways have been designed for students wanting to study a health or social care related degree at university and pursue a career within this sector. By studying a foundation course in Healthcare, Public Health, or Working with Children Families and Communities you will expand your knowledge, develop skills needed for university, and get an insight into what university life is really like. The area of public health is a growing and important subject area and a career in this sector provides you with the chance to really make a difference to people’s lives and wellbeing. By studying Public Health, you will develop the knowledge, values, and skills needed to pursue a career in healthcare services. There are many different disciplines within the Public Health sector and a career in Public Health can vary from working on environmental and biological threats, to improving people’s living conditions and ensuring that health services are at their most effective and are accessible.

Our education courses take a progressive approach and will teach you transferable skills, relevant across early years, primary teaching and beyond. We’ll help you see the potential in others. Education goes beyond the classroom, and you’ll discover the social issues that impact on children’s and young people’s learning. Choose a humanities course to learn more about how history has shaped modern times; explore politics, social issues and public services; or tackle the philosophical questions that have captivated humanity for millennia. At ARU College and ARU, you’ll develop your thinking, while gaining real-life experience through work placements.

Students will be introduced to the core skills necessary to succeed in higher education, including thinking critically, researching and referencing appropriately, demonstrating appropriate numeracy and ICT skills, and communicating effectively verbally and in writing. Students will also be introduced to specific concepts related to their degree programmes including an introduction to the English legal system, business law, criminal law and the criminal justice system and ethics. Real-world examples of the law in action will be highlighted, and students will practice applying the law to case studies.

ARU College’s Life and Medical Sciences Pre-Masters pathway is aimed at students looking to progress to one of the prescribed postgraduate degree pathways at Anglia Ruskin University. Our Pre-Master’s course in Life ad Medical Sciences will provide you with the skills necessary to study medical and science related degrees at master’s level. Studying science at ARU has never been better as we have recently invested £3 million in our brand new SuperLab complex which offers a new method of performing practical sessions and experiments. As these labs facilitate Pharmaceutical Science, Medical Science, Medicine, and other scientific based courses, you’ll get the chance to work alongside other disciplines and learn from award winning lecturers and professors. If MSc Forensic Science is what you’re interested in, then we’ll help expand your knowledge in all areas of forensic science, from gathering evidence at the crime scene itself, right through to the courtroom. Develop your skills and knowledge on our Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences accredited master’s course, as you collect and analyse evidence, equipping you to become a confident and effective practitioner. Overall, this pre-master’s course will support you in developing transferable skills that will assist you in your master’s degree and professional life such as, independent learning, research skills, ethics, and analytical skills. It will allow for a smoother transition to your chosen master’s degree within Life and Medical Sciences.

Students will be introduced to the core skills necessary to succeed in higher education, including thinking critically, researching and referencing appropriately, demonstrating appropriate numeracy and ICT skills, and communicating effectively verbally and in writing. In addition to these fundamental study skills, Students will be given an introduction to the various scientific disciplines underpinning the life sciences. Fundamental mathematical skills will be covered in order to support students’ other subjects and give them confidence in manipulating data. Students will be introduced to molecular and cellular biology, and how these fields are applied to real-world investigations. Students will also study the biology of micro and macro organisms, with reference to both human and animal structures.

Begin your journey into nursing with our foundation programme, designed to prepare you academically and professionally for entry into a BSc (Hons) Nursing degree at ARU. Our foundation year offers a supportive route for those without traditional qualifications but with relevant experience or potential. Join ARU, the largest provider of nursing and healthcare students in England, ranked #1 in the East of England for graduate employment in health and social work (HESA Graduate Outcomes Survey 2024). Progress to our NMC-accredited BSc (Hons) Nursing degree and gain real-world experience through clinical placements with top NHS Trusts, supported by expert mentors. Train in cutting-edge skills labs, using our mock wards and specialised equipment. Build your confidence and prepare for a career that truly matters.

Psychology affects everything we do. While on this course, you’ll learn about the science of mind and behaviour, covering the breadth of discipline, from applied, social and clinical psychology, to cognitive neuroscience and biological psychology. Our core modules will give you a solid foundation in the main principles of psychology, and our optional modules the freedom to concentrate on your own interests in more depth. By the time you graduate, you’ll be able to follow your interests into specialised further study, or find a career perfectly suited to you. Our staff are actively engaged in research, and they’ll support you all the way. Plus, there’s the opportunity to go to extracurricular weekly seminars, which feature guest presentations from specialist academics and researchers. While you’re here, you’ll take advantage of our excellent research facilities, including specialist laboratories for measuring electrical activity in the brain, eye movement, psychoneuroimmunology, emotions and communication, psychometrics, human behaviour, consumer reactions, and much more.

ARU College’s Psychology Pre-Master’s pathway is aimed at students looking to progress to one of the prescribed psychology postgraduate degrees at Anglia Ruskin University. Our pre-master’s course in Psychology will provide you with the skills necessary for studying a master’s degree in these fields. It will support you in developing transferable skills that will assist you in your master’s degree and professional life such as, independent learning, research skills, ethics, and analytical skills. Allowing for a smoother transition to your chosen master’s degree within Psychology. With a master’s in psychology, you will gain an analytical approach to tasks, an understanding of people, and underlying management skills. These are skills highly valued by employers and you could progress into sectors such as health and social care, marketing, management and HR, education, and public sector work. Furthermore, MSc Psychology is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) and during your master’s degree you will acquire all the skills required by the BPS to register with them as a graduate member (in order to be eligible to register you will need an overall pass mark of 50% in your master’s degree).

Our pre-master’s course in Public Health and Social Sciences will prepare you for studying these subjects at postgraduate level. You will develop a range of academic and communicative skills such as, research theory and practice, independent learning, psychology and ethics, qualitative and quantitative research, and scientific/ social sciences research methods. You will also learn how to define research questions and formulate objectives and discover the importance of risk management and ethical approach for good professional practice. With a master’s within Public Health, you can learn from health science professionals and gain invaluable insight into best practice. Our postgraduate Public Health course takes a modern approach, by directly addressing the social, economic, political and other factors that influence population health and well-being. Currently the debate about public health is constantly in the news – and our Public Health Masters course will equip you to meet the challenges of public health of the future. With a Social Sciences related master’s degree, you will gain an in depth understanding of the latest issues and debates in sociology. You will develop skills to prepare you for a career in fields such as social policy, local government, public service and more.

Study on one of the leading Sports Science courses – ranked in the TOP 5 in the UK (Guardian University Guide 2026). Students will be introduced to the core skills necessary to succeed in higher education, including researching and referencing appropriately, demonstrating appropriate ICT skills, and communicating effectively verbally and in writing. In addition to these fundamental study skills, students will be introduced to the various scientific disciplines underpinning sports sciences. Fundamental mathematical skills will be covered in order to support students’ other subjects and give them confidence in manipulating data.