University of Manchester

This course provides students with a further grounding in the important statistical and probabilistic techniques and models relevant to the non-life insurance industry.

This course explores the multiple histories of humanitarianism and their resonances with current humanitarian discourses and practices. It will introduce students to the complex past of humanitarian aid in its European and non-European forms, from charities to international non-governmental organisations. Students will reflect on the usefulness of history for the humanitarian sector.

The course is concerned with the ways in which accounting information can assist 'internal' users (i.e. management) to make decisions and to plan and control organizational activities. Such 'management accounting' is relevant to all kinds of organizations. Although concentrated on accounting information, an important emphasis in the approach adopted in the course is the need to see the use of accounting in its organizational context and the effect it can have on human behavior. Various management accounting concepts are introduced and illustrated through practical examples of various numerical techniques. Alternative cost concepts are explored for both recording the costs of existing operations and for taking decisions about new opportunities. Special attention is given to cost-volume-profit analysis, product pricing, special decisions, and allocation decisions when resources are limited. In addition, the construction of budgets for planning and the use of standard costing and variance analysis for control are examined. The course also introduces the concept and design performance measurement systems in decentralized organizations.

The course provides a fundamental understanding of the environment in which international business operates and of the business practices required to compete successfully in global markets. This course gives an overview of challenges and opportunities of competing in the global marketplace. It helps students develop the decision-making skills associated with managing different aspects of international business. Furthermore, the course exposes students to the cultural, economic, political environment of international business and internationalist strategies, and the management of international business.

This course explores a series of interconnecting developments which placed cities at the center of power and innovation in the medieval world in the period c.1000 to c.1500. A process so transformative the cities can be conceptualized as revolutionary. Students explore how power was constructed within cities. In addition, students examine competing concepts of the city as an embodiment of sin or of holiness. Alongside this, students question how wealth was generated within cities and how some of the consequences of a profit economy and rising population were managed through welfare provision and charitable activity. Central to the course is the importance of landscape, and how monuments, topography, and rural hinterlands shaped urban socio-religious and political communities. Finally, students assess how learning (especially the rise of universities) and history-writing enabled cities to position themselves as centers of knowledge, memory, and identities.

This course focuses on the intersection of culture and national identity in Russian and Soviet history. Students examine Russia’s relationship with its ‘others’ – East and West – and their role in the construction of Russia’s discourses around culture and nationhood. Students also explore the role of empire in Russian and Soviet history, analyzing how Russian writers, artists, and intellectuals have questioned, endorsed or contested it. Through the analysis of literary and visual primary sources, the course provides students with a better understanding of Russia’s conflicted identity and its consequences for the present day. 

The course explores everyday relationships and their sociological significance for contemporary debates on family, personal life, and kinship; as well as illuminating the importance of relationships in all aspects of everyday life,  provides theoretical frameworks and empirical materials to allow students to explore for themselves how personal relationships are played out through all aspects of everyday life, and explore and critique different relationships through different institutions and practices.

The course analyzes the political and policy-making processes in contemporary Greece, Italy, and Spain. The study of the three countries is placed into a strong comparative perspective with particular attention focusing on (a) the common historical traits that shaped their political culture and development, (b) the similarities and contrasts of their political institutions and policy-making processes, (c) the nature of party political competition, (d) the impact of EU membership on their political systems and on their political economy, and (e) their foreign policy orientation. 

This course is for absolute beginners. This course introduces students to the fundamentals of German grammar, reading, and writing while developing some basic communicative skills. This course teaches students simple structures, lexis and phrases which enables them to communicate in a limited number of common everyday situations in German-speaking countries.

This course serves as a starting point to develop an engineer’s ability to select a material based on cost and performance, understand limitations and how properties change in service and the ability to critically assess new materials for a given application. Furthermore, this course provides an introduction to materials engineering and materials science. It also introduces the primary classes of materials, and to develop an understanding of types of interatomic, crystal, and molecular bonding in engineering materials and their influence on mechanical properties. Students develop an understanding of the modes of failure for different classes of materials. This course introduces brittle fracture, and to develop an understanding of the ways in which a flaw within a material can influence its response to loading.