Liberal Arts

Your first year is foundational, covering the principles of Liberal Education as well as Research Methods across the Humanities, Sciences and Social Sciences disciplines. You study two core modules (Art and Revolution; and Science, Society and the Media) as well as one optional module of your choice. You also complete the Certificate of Digital Literacy. Towards the end of the first year, you choose either a Disciplinary Interest or a Specialist Interest (based on a Big Question rather than a particular academic discipline). Our Director of Student Experience will help to support and guide you in making this decision.

Your second year comprises 50% core modules (examining the broad questions of Consumption and Sustainability) and 50% optional modules from your chosen field of interest. During this year you develop your communication skills and add new perspectives to your academic knowledge by taking part in a national conference of undergraduate research. An internship scheme or work placement in the summer of your second year enables you to apply the skills you’ve developed to real-world challenges. After your second year, you have the option to spend an intercalated year at one of our partner institutions (in Europe, Australia or the US), adding a year to the duration of your course. Your final year comprises 75% modules chosen from your Disciplinary or Specialist Interest. A final dissertation or project makes up the remaining 25% of your final year.

Disciplinary Interests

• History
• Philosophy
• Theatre and Performance Studies
• Classics
• English
• Economics
• Languages
• Film and Television Studies
• Life Sciences

Specialist Interests

• Global Sustainable Development
• Social Justice
• Food Security

How will I learn?

The course is constructed around Problem-Based-Learning (PBL). This dynamic student-centred way of learning allows the course to evolve and adapt to the social, political, scientific and historic environments in which it is delivered. PBL also allows for a continual revising of the course to suit the particular learning needs of students.

This trans-disciplinary approach to learning will include lectures, seminars, workshops and tutorials, in which you will be taught by a range of academics, from different disciplines, who will communicate their expertise on a specific issue and describe their methodology for addressing it. Your role is to bring together these various approaches and to develop your own informed stance on each issue.
You will become aware of how different disciplines coincide and converge and you will learn to address questions by deploying the most appropriate methodology and utilising the most relevant evidence.

We have devised an assessment strategy that allows you to develop your expertise in addressing problems using a variety of perspectives from the Arts, Sciences and Social Sciences. We will teach you to use a range of methods of research, and this will equip you with a solid foundation from which you can approach contemporary problems critically and creatively.

Consequently, the range of assessments on this degree combines the traditional (essays and written examinations) with the innovative (creative projects, portfolios and performance). For example, in the first year of the degree you will take the Art and Revolution module where you will review films, analyse graffiti and draft articles for the media conveying your own, unique perspective on the ways in which Artistic movements have pre-empted or reacted to Revolutionary moments. Conversely, in the module on Science, Society and the Media you will focus on analysing data, critiquing case studies, engaging with political and scientific documents as well as undertaking practical activities, as part of the formal assessment. In addition, during the course you will produce short critical essays, analyses and written reviews – some of which may be in the form of contributions to online blogs and forums - research papers, reflective journals and portfolios and oral presentations.

You will be expected to present your work in a public forum such as the British Conference for Undergraduate Research or the International Conference of Undergraduate Research. You will contribute to group projects and deliver extended pieces of writing (for the final year dissertation) as well as sit mid- and end-of-year short tests and traditional end of year written examinations.

The methods of assessment across the course as a whole vary according to the optional modules that you choose each year and therefore the route that you follow through the course. For example, if you follow the Life Sciences pathway, you may also undertake laboratory-based assessment.