Liberal Arts

Course detail Description

The Liberal Arts BA offers you outstanding flexibility, balancing breadth of knowledge across disciplines with the opportunity for in-depth study in a field of your choice.

During each year, your study will be anchored by a distinctive required module. You will then choose from a wide range of optional modules before selecting a major for years two and three, enabling you to tailor the degree to your own interests. In year one, you will also take a foreign language module, delivered by King’s Modern Language Centre; you will then have the opportunity to continue studying at the Modern Language Centre throughout your degree. The academic year is divided into two semesters, and at the beginning of the second semester of your first year you will select a major subject, which will be the main focus of your study in your second and third year. In your second year, we encourage you to spend a semester abroad at one of our partner institutions, and you can also choose to take a credit-bearing internship module. However, if you choose to major in Modern Languages, you will spend a full-year studying abroad at one of our partner institutions, and the length of your course will increase to four years.

The Liberal Arts BA is interdisciplinary, providing you with a wide choice of modules from across our Arts & Humanities Faculty and from selected subjects in the Social Science & Public Policy Faculty. Throughout your degree, you will have access to an academic advisor on whom you can rely for personal guidance.

Most of your modules will be taught through lectures and seminars, including units delivered by one of the world’s most distinguished academics.

Typically, one credit equates to 10 hours of work.

Your performance will be assessed through a combination of coursework and written/practical examinations. Forms of assessment may typically include essays and written examinations. The nature of the Liberal Arts programme – where students study across a range of departments – means that forms of assessment might differ substantially for each student.

King’s is at the heart of one of the world’s most vibrant and cosmopolitan cities, within easy reach of numerous cultural and political institutions which will enrich and shape your experience of university life. You will have access to the outstanding collections and research facilities in the Maughan and Senate House Libraries, as well as the educational, social and sporting opportunities provided by the College and the University of London.

Please note that locations are determined by where each module is taught and may vary depending on the optional modules you select.

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Structure

• Year 1
• Year 2
• Year 3
• Year 4

Year 1

Courses are divided into modules. Each year you will normally take modules totalling 120 credits.

In each year you will study a required module plus a combination of optional modules, including your choice of major in Years 2 and 3.

You are required to take the following modules:

• Lives of London (15 credits)
• Writing Liberal Arts (15 credits)
• Language module (15 credits)

You are required to study a first-year foreign language module, which can be selected from a range of modules (excluding linguistics) offered by the Modern Language Centre (MLC) here at King’s. Introductory Latin is also available.

You are also required to take 75 credits from a range of optional modules designed to give a broad introduction to academic study, and prepare you to study a subject in more depth in years two and three. The range of optional modules may typically include:

• Issues & Topics in Music 1 (15 credits)
• Issues & Topics in Music 4 (15 credits)
• Introducing Literary Theories (15 credits)
• Classical & Biblical Contexts (15 credits)
• Introduction to Film studies: Forms (15 credits)
• Introduction to Film Studies: Contexts (15 credits, can only be taken as a follow-up to Film Studies: Forms)
• An Introduction to Byzantium & Modern Greece (15 credits)
• What is Comparative Literature? Conceptions & Methods (15 credits)
• Comparative Literature: Theoretical Foundations (15 credits)
• Between places: Nomads, Exiles Travellers (15 credits)
• Introduction to Politics (15 credits)
• Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion (15 credits)
• Politics in Theory & Practice (15 credits)
• Introduction to the Anthropology of Religion (15 credits)
• Geographical Foundations 1: The Making of the Modern World (15 credits)
• Geographical Foundations 2: Challenges of the Modern World (15 credits)
• Introduction to Philosophy 1 (15 credits)
• Introduction to Philosophy 2 (15 credits
• The Making of Britain 400–1400 (30 credits)
• Power, Culture & Belief in Europe 1500–1800 (30 credits)
• World History 1870s–2000s (30 credits)
• Theories of New Media (15 credits)
• Digital Methods 1 (15 credits)

Year 2

Subject majors
In your first year, you are required to choose a subject major from the wide range offered in the Faculty, and this will form approximately 50% of your degree in years two and three. Majors may typically include:

• Classical and Hellenic Studies
• Comparative Literature
• Digital Culture
• English
• Film Studies
• Geography
• History
• Modern Languages (French, German, Spanish, or Portuguese)
• Music
• Philosophy
• Politics
• Theology and Religious Studies

You are required to take the following module:

• Space, Power, Agency (15 credits)

In addition to your required module, you will choose optional modules from an extensive range within your major subjects (60 credits) and in other major subjects outside your chosen major (45 credits), including the chance to continue studying a language. Your non-major modules will usually be chosen from subjects you studied in Year 1.

If you accumulate enough credits in a second subject this will be recognised in your degree title as a minor.

You will have the chance to spend the second semester of Year 2 at one of the College’s global partner institutions, which include the National University of Singapore, the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill), the New School (New York City), and a number of European Universities such as the Humboldt University in Berlin.

Alternatively, if you are on the Modern Languages pathway you will spend your third year abroad at one of our partner institutions, before returning to complete the final year of your degree.

You can also take an internship module. We will support you in locating an internship, and you will write a report that will earn you credit towards your degree.

Year 3

If you are studying the three year BA you will take the final year modules in your third year. Alternatively, if you are on the Modern Languages pathway you will spend your third year abroad at one of our partner institutions, before returning to complete the final year of your degree.

In your final year, you will take modules totalling 120 credits. You will continue to study major and non-major options, and work on an individual research project as part of the required module.

You are required to take the following module:

• Translations across Disciplines (15 credits)

A dissertation may be undertaken in line with the individual major requirements.

You will continue to choose optional modules within your major subject (60 credits) and in other major subjects outside your chosen major (45 credits), including the chance to continue studying a language. Your non-major modules will usually be chosen from subjects you have studied in Years 1 and 2.

King’s College London reviews the modules offered on a regular basis to provide up-to-date, innovative and relevant programmes of study. Therefore, modules offered may change.

Year 4 Students on the four year Modern Languages pathway will spend their third year studying abroad before returning to complete their final year at King’s. Required Modules

You are required to take the following module:

• Translations across Disciplines (15 credits)

A dissertation may be undertaken in line with the individual major requirements.

You will continue to choose optional modules within your major subject (60 credits) and in other major subjects outside your chosen major (45 credits), including the chance to continue studying a language. Your non-major modules will usually be chosen from subjects you have studied in Years 1 and 2.

King’s College London reviews the modules offered on a regular basis to provide up-to-date, innovative and relevant programmes of study. Therefore, modules offered may change.