Programme structure This innovative programme equips you with the intellectual and critical skills designed to develop you into a global citizen. Your breadth of knowledge and understanding across a diverse range of humanities and social-science subjects will be firmly grounded in your specific area of specialisation and underpinned by core modules and course requirements. The programme gives you the opportunity to conduct some of your studies abroad and we will support you in securing a work experience placement or a research internship. You will also be able to extend your studies by a year and so convert your degree into a Masters qualification. Year 1 Your first year is designed to give you a strong foundation in the liberal arts by equipping you with a range of key intellectual tools that you can use throughout the rest of your degree and your working life after university. You’ll take three core modules, each worth 30 credits, which will give you a solid grounding in the skills, methods and principles of liberal learning. One will develop your skills as a critical reader and a persuasive writer. Another will teach you how to engage and critique Western cultural preferences by exploring the shifting social values of the body. The third core module will address social, economic and scientific debates surrounding foodways and consumption. Alongside these modules, you will also take an ancient or modern language from those offered across the University (e.g. French, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Latin), or a module based on a quantitative methodology (e.g. some social sciences modules, life sciences modules, or science modules). Year 2 Your second year of study will enable you to consolidate your liberal arts foundations by furthering your critical tools and developing your intellectual abilities. You will take a practice-based core module worth 30 credits, which will build directly on the previous year’s work, choosing from either the Liberal Arts Think Tank module or the Humanities in the Workplace module. This will enable you to develop your research, teamwork and problem-solving skills. You will also take further modules in a language or quantitative method (fulfilling remaining requirements after Year 1 choices), as well as optional modules selected from a diverse range of humanities and social science subjects. At the end of this year, and with the help of your academic adviser, you will nominate your ‘major’ – the area of study in which you will specialise for the rest of your degree. Year 3 You will take 120 credits this year, of which at least 60 credits will be in modules in your chosen major (a discipline such as History or Sociology, or subject area such as visual culture or religion). If you choose to take the BA route, 30 credits will comprise a research project or a dissertation on a Liberal Arts theme. This would mark the completion of the BA programme. Alternatively, you might decide to work towards converting your degree into a Masters. In taking this route, you will spend the third year of your degree taking modules in your nominated major, before moving on to the fourth year of the programme. Year 4 (optional Masters route only) You will take a range of modules at both BA and Masters levels in your major area specialisation amounting to 60 credits. At least half of these will be drawn from Masters-level modules. Under the supervision of an academic specialist in your chosen field, you will also research and write a Liberal Arts dissertation, worth 60 credits. Successful completion of this stage of the programme would convert your Liberal Arts studies into a Master of Liberal Arts degree.

The skills you will develop will provide an edge over other arts, humanities or social sciences degrees particularly given the core foreign language (ancient or modern) and science/quantitative research modules that you will study alongside your option modules. The opportunity to study abroad will give you a wider understanding of the world and inter-cultural awareness, while the chance to develop a work experience placement or research internship during your studies will show potential employers how you can apply your knowledge and skills in the workplace. On completion you will be able to demonstrate critical thinking, communication skills, textual analysis, quantitative analysis, teamwork and research skills. These abilities are highly valued in a number of career sectors.