BA (Hons) Culture, Technology & Global Challenges (subject to approval)

Understand the past, tackle today’s biggest global challenges, and prepare for an exciting career shaping the future. This interdisciplinary degree programme offers a unique opportunity to combine a wide range of humanities subjects with an understanding of how emerging technologies are shaping our world, and the skills and experience needed to flourish in the workplace.

Truly global in its scope, through this degree you’ll address major contemporary themes such as conflict, climate change, and the ethical dimensions of media and technology. Studying in the heart of London, you’ll engage with these through immersive learning in one of the most vibrant and diverse cities on the planet. You’ll also have the opportunity to spend a semester at Northeastern University’s Boston campus in the USA, adding an international dimension to your degree.

The BA (Hons) Culture, Technology & Global Challenges draws on courses in English, creative writing, philosophy, history, art history, politics and international relations, with options to tailor your studies to your interests and aspirations. You will hone your research capabilities, and develop the tech and data literacy skills needed to give you the edge in the digital age.

Developed with employability front of mind, this degree programme has been co-created and endorsed by a range of employers. In every year of study you will connect with external partners in areas such as culture, technology and social engagement, culminating in your final year with a semester-long work placement in which you will apply your learning. This is an invaluable opportunity to start building your network and prepare your transition into professional life. Your final project will combine academic research with practical application, showcasing your ability to think critically, solve real-world issues, and make an impact on the world.

When you graduate, you will have gained a wide-range of humanities and technology- related skills, an advanced understanding of the world’s major challenges, and significant experience of confidently solving problems in the workplace. Graduating with a toolkit of future-proof, AI-proof, transferable skills, this degree opens up a vast array of career possibilities, including in the cultural and creative industries, business, media, the civil service, and political and NGO work.

What makes our BA (Hons) Culture, Technology & Global Challenges different?

• Acquire a cutting-edge interdisciplinary education to explore humanity’s biggest contemporary challenges
• Engage in hands-on learning every year with external partners in order to cultivate work-place skills
• Gain industry-recognised tech credentials alongside humanities research skills, giving you the edge in the digital age
• Engage in independent research opportunities supported by one-to-one supervision
• Experience a semester abroad at Northeastern University’s campus in Boston
• The courses are curated across multiple disciplines to create a coherent, stimulating educational experience
• The programme is co-designed with employers to provide you with the skill sets needed to flourish
• Join an institution with a strong tradition of specialism in the humanities, which is also future-orientated and impact-orientated
• Gain guaranteed entry onto Northeastern University London’s MAs and MScs if you graduate with a 2.1 and meet any subject-specific entrance requirements for the programme concerned

You will experience learning at the university through a combination of formats and class sizes. Some of our courses are delivered through a high number of scheduled teaching or contact hours, while others focus on smaller, more personalised, guided independent study, or hands-on or community-based projects.

Our academic staff selects the most appropriate pedagogy and contact hours for each individual course in order to support students to develop and succeed in their studies. This means that within your undergraduate degree you are likely to experience a combination of scheduled lectures, workshops, seminars and tutorials.

Most lectures and seminars will have a maximum of 40 student participants, while tutorials will typically have five or fewer students, and may sometimes be one-to-one. In your intermediate research course you will receive two-to-one or one-to-one tuition, whilst in your final project you will receive one-to-one tuition. This personalised approach to teaching allows everyone to participate and thrive.

The programme has been co-designed with employer partners in order to cultivate the skills they have told us they need: ethical awareness and responsibility, media literacy and knowledge, technology literacy and awareness, storytelling and narrative skills, critical thinking, big picture thinking, and teamwork. The global perspectives developed by the programme will help you to succeed in international and intercultural settings, whilst you will develop mental flexibility that will allow you to transition with agility between different career paths in a fast-changing world.

Throughout your studies you will have the opportunity to engage with external organisations including:

• cultural institutions (such as The London Archives, and historians and curators from national museums, including the National Portrait Gallery)

• community and sustainability-orientated organisations (such as Citizens UK, Legal Aliens and Volans)

• international organisations (such as Edward Nicholson from ?What If! Innovation, part of Accenture, insurance broker Windemnity, and IPSA, the International Professional Security Association)

• tech innovators (such as Dot Dot Fire and Rock Badger Agency)

You will be encouraged to explore your career ambitions through engaging with these organisations over the first two years, helping you to make a confident choice of work experience partner in your final year, and ensuring a smooth transition to professional life after graduation.

Examples of activities you might engage with over the course of your studies include:

• present your ideas to executives from sustainability consultancy Volans on how to address challenges faced by the organisation (on the course ‘Ideas for Impact Experiential Project’)

• understand how politics works in action by engaging with community-based campaign organisation Citizens UK (on ‘Political Arguments in Action’)

• discuss a career in the museum sector with a curator from the National Portrait Gallery (on ‘Public History and Heritage’)

• write Twitter fiction for the internet (on ‘Electric Frontiers: Digital Creative Writing’)

• create a video essay for a social media platform (on ‘Interpreting Digital Media’)

• undertake 300 hours of work experience in an organisation aligned with your career ambitions, and network for your future (with ‘In-the-Field Experiential Final Project’)

Core competencies are embedded within our Culture, Technology & Global Challenges degree programme, preparing you for your future career while you are studying, so that you stand out from the crowd and are ready to succeed as soon as you graduate.

By the time you graduate, you will have taken courses fulfilling the following competencies:

• Writing Across Audiences and Genres
• Integrating Knowledge and Skills Through Experience
• Demonstrating Thought and Action in a Final Project (can be dissertation)
• Exploring Creative Expression and Innovation
• Interpreting Culture
• Understanding Societies and Institutions
• Engaging Differences and Diversity
• Employing Ethical Reasoning
• Understanding Societies and Institutions

Our dedicated careers advisors work with students right from day one. Some students arrive at our university with their journey path clearly mapped, others need help finding their direction. Our advisors are here to help both.

Advisors will help to identify aspirations and explore careers, as well as assist with the development of CVs, and developing an ‘elevator pitch’ to differentiate yourself in a crowded market. Advisors guide students through making the most of Linkedin, and applying for internships, placements, and graduate jobs.

Our advisors are here to help you achieve your ambition and have expertise in a wide range of sectors including professional services, government, creative industries, law, and banking.