BA(Hons) English

The BA (Hons) English combines broad coverage of literature across periods and genres with thematic concentrations ranging from ‘Satire, Feeling, Innovation’ to ‘Literature, Land and the Environment’, and regional concentrations including North America and the location of your studies – London.  Throughout there is a distinctive emphasis on how writing not only reflects but influences change in the world, and students are instructed in how to become more discerning, more sceptical and more appreciative readers of everything from lyric poetry to literary criticism to newspaper articles to political speeches. The programme culminates in a Comparative Literature dissertation, which cultivates in students an ability to mediate, to compare impartially, to be culturally agile, and to be scrupulously alert to both the similarities and the differences between art works from across time and space. Students are both inducted in those skills which are central to literary study, and also encouraged to draw on subjects which connect with English, including history, philosophy, psychology, art, and other languages. The programme is therefore rigorous both in its disciplinarity and its interdisciplinarity.

This degree programme combines the comprehensive English syllabus with a personalised elective pathway. Students can choose to deepen their focus on English through their elective courses, or they can further contextualise and broaden their studies with courses that match other interests and goals.

English graduates have strong oral and written communication skills. They combine planning and research with critical thinking, and can clearly evaluate competing perspectives and present ideas to a range of audiences. These fundamental strengths are highly sought after across sectors, and as such open up a wide array of career possibilities upon graduation.

Focus on one subject or study multiple subjects. Flexible Elective Pathway courses will enable students to choose to either:

• Deepen focus in their degree subject
  or
• Combine their studies with courses in a particular second subject
  or
• Explore a broad range of subjects, developing agile thinking across disciplinary boundaries

Discipline Pathways

• Art & Design
• Business
• Computer Science
• Creative Writing
• Data Science
• Economics
• English
• History
• Law
• Philosophy
• Politics & International Relations
• Philosophy, Politics & Economics (PPE)

Thematic Pathways

• Sustainability
• Technology & Ethics

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 English degree you are likely to experience a combination of scheduled lectures, workshops, seminars and tutorials. The exact balance of these types of learning and number of contact hours will depend on the specific electives and optional courses you choose.

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. This personalised approach to teaching allows everyone to participate and thrive. 

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

1. Writing Across Audiences and Genres
2. Integrating Knowledge and Skills Through Experience
3. Demonstrating Thought and Action in a Final Project (can be dissertation)

You will also have taken courses inculcating a minimum of four of these additional competencies, depending on your learning pathways:

• Engaging with the Natural and Designed World
• Exploring Creative Expression and Innovation
• Interpreting Culture
• Conducting Formal and Quantitative Reasoning
• Understanding Societies and Institutions
• Analysing and Using Data
• Engaging Differences and Diversity
• Employing Ethical Reasoning