BA in English Literature
Birmingham City University
Key Information
Campus location
Birmingham, United Kingdom
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
4 - 6 years
Pace
Full time, Part time
Tuition fees
GBP 9,250 / per year *
Application deadline
Request info
Earliest start date
Sep 2024
* UK students: £9,250 per year | international students: £13,980 per year
Scholarships
Explore scholarship opportunities to help fund your studies
Introduction
Looking for a highly-prized English Literature degree course that you can tailor to your individual interests and career aspirations?
The BA (Hons) English Literature course will support you in developing your critical faculties, instilling in you the power and responsibility of informed reading and analysis, whilst deepening your appreciation for literature.
You will develop your writing, close reading and research skills and learn to express your arguments coherently and persuasively. In the School of English, you will be taught by respected academics and practitioners offering a diverse range of modules.
You will study literature from all of the major periods, movements and genres. You will also have the opportunity to study cinema, art and philosophy. Your degree will allow you to tailor your studies to your individual interests and career aspirations with both a local and global outlook.
What's covered in this course?
English as a discipline continues to be relevant to the lives we lead and is central to a wide range of contemporary and social contexts. It is this fact on which the School has built its philosophy and approach to English as a subject, which has interdisciplinary reach beyond its own boundaries.
Understanding how language works in practice, engaging with multiple forms of communication, examining how language and literature engage with societies and cultures past and present, and the place of English in a global context, are all vital aspects in understanding how the discipline connects with the wider world, enabling you to focus on the production, interpretation and negotiation of meaning and to understand the world from a variety of perspectives.
You will benefit from student-focused and research-informed teaching in a friendly and supportive learning environment where you will be taught by respected academics and expert practitioners who encourage a community of experimentation, innovation and inclusivity.
Our graduates are characterised by their extensive subject knowledge, critical thinking and intellectual curiosity, reflected in the skills and abilities that enable them to adapt to a wide range of career paths and employment opportunities.
The School contributes to the cultural life of Birmingham and the wider West Midlands by working closely with partner colleges and schools; maintaining close links with cultural institutions such as the Birmingham and Midland Institute (BMI) and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG); and working with agencies such as Writing West Midlands. The aim is to provide opportunities for the community to engage with the discipline and the University.
Professional placement year
This course offers a professional placement year. This allows you to spend a whole year with an employer, between the second and third years of your degree and is a great way to find out more about your chosen career. Some students even return to the same employers after completing their studies.
The University will draw on its extensive network of local, regional and national employers to support you in finding a suitable placement to complement your chosen area of study. If you do not find a suitable placement, you will be automatically transferred back to the standard, non-placement version of the course.
Please note that fees are payable during your placement year, equivalent to 20% of the total full-time course fee for that year (£1,850 for UK students).
Why choose us?
- Top 15 for English student satisfaction and graduate prospects (Complete University Guide 2023).
- You will be taught by world-leading academics and expert practitioners who encourage a community of experimentation, innovation and inclusivity and create an environment in which your learning can flourish.
- The programme offers multiple opportunities for you to collaborate across disciplines in order to gain new perspectives on the relevance of your study in the wider world.
- English is a subject highly prized by employers for the range of transferable skills it develops. Equipped with a strong subject knowledge, you will develop the ability to work as an independent researcher, to communicate effectively in spoken and written forms, to critically evaluate the work of others, and to respond imaginatively to original briefs.
- English is a global language; its culture has an international reach. Understanding the effects of this and how English has been shaped and reshaped by its engagement with the world at large is a key principle of the programme. You not only have the opportunity to contextualise English in this way as part of the taught programme but can also apply to undertake part of your studies abroad at one of our exchange partner universities.
- Our teaching staff are also expert researchers in English Language and Literature. 94% of research in English at BCU was judged to be either world-leading (4*) or internationally excellent (3*) in REF2021.
Curriculum
Year one
In order to complete this course you must successfully complete all the following core modules (totalling 100 credits):
- Literature, Drama and Origin
- Foundations of Language
- Foundations of Creative Writing
- Literature and Conflict
- Key Critical Concepts
In order to complete this course you must successfully complete at least 20 credits from the following list of optional modules:
- Language in Action
- Modern Drama
- Craft of Writing
Core modules are guaranteed to run. Optional modules will vary from year to year and the published list is indicative only.
Year two
In order to complete this course you must successfully complete all the following core modules (totalling 60 credits):
- Writing and the Environment
- The Romantics
In order to complete this course you must successfully complete at least 60 credits from the following list of optional modules.
- Collaborative Practice
- Work Placement
- Gender, Sexuality and Culture
- Literature and the Child
- The Victorians
- Multicultural Writing
- Early Modern Literature
- Language in Society
- Foundations of Screenwriting
- Writing Audio Drama
- Writing Poetry
- Documentary Drama
Core modules are guaranteed to run. Optional modules will vary from year to year and the published list is indicative only.
Year three
In order to complete this course you must successfully complete all the following core modules (totalling 80 credits):
- Modernism and its Legacies
- Major Project
In order to complete this course you must successfully complete at least 40 credits from the following list of optional modules.
- Forensic Linguistics
- Language and Gender
- Teaching English as a Foreign Language
- Writing Creative Nonfiction
- Writing Short Films
- Nature Writing
- Literature, Art and Philosophy
- The Gothic
- Psychology in Victorian Literature
- Speculative Fiction
- Shakespeare Studies
- Moral Philosophy
- Milton’s Epic
- Film
- World Literature
- The Uncanny
- Corpus Linguistics
- Audio Drama and Podcast Writing
Core modules are guaranteed to run. Optional modules will vary from year to year and the published list is indicative only.
Career Opportunities
Enhancing Employability skills
Employability is embedded across our programme, from the sector- and industry-specific skills in creative writing, drama, linguistics and literature, through to transferable skills that hold real value regardless of your employment direction, including literacy and numeracy, time management and organisation, oral and written communication, teamwork, initiative and enterprise, creative and analytical thinking, self-direction and discipline, independence, information gathering and interpersonal skills.
You will have multiple opportunities to engage in problem-solving and problem-based learning, particularly through individual assessments and collaborative practice modules, and to reflect on your own career development needs through participating in the Graduate+ scheme and other employability schemes over the course of your degree.
Placements
The School is committed to developing strong links with employers in Birmingham and the West Midlands. Several languages and Creative Writing modules have explicit employer and industry engagement, where you work in collaboration with employer and external partners over the course of the semester and are encouraged to adopt industry-standard practices to facilitate connections and links independently with external partners.
In the case of the Work Placement module, you will have the opportunity to develop skills and abilities in a sector-specific context, while ensuring that academic aims and objectives are met as part of your wider learning journey.
Links to Industry
We regularly seek out opportunities to build further links with partner organisations in the region, including Creative Black Country, Birmingham Literary Festival, Birmingham Museums Trust (including Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery), Black Country Museum Trust, Arvon Creative Writing Foundation, Flatpack Film Festival, West Midlands Screenwriters' Forum, and other Schools within the University, in addition to publishers, charities, third sector organisations, and more, in Birmingham and beyond.