2.5-Term Pathway - Foundation Certificate in Humanities - Continue to Bachelor of Arts (Honours) - Journalism and Sociology (Placement Year)

For students who've finished high school but don’t meet the entry requirements for university, a Foundation Certificate can help them gain entry to an undergraduate degree. After completing this pathway option students qualify for progression to the 1st year of an undergraduate degree at the University of Essex.

A student’s course length is determined mainly by their English language level (UKVI IELTS score). Students on all course lengths take a set of common or similar modules to gain a solid base of skills for university. Students taking a course longer than 2 terms, will take additional modules designed to improve one or more of their English language level, academic skills, and basic knowledge of particular subjects.

Bachelor of Arts (Honours) - Journalism and Sociology

The BA Journalism and Sociology will enable students to learn about contemporary society, media and digital society, alongside developing their journalistic skills, helping them to analyze information and understand it within the wider social context. In the digital society, where demand for news is at an all-time high, this course will give students a strong understanding of the world they live in and how to engage with the audience, allowing them to develop their own unique journalistic style.

They explore a wide spectrum of topics ranging from crime to digital society. This will be combined with the practical journalism component of the course; where students develop their skills in using multi-media channels such as radio, television and online media and deepen their knowledge of journalism on an international scale.

This course gives them the flexibility to choose the areas of the subject that interest them. Topics which students can study include:

• Mass Media • Production skills • Digital Society • International Journalism

During the final year, students will have the opportunity to bring all aspects of the course together in a final multimedia project on a subject linked to the sociology element of their studies.

As a student at one of the UK’s leading social science institutions, students are uniquely placed to acquire a deep understanding of the world they report on. Students will join the Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies and the Department of Sociology which is rated top 10 in the UK for research quality (REF 2014) and ranked among the top 50 departments in the QS World University Rankings by Subject (2020).