3-Term Pathway - Foundation Certificate in Social Sciences - Continue to Bachelor of Arts (Honours) - Social Sciences (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) - Social Sciences

This course provides a thorough training in the major areas of political science, economics and sociology, investigating the different kinds of social tensions, interactions and networks that make up everyday life. Offered at Essex by three of the UK’s leading social science departments, these three disciplines are fundamentally linked. Through developing your understanding of these fields, students explore and address the broadest questions about our society.

Due to the flexibility of our courses, students can choose from a broad range of areas including:

• Public policy regarding health, the environment, crime and aging • Citizenship, multiculturalism and human rights • The nature of work and commercial culture • Political power • Obligations, freedom, rights and equality • Applied Economics and Policy • Micro and Macroeconomics • International Financial Institutions and Policy • Strategies of Economic Development

Essex's Department of Sociology was rated top 10 in the UK for research quality (REF 2014). Meanwhile their Department of Government is one of the most prestigious in Europe, with an outstanding record of teaching, research and publication. Essex is rated top in the UK for research (REF 2014), and have consistently been the highest-rated politics department in the country since national assessments began. The Department of Economics is in the top 5 in the UK for research, with over 90% of their research rated as “world-leading” or “internationally excellent” (REF 2014).