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

Program Description 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) - Literature and Sociology

Studying literature alongside sociology means that students can investigate what connects people with each other, as well as what divides them. Essex considers every aspect of our daily lives, from how people relate to politicians, celebrities and friends, to how people define themselves, their families, and others. Students can study topics ranging from digital media and society, to psychiatry and mental illness, to Japanese culture, to the art, film and personal testimony of war.

The Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies offers modules which examine a variety of genres, including travel writing, the podcast, and autobiography among others, and work across different media, including books, newspapers, plays and film. From the English Civil War to dystopian literature and film, the modules not only span momentous historical, political and social worldwide events, but also examine the alternative worlds that literature has produced. Meanwhile, the Department of Sociology is rated Top 10 in the UK for research quality, and they are ranked among the top 50 departments in the QS World University Rankings by Subject (2020) for English language and literature.

Sociology and literature students can acquire key skills in communication, time-management, research and analysis, and good standards of presentation.

The number of careers that lead from courses in literature and creative writing is almost as large as the number of graduates. Two particular areas in which graduates have had recent success are publishing and the theatre. In addition, former students of the Department have become professional writers, or have gone into teaching, journalism, broadcasting, marketing, film and video production, museum and library work, graphics and printing, finance, and the Civil Service.