3.5-Term Pathway - Foundation Certificate in Humanities - Continue to Bachelor of Arts (Honours) - Journalism and Criminology (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) - Journalism and Criminology

The BA Journalism and Criminology will enable students to study contemporary society and crime, alongside building their journalistic skills, to analyze and share information and understand it through a social perspective.

They explore a wide spectrum of topics ranging from the impact of computer games on crime to terrorism. This will be intertwined with the practical journalism component of this 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.

The course gives students flexibility to choose the areas of the subject that interests them. Topics which they can choose to study include:

• Law and Society • Production skills • How does globalization affect crime? • International Journalism

During their 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 criminology element of their studies.

As students at one of the UK’s leading social science institutions, they are uniquely placed to acquire a deep understanding of the world they report on. They 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) an ranked among the top 50 departments in the QS World University Rankings by Subject (2020).