The Flexible Undergraduate Choice

There is a good level of flexibility and choice built into most of our undergraduate courses, so that you can build up a programme of study to suit your particular interests and career aspirations.

Modular Courses

Most courses are part of a Modular Scheme, and all are modular in structure. Modules are self-standing units of study, and you earn credit when you successfully complete them; modules are worth either 20 or 40 credits. If you are a full-time student you will take 120 credits each year. Part-time students take between 40 and 80 credits each year.

All courses have a compulsory core module worth 40 credits in each year of study. You can choose from a range of optional modules to make up the required credit total. You will be given a handbook explaining how the modular scheme works when you arrive.  There will be opportunities in Years 2 and 3 to study topics that will broaden your skills - such as advanced IT, enterprise, lifelong learning, and volunteering.

Courses fall into three broad categories:

• Single Awards
• Specialised Awards
• Combined Awards

Single Awards

• Your degree will be in a single subject, for example BA (Hons) History;
• You will study a second subject in your first year;
• You will study 80 credits in your main subject (40 from a core module, and 40 from other modules on offer) along with 40 credits from a core module in the second subject;
• In Years 2 and 3 you concentrate on your chosen Single Hons subject (dropping your second subject).

Specialised Awards

• Your degree will be in one subject - for example, BA (Hons) Performing Arts;
• You will NOT study a second subject in your first year;
• Your choice of modules will more restricted because of the specialised nature of the award. Each year you will take 40 credits from a core module and 80 credits from other modules from a prescribed range;
• Art and Design courses follow a slightly different structure;
• The Education Studies leading to PGCE course also follows a slightly different pattern, since - unusually - you can choose to study two subjects within this Specialised Award;
• Foundation Degrees follow the same pattern as Specialised Awards in that there isn't the flexibility to choose modules from other subjects (though they differ in that they are often work-based and are usually taught in our partner colleges).

Combined Awards

Combined awards are a very popular choice for many students, allowing flexibility and breadth of study.

• Your degree will be in two subjects;
• You will start by studying both subjects in equal depth, choosing a core 40credit module in each of your subjects, along with 40 'other' credits (drawn either from the two subjects or from other subjects in Year 1;
• From Year 2 onwards you can choose whether to follow a Joint route or a Major/Minor route (depending on whether or not you want to concentrate more on one subject);
• Your final award when you graduate will reflect the weighting you have given to your subjects. For example, a joint combination of Cultural Studies and History will give you a BA (Hons) Cultural Studies and History; a Major/Minor combination of Geography and Sociology will give you a BSc (Hons) Geography with Sociology;
• You can't study Foundation Degrees as part of a Combined Award.