A postgraduate degree from Humanities at Southampton offers you the wide and varied learning experience you should expect from a leading research university. We are committed to providing a relevant, modern and above all enjoyable experience which will ensure you graduate with the additional skills and understanding you need to start a career in any number of areas or to go on to further research.
How will you learn?
On a postgraduate taught programme teaching is led by academic staff, allowing you to engage with, and contribute to, the world-leading research carried out in Humanities at Southampton. You will complete a core programme of research skills development in tandem with a series of modules which you select according to your personal aims and objectives. Each programme offers a wide and fascinating range of modules related to our specialisms led by academics who are experts in their chosen fields of research and who wish to engage you with their experience.
In your second semester, you will take two specialised modules (known as ‘Individually Negotiated Topics'). In these sessions, you will meet with your tutor in small groups (of two-three students or even individually) once every two weeks, working through an agreed programme of study. While your tutor will provide guidance, with these small groups there is ample opportunity for the programme of study to be tailored to students' own particular interests; and, in this way, these modules allow you to explore in a structured way topics that fascinate you. Topics might include: Aesthetic Value, Aesthetics of the Environment, Art and Emotion, Contemporary Analytic Philosophy of Art, The Philosophy of Horror and Tragedy, Philosophy of Film, Philosophy of Music, Poetry and Philosophy in Plato and Aristotle, 18th Century British Aesthetics, Kant's Aesthetics, Schopenhauer's Aesthetics, Nietzsche's Aesthetics and Collingwood's Aesthetics. (Alternatively, you may choose from MA modules in other Humanities disciplines.)
Assessment
You will be assessed through essays, presentations and seminar performance, which allow us to assess and provide feedback on the development of your capacity to interpret, analyse and criticise the philosophical texts, problems and positions under debate. Not only this but you will also be assessed through a dissertation over the summer. The 20,000 word dissertation is a core element in establishing the acquisition of appropriate skills and the application of research techniques. Your supervisor will be available to provide regular and supportive advice, guidance and feedback on your progress.
Professional development
A masters degree will enable you to further develop the key skills employers seek such as: time management; problem solving; team work; deadline and project management; cultural awareness; working independently; using your initiative; relationship-building; critical thinking and research analysis. Above all, you will learn to communicate your ideas and enthusiasm to a wide range of audiences.