About this course
Improve your knowledge of history and literature in English by studying them together. You could read fiction from Africa to help you understand European political history. You could gain new insights into the reign of James I by immersing yourself in the theatre of his time. A year abroad will enhance your studies and let you experience a new culture.
History at Southampton covers the ancient world to the present day. Our English modules explore writing from around the world and its connection to politics, the arts, identity and more.
With our advice, you can shape your degree to suit your own development. For example, you can:
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learn to write screenplays
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study Victorian sensation fiction
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take several modules on the history and literature of oceans
Your studies will include critical analysis, presentations and group work. These will help you develop your conceptual thinking, communication and research skills.
You can take modules that support your year abroad, such as a modern language or European politics.
Our year abroad partner universities in Europe include:
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Barcelona
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Prague
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Frankfurt
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Lausanne
You can also choose universities outside Europe, including locations in:
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the United States
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Canada
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Australia
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South Korea
As part of this course you can:
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join one of 40 student-led performing arts groups
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take part in writing workshops at Nuffield Southampton Theatres
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use a unique collection of rare books at the Chawton House Library
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explore experimental writing with our Entropics events
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get one-to-one tutorials on writing from our Royal Literary Fund Fellows
You can deepen your links to our History community by:
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joining the dynamic, student-run History Society
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use one of the largest Jewish document centres in Europe, the Parkes Archive
What's it like to study English and History at Southampton
Course location
This course is based at Avenue.
Awarding body
This qualification is awarded by the University of Southampton.
Download the Course Description Document
The Course Description Document details your course overview, your course structure and how your course is taught and assessed.
Changes due to COVID-19
Although the COVID-19 situation is improving, any future restrictions could mean we might have to change the way parts of our teaching and learning take place in 2021 to 2022. We're working hard to plan for a number of possible scenarios. This means that some of the information on this course page may be subject to change.
Find out more on our COVID advice page.
Entry requirements
For Academic year 202223
A-levels
AAB including Grades AB in English Literature (or a related subject*) and History (or a related subject**)
A-levels additional information
Offers typically exclude General Studies and Critical Thinking. *Related subject includes History, English Language and Literature, English Language, Drama and Theatre Studies, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Classical Civilisation, Politics, Geography or any other humanities-based essay writing subjects. **History related subject includes subjects such as English, Philosophy, Religious Studies or Classical Civilisation or other humanities based essay writing subjects. Students applying without History will need to make a case in their personal statement.
A-levels with Extended Project Qualification
If you are taking an EPQ in addition to 3 A levels, you will receive the following offer in addition to the standard A level offer:
ABB including Grades AB in English Literature (or a related subject*) and History (or a related subject**), and grade A in the EPQ
A-levels contextual offer
We are committed to ensuring that all applicants with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise an applicant's potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience.
Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme, as follows:
ABB including English Literature (or a related subject*) and History (or a related subject**)
International Baccalaureate Diploma
Pass, with 34 points overall with 17 points at Higher Level, including 6 and 5 at Higher Level in English Literature (or a related subject*) and History (or a related subject**)
International Baccalaureate Diploma additional information
*Related subject includes History, English Language and Literature, English Language, Drama and Theatre Studies, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Classical Civilisation, Politics, Geography or any other humanities-based essay writing subjects. **History related subject includes subjects such as English, Philosophy, Religious Studies or Classical Civilisation or other humanities based essay writing subjects. Students applying without History will need to make a case in their personal statement.
International Baccalaureate contextual offer
We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
International Baccalaureate Career Programme (IBCP) statement
Offers will be made on the individual Diploma Course subject(s) and the career-related study qualification. The CP core will not form part of the offer. Where there is a subject pre-requisite(s), applicants will be required to study the subject(s) at Higher Level in the Diploma course subject and/or take a specified unit in the career-related study qualification. Applicants may also be asked to achieve a specific grade in those elements.
Please see the University of Southampton International Baccalaureate Career-Related Programme (IBCP) Statement for further information. Applicants are advised to contact their Faculty Admissions Office for more information.
BTEC
Distinction in the BTEC National Extended Diploma plus A in A level English Literature (or a related subject*) and A in A level History (or a related subject**).
Distinction in the BTEC National Diploma plus A in A level English Literature (or a related subject*) and A in A level History (or a related subject**).
Distinction in the BTEC National Extended Certificate plus A in A level English Literature (or a related subject*) and A in A level History (or a related subject**).
RQF BTEC
We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience.
Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
Additional information
*Related subject includes History, English Language and Literature, English Language, Drama and Theatre Studies, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Classical Civilisation, Politics, Geography or any other humanities-based essay writing subjects. **History related subject includes subjects such as English, Philosophy, Religious Studies or Classical Civilisation or other humanities based essay writing subjects. Students applying without History will need to make a case in their personal statement.
QCF BTEC
Distinction in the BTEC Extended Diploma plus A in A level English Literature (or a related subject*) and A in A level History (or a related subject**).
or
Distinction in the BTEC Diploma plus A in A level English Literature (or a related subject*) and A in A level History (or a related subject**).
or
Distinction in the BTEC Subsidiary Diploma plus A in A level English Literature (or a related subject*) and A in A level History (or a related subject**).
We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
Access to HE Diploma
60 credits with a minimum of 45 credits at Level 3, of which 39 must be at Distinction and 6 credits at Merit, to include 3 Distinctions in English Literature (or a related subject*) and 3 Distinctions in History (or a related subject**)
Access to HE additional information
*Related subject includes History, English Language and Literature, English Language, Drama and Theatre Studies, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Classical Civilisation, Politics, Geography or any other humanities-based essay writing subjects. **History related subject includes subjects such as English, Philosophy, Religious Studies or Classical Civilisation or other humanities based essay writing subjects. Students applying without History will need to make a case in their personal statement.
Irish Leaving Certificate
Irish Leaving Certificate (first awarded 2017)
H1 H2 H2 H2 H2 H2 including English Literature (or a related subject*) and History (or a related subject**)
Irish Leaving Certificate (first awarded 2016)
A2 A2 A2 B1 B1 B1 including English Literature (or a related subject*) and History (or a related subject**) at A2 and B1
Irish certificate additional information
*Related subject includes History, English Language and Literature, English Language, Drama and Theatre Studies, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Classical Civilisation, Politics, Geography or any other humanities-based essay writing subjects. **History related subject includes subjects such as English, Philosophy, Religious Studies or Classical Civilisation or other humanities based essay writing subjects. Students applying without History will need to make a case in their personal statement.
Scottish Qualification
Offers will be based on exams being taken at the end of S6. Subjects taken and qualifications achieved in S5 will be reviewed. Careful consideration will be given to an individual’s academic achievement, taking in to account the context and circumstances of their pre-university education.
Please see the University of Southampton’s Curriculum for Excellence Scotland Statement (PDF) for further information. Applicants are advised to contact their Faculty Admissions Office for more information.
Cambridge Pre-U
D3 D3 M2 in three principal subjects including English Literature (or a related subject*) and History (or a related subject**)
Cambridge Pre-U additional information
*Related subject includes History, English Language and Literature, English Language, Drama and Theatre Studies, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Classical Civilisation, Politics, Geography or any other humanities-based essay writing subjects. **History related subject includes subjects such as English, Philosophy, Religious Studies or Classical Civilisation or other humanities based essay writing subjects. Students applying without History will need to make a case in their personal statement.
Welsh Baccalaureate
AAB from 3 A levels including Grades AB in English Literature (or a related subject*) and History (or a related subject**)
or
AA from two A levels including English Literature (or a related subject*) and History (or a related subject**) and B from the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate Skills Challenge Certificate
Welsh Baccalaureate additional information
Offers typically exclude General Studies and Critical Thinking. *Related subject includes History, English Language and Literature, English Language, Drama and Theatre Studies, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Classical Civilisation, Politics, Geography or any other humanities-based essay writing subjects. **History related subject includes subjects such as English, Philosophy, Religious Studies or Classical Civilisation or other humanities based essay writing subjects. Students applying without History will need to make a case in their personal statement.
Welsh Baccalaureate contextual offer
We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
European Baccalaureate
80% overall including grade 8.5 and 8 in English Literature (or a related subject*) and History (or a related subject**)
Other requirements
GCSE requirements
Applicants must hold GCSE English language (or GCSE English) (minimum grade 4/C) and mathematics (minimum grade 4/C)
Find the equivalent international qualifications for our entry requirements.
English language requirements
If English isn't your first language, you'll need to complete an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) to demonstrate your competence in English. You'll need all of the following scores as a minimum:
IELTS score requirements
- overall score
- 6.5
- reading
- 6.0
- writing
- 6.0
- speaking
- 6.0
- listening
- 6.0
We accept other English language tests. Find out which English language tests we accept.
You might meet our criteria in other ways if you do not have the qualifications we need. Find out more about:
-
our Access to Southampton scheme for students living permanently in the UK (including residential summer school, application support and scholarship)
-
skills you might have gained through work or other life experiences (otherwise known as recognition of prior learning)
Find out more about our Admissions Policy.
For Academic year 202324
A-levels
ABB including History (or a related subject)
A-levels additional information
Offers typically exclude General Studies and Critical Thinking. History related subject includes subjects such as English, Philosophy, Religious Studies or Classical Civilisation or other humanities based essay writing subjects. Students applying without History will need to make a case in their personal statement.
A-levels with Extended Project Qualification
If you are taking an EPQ in addition to 3 A levels, you will receive the following offer in addition to the standard A level offer: BBB including History (or a related subject), and grade A in the EPQ
A-levels contextual offer
We are committed to ensuring that all applicants with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise an applicant's potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme, as follows: BBB including History (or a related subject)
International Baccalaureate Diploma
Pass, with 32 points overall with 16 points at Higher Level, including 5 at Higher Level in History (or a related subject)
International Baccalaureate Diploma additional information
History related subject includes English, Philosophy, Religious Studies or Classical Civilisation or other humanities based essay writing subjects. Students applying without History will need to make a case in their personal statement.
International Baccalaureate contextual offer
We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
International Baccalaureate Career Programme (IBCP) statement
Offers will be made on the individual Diploma Course subject(s) and the career-related study qualification. The CP core will not form part of the offer. Where there is a subject pre-requisite(s), applicants will be required to study the subject(s) at Higher Level in the Diploma course subject and/or take a specified unit in the career-related study qualification. Applicants may also be asked to achieve a specific grade in those elements. Please see the University of Southampton International Baccalaureate Career-Related Programme (IBCP) Statement for further information. Applicants are advised to contact their Faculty Admissions Office for more information.
BTEC
Distinction, Distinction in the BTEC National Extended Diploma plus B in A level History (or related subject) or Distinction, Distinction in the BTEC National Diploma plus B in A level History (or related subject) or Distinction in the BTEC National Extended Certificate plus AB in an A level History (or related subject) and one further A level
RQF BTEC
We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
Additional information
History related subject includes subjects such as English, Philosophy, Religious Studies or Classical Civilisation or other humanities based essay writing subjects. Students applying without History will need to make a case in their personal statement.
QCF BTEC
Distinction, Distinction in the BTEC Extended Diploma plus B in A level History (or related subject) or Distinction, Distinction in the BTEC Diploma plus B in A level History (or related subject) or Distinction in the BTEC Subsidiary Diploma plus AB in A level History (or related subject) and one further A level
We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
Access to HE Diploma
60 credits with a minimum of 45 credits at Level 3, of which 30 must be at Distinction and 15 credits at Merit, to include 6 Distinctions in History (or a related subject)
Access to HE additional information
History related subject includes English, Philosophy, Religious Studies or Classical Civilisation or other humanities based essay writing subjects. Students applying without History will need to make a case in their personal statement.
Irish Leaving Certificate
Irish Leaving Certificate (first awarded 2017)
H2 H2 H3 H3 H3 H3 including an essay writing subject
Irish Leaving Certificate (first awarded 2016)
A2 A2 A2 B1 B1 B1 including English Literature (or a related subject*) and History (or a related subject**) at A2 and B1
Irish certificate additional information
History related subject includes subjects such as English, Philosophy, Religious Studies or Classical Civilisation or other humanities based essay writing subjects. Students applying without History will need to make a case in their personal statement.
Scottish Qualification
Offers will be based on exams being taken at the end of S6. Subjects taken and qualifications achieved in S5 will be reviewed. Careful consideration will be given to an individual’s academic achievement, taking in to account the context and circumstances of their pre-university education.
Please see the University of Southampton’s Curriculum for Excellence Scotland Statement (PDF) for further information. Applicants are advised to contact their Faculty Admissions Office for more information.
Cambridge Pre-U
D3 M2 M2 in three principal subjects including History (or a related subject)
Cambridge Pre-U additional information
History related subject includes subjects such as English, Philosophy, Religious Studies or Classical Civilisation or other humanities based essay writing subjects. Students applying without History will need to make a case in their personal statement.
Welsh Baccalaureate
ABB from 3 A levels including and History (or a related subject) or AB from two A levels including History (or a related subject) and B from the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate Skills Challenge Certificate
Welsh Baccalaureate additional information
Offers typically exclude General Studies and Critical Thinking. History related subject includes subjects such as English, Philosophy, Religious Studies or Classical Civilisation or other humanities based essay writing subjects. Students applying without History will need to make a case in their personal statement.
Welsh Baccalaureate contextual offer
We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
European Baccalaureate
77% overall including grade 8 in History (or a related subject*)
Other requirements
GCSE requirements
Applicants must hold GCSE English language (or GCSE English) (minimum grade 4/C) and mathematics (minimum grade 4/C)
You might meet our criteria in other ways if you do not have the qualifications we need. Find out more about:
-
our Access to Southampton scheme for students living permanently in the UK (including residential summer school, application support and scholarship)
-
skills you might have gained through work or other life experiences (otherwise known as recognition of prior learning)
Find out more about our Admissions Policy.
Got a question?
Please contact our enquiries team if you're not sure that you have the right experience or qualifications to get onto this course.
Email: enquiries@southampton.ac.uk
Tel: +44(0)23 8059 5000
Course structure
You’ll explore literature in English, starting in the medieval era. You'll study history from the ancient world up to the present day. Both subjects include modules that focus on other countries and cultures.
You'll have a huge amount of choice about how and what you learn. For example, you could take several modules in Russian history or creative writing.
Each year you can take modules from subject areas outside of English and History. You do not need to choose your modules when you apply. We'll guide you through the process before you start.
Year 1 overview
You’ll take an equal number of module credits in English and History. You’ll gain a foundation in critical thinking, essay writing and joint research. This will help you develop your own views and approaches in the study of literature.
You’ll take a compulsory module in world histories, and must study 1 History module which covers the period before 1750.
Typical modules cover topics such as:
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the novel
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histories of empire
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poetic language
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world dramas
Year 2 overview
You'll choose all of your modules, keeping a roughly equal balance of English and History topics. We encourage you to take modules from across historical periods.
Modules include topics such as:
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world literature after globalisation
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the Space Age
-
African worlds
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witchcraft in England 1542-1736
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how writers influence each other
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women and Hollywood
In the second semester, you’ll take a module to prepare you for your year abroad.
Year 3 overview
You’ll study at one of our partner universities. Your lectures will be in English but you'll have opportunities to develop your language skills.
Alternatively, you can take an approved work placement abroad instead.
You’ll write a monthly personal blog to document your learning. This will record events, activities and intercultural encounters you experience. You’ll write a year abroad report with support from an academic supervisor.
Year 4 overview
You'll take a module examining your experiences abroad. This will help you produce an enhanced CV.
You’ll write a dissertation on a research topic of your choice in either English or History.
You’ll also choose modules from a wide range of topics, including:
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Jane Austen and the Regency world
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the Tudor court
-
refugees in the 20th Century
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the East India Company and Britain’s Asian world
-
radical England from Shakespeare to Milton
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literature of islands and oceans
-
narrative non-fiction
Want more detail? See all the modules in the course.
Modules
Changes due to COVID-19
Although the COVID-19 situation is improving, any future restrictions could mean we might have to change the way parts of our teaching and learning take place in 2021 to 2022. We're working hard to plan for a number of possible scenarios. This means that some of the information on this course page may be subject to change.
Find out more on our COVID advice page.
For entry in Academic Year 2022-23
Year 1 modules
You must study the following module in year 1:
Historians have many different ways of viewing the past: we do not just pick up facts like sweets from a jar. Instead, we craft different stories based on the sources we choose to examine, the approaches we choose to take and the way that our training, ou...
You must also choose from the following modules in year 1:
Castles are one of the most visible and imposing reminders of our medieval past. The ruins we see now are, however, the result of dynamic changes over the course of the middle ages and later periods, reflecting significant developments in society, culture...
In this module you will explore the competing visions of a global order promoted by the U.S. government and the Chinese Communist Party. You will consider diverse case studies including: contrasting economic and ideological models; views on security and s...
This module will explore British culture(s) at a time of massive transformation. We often associate culture with forms of relaxation, art or entertainment. But culture is, and was, about far more than that. It is not just a set of things, whether that’s p...
English has always been on the move. As a literary language, it has not only travelled from and back to England; lines of influence between texts, authors, publishers, editors, book technologies, and readers traverse the globe in multiple directions, bet...
This module both challenges and enriches the idea of ‘the human’ as an idea for ‘the humanities’. You will reflect upon ‘the human’ as a concept that exceeds the individual person in literary, artistic, historical and political texts. Taking this challe...
Biological science tells us what items in our world are potentially edible, but culture decides what constitutes food. Culture informs us as to whether a specific item is appropriate, appetising, valued, desirable, prohibited, restricted, staple or medici...
The first part of this module introduces and explains important developments for the Jewish minority in Europe from the Enlightenment to the end of the inter-War period, from the late 18th century to 1933. While this history has often been regarded as a p...
The landscapes and seascapes of Britain play host to one of the world’s most varied and intriguing archaeological records. With an occupational history spanning one million years, it tells a complex inter-twined story of social, physical and environmenta...
Why have some stories gripped the imagination of writers, musicians, and artists across cultures and centuries? And what does the emergence and constant re-emergence of such stories tell us about ourselves and others, past and present? What do readers and...
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse – War, Famine, Plague and Death – were believed to presage the end of the world, and many Europeans living through the fourteenth century believed this was close at hand. The Great Famine (1315-22) and the arrival of th...
Both individuals and society attach great importance and value to certain works of art, including poems, novels, films, plays, symphonies, and paintings. Most of us spend a considerable amount of our limited time and resources acquiring, creating, experie...
This module connects the recent Black Lives Matter protests in the US and UK to histories of slavery, resistance and racism, allowing students to explore the beginnings of slavery, and the history of the institution, how enslaved people resisted slavery, ...
The aims of this module are to introduce you to the turbulent sequence of rebellions which took place during the Tudor period, to encourage you to ponder on the causes and consequences of those uprisings, and to help you to understand why previous histori...
How does gender shape our lives? How does gender shape history? This course explores British from the Edwardian period to second wave feminism, through the lens of gender and sex. We will be thinking about how ordinary people’s lives were shaped by gender...
Apocalyptic texts are important because they represent an expression of political turmoil or social and cultural fears. They shed light on attitudes to historical events and to surrounding cultures at crucial periods in the development of world history. ‘...
The module introduces you to the political, social and cultural history of the period of revolution in late eighteenth-century France. The revolution of 1789 remains a great event of mythic proportions: it is, in the periodization of French history, the b...
‘A novel does not assert anything; a novel searches and poses questions’. The contemporary novelist Milan Kundera describes the novel as an exploratory and engaging form, a way of telling stories that involves readers both in its searches and in the quest...
Ancient history is popularly presented as the history of dead, white leaders, but what about the rest of the population? Too often the history of the non-elite, non-adult, non-male is written through 'common-sense' assumptions about essentialist differenc...
The module asks big questions. What do we do when we interpret literature and culture, and how can we analyse our practices of interpretation? Can anything be a text, and if so what do we understand by ‘literature’? How does literature shape our identity,...
As he broke the seal and opened the door to Tutankamun’s tomb, archaeologist Howard Carter declared, breathlessly, that he could see ‘Wonderful things’. Ancient things have this special appeal. They enchant and captivate. They excite curiosity and unleash...
In this module, you will learn how to approach dramatic texts in a way that takes into consideration their place in the world as a complex political, economic, and cultural network. We will focus on questions such as: • What is the difference between r...
Year 2 modules
You must choose your modules from the following modules in year 2:
You might watch a stunning film, hear a delightful song, enjoy a beautiful sunset, read a dreadful poem, attend an elegant dance, or see a garish building. Experiences like this can stimulate thoughts and feelings of great depth, and provide pleasure or d...
Africa has produced some of the world's outstanding literary texts, yet its literatures, cultures and people are often placed in opposition to the rest of the world. The module engages with the literary fictions by and about Africans, in order to ask: how...
From the legendary tales of the Trojan War up to the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great, warfare played a central role in ancient Greek history and society. This module allows you to examine ancient Greek warfare from a range of different sources a...
This module focusses on the city of Rome and its development from its early foundation through to the third century AD. It explores the evidence for one of the most important cities of the ancient world, which at its height was home to approximately a mil...
The disparate body of literature collected together under the title 1001 Nights, more popularly known as the Arabian Nights, is set primarily in the cities of the medieval Middle East, including Baghdad and Basra in Iraq, Cairo in Egypt and Damascus in Sy...
The figures of King Arthur, Guinevere, his knights and court have exercised a powerful hold over the minds of readers for many centuries. But have you ever wondered about where this legend came from, how it developed, and about the enduring nature of its ...
The Second World War ended more than seventy years ago, but the echoes and memories of the war still permeate modern British society, culture and politics. This course will explore the history of the Second World War in Britain, from appeasement to the el...
Many writers begin with the short story. Through writing short stories they are able to experiment, learn the fundamentals of narrative composition, and have the satisfaction of completing something to a high standard in a relatively short period of time....
Children's literature is a rather slippery term encompassing a variety of genres, child/adult concerns, engagement with historical/contextual issues on, for example, gender; class; nonsense; the nature of time; slavery. Other issues addressed are subject...
Today, chivalry is readily associated with gentle(manly) behaviour, and more specifically with sportsmanship, gallantry and courtesy. While indisputably there has always been a ‘civilising’ component to chivalry, it is fascinating to see how our modern so...
This module introduces you to the history of art through the collections of the Southampton City Art Gallery (SCAG). As part of the module, you will curate an art exhibition at SCAG which will be open to the public.
Literary history is often told in epochs. In particular, it can be useful to understand the world in relation to some or other idea of “modernity”: for example, English literary studies is often organised through conceptions of the early modern, the mode...
Britain’s recent departure from the European Union has provoked a range of responses, raising urgent questions about our past and future relationship with our neighbours on the Continent. Such questions are not new. From a literary perspective, they promp...
This module presents a history of post-war multicultural Britain through the lens of British film and television, considering how our attitudes to 'race', sexuality and British identity more generally have been defined, challenged and changed by film and...
Many writers have penned essays about fiction and memoir: E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, Henry James, Edith Wharton, Italo Calvino, Vladimir Nabokov, Milan Kundera, A.L. Kennedy, A.S. Byatt, to name just a famous few. Indeed, it seems essential at some p...
How are the arts getting back to work again after Covid-19? This is a critically important question for everyone who cares about them, artists and audiences alike. If you’re a student considering a career in the arts you’ll want to know where fresh opport...
This module gives students a practical understanding of the importance of the questions of immigration, race and ethnicity in France.
This module will discuss Chinese history from its mythical beginnings to the 19th century (the time when China encountered the West). We will encounter famous figures like the philosopher Confucius, discuss the origins of the Silk Road and the Great Wall,...
How did less than two thousand British officials rule an Indian population of three hundred million? Why did the words gymkhana, bungalow and shampoo enter the English language? What was the significance of the British constructing clock towers in numerou...
In 1831 the philosopher John Stuart Mill struggled to define the ‘Spirit’ of the nineteenth century. ‘It is’, he wrote, ‘an age of transition. Mankind have outgrown old institutions and old doctrines, and have not yet acquired new ones.’ If the nineteenth...
Since the end of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1980s, the modern world has witnessed the emergence of Islamist states and powerful Islamist political movements including in West Asia and the Near and Middle East: the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Is...
‘I have here in my hand a list of 205 names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in that State Department.' With these words, asserting both the exi...
What does it mean to make literature new? How do we describe writing now? In this module you will explore the transformations, revolutions, and innovations that have taken place in literature in English when writers have grappled with these questions acr...
What are myths and what do they do? In “Myth and the Ancient World” you will explore how the Ancient Greeks used myths to make sense of the world and their position in it. The module covers a time span of some 900 years, from the time of Homer and Hesiod ...
In 1948, Daniel Malan’s National Party took power in South Africa. Malan’s election victory over the Jan Smuts-led United Party and Labour Party alliance was only a slender one, and few of the National Party’s opponents could have envisaged that it would ...
Early modern England is a period associated with Elizabeth I and the Tudor court, the plays of Shakespeare, blood and violence on the Jacobean stage, the discovery of new worlds, and the persecution of witches and heretics. The diversity and vitality of t...
For the United States, the turn of the twentieth century was a turbulent, transformative time: an age of embattled political parties and insurgent Populists, mass immigration and overseas war, millionaire capitalists and impoverished farmers, all set to t...
The first century CE saw the rise of a new world religion that was to have an ever changing and at times turbulent history up to today. This module will explore the historical origins of Christianity and the contexts from which it emerged. In particular, ...
We are all, in one way or another, participants in the consumer society. Whether we buy for necessity - life essentials such as food - or view it as an enjoyable leisure activity, our purchase of goods is part of a wider cultural movement pushing us to ‘s...
For most people even today Nero was one of the ‘bad’ emperors (he killed his mother), and Caligula was mad and depraved (he wanted to appoint his favourite horse as consul, and committed incest with his sisters); but the categorisation of emperors along m...
The 1960s were a time of rapid social, political and cultural change in Britain. The decade saw Britain – and especially London – finally steal the crown of cool from the United States. British pop culture exploded and was exported around the world. With ...
How do writers activate and amplify the sonic properties of language? Why do artists use vocal performance of text in video art? How can text ‘perform’ on the page (or onscreen), and what does it mean for language to be performative? What does writing for...
This module begins with an assessment of the legacy of Lenin and goes on to investigate Stalin's rise to power and his methods in modernising economy and society. We will engage with historical debates concerning his role in the purges of the 1930s and th...
What can the voices and narratives of sex workers and asylum seekers depicted in world literature and visual culture tell us about the conditions and pressures of life in the contemporary world? How might considerations of narrative technique, genre, and ...
The Age of Discovery explores the maritime expansion of Europe from c.1350-c.1650 through the experiences of four European states: Portugal; Spain; England and the Netherlands. It therefore covers the transition of these states from medieval polities to R...
This module focuses on the period between about 1600 and 1800, allowing you to explore the development of the British Empire in the Americas from the founding of Jamestown in 1607 up until the American Revolution and its aftermath. The module takes a broa...
The course seeks to provide an overview of the evolution of the European Union (EU) from its early stages to the present. In so doing, it examines the ideas and history of the EU, the institutions of the EU, examples of specific issue areas and the presen...
In this module, students will explore a wealth of different texts and different discourses, from the literary to the scientific, on humanity and the human body in the early modern period. Starting with a glimpse of ancient and modern visions of the body, ...
By the middle of the eleventh century, the various nations of the British Isles were characterised by quite distinct cultures and political and economic systems and elites. Yet the relationships between the various nations were entirely redrawn between ab...
Blood, violence, terror, raids, pirates, rape and pillage are just some of the words associated with the Vikings in both the medieval and modern imagination. Their fearsome reputation is underlined by nicknames such as ‘Blood Axe' and ‘Skull-splitter', bu...
This module examines changing notions of British (and, more specifically, English) national identity in relation to issues of race, ethnicity and immigration from the 1840s to the present day.
“On 13 December 1838, on a cold and rainy night, a man of athletic build, dressed in a shabby jacket, crossed the Pont au Change and penetrated into the Cité […]. That night the wind was blowing violently through the alleyways of this dismal neighbourhood...
Joy, dejection, devotion, boredom—among the ways in which we respond to literary texts, feelings are perhaps the most immediate and the most permanent. And yet, feeling is often treated as reason’s less reputable cousin. For the Victorians, however, feeli...
This module will introduce you to German metropolitan culture and politics in the 20th century with particular reference to Vienna and Berlin, using a wide range of sources which will include literature, film and architecture.
The twentieth century witnessed a seismic transformation in Britain’s relationship with the rest of the world. In 1914, Britain controlled the largest empire the world had ever seen. By 1960, the majority of Britain’s colonies were independent, or on the ...
This module offers you the opportunity to study the history of witchcraft in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (the period during which the great majority of prosecutions and executions for that supposed crime took place). On the modu...
Year 3 modules
You must study the following module in year 3:
This non-credit bearing module is a required element for all Humanities students on a Year Abroad Programme. It builds on the Year Abroad preparation module, HUMA2012. It is taken as a long thin single module whilst on the Year Abroad with a two hour prep...
Year 4 modules
You must study the following modules in year 4:
Undertaking independent research into an aspect of literature or creative writing which particularly interests you is a cornerstone of your degree. A dissertation gives you the opportunity to study a subject in much greater depth than usual and, with gui...
The dissertation is a key component of your degree; in it you have a chance to show the skills of analysis and research you have learned during the three years of your course.
You must also choose from the following modules in year 4:
Wars have been fought throughout the history of mankind. Ethical concerns that they raised, or, in other words, the rights and wrongs of waging war, have been discussed from time immemorial. War has often been seen as an evil, a necessary evil, to be avoi...
The resurgence of the far right is one of the most striking and challenging features of the 21st century political landscape. Attitudes and practices that were marginal and unrespectable just decades ago have gained considerable traction, whether measured...
As the world responds to the global financial crisis, populist leaders have come to dominate political debate in countries across the world - from India to the United Kingdom to the United States. In engaging with this phenomena, we are faced with a conun...
The history of the post-war world has been powerfully shaped by the decisions and actions of American political and military leaders, and by the deployment of American defense technologies. This module considers the significance of humanitarian concerns w...
This module continues the exploration of the impact of defense technologies and humanitarian concerns upon US foreign policy from end of the Cold War and the post-Cold War period, into the War on Terror. This includes the introduction of so-called ‘precis...
What constitutes the experience of being American, or of America itself? America has been referred to as simultaneously a colony and a colonizer; the first democracy thus representing one of the first populist and anti-colonialist revolutions (1776), but...
As the Puritan colonialist John Winthrop said at Holyrood Church in Southampton before embarking for Boston, American was to be ‘as a city upon a hill’, a beacon of progress and enlightenment for the world. But from the beginning, America has been shadowe...
This unit introduces you to some key definitions and concepts before providing an overview of the main phases of immigration in France from the 1880s to the late 1940s.
What can animals teach us about the human and non-human? What do the creative forms we use to describe them show us about human form and the other? In this module, you will read a range of poetic and critical material which explores the porous boundaries ...
Are you interested in helping young people study English? This module will introduce you to teaching creative writing in secondary schools by providing training in effective classroom management and guidance on designing lesson plans for studying fiction ...
This course will span the period c.1688-c.1840, beginning with the reforms of the criminal code introduced following the Glorious Revolution, known as the ‘Bloody Code’, and concluding in the mid-nineteenth century with the introduction of the police forc...
This course will span the period c.1688-c.1840, beginning with the reforms of the criminal code introduced following the Glorious Revolution, known as the ‘Bloody Code’, and concluding in the mid-nineteenth century with the introduction of the police forc...
Ancient History goes beyond Greece and Rome. The ancient world was incredibly diverse, inhabited by different cultures, religions, and societies which were closely connected and left their mark on each other, through interaction, conflict, and exchange. I...
This module explores the Roman Empire, but from the perspective of those who resisted it, fought it, and rebelled against it. The study of the ancient world, throughout its different periods, is greatly influenced by Rome. Starting from its expansion duri...
This module explores the entangled histories of France and Germany between WW1 and the end of WW2. Resentment over the Treaty of Versailles was central to the emergence of radical nationalism in Germany after 1918; conversely, solving the ‘German problem’...
This module explores Franco-German history between the Fall of France (1940) and the end of the 1950s. The first half focusses on the German occupation of France, exploring aspects of everyday life, collaboration and resistance, violence and the Holocaus...
Fantasy film and fiction spans a wide range of texts, from Gothic 'classics' and feminist fairy tales, to Utopian literature and musicals. Analysing fantasy texts alongside psychoanalytic and cultural theories will enable you to engage with questions conc...
What are the origins of Britain’s long relationship with Asia? How did a trading company become a territorial power, with its own army and navy? What did people in Britain make of this phenomenon, and how did it influence their views of Britain’s global e...
What are the origins of Britain's long relationship with Asia? How did a trading company become a territorial power, with its own army and navy? What did people in Britain make of this phenomenon, and how did it influence their views of Britain's global e...
This module provides an introduction to early Stuart England and explores the troubled reign of King Charles I before the English Civil War.
This module investigates the events of the English Civil War of 1642-46 and explores the effects which that conflict had on the ordinary people of England and Wales.
The turbulent history of Austrian and German Jews during the twentieth century was accompanied by the production of a diverse and influential body of German-language literature by Jewish authors. Prior to World War Two, Jews played a crucial role in the c...
How has the Holocaust been represented? We will examine a range of responses to the Holocaust from the 1940s to the present day, including memoirs of camp survivors and experimental texts. Focusing on the limits of representation we will approach question...
This new module studies writing and visual representation in the early years of the republic of the United States. Focusing on the period from shortly before the American Revolution to the early years of the nineteenth century, this module will introduce ...
One of the socially and culturally most significant consequences of transnational mobility is that urban populations in particular are increasingly multilingual: in global cities such as London, New York and Berlin there are speakers of hundreds of differ...
The towns in which the Romans lived are some of the most familiar features of the Roman world. Although they seem to look and feel like modern towns, they actually worked in quite different ways, a reflection of the fact that ancient Roman society was dis...
The stereotype of Africa as a predominantly ‘natural’ space ignores the existence of large and cosmopolitan urban environments on the continent. Yet today, the sprawling conurbations of Lagos, Nairobi and Johannesburg (as well as Africa’s other towns and ...
Germany has had a long tradition of immigration and is one of the most multi-cultural countries in Europe today. We will examine the impact of diverse immigration movements on recent German history and notions of German identity. This includes examining b...
Monsters lurk at the edges of the medieval map and imagination. These creatures repulse, fascinate, disconcert, and challenge humans in many of medieval Europe’s most intriguing and compelling texts from Beowulf to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. This mo...
The module provides an introduction to the history and archaeology of ancient Egypt. The module provides a broad sweep of Egyptian history from the Predynastic through to later periods. It introduces aspects of death, burial and commemoration, compares an...
This module is a study of political culture in both imperial Russia and the Soviet Union, considering the media, surveillance and coercion. It will start with a question: what is propaganda, and how does it work? Chronologically, part one of this year-lon...
This module is a study of political culture in the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. The second part will start with the ‘great break’ of the late 1920s that saw the emergence of the Stalinist state. Areas for consideration will include Stalin’s Cu...
In this module we will examine how knowledge about the past is presented in museum exhibition and display. We will look at current practices in exhibition design and discuss the contemporary literature on communicating heritage to a range of audiences. Yo...
Between the late eighteenth and early twentieth centuries a powerful new idea emerged in the West: race. According to this ideology, human beings could be divided into biological groups - ‘races’ - determining both moral character and intellectual ability...
Between the late eighteenth and early twentieth centuries a powerful new idea emerged in the West: race. According to this ideology, human beings could be divided into biological groups - ‘races’ - determining both moral character and intellectual ability...
The seventeenth century was a time of extreme change and political instability in England. In 1649, after years of civil war, Charles I, the King of England, was beheaded on Whitehall in front of a crowd of thousands. England, overnight, became a republic...
The culmination of your history degree at Southampton will be the completion of your final year independent research dissertation (HIST3021 for History programmes or HIST3210 for Ancient History programmes). In this module you will learn how to apply the ...
The 1790s was a decade of revolutions abroad and of chaos and state paranoia at home. Britain began its longest continuous war in 1792. In a letter years afterwards to Byron, Percy Shelley declared that the French Revolution was ‘the master theme of the e...
Has Shakespeare aged well? From the boys in wigs on the Elizabethan stage to the digital wizardry of the twenty-first century, the technology as well as the ideology that informs Shakespearean performance keeps evolving—sometimes in unexpected ways. This ...
In this module we will examine the principal themes of the political and social history of Britain during the Victorian era (c.1830-1900). We will investigate the development of new forms of political participation and examine the ways that men and women...
Whereas in part 1 of the module you focused on metropolitan Britain, in part 2 we turn our attention to Britain's role in the wider world, placing a particular emphasis on British foreign policy and Britain’s relationship with empire. The module will exp...
In this module you will study how and why domestic crises struck the Habsburg Monarchy (Austria-Hungary) in the two decades before the First World War, and what the potential consequences were for the Empire’s long-term sustainability. The module particul...
Building on Part I, which focused on perceived dynastic/national/social loyalties at home before the First World War, Part 2 imposes on that framework firstly a study of Habsburg foreign policy from c.1895 to 1914 and secondly a study of the empire in the...
The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations was an international exhibition which took place in Hyde Park, London, from 1st May to 11th October 1851. It was arguably the greatest of a series of international ‘expositions’ run throughout ...
The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations was an international exhibition which took place in Hyde Park, London, from 1st May to 11th October 1851. It was arguably the greatest of a series of international ‘expositions’ run throughout ...
The conflict that raged between the Plantagenet and the Valois kings from 1337 to 1453, and spread over the whole of Occidental Europe, turned out to be the longest military struggle in history. In this module, you will explore how the Hundred Years War s...
The conflict that raged between the Plantagenet and the Valois kings from 1337 to 1453, and spread over the whole of Occidental Europe, turned out to be the longest military struggle in history. In this module, you will explore how the Hundred Years War s...
Are we living in an age of climate change or climate crisis? In her 2019 speech to the World Economic Forum, Greta Thunberg famously declared “Our house is on fire”: a statement underscored by the Australian bushfire crisis of 2020 and the mass devastatio...
From Plato’s Republic and Thomas More’s Utopia to Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale and Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America, utopias have always been haunted by the spectre of the dystopian. If utopias imagine alternative ways of organizing society, dy...
Once upon a time, no one called themselves queer; now it names everything from a kind of person to a type of weather. Queerness seems necessary, ubiquitous, paradoxical – but why? Ranging from the eighteenth century to the present day, this module will ex...
The essential elements of writing a novel include crafting beginnings and endings, constructing characters, manipulating structure and plot, and developing an intimate relationship with language. Writing exercises and discussions of work in progress will ...
Learning and assessment
The learning activities for this course include the following:
- lectures
- classes and tutorials
- coursework
- individual and group projects
- independent learning (studying on your own)
Course time
How you'll spend your course time:
Year 1
Study time
Your scheduled learning, teaching and independent study for year 1:
How we'll assess you
- blogs
- creative projects
- dissertations
- essays
- individual and group projects
- oral presentations
- module journals
- self-assessment
- teamwork
- written exams
Your assessment breakdown
Year 1:
Year 2
Study time
Your scheduled learning, teaching and independent study for year 2:
How we'll assess you
- blogs
- creative projects
- dissertations
- essays
- individual and group projects
- oral presentations
- module journals
- self-assessment
- teamwork
- written exams
Your assessment breakdown
Year 2:
Year 3
Study time
Your scheduled learning, teaching and independent study for year 3:
How we'll assess you
- blogs
- creative projects
- dissertations
- essays
- individual and group projects
- oral presentations
- module journals
- self-assessment
- teamwork
- written exams
Your assessment breakdown
Year 3:
Year 4
Study time
Your scheduled learning, teaching and independent study for year 4:
How we'll assess you
- blogs
- creative projects
- dissertations
- essays
- individual and group projects
- oral presentations
- module journals
- self-assessment
- teamwork
- written exams
Your assessment breakdown
Year 4:
Academic support
You’ll be supported by a personal academic tutor and have access to a senior tutor.
Course leader
Stephanie Jones is the course leader.
Careers
When you study English and History abroad you'll show employers that you‘re independent, curious and resourceful.
Studying English and History at Southampton also gives you a strong foundation in:
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research
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presentation skills
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project management
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critical thinking
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writing
You’ll learn how to tell a story. This is a crucial skill whether you want to write a press release or funding application, or edit a book or podcast.
Our graduates have gone on to careers involving History and English including:
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advertising
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account executive
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academic
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festival co-ordinator
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journalist
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marketing manager
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museum curator
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political researcher
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PR officer
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retail manager
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teacher
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translator
We offer a series of lectures and seminars given by experts, employers and alumni, which take you through career planning. These are designed for humanities students and cover:
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careers opportunities for graduates, including digital jobs
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entrepreneurial and start-up options
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skills self-assessment to help you discover hidden talents
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CV and application writing
Your personal academic tutor can write a reference based on knowledge of you as a student over the 3 years.
Careers services at Southampton
We are a top 20 UK university for employability (QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2019). Our Careers and Employability Service will support you throughout your time as a student and for up to 5 years after graduation. This support includes:
work experience schemes
CV and interview skills and workshops
networking events
careers fairs attended by top employers
a wealth of volunteering opportunities
study abroad and summer school opportunities
We have a vibrant entrepreneurship culture and our dedicated start-up supporter, Futureworlds, is open to every student.
Work in industry
You can take work placements through our Excel internship scheme or Year in Employment scheme. Placements could take place in art galleries, publishing houses, schools or performing arts organisations. We can help you get placements and employment with local, national and international employers.
Fees, costs and funding
Tuition fees
Fees for a year's study:
- UK students pay £9,250.
- EU and international students pay £19,300.
What your fees pay for
Your tuition fees pay for the full cost of tuition and all examinations.
Find out how to:
Accommodation and living costs, such as travel and food, are not included in your tuition fees. Explore:
Bursaries, scholarships and other funding
If you're a UK or EU student and your household income is under £25,000 a year, you may be able to get a University of Southampton bursary to help with your living costs. Find out about bursaries and other funding we offer at Southampton.
If you're a care leaver or estranged from your parents, you may be able to get a specific bursary.
Get in touch for advice about student money matters.
Scholarships and grants
You may be able to get a scholarship or grant that's linked to your chosen subject area.
We award scholarships and grants for travel, academic excellence, or to students from underrepresented backgrounds.
Support during your course
The Student Services Centre offers support and advice on money to students. You may be able to access our Student Support fund and other sources of financial support during your course.
Funding for EU and international students
Find out about funding you could get as an international student.
How to apply
When you apply use:
- UCAS course code: QV32
- UCAS institution code: S27
What happens after you apply?
We will assess your application on the strength of your:
- predicted grades
- academic achievements
- personal statement
- academic reference
We'll aim to process your application within two to six weeks, but this will depend on when it is submitted. Applications submitted in January, particularly near to the UCAS equal consideration deadline, might take substantially longer to be processed due to the high volume received at that time.
Equality and diversity
We treat and select everyone in line with our Equality and Diversity Statement.
Got a question?
Please contact our enquiries team if you're not sure that you have the right experience or qualifications to get onto this course.
Email: enquiries@southampton.ac.uk
Tel: +44(0)23 8059 5000
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Research degree projects
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