Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Theology

at University of Bristol - Clifton Campus United Kingdom

The joint honours English and Italian degree allows you to study two complementary disciplines, both of which ask you to think carefully about culture and history and to pay close attention to detail while comprehending and analysing language.

Students on this course will join two departments with top researchers in a great diversity of fields and will be encouraged to develop expertise and research skills relevant to both disciplines while also considering the relationships between them.

You will explore a rich variety of texts in their social, political and historical contexts and will develop excellent critical and communication skills, both in English and in Italian. You will also have opportunities to study aspects of history, film and linguistics as part of your Italian program.

You will spend a mandatory year abroad in an Italian-speaking environment to improve your language skills and global citizenship. You will develop excellent critical and communication skills that will prepare you for a wide range of professions.

You will also complete a dissertation during your final year – a project that will ask you to bring together the skills you have developed while studying both disciplines.

Ancient History at Bristol gives you the flexibility to combine core units on Graeco-Roman culture and history with more specialised topics.

In the first two years you will take core units exploring the history of the ancient Greek and Roman world, the sources of information available for reconstructing it, and the different approaches employed by modern scholars. You will also choose from optional units on a wide range of topics dealing with Roman and Greek society and culture, including literature, philosophy and art. You may also choose to study Latin or Greek. There is the possibility of studying abroad for one semester in the second year.

In your third year you will choose units from a range of special subject seminars based on our academics' wide range of research interests.

In co-operation with a supervisor you will research and write a dissertation on a topic of your choice. You will also take the Applied Classics unit and plan, market and execute a project aimed at presenting the ancient world to the wider public with a member of staff acting as adviser.

This course is ideal for students interested in learning more about how to use numbers and data within social policy. It provides training in practical and analytical skills, which will enhance your career prospects and provide you with a strong platform for postgraduate study. No prior knowledge of statistical techniques is required.

About two thirds of your studies will follow the single honours social policy course. You will focus on key issues such as inequality, risk, need, and the social processes and institutions that enhance or impair wellbeing. You will draw on social, political and economic theory to analyse and explore these in a global context.

The remaining third of your course will provide interdisciplinary training in quantitative methods. In year one of the quantitative pathway we discuss how numbers and data are used to tell convincing stories in the media and social research. We consider what is meant by segregation and how it can be mapped and measured.

Year two offers practical classes in social statistics and applied data analysis, which will develop your skills in numeracy and analysis and enable you to undertake your own individual research project in an area of quantitative social science in year three.

In your fourth year we offer training in more advanced quantitative methods suitable for postgraduate research, while continuing to develop expertise and specialist knowledge in social policy.

Social policy provides an exciting opportunity to critically analyse contemporary social issues related to human wellbeing, inequality, disadvantage and crime. You will explore real-world challenges in a global context, drawing on social, political, public policy and economic theories.

Our BSc Social Policy course is one of the longest-running social policy degrees in the country and it consistently scores high in University subject rankings.

The first year introduces key concepts and ideologies and familiarises you with theoretical, comparative and historical analyses. It also develops your research skills as a social scientist.

Years two and three allow you to explore your interests in greater depth through a range of optional units which focus on contemporary, real-world political and social issues. Students may also choose a work placement option in the second year.

The final-year dissertation is an opportunity to choose a topic for in-depth investigation and independent work.

The MA in Religion provides advanced study of the religious traditions of both the West and Asia. The program offers two pathways:

• Buddhist Studies
• Theology and Religious Studies.

These reflect the expertise in the Department of Religion and Theology and allow you to study various religious traditions with scholars who are world-renowned experts in those fields.

The taught element of the program requires you to do some study of both Asian and Western religious traditions (irrespective of the pathway you choose) but also allows you to focus more rigorously on the study of either Buddhism or religion and theology more broadly. In either pathway, the aim is to help you engage in in-depth study, led by staff who teach careful, rigorous, scholarly research methods at a high level.