Bachelor of Arts in Ancient History and Archaeology with Year Abroad

at University of Southampton - Avenue Campus United Kingdom

Become fluent in 2 languages that play a vital role on the world stage and understand the cultures, histories and linguistics of French and German-speaking nations. Your language expertise will present many travel and work opportunities across the world. French and German are spoken officially in countries throughout Europe, Africa and Asia.

Following our unique system of language development, you’ll start at a level that matches your ability on this French and German linguistics degree. This means we can personalise your learning so you make the best progress. The Centre for Language Study at Southampton also has everything you need.

As well as studying French and German, you’ll develop advanced analytical skills. A special module in year 2 will make sure you’re ready for working and studying abroad in year 3.

You can spend your year abroad in countries such as:

• France
• Germany
• Austria
• Switzerland
• Belgium
• Canada
• Guadeloupe
• Martinique
• La Réunion

We have partner universities in the Erasmus exchange programme across France, Germany and Switzerland.

You’ll also have the opportunity to prepare a final year dissertation with guidance from a supervisor.

Build the skills you need for a career in archaeological research or the heritage industry with this flexible archaeology master’s. You’ll gain practical experience and benefit from our close ties with museums and organisations involved in commercial archaeology, heritage management and fieldwork.

We’re ranked Top 30 in the world for archaeology (QS World University Rankings, 2019)

With this MSc in Archaeology you can personalise your studies to areas that interest you, without having to specialise in a particular area. We bring expertise together from across the University, including the National Oceanography Centre, Humanities, Medicine, Engineering and Winchester School of Art, to help you gain both scientific skills and cultural understanding through a range of optional modules.

This master's in archaeology enables you to develop your skills in a practical way, whilst learning from theoretical and period-based insights. You’ll have full access to a wide range of dedicated facilities and specialist teachers.

These include:

• A dedicated library
• A large collection of stone tools and hominin skulls
• Specialist isotope labs and a scanning, imaging and micro-CT suite
• An extensive collection of human and animal skeletons

We have relationships with a number of leading heritage institutions and companies. You’ll have the opportunity to spend 4 weeks on placement with one of these institutions, where you’ll gain valuable real-world experience of the archaeology sector and heritage industry. Previous placements have included Historic England, Wessex Archaeology and The Nautical Archaeology Society.

In addition to your vocational training, you'll develop advanced research skills. When you write your dissertation you’ll be able to embed with one of our research groups to undertake original research on a topic that you choose. There is the possibility that this work will be published.

Southampton is close to the World Heritage sites of Stonehenge and Avebury and we have research projects engaged with both sites, as well as a range of other archaeological projects across the globe.

We offer 4 pathways on our MSc Archaeology degree. If you’re not sure which area of archaeology you want to specialise in, then this general pathway gives you the chance to explore a number of different areas.

Your other Archaeology MSc pathway options are:

• Archaeology Bioarchaeology - Gain specialist skills in human anatomy and faunal analysis to make sense of the past. Benefit from dedicated archaeology laboratories and specialist research.
• Archaeology Higher Archaeological Practice - Discover our Archaeological Practice master's degree at the University of Southampton. Learn how to get a job in archaeology and commercial archaeology.
• Archaeology Palaeoanthropology - Discover our Palaeoanthropology master's degree at the University of Southampton. Learn to analyse stone tools and hominin skulls to understand our evolution.

With this degree, you’ll develop strong language skills in both French and Spanish and gain a comprehensive understanding of both cultures. You’ll also spend a year living and working abroad, building your fluency and considerably boosting your employment prospects.

Using our language development system, we’ll make sure you start at a level that matches your ability in French and Spanish. This means, if you’re a strong student, you can start one of these languages from scratch - and make rapid progress in both.

You’ll have the freedom to tailor your degree to areas that interest you. You could, for instance, take a third language, take modules from other subject areas, or explore more about French or Spanish linguistics, history and culture.

In your year abroad you can choose to:

• Work as an English assistant in a school
• Study at a university
• Take a work placement

You could choose to go to Spain, France, Switzerland or Latin America - we have links in Chile, Colombia and Mexico. Through our innovative scheme in Mexico, developed in partnership with the Mexican Education Ministry, you could work as a Language Resources Assistant in a University.

On this BA Philosophy and Sociology degree you’ll explore the processes that lie beneath social change and the ideas that inform them. You'll gain a grounding in the disciplines of philosophy and sociology, while following your own interests in greater depth. Optional topics cover everything from gender and human rights to criminal justice and the philosophy of religion. You'll get to spend a placement year abroad at a university in Europe.

This degree will give you an excellent education in philosophy and sociology. In your degree you can:

• Develop an understanding of philosophical questions such as ethics, reason and responsibility
• Learn a range of topics in sociology, including criminology, criminal justice, social issues and how societies change
• Apply philosophical thought to language, morality, sex and other important aspects of life
• Gain skills in qualitative and quantitative research methods
• Study abroad at one of our partner institutions
• Get experience in doing research and writing dissertations

You’ll learn in small groups in a relaxed and friendly environment, and benefit from the expertise of academic staff whose research feeds into the course content.

You can take modules from other disciplines such as anthropology or psychology, studying a language, or choosing from a range of cross-disciplinary modules. These include topics such as social enterprise, risk management, and living and working on the web.

You’ll develop skills of critical thinking, analysis and communication that will prove invaluable to your future career

Explore English literature in-depth with a master’s degree at the University of Southampton.

Our course gives you the opportunity to pursue literary topics and genres from a wide selection of authors and periods, including:

• Shakespeare
• Jane Austen
• Holocaust literature
• Victorian print culture
• literature and law

On completion of the course, you’ll be ready for careers in teaching, publishing and arts administration.

You’ll get the chance to carry out advanced-level research and independent critical thinking, and to make effective use of archives, manuscripts, and research libraries. We'll help you examine how literature shapes the public understanding of diverse fields such as:

• Climate change
• Economics
• Medicine
• Religion

We offer a flexible module structure which is designed to give you an advanced understanding of cultural analysis, textual interpretation and theoretical method. You can specialise with one of 4 subject-specific pathways, or take a more general approach by choosing modules from each pathway.

The information on this page refers to the general pathway.

Across all pathways, you’ll explore the interrelations of text, theory and culture across the field of English literary and cultural studies. We’ll work with you to:

• Develop your knowledge of critical and research methods
• Raise your awareness of the historical and critical reception of literature in various periods
• Explore the role of literature in a contested cultural framework

This joint honours course examines far-reaching questions that have puzzled great thinkers for centuries, but are still relevant today. You'll explore human welfare and social justice, political ideals and economic realities. You'll study economics and philosophy abroad for a year to broaden your knowledge and experience, and graduate as a confident and independent self-starter equipped with the skills for a successful career.

Your A level results will determine which core or compulsory modules you'll need to take.

In your economics and philosophy degree with year abroad you can:

• Develop an understanding of philosophical questions such as ethics, reason and responsibility
• Study broad principles in economics as well as develop knowledge in your own specialist area, such as principles of finance, labour economics or econometrics
• Learn how to use your new skills to find employment and build a career as an economist
• Study abroad at one of our partner institutions
• Develop research and presentation skills

From the Aztecs and Maya to Ancient Egypt, the Roman Empire and the medieval world, you'll study the story of human activity and the origins of civilisation on BA Archaeology with Year Abroad. Through the latest techniques and technologies, you'll investigate how our ancestors lived, from the earliest human origins, to Neolithic Britain, Ancient Egypt and the Medieval Middle East.

Archaeology is the study of the human past through its material remains, such as its:

• Buildings
• Monuments
• Artefacts
• Biological remains
• Written sources
• Landscape

Whether in the laboratory on a dig, you'll develop transferable skills through exploring questions about people in the past and in the present. This archaeology bachelor degree with year abroad explores world archaeology, on topics such as:

• Excavation and field survey techniques
• Underwater archaeology
• Artefacts analysis
• Museums, heritage and public archaeology

You'll have the opportunity to experience fieldwork, including at least 3 weeks of fieldwork as part of an active research project.

We have a purpose-built archaeology building, equipped with the latest science-based laboratories. You'll gain hands-on experience with archaeological artefacts and materials, and receive practical training for a career in archaeology.

You'll spend a year abroad at one of our partner institutions such as the University of Malta or the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona. This will give you the chance to discover theories and findings in exotic locations and boost your career opportunities.

This degree gives you the opportunity to study a minor subject alongside the main programme.

We’re also offering up to 10 bursaries of £1000 each to incoming students (subject to criteria). These are from the Terry Mason Bursary and the University of Southampton Archaeology Bursary Fund.

Explore 19th century English literature in-depth with a master’s degree at the University of Southampton.

Our course gives you the opportunity to specialise in the culture and history of the 19th century, covering topics such as:

• Key debates in 19th century studies
• The literary marketplace and its cultures
• Changes to aesthetics and taste during the 19th century
• Issues of gender, race, class, science and capitalism
• Material culture and print culture

On completion of the course, you’ll be ready for a career in teaching, publishing, librarianship or cultural heritage.

You’ll get the chance to carry out advanced-level research and independent critical thinking, and to make effective use of archives, manuscripts, and research libraries.

This pathway is linked to the Southampton Centre for Nineteenth-Century Research, where an interdisciplinary group of over 70 staff, student and external researchers debate key issues in 19th century studies. The centre also hosts events including guest speakers, seminars and conferences.

We offer a flexible module structure which is designed to give you an advanced understanding of cultural analysis, textual interpretation and theoretical method.

You’ll explore the interrelations of text, theory and culture across the field of English literary and cultural studies. We’ll work with you to:

• develop your knowledge of critical and research methods
• raise your awareness of the historical and critical reception of literature in various periods
• explore the role of literature in a contested cultural framework

Develop your passion for reading and your talent for languages. Discover new ways to think about literature from around the world. At Southampton, you'll study German language and culture, and English literature together to improve how you understand them. You can examine the linked histories, influences and works of German and English writers. You'll also get to experience a new culture with a year abroad.

This dynamic English and German degree course shows you the connections between literature, language and culture. Our English modules cover writing from around the world and its connection to politics, the arts, identity and more.

In your German studies, you can take modules that feed your love of history and culture, or you may choose to focus on linguistics. You can shape your degree to suit your interests or career aspirations.

You'll spend your year abroad at one of our partner universities in Germany, Austria or Switzerland, among others.

As part of this course you can:

• Use our Centre for Language Study, including a German resources room
• Join one of 40 student-led performing arts groups
• Take part in writing workshops at Nuffield Southampton Theatres
• Use a unique collection of rare books at the Chawton House Library
• Explore experimental writing with our Entropics events
• Get one-to-one tutorials on writing from our Royal Literary Fund Fellows

Explore the evolution, biology and behaviour of humankind through the study of our Stone Age ancestors. With this specialist master’s in palaeoanthropology you’ll gain expertise in the analysis of stone tools and hominin skulls to understand our evolutionary journey. You’ll work closely with experts in our Centre for the Archaeology of Human Origins (CAHO) and benefit from opportunities to apply your learning in real-world settings.

We’re ranked Top 30 in the world for archaeology (QS World University Rankings, 2019).

Your specialist palaeoanthropology learning will cover:

• handling and interpreting stone tools
• the role of evolutionary models, experimental testing, primatological data and ethnographies in the study of human origins
• developing methods to interrogate meaning from collections of stone tools
• using SPSS statistical analysis software

Palaeolithic symbolism and language, migration and responses to environmental change
Beyond your specialist modules you can personalise this palaeonthropology MSc to your areas of interest.

We bring expertise together from across the University, including Medicine, Humanities, the National Oceanography Centre, Engineering and Winchester School of Art, to help you gain both scientific skills and cultural understanding through a range of optional modules.

This is a very practical degree, but you don’t need prior knowledge of biology or anthropology. You’ll be based in our dedicated John Wymer Laboratory, with its own specialist library and large collection of stone tools and hominin skulls. Staff, PhD students and MSc students work in the same space, creating a lively learning environment. As a student on this course you automatically become a member of the CAHO research group.

You’ll have the opportunity to apply your skills on a 4-week placement, where you’ll gain valuable real-world experience of the archaeology sector and heritage industry. Previous placements have included Historic England, Wessex Archaeology and The Nautical Archaeology Society.

This  Palaeoanthropology course offers a balance between vocational and research skills. During your dissertation you’ll be able to embed with one of our research groups to do original research on a topic of that you choose. There is the possibility that this work will be published.

Southampton is close to the World Heritage sites of Stonehenge and Avebury and we have research projects engaged with both sites, as well as a range of other archaeological projects across the Globe.

If you’d prefer a less specialised archaeology master’s degree, or you’d like to focus on a different specialism, you can choose from our 3 other Archaeology MSc pathways. When you join us you’ll have 2 weeks in which you can change pathway if you wish.