Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Politics

at University of Southampton - Avenue Campus United Kingdom

Study film from a variety of perspectives: as popular art, big business and as a cultural record with our Film Studies degree. Immerse yourself in the subject, from the earliest projected images to the present day. Learn how to view Hollywood blockbusters, European and world cinema with a critical eye.

You’ll study familiar classics alongside contemporary cinema, and genres including:

• film noir
• horror
• science fiction
• documentary
• animation

You’ll deepen your understanding and enjoyment of film and develop your critical thinking as part of a lively community.

You can choose to spend a semester or a summer abroad at one of our partner universities, including: South Korea, Sweden, Ireland, Hong Kong and the Czech Republic.

You can also hone your filmmaking skills with our student-led filmmaking, TV and radio societies. They offer training and equipment to help you try out directing, producing, scriptwriting, sound or camera work.

As part of this film degree you can:

• explore British, European and world cinema
• discover early film through archive visits
• use our extensive library resources, including over 5,800 films from around the world
• take modules from other courses, such as English, history and music
• volunteer at a cinema to develop new skills, such as team leading, projection and digital design
• submit your own film to our annual student film festival

We offer a 4-week summer school at Dongguk University in Seoul. This includes film and cultural orientation courses.

If you have a passion for literature, music and experiencing new ideas, this English and Music degree with year abroad is for you. We'll introduce you to a wide range of texts, topics and musical styles and help you explore the many, deep connections between English and Music. A year overseas will enhance your studies and let you experience a new culture.

Our English modules cover writing from around the world and its connection to politics, the arts, identity and more.

In Music, you can study everything from Italian opera to global hip hop, while developing your own musical practice.

With our advice, you can shape your degree to suit your own development. For example, you might learn about the literature of the Harlem Renaissance, while exploring jazz theory in Music.

Our year abroad partner universities in Europe include:

• Barcelona
• Prague
• Frankfurt
• Lausanne

You can also choose universities outside Europe, including:

• The United States
• Canada
• Australia
• South Korea

Your lectures will be in English but you will have opportunities to develop your language skills.

As part of this course you can:

• 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

To explore your passion for Music you can:

• Attend an extensive series of professional concerts and workshops in our acclaimed Turner Sims concert hall
• Join a band, orchestra or choir and take part in a thriving local music scene

Build on your desire to explore the past, encounter diverse societies and learn how to understand them with a History degree at Southampton. You'll graduate with transferable skills you can take into a variety of careers.

Historians embrace the challenge of understanding a different world and meeting it on its own terms. We trace continuities and explain change, finding new perspectives to make sense of the evidence.

At Southampton, we're committed to the mission of exploring the past. As world-class researchers, we work to generate new knowledge about human societies, from the era of Greek antiquity to the recent 'war on terror'. As your teachers, we'll give you the skills to navigate these worlds and guide you along the way. By the end of your time with us, you'll be able to pioneer your own trails with confidence.

You can study a vast range of history with us, across many time periods (from Cleopatra, to the Nazis, to drones in the 21st Century), places (Britain, Europe, America, Russia, Africa, Asia, and even the moon) and perspectives. You'll learn new things about familiar subjects, as well as exploring the history of a society or culture that is entirely new to you.

To help with your learning, you'll have access to:

• over 100 modules
• document collections, including the Wellington, Palmerston and Mountbatten papers, and the Parkes archive - one of the largest Jewish documentation centres in Europe
• leading experts through our visiting lecture and seminar programme

Throughout your degree, you'll build skills in research and communication that will open a wide variety of career options to you. Our BA History degree programmes will challenge you to rethink the stories we tell about the past, while creating a passport for your future.

What is freedom? What makes a state legitimate? You’ll explore questions that have challenged philosophers and political theorists throughout history on this BA Philosophy and Politics degree. Compulsory modules give a grounding in both subjects, while optional modules include topics like international relations, 21st century crises and Ancient Greek philosophy.

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

• Develop an understanding of philosophical questions such as ethics, reason and responsibility
• Explore fundamental and far-reaching issues about human welfare and social justice, political ideals and political realities
• Take core modules on democracy and the modern state
• Learn about subfields of political theory, comparative politics and international relations
• Conduct research and write your dissertation in one or both subjects

You’ll learn in small groups in a relaxed and friendly environment. Our academic staff's 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.

This degree will give you complete proficiency in German and you’ll gain valuable experience spending a year living and working in a foreign country.

Following our system of language development, you’ll start at a level that matches your ability in German. This means we can personalise your learning so you make the best progress.

You’ll also have all the resources you need to support you in our excellent Centre for Language Study.

You’ll have the freedom to tailor your degree to areas that interest you. Whether you want to learn another language, take modules from other subject areas, improve your employability skills, or explore German culture, society, or history, the choice will be yours.  

In your year abroad you can choose to work as an English assistant in a school, study at a university or take a work placement. Our partner universities in the Erasmus programme are in Germany and Austria.

This German course has a strong focus on employability. You’ll have the option to take practical modules looking at teaching, you could take advantage of our vacation work placement schemes and you’ll develop a wide range of transferable skills.

On this joint BA Philosophy and Music degree, you’ll engage with some of the biggest questions in Western philosophy while developing advanced skills in musical performance, composition and analysis. You’ll gain an in-depth understanding of the fundamentals of both subjects, and have the freedom to pursue your own interests through optional modules covering topics as varied as existentialism, studio techniques and 19th century Italian opera. You'll also get to spend a placement year abroad.

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

• Develop an understanding of philosophical questions such as ethics, reason and responsibility
• Apply philosophical thought to language, morality, sex and other important aspects of life
• Explore a range of music from European music in the Renaissance and Baroque periods right through the the music of the 20th century and global hip hop
• Understand the principles of Western tonal music, including harmony and counterpoint
• Learn how to write and present dissertations and research

You’ll be taught in small groups in a relaxed and friendly environment, and benefit from the expertise of both visiting performers and academic staff whose researches feed directly into the course content.

You can also improve your musical skills and performance through:

• Workshops with professional performers
• Submitting original compositions
• Managing the administration of public music events

You can take modules from other disciplines such as anthropology or psychology, studying a language, or choosing from a range of cross-disciplinary modules.

Discover how English has developed through history and how it varies in different societies. You'll explore the language, its structure and the linguistic science behind it. You can also choose from a wide range of modules that follow your interests and career goals in the subject. We have one of the UK’s leading Modern Languages and Linguistics departments.

This English language and linguistics degree will give you an advanced knowledge of contemporary English, its development, systems and use around the world. You'll learn analytical, research and personal skills relevant to a range of careers.

You’ll take modules in:

• Applied linguistics
• Psycholinguistics
• Sociolinguistics
• Language teaching
• English around the world

You can also study a foreign language and take modules in related disciplines, such as philosophy and film.

In your final year, you’ll write a dissertation specialising in an area that interests you. This will use the skills you developed over the rest of the course.

As part of this course you can:

• Take part in writing workshops at Nuffield Southampton Theatres
• Access a unique collection of rare books at the Chawton House Library
• Explore experimental writing with our Entropics events

This course will give you training and expertise that are of special interest to many employers. It provides the knowledge and skills to follow a wide range of careers.

How do you become a better writer? On this course, you'll develop your creative and critical writing and discover the links between literature and visual culture, science, and politics. Your final project lets you complete an extended piece of imaginative writing. You'll be guided by our award-winning novelists, journalists and playwrights.

The creative writing degree allows you to choose from Creative Writing and English options each year, building your knowledge of a range of genres and traditions. We'll encourage you to make connections between your critical and creative practice throughout the course.

We will also support your professional practice with:

• An arts ambassador scheme
• Regular readings and writers' events
• Paid internships in arts organisations

You'll have the opportunity to study abroad, spending a semester, a summer or even a full year at one of our global partner universities.

As part of this course you can:

• Join one of 40 student-led performing arts groups
• Study film and visual culture
• Take part in writing workshops at Nuffield Southampton Theatres
• Use a unique collection of rare books at the Chawton House Library
• Learn a modern language at any level
• Join a student-run English society for social events
• Explore experimental writing with our Entropics events
• Get media experience with our student societies for film, TV and radio

Become a highly proficient linguist in French, German and Chinese on this 4 year Modern Languages degree. You'll develop a strong understanding of the cultures and societies you study by spending a year abroad, before graduating prepared for professions in which these languages are a key requirement.

This programme will immerse you in international experiences. This is our broadest range of languages offered, and will prepare you to communicate and work in a range of diverse and multilingual contexts.

You will:

• Become highly proficient in French, German and Chinese
• Develop your knowledge and understanding of key aspects of the cultures and societies you study, enabling you to ‘read’ and interpret different cultural traditions
• Get to know foreign cultures first hand by spending a year abroad, either as a student or in a work placement
• Develop a range of communicative and intercultural competencies, as well as analytical, research and personal skills

Knowing a range of languages opens up many opportunities in today's globally interconnected economy. French is native to France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada and the French Caribbean, and it’s an official language in much of Africa and Asia.

German has around 95 million speakers, and is spoken in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It also comes first in terms of first-language speakers in the European Union and the EU.

Chinese itself is spoken by a quarter of the world’s population, and both a command of the language and an understanding of cultural traditions can help set you apart in the context of global business.

This programme complements your language learning with modules on:

• History and contemporary society
• Literature and film
• Ethnography and anthropology
• Linguistic studies

You can choose to combine these areas of study for a broad-based curriculum or focus on the area that interests you most.

Learn 2 major, international languages and study abroad for a year to become highly skilled. You’ll complement your language learning with modules on history, modern society and linguistics on this French and German degree.

You’ll start at a level that matches your ability in spoken and written French and German. This will help you progress quickly. You’ll also have excellent resources to support you. The Centre for Language Study at Southampton has everything you need.

A special module in year 2 will make sure you’re ready for working and studying abroad. You can spend the year in countries such as:

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

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

In your final year you can specialise in an area that suits your interests and combines well with what you’ve studied so far.

You can also prepare a final year dissertation with guidance from a supervisor.