Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Philosophy and English Literature with Placement

at Anglia Ruskin University - Cambridge Campus United Kingdom

You’ll learn to tell stories which engage audiences, whether you want to write poetry, drama, short fiction, or make films and documentaries. You’ll explore and develop professional writing techniques related to film including screenwriting and film journalism.

You’ll get invaluable feedback on all of your creative writing work from professional writers, including our teaching staff and Royal Literary Fund fellows, as well as your fellow students. This will offer you the unique opportunity to consider a range of responses to your work, as well as sharpening your own critical skills.

Investigating filmmaking practices from all over the world, and learning the language of film from the perspective of a filmmaker, you’ll make your own short films in video, animation or 16mm format, with full training in camera operation, sound recording and editing from professional filmmakers. If you specialise in filmmaking, you’ll put your well-practised skills to the test in a project that, once complete, will be screened at the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse. The best may also be selected for showing at the Cambridge Film Festival. You’ll learn to write knowledgeably and critically about film, giving you even more opportunities to get involved in Cambridge’s exciting arts scene.

Our optional modules allow you to further explore your interests or specialise for a particular career. In Years 2 and 3, you can also learn a language on our Anglia Language Programme and what’s more, you can choose to study abroad as part of your course and expand your cultural horizons and apply for funding to cover the cost.

Our links with local and national organisations will help you make contacts and find work placements in the industry. Our recent students have found internships and placements with companies such as the BBC, Cambridge Festival of Ideas, Film & Video Umbrella, Cannes Film Festival, Cambridge Film Festival, Take One magazine, Watersprite Film Festival, CBBC, ITN Productions, London Studios, MTV, New York Film Academy, Pinewood Studios, StudioCanal UK (formerly Optimum Releasing) and Sight & Sound magazine. You can also take an optional placement year.

Focusing a range of periods and themes including British and global histories, race and politics, gender, sexuality and the body, and also how we recreate history, you’ll take part in hands-on historical research to make sense of how past events have shaped our world today.

Cambridge is the perfect place to study history. Thanks to our close links with local organisations, you’ll find yourself handling historical objects, leafing through archival material, and working with museum professionals, as well as engaging with digital sources and archives.

There’s also the chance to study abroad for a semester, take part in European field trips, and go on work placements as you prepare for a career in many different fields including business, management, local government, heritage, museums and more.

As a history student at ARU, you'll form an understanding of why people and societies think and behave as they do – and how these actions can echo down the centuries. This historical insight will sharpen your ability to analyse and tackle complex problems, such as how social divisions arise and dictators come to power. You’ll also form an awareness of the limitations of our knowledge and the dangers of simplistic explanations.

These are important skills, with the World Economic Forum listing complex problem solving and critical thinking as two of the top 10 skills we need to thrive in today’s workforce.

In Years 2 and 3, our optional modules allow you to explore the areas of history that interest you most, with topics including the First World War, modern British politics, sport, the Russian Revolution and histories of everyday life. There is even a class on the history of James Bond! Meanwhile, your Undergraduate Major Project lets you complete a substantial piece of research work so that you become a historian in your own right.

You’ll be supported by staff, recognised as leaders in their field, whose expertise ranges from British imperialism and Victorian studies, to modern politics, gender history and the history of sense and emotions. It’s no surprise that our BA (Hons) History degree came 4th in the UK for ‘Satisfied with Teaching’ in The Guardian University Guide 2019 – and received an overall satisfaction score of more than 94% in the National Student Survey 2020.

Use our superb crime scene rooms to learn the skills of a crime scene examiner, as well as industry-standard technology such as 360-degree camera and technology systems. The crime scene rooms feature video and audio CCTV so you can be assessed and receive valuable feedback.

We’ll help you to understand the practical aspects of crime, and how they affect everyday investigations. You’ll look at different types of crime – from burglary through to murder – and find out how these are investigated by the Police, and how other agencies such as fire and rescue contribute to investigations.

As a BSc (Hons) Crime and Investigative Studies student at ARU, you’ll learn not only how to process a crime scene but also how to investigate a crime from scratch. We’ll consider all the processes involved through modules including Forensic Scene Examination.

Our three-year degree course is accredited by the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences (CSFS) and explores traditional investigative methods used by the Police, as well as newer approaches such as evidence-based policing. You will also learn how to present professional reports in both a policing environment and within a court of law.

As well as benefitting from our tutors’ knowledge, you’ll attend guest lectures from visiting professionals and get an understanding of the workplace through visits to places such as the Crown Court, and other field trips.

Our course will teach you the principles of forensic science, from crime scene to court room. Based in our £45m Science Centre in Cambridge, you’ll analyse and investigate a range of evidence in crime scene rooms and the forensic lab.

With a focus on chemical and biological analysis, you’ll find out what that evidence means. We look at ways to ‘read’ data, interpret the results and present your evidence in court.

You’ll get hands-on with specialist analytical equipment, under the guidance of expert tutors. And you’ll learn outside the classroom too, with visits to law courts and a local mortuary, and opportunities to work with local police forces and forensic labs.

Graduate with advanced skills in chemistry, biology and laboratory analysis – ready to start a career as a forensic scientist.As a forensic scientist you'll provide evidence for use in courts of law to support criminal and civil investigations.

Throughout your BA (Hons) Sociology degree, you’ll learn from sociologists who specialise in social policy and theory and undertake research into a wide range of sociological issues including 'race' and ethnicity, urban sociology, delinquency and disorder, the sociology of sport, notions of belonging, governance, moral regulation, social constructions of alcohol, gender-based violence, social justice, and social relations in marginalised communities.

You’ll also prepare for your future career, with the opportunity to conduct your own community or workplace research, gaining valuable practical experience and insight into different approaches to social issues. You’ll consider how you can apply this understanding by researching, pitching and evaluating an idea that could potentially make a positive contribution to society. You can also take an optional placement year; this might be in a governmental organisation, NGO, charity or social enterprise – wherever your own interests lead you.

Our BA (Hons) Fashion Design degree will help you forge an identity as a designer, specialising in menswear or womenswear.

You’ll be hands-on from day one, creating your own fashion designs and engaging with all aspects of the design process in our studios, including pattern cutting, draping, textiles and digital media.

You’ll also learn about contemporary fashion promotion, including marketing, styling, fashion photography and art direction – and create campaigns to attract consumers and influencers to your brand. Alongside this you'll learn about the ethics of the fashion industry, and consider issues of sustainability that will help you to develop as a responsible industry professional.

You’ll work closely with students from across our creative community, including fashion students in other years, photographers and filmmakers to create eye-catching campaigns and digital content. Perhaps most importantly, you’ll get time, guidance and support from our team, including technical staff and course leader Mark Hart, who's worked with brands such as Chloe, Alexander McQueen, Warner Bros Records, and London Records.

As a BA (Hons) Fashion Design student at ARU, you’ll have the chance to find placements and internships with high-profile fashion houses and contemporary designers, including Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Mary Katrantzou, Marcus Lupfer and Mother of Pearl. You can also take an optional placement year.

We also attend trade fairs, such as Pure in London – the UK’s leading fashion buying event – or the fabric and trend show Premiere Vision in Paris; and visit suppliers and other businesses connected to the fashion industry.

Many of our students go on to establish their own labels or work for fashion houses and other well-known brands:

• Micaela Sapinho is now Creative Director of her own label, and has twice shown her collections at Lisbon Fashion Week
• Thanh Cong Vu has gone on to establish his own brand since graduating. While studying Fashion Design at ARU, his designs were shown at Pure and featured in Urban Coco magazine
• Priscilla Acquah Arhin is a textile designer with Samsonite
• Agnieszka Zabek works as Apparel Designer with Reebok
• Tracie Sell is Head of Menswear at Bolongaro Trevor in London
• Olivia Welsh is Creative Director of her own label, Olivia Annabelle
• Stephanie Cornforth is Lingerie Designer for Something Wicked
• Yasmin Lucy Greener is Assistant Accessories Designer at John Lewis.

By the end of the course, you too will have a new collection ready to show to the fashion industry at Graduate Fashion Week, and to the public at our own Graduate Fashion Show and Degree Show.

On our MA History you’ll critically examine social, cultural, political and public history and conduct original research.

We’ll help you use different historical and interdisciplinary approaches to become a true historian, able to think critically and solve complex problems – identified by the World Economic Forum as the top two most required skills for the future workforce.

Study in Cambridge and you’ll be part of a dynamic academic environment, able to benefit from our many links with local organisations and archives including the Cambridgeshire Collection and Imperial War Museum, Duxford.

This Masters degree will introduce you to new research methods and the analytical questions that go with them.

This will allow you to develop an understanding of the problems inherent in the historical record – such as the many contrasting viewpoints – and give you the means to test them effectively.You’ll use digital and archival resources as well as develop the skills to critically engage with non-textual historical documents such as museum artefacts and visual sources in film or artwork.

Through workshops you’ll choose a topic for your major project that calls upon the research methods you’ve learned and your awareness of the relevant historical concepts. By the end of this postgraduate course you’ll have acquired and demonstrated the skillset of a genuine historian – not just an antiquarian.

Study in Cambridge or Chelmsford and gain the knowledge and skills you need to become a police constable.*

You’ll get hands-on experience in our crime scene rooms and mock court rooms, as well as through practical role-playing, case study scenarios, workshops and study trips.

All our BSc (Hons) Professional Policing students follow the College of Policing’s National Policing Curriculum, learning to think like a police officer and developing problem-solving, communication, negotiation, leadership and research skills. These skills will help you rise up the ranks when you join the force, potentially doubling your salary in just seven years.
Policing is growing as a profession. The Association of Police and Crime Commissioners and National Police Chiefs Council recently set out a ten-year plan for transforming the police, in order to deal with rapidly changing demands in England and Wales.

As of 2020, taking a pre-join degree will be one of three possible routes into policing as a Police Constable. This route, licensed by the College of Policing, will allow you to follow their curriculum, as well as gaining a wider understanding of law enforcement and the justice sector.

You’ll learn how to tackle the latest challenges facing the police force, work with our Policing Institute for the Eastern Region on cutting-edge research projects, and attend guest lectures by serving officers. Our team of expert lecturers will guide and support you throughout the course.

In Essex alone, the number of police officers grew by 5% from March 2017 to March 2018. Our course will help you stand out as a potential police constable, so you can become fully qualified, and gain Independent Patrol Status, soon after you graduate.*

The future of the police will increasingly feature multi-agency collaboration, or ‘inter-operability’, driven by new forms of technology, evidence-based policing and innovation. Our course will prepare you for these developments, as well as training you to reflect critically and constructively on their implications.

Psychology affects everything we do. You’re curious about people’s thoughts, feelings and behaviour – and that’s what sits at the heart of our British Psychological Society (BPS) accredited degree course.

We’ll encourage you to keep asking questions, to develop the scientific, analytical and research skills you need to become a psychologist. Together, we’ll explore the different facets of psychology including applied, social and clinical psychology, cognitive neuroscience and biological psychology.

By studying BSc (Hons) Psychology at ARU, you’ll immerse yourself in the science of mind and behaviour – and take the first step towards a career as a chartered psychologist.

Psychology is a broad field and there are many areas you could specialise in.

Our BSc (Hons) Psychology degree will give you a sound understanding of the main principles of psychology. But we know you’ll find particular areas that you’re fascinated by. All psychologists do. So, right from Year 1, our optional modules give you the freedom to explore your own interests in more depth.

You’ll learn from expert tutors who are actively engaged in research work. And you can take advantage of our specialist facilities too, including laboratories for measuring electrical activity in the brain, eye movement, psychoneuroimmunology, emotions and communication, psychometrics, and much more.

Outside of the lab, there’s the chance to join weekly seminars from guest speakers and take an optional placement year.

After graduation, you can continue your professional training and find a career that’s perfect for you. You might choose to specialise as a forensic, clinical, health or occupational psychologist. The choice is yours.

With its vibrant studio culture and small class sizes, combined with excellent printmaking, 3D, photography and life-drawing facilities, our illustration course has consistently high student satisfaction ratings.

We know that our students want to learn from the best, so all of our tutors are professional illustrators. They’ll help you find your visual style and kick-start your career. But they’ll never forget the reason you chose to study illustration in the first place. At Cambridge School of Art, you’ll find there’s always time to experiment, discover, discuss and create.

Our studios and workshops are second to none, and you’ll spend lots of time working there.

But you won’t be restricted to the studio: you’ll also go on gallery visits, local drawing trips, and our annual overseas visit to cities such as Porto and Seville.

There’s even the chance to study abroad for a semester, in the Netherlands or Poland – with funding on offer to help cover the costs.

We know that your future career is important and you want to build your CV. So we’ll encourage you to grab every opportunity for real-world experience – entering national and international competitions, working on live industry briefs, and taking up internships.

As an illustrator, a world of possibilities awaits you. You could illustrate books, become a graphic artist, design stage sets or product labels, and even work on animated films.