Bachelor of Arts in Sociology

at Durham University United Kingdom

From the philosophical foundations of schooling, to the political implications of policy, education is a vast field that has multiple avenues to approach a seemingly straightforward subject. Our degree goes far beyond any classroom and considers education, people and their relationship to the ever-changing world.

The breadth of our modules allows for the creation of pathways through the course. This may be linked to one of the degree's four strands of educational expertise: pragmatic; sociological-philosophical; psychological; and international-intercultural education. You will also study modules in the Department of Psychology.

This is a wide-ranging archaeology course that harnesses your passion for history through researching historic sites, material culture and museums. The course emphasises interdisciplinary learning and skills. You will have the option to study the material remains of the ancient, medieval and modern worlds, with an emphasis on the last 600 years. You can take modules in History, Classics, Ancient History and other related subjects in departments across Durham. Key themes include the archaeology of industrialisation, conflict archaeology, colonialisation, transatlantic connections and south-east Asian trade.

The Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA) and University Archaeology UK (UAUK) have accredited this degree confirming it provides the skills relevant to a career in the historic environment.

The MMath is a four-year degree in Mathematics. It offers a good basis for a wide range of employment, including a career as a professional mathematician or statistician in industry or if you wish to go on to do research in the higher education sector. You will spend one-third of your final year on project work, and consequently be able to study in depth a topic in which you are particularly interested.

Criminology is concerned with understanding crime, deviance and institutions of criminal justice.

Criminologists seek to answer questions like: why are some people more likely to commit or be victims of crime than others; how can crime be effectively prevented or controlled; and from a more critical perspective, how do particular activities become defined as “criminal” in the first place and what does this tells us about the nature of power and authority in society?

Overall, the course progressively develops your critical understanding of Criminology through the examination of key concepts and theories as well as substantive issues related to crime and criminal justice. Alongside this, the course teaches critical analytical and methodological skills to equip students with the practical expertise required to engage with and carry out Criminological research. As such, by the end of the course, graduates will be able to draw upon conceptual and empirical material to critically analyse complex Criminological issues in a scholarly fashion.

The degree is based on a modular structure, with students required to take the equivalent of six modules (some of which may be ‘double modules’) within each year of study. Over the course of the degree, modules become increasingly focused on specialist topics and issues, with the chance to undertake a Sociological research project on a specific topic of substantive interest in the final year of study.

This joint honours degree enables you to combine modules in Ancient History from the Department of Classics and Ancient History with those offered by the Department of Archaeology. The balance is broadly equal, but by Year 3 you can, if you wish, weight your choice of modules more to one side than the other; and the dissertation provides a further opportunity to concentrate your studies in an area that particularly interests you.

The course is designed as a research preparation masters. It is intended to encourage you to be intellectually ambitious by inducting you into a community of historians. It invites you to understand the relationship between your own specialist field and the historical discipline in general as well as to communicate with wider audiences. You will feel sufficiently confident in your own disciplinary identity and mastery of the subject to be able to converse with those in other fields.

The course is taught with an emphasis on disciplinary training supplied by the Department’s subject specialists with expertise in an outstanding range of areas (Europe, Britain, North America, Africa, China and Japan) and interdisciplinary engagement, while offering opportunities for supported independent study. You will be able – and are indeed encouraged – to access and use Durham’s exceptional cluster of libraries, archives, and special collections.

All students on the MA in History are required to take the team-taught core module Themes, Reading and Sources (30 credits) which runs throughout Michaelmas (Autumn). Depending on whether you opt for the 60-credit Dissertation pathway or the 90-credit Dissertation pathway, you will also take either 3 or 2 optional modules (each worth 30 credits) which run either in Michaelmas or Epiphany or throughout both terms. The options may also be language, skills and content modules, provided by other centres, courses and departments with the consent of all parties concerned. All these elements have embedded within them a range of content, subject-specific skills, and key skills.

The MA in Languages, Literatures and Cultures at Durham University is an exciting, unique and dynamic course that invites you to engage critically with literatures emerging from diverse literary and cultural contexts from around the world. The course has a broad global reach and draws together a wealth of expertise in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Italian, Hispanic and Russian Studies.

This global approach to languages, literatures and cultures presents a distinct opportunity for students who wish to pursue a degree in world literatures and comparative studies with a firm emphasis on working on materials in their original language(s), with due attention to the local, national and regional contexts in which they originate.

Whether working with text in one, or several non-English languages, the course invites students to think within an international context, to cross borders, disciplines and canons, to reflect on questions of cultural transmission and exchange in literature, as well as to explore literary interactions with wider intellectual and cultural phenomena, such as translation, philosophy and visual culture.

This is a two-year course, which trains graduate students to be conservators of archaeological and museum objects. You will learn to research, analyse, preserve and care for a wide range of artefacts and you will learn how to make decisions to help safeguard this material for the future. The course is intended for those who wish to become practicing artefact conservators, or who want to work in the fields of artefact research or collections care. Graduates of the course now work in a wide variety of museums as well as large heritage organisations, such as the National Trust and English Heritage.

Course participants are drawn from a wide range of disciplines. However, manual dexterity, a basic knowledge of chemistry and the desire to work with museum objects are all essential prerequisites. The first year consists of 11 months intensive teaching in Durham. The second year is typically an industrial placement in a conservation laboratory at a major museum or heritage organisation. Fees in the second year are approximately 35% of the initial year.

The study of philosophy at Durham does not follow one particular school. The Department is unique in the UK in its wide-ranging expertise in Anglo-American analytical philosophy and continental philosophy. Each of these has its own distinctive set of issues and approaches to resolving them. We also have special expertise in the philosophy of science, and social science, and the history of science and medicine. So at Durham, you will follow one of the widest-ranging philosophy degrees in the country.

At Durham, you will have the opportunity to study Philosophy as a Single Honours degree, or with another subject including: English, Psychology, Politics or Theology. Philosophy can also be combined in a Joint Honours degree within the Natural Sciences degree or as part of a Combined Honours degree.

Philosophy is a new subject for many students, so in your first year, you follow a range of introductory courses, introducing the fundamental philosophical subject areas.

The BA in Classical Civilisation offers a broad and varied exploration of the society and culture of Greece and Rome, and their importance for us today, as well as an opportunity to focus on particular areas which might interest you. The course includes the option of beginning to learn Greek or Latin language (or continuing, if you have studied the languages already).