Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in English Literature and Creative Writing

at University of Hertfordshire - De Havilland Campus United Kingdom

The MSc Transport Planning 180 credits will provide you with both the theoretical grounding and practical skills that you’ll need to satisfy the requirements of employers both now and in the future.

Driven by the demand for the delivery of zero carbon interventions, poor air quality and wider social exclusion problems, there is an increasing demand for highly skilled and multi-disciplined professionals within transport planning.  

The climate change imperative has shaken central and local government. It has caused authorities to declare climate emergencies and seek practical solutions to these new and important challenges.

Many have introduced transport policies and invested significant funding for transport programmes. They’re also rethinking how transport is delivered to include projects focussed specifically on achieving zero carbon and intelligent transport networks.

So, whether you have an interest in transport planning, or if you’re a professional who wants to gain a transport planning qualification, it’s an exciting time to explore transport planning and discover the impact you can have on communities for years to come.

Our Politics and History programme gives you the opportunity to study current challenges in national and international politics while gaining an understanding of the wider historical context of our modern world. 

The course brings together the two naturally close disciplines of Politics and History through a focus on political history. Studying history and politics in tandem will develop your ability to understand how people lived and thought in the past, and the ways in which they act politically in the present.

You’ll study with a top history department – we’re ranked first in the country for the social and cultural impact of our research - and be taught by political historians working at the cutting edge of their research disciplines.

Alongside core politics modules in your first year introducing you to contemporary British politics and international relations theory, you’ll study history modules that will give you an insight into the making of the modern world, such as campaigns for freedom and equality and America from Hamilton to Trump. 

Modules devised for this joint degree such as Political History: Milestones, Change and Continuity provide a bridge between history and politics. In your second year you’ll continue this interdisciplinary approach with a module on Nation and Identity, which examines the growth of new states and the political landscape of interwar Europe.

Just as an historical approach brings breadth and depth to your study of politics, the theories of political science you’ll study in our core politics modules will give you the analytical tools to explore the implications of major historical events, alongside their socio, economic and political impacts. 

In your final year, you demonstrate your research skills by producing a dissertation on a topic of your choosing. Previous students have been inspired by their year of study abroad, while others have worked on women code breakers at Bletchley Park, the Notting Hill riots, and vice and sexuality in 17th -century London. You’ll also have the option to follow an oral history project, or study modules ranging from the challenges and opportunities of Brexit, to terrorism and security, to the politics of gender.

This course covers three specific themes: sports coaching, sports development and sports management, which build in breadth and depth as you progress. You’ll study a range of subjects that impact on sports participation and performance, including an introduction to sports science and sociology of sport. During your studies you’ll benefit from some of the best university sports facilities in the UK, and take part in coaching and other work experience opportunities. This work-related experience combined with academic and focus on communication skills will enhance your career prospects.

This course is designed to meet the growing demands of businesses for graduates who possess rigorously developed personal, as well as business skills. It aims to produce graduates who are ready for employment in a management role.

The course is open to graduates of any academic discipline, and also to non-graduates who have appropriate work experience and hold a sub-degree or professional qualification.

Modules cover the basics of marketing, project management, accounting, and people management, amongst other key areas. This breadth gives you highly transferable skills, relevant to most work environments, which will enable you to become an effective employee or a future entrepreneur.

Why choose this course?

• Work in a Business School with a rich academic culture, taught by staff from a range of management professions
• Enjoy a supportive, engaging and diverse environment
• Gain a broad qualification that can prepare you for a diverse range of careers
• Flexible part-time study options allow you to fit the course around your existing commitments.

Who should choose this course?

• If you are a new graduate looking for a broad management qualification
• Or you already have significant work experience (min. five years) but do not have a formal qualification
• You want to study part-time in a flexible way that suits your needs.

This course is ideal for students who wish to focus through the lens of broadcast and live event support. Practical techniques are developed within a range of different spaces to suit differing audiences, and students on this award pathway and you'll have a number of opportunities to apply their learning within live contexts.You'll also engage with the latest light-projection mapping systems, as well as design and specify venue-based audio systems and solutions. Core modules studied alongside live sound and lighting technology alongside practice modules develop your techniques and approaches using a range of sound technologies. They'll also foster professional and industrial contextual immersion and awareness, and experience with specialisms within connected audio and sound-related fields.

On the BA in Politics and International Relations you’ll study the central challenges that politics faces in the 21st century. You’ll develop the skills to understand, analyse, and critically debate the issues and arguments that shape national and international politics today. Our Politics and International Relations degree allows you to take your interest in politics and add the knowledge and training to turn it into a successful career in the world of local and global politics, the media or business.

A career in writing enables you explore the world through your work – discovering people and places, exploring unfolding events, influencing debate and shaping your own creative voice. On this course, you’ll write for blogs, websites, print, video, audio and multimedia contexts, developing the skills to research your subject and really engage your readers.

Together, these subjects give you exciting opportunities to develop your voice as a writer and discover ways to publish your work. In journalism, you’ll learn about ethics, target audiences and the journey from interview to finished article. You’ll analyse newspapers and their values, as well as exploring broadcasting and online journalism.

In creative writing, you’ll learn important skills for devising, editing, revising and submitting your work. You’ll analyse texts, explore the effects of the author’s choices and create short stories, drama, poetry and creative nonfiction of your own. You’ll also have opportunities to work with schools or museums, attend guest lectures, study abroad or take a year’s work placement.

From September 2020, subject to validation, we will be offering a new single hons degree in Creative Writing. Find out more information.

• This course will help you to develop professional writing skills.
• Journalism and Publishing at the University of Hertfordshire ranked 21st out of 57 universities in the Guardian University league table 2016.

If you want a career in photography, this is the course for you. Through a range of projects, you’ll explore and evolve your vision and practice in photography. Through practical workshops, you will learn technical expertise and through feedback and group sessions you will critique and expand your visual language. You’ll also study the theoretical side of photography, including its fascinating history and contemporary practices. Experimentation, creativity and collaboration are encouraged and facilitated throughout the course. The course has a clear industry focus that aims to develop your professional awareness. A key part of your Final Year is learning how to operate as a freelancer, interact with clients and approach potential employers. This culminates in the presentation of your final portfolio to employers and public-facing graduate shows.

The friendly and supportive course encourages you to explore and evolve your photographic vision and practice through a programme of workshops, seminars, lectures and work experience opportunities. Through a sequence of practical projects, you gain a range of technical skills and professional knowledge. Experimentation and risk-taking are encouraged together with the critical study of photographic histories, theories and contemporary practices.

The photography programme emphasises professionalism and industry relevance. The tutors and visiting lecturers are practising photographers or potential employers from the media industries such as working photographers, agents, artists, art directors, marketing professionals and curators.

• This Photography degree is designed for those that want to work towards a career as a professional photographer or in related media professions.
• The degree prepares you for employment in a range of photography-related professions.
• You'll explore and evolve your individual photographic vision and practice, specialising in your chosen genre.
• Our tutors and visiting lecturers are practising photographers or potential employers.
• Our student work is increasingly getting recognised within the photographic world. Our industry partners are high profile and recent student work placements include the prestigious photography agency Magnum. In addition, we have a number of interns working for the BBC.
• Our lively talks programme also allows students to show and discuss current work-in-progress and receive direct feedback from key figures. Our recent visitors include Tereza Cervenova, Matthew Finn, Alexandra Lethbridge, Carl Bigmore, Sebastian Edge from The North London Darkroom and contemporary photographic agency Together Associates.

The University of Hertfordshire MA in Creative Writing offers you the opportunity to develop your creative, critical and professional writing skills in a stimulating and supportive environment.

Through writing workshops and intensive tutorial-based supervision our teaching staff - all established authors themselves - will help you improve your own writing as you explore the advanced craft, theory and techniques of poetry, prose and drama.

Whether you have an unfinished novel you’re passionate about or want to learn how to write powerful dialogue or create memorable characters, this MA Creative Writing offers a range of modules that give you both literary context and practical professional guidance.

In all modules you will be taught by lecturers who are themselves professional practitioners and who bridge the gap between creative and academic approaches to their fields. These include two award-winning playwrights, Simon Vinnicombe, whose work has been produced at the National Theatre, Old Vic and around the world, and Drew Pautz, who is additionally a screenwriter and director whose work has also been performed at the National Theatre. As a feature film screenwriter he has worked with UK and European production companies.

Guided by our staff, you’ll take two core Writing Workshop modules examining creative and critical processes in your first two semesters. These workshops provide supportive spaces for you to contribute your own writing, reading your work to your fellow students and learning in turn to critique their work from a writer’s point of view.

Other modules may change but could include Working as a Writer and People and Places. As part of Working as a Writer you’ll submit your work to magazines and creative writing competitions, helping you to gain a practical understanding of the publishing world and how to approach editors and prepare your work for publication.

People and Places focuses on aspects of writing with communities, including the methods and approaches writers have used to portray communities or locations in creative work, and the tradition of writers working with communities to create joint artistic projects.

In your final semester you’ll complete a dissertation. This can take the form of a novel, script for stage, TV or film, a work of creative non-fiction, short story or poetry collection. Wherever your writing ambitions lie, this is your opportunity to add polished work to your portfolio and look ahead to your future writing life.

We give you:

• Teaching staff who are all published authors, poets or dramatists
• Visits and talks by writers, editors and agents working across the creative writing industries
• Opportunities to create and develop a portfolio of work, whether poetry, prose or drama
• A platform for publishing your work and a springboard for your future life as a writer

Studying Philosophy, Religion and Ethics at Hertfordshire will enable you to explore the connections and contradictions between thought and faith in the world today.

You may have taken Religious Studies at A-level or be fascinated by how religious belief is a driving force behind social and political events in today’s globalised world.

This degree course offers you the opportunity to explore the beliefs that guide people’s lives using the logical and critical skills gained through philosophical inquiry.

You’ll be taught by internationally regarded academics, who will help you understand how the practices of religion and philosophy have influenced – and been influenced by – the modern world. You’ll learn to address the arguments and beliefs of others and to engage with them, so that you can arrive at your own conclusions and create your own original work.

All our lecturers are active researchers, so you’ll share the excitement of doing original work in a supportive and highly-rated academic community. Our Philosophy team is in the top 15 in the Guardian League Table 2019 and rates as one of the 100 best Philosophy departments worldwide in the 2017 QS rankings.

In your first year you’ll take philosophy modules exploring ethics, mind, knowledge and reality alongside an introduction to four of the major world religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. This will be given a modern context through a module on religion and the contemporary world.

Seminars in your first year will explore how to investigate and discuss different beliefs and ideas and to develop your critical thinking, all within a respectful and empathetic environment.

In your second year you’ll study the philosophies of religion, and explore virtues, vices and ethics. Focusing on specific virtues such as forgiveness, hope or love from both a secular and religious point of view, you’ll examine what it means to live a good life.

Alongside options in your final year to explore religion and popular culture, as well as feminist and political philosophy, your dissertation will allow you to develop your particular interests, perhaps encompassing an exploration of some aspect of your own religious belief system.

• An exceptional academic team, conducting internationally renowned research
• A flexible programme of study, allowing you to concentrate on areas you find especially interesting
• The opportunity to write a dissertation on a topic about which you are passionate
• CV-building potential through extra-curricular activities