School of Society and Culture

BA (Hons) English and Creative Writing with Foundation

UCAS tariff 32- 48
UCAS course code QW38
Institution code P60
Duration 4 years (+ optional placement)
Assessment breakdown 100% coursework
Course type Full-time
Location Plymouth
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Want to find your voice? Immerse yourself in the words that shaped our world, and hone your own craft as a writer. Learn how to write poetry, fiction, non-fiction, screenplays and more. Become an effective researcher and experience the professional writing process. Read, write, think and grow – set your imagination soaring. Studying English and Creative Writing broadens your horizons, preparing you for many rewarding professions.

English and Creative Writing with Foundation

Personalise your English and creative writing degree

At Plymouth, your degree really is what you make it. Choose to study optional modules from across the School of Society and Culture.

In your third year... In your third year...
 Choose to swap in up to two modules from across the school. You could study the period of history that gave birth to your favourite author or bring your dramatic writing to life with a module in drama.

In your final year... In your final year...
 Dive deeper into English and creative writing by sticking with our wide selection of options or swap in another module from across the school. For example, you could hone your political journalism skills with a politics module in election campaigning.

Achieve your final degree certificate Achieve your final degree certificate
 If you've studied three optional modules from the same second subject area, you can choose to add this to your degree certificate – for example BA (Hons) English and Creative Writing with Drama.

 

Careers with this subject

  • Develop a range of valuable skills, including critical and creative thinking and excellent communication, presentation and project management skills.
  • Benefit from a tailored programme of Careers events and opportunities.
  • Boost your career prospects by working with a publishing house, literary agent, arts organisation or magazine on our work-based learning module or extra-curricular internships.
What can you do with an English and Creative Writing degree?

Key features

  • This four-year course is designed to give you the grounding necessary to progress through your undergraduate studies and through the many opportunities we give you find the best possible direction to grow your love of learning.
  • Personalise your degree by choosing from a wide variety of optional modules in literary studies and creative writing, or widen your horizons by taking specialist modules in other subjects in the school.

  • Learn from internationally recognised research-active staff and published and award-winning writers and journalists.

  • Receive free set texts for all core modules throughout the three years.

  • Benefit from assessment through coursework, with no written exams.

  • Make the most of a rich cultural life with The Arts Institute programme and the University’s links with local cultural organisations, like The Box and Theatre Royal.

  • We’re very proud of our National Student Survey (NSS) 2020 return – 94% of students agreed staff are good at explaining things, and 94% said that the course is intellectually stimulating.*

This course is an integrated part of the BA (Hons) English and Creative Writing degree at the University of Plymouth. Successful completion of your foundation year (Year 0) will not lead to a separate award or qualification in its own right but provides progression onto Year 1 of BA (Hons) English and Creative Writing, or one of the following degree courses:        

  • BA (Hons) Anthropology  
  • BA (Hons) Art History
  • BA (Hons) Creative Writing
  • BSc (Hons) Criminology
  • BSc (Hons) Criminology and Psychology
  • BSc (Hons) Criminology and Sociology
  • BA (Hons) English
  • BA (Hons) History
  • BSc (Hons) International Relations
  • LLB (Hons) Law
  • LLB (Hons) Law and Criminology
  • BSc (Hons) Politics
  • BSc (Hons) Politics and International Relations
  • BSc (Hons) Sociology
  • BSc (Hons) Professional Policing

Course details

  • Foundation year

  • Core modules

    • Discovering Your Inner Academic (SSC301)

      In this module, students will learn the core academic and organisational skills required to succeed at university. They will benefit from a range of skill development sessions and subject-specific seminars, allowing them to practice applying the delivered academic skills in the context of their field of study.

    • Individual Project (SSC302)

      Students will undertake, with supervision, an individual project related to their degree programme. Staff will guide students through the process of defining, planning, and setting up their project. As part of the module, students will gain research and time management skills that will support their successful progression through their degree programme.

    • Imagining the Past (SSC305)

      This module will introduce three concepts central to historical study in the Humanities: Time; Space; and Experience. Students will work with a range of sources to understand how the Humanities engage with the past. Students will develop the tools needed for progression to Higher Education, with a particular focus on analysing textual materials and essay-writing.

    • Literature, History and Visual Cultures (SSC306)

      This module explores the key texts and voices that have changed the ways in which we think and write the Humanities. It will investigate how thinkers, poets and writers have shaped our contemporary world, and the ways in which we study it. Based on this, this module will also explore the ways in which literature, art, film, media, memory and heritage impact on history and writing today. Students will examine a range of classic and contemporary literary texts as well as visual and media sources and consider the role of technologies in the Humanities. The module will be constructed around the exploration of key themes, for example gender and sexuality, faith, war, and race and ethnicity, using interdisciplinary approaches to identify how they have shaped the Humanities of the 21st century.

  • Year 1

  • In your first year, you'll study historical, theoretical, aesthetic and creative approaches to literary analysis. You’ll read literature which investigates the making of the modern world; engage with exciting theories of reading such as eco-criticism, psychoanalysis and Marxism; and write creatively in a wide range of genres including prose, poetry, drama and professional writing. You will also learn key research and essay-writing skills.

    Core modules

    • Gods, Monsters, and Heroes: Myths and Legends in Literature (ENG4001)

      This immersive module provides an important grounding for new students studying English and Creative Writing. Based around some of the earliest written texts that underpin Western literature, the module engages with a number of issues to enable students to gain an understanding of the historical development of literature and the ways in which texts relate to each other over the centuries.

    • Writing and the Modern World, 1600-1700 (ENG4002)

      This module considers ‘modern’ ways of writing, thinking, trading, seeing, and relating to others in the seventeenth century. The literature of this period first explores ideas central to our own time and place, and is crucial both to understanding literary history and to understanding ourselves. The course will be structured through four key narratives, traced through a chronological selection of texts: authority, modern ideas of gender, global capitalism and modern print culture

    • The Craft of Writing I: Prose Fiction and Non-Fiction (ENG4003)

      This module introduces students to the key concepts and issues in creative writing through the practise of workshops. We will read classic contemporary works of fiction and nonfiction including autobiography, travel writing, poetry sequences, essays and reportage. We will produce our own works, and critically evaluate and contextualise them.

    • Critical Theory (ENG4006)

      This module will introduce some key critical theories relevant to the study of English literature. It will familiarise students with a range of theoretical perspectives and enable them to develop an understanding of different ways of reading literature, and its wider contexts.

    • Rewritings: Contemporary Literature and its Histories (ENG4007)

      This module will examine how and why modern and contemporary authors have rewritten or reworkedinfluential literary texts of the past. Students will engage with a range of different literary forms,including fiction, poetry, drama and, where appropriate, film. By investigating the impulses behind suchintertextual acts, students will explore the ways in which literature engages with the cultural politics ofits times, focusing particularly on issues of gender, ethnicity, sexuality, class and aesthetics. This module will include 2, 2 hour talks that introduce our School and programme level employability related opportunities and support, including details of the optional placement year.

    • The Craft of Writing II: Poetry and Drama (ENG4008)

      This module continues the trajectory of the study of ‘the craft of writing’, emphasising poetry and dramatic writing. We’ll explore how creative writing constitutes a ‘practice-as-research’ discipline, whilst studying relevant writing theory, contextual literature, and literary criticism. Lectures will introduce topics, and subsequent workshops will promote the development of student work through feedback. Students will submit creative work alongside ‘research statements’ twice during the term, in the form of portfolios.

  • Year 2

  • In your second year, you’ll write creatively in many forms including theatre and script-writing, autobiography and biography, travel writing, and literary adaptation. You will hone your skills as a writer in weekly workshops with tutors and peers. You’ll also study the writers who've shaped our literary canon, taking core modules in Romantic and Victorian literature, and selecting from a range of specialist creative, literary and work-based learning options. You’ll also have the opportunity to take specialist modules in other subjects in the School.

    Core modules

    • Stage 2 Professional Development, Placement Preparation and Identifying Opportunities (SSC500)

      This module is for students in the School of Society and Culture who are interested in undertaking an optional placement in the third year of their programme. It supports students in their search, application, and preparation for the placement, including developing interview techniques and effective application materials (e.g. CVs , portfolios, and cover letters).

    Optional modules

    • Romanticism (ENG5001)

      In this module literary Romanticism, in its rich and problematic diversity, is introduced and explored through a consideration of imaginative conceptions of the individual in writing between 1790 and 1830. The study ranges through a selection of texts in verse – lyric and narrative – and prose - essayistic, theoretical and fictional.

    • Gothic Fictions, Villains, Virgins and Vampires (ENG5002)

      This module looks at eighteenth- and nineteenth-century novels to trace the variety and scope of literary contributions to the Gothic. It begins by discussing the origins of the Gothic novel, then moves to the heyday of the genre in the revolutionary 1790s, on to authors writing in the early and mid-nineteenth century, through to the decadence of the 1890s.

    • The Impact of Publishing (ENG5004)

      The module will provide an introduction to some of the key concepts in publishing history. It will look at the ways that knowledge has been captured, stored, retrieved, disseminated, policed and suppressed. It will consider how the development of different writing and printing technologies changed the understanding of the self and the self in relation to the world. It will discuss the creation, production, publication, distribution and reception of texts within their cultural, economic and technological contexts.

    • Professional Writing for Different Media (ENG5005)

      In the context of this module, Professional Writing refers to commercial content for a variety of media outlets including advertising and marketing, as well as other ‘businesses’ which students have imagined and created themselves. Students will experiment with creative formats such as posters, reviews, reports, ‘copy’, interviews, the op-ed (opinion-editorial). The module is taught through lecture, seminars, and workshops where students are asked to submit and feedback to peers and tutors on a regular basis.

    • Victorian Literature and Culture (ENG5009)

      This module aims to introduce students to the Victorian period through an examination of literature read in conjunction with a range of other contemporary cultural documents including scientific, sociological, psychological, political economic and aesthetic texts.

    • Dramatic Writing for Stage, Screen and Beyond (ENG5011)

      This course explores a wide range of dramatic writing and dramatic writing theory, integrating critical reading with creative writing projects. Class time will be spent discussing published authors/texts/productions, writing/reading theories, compositional processes, practical exercises, and student work.

    • Burning Issues: Interdisciplinary Writing Project (ENG5012)

      This module asks students to engage with the 'burning issues' of our times, by thinking outside of their own discipline and engaging with research taking place in other departments, schools and faculties around the university, or even the country and the world. Students select a topic from outside their discipline and then, through research and communication with experts in the chosen field, devise a writing project to communicate and explore their chosen issue. The module is taught through lecture, seminars, and workshops where students are asked to submit and feedback to peers and tutors on a regular basis.

    • 'Hurt Minds': Madness and Mental Illness in Literature (ENG5013)

      This module considers changing attitudes towards, and a variety of theories of, the mind, examining how different cultures have understood ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ mental states. It will look at how the experience and treatment of mental illness has been represented in fiction. The mind is at its most fascinating when it behaves outside of expected social norms. By considering a variety of literary texts over several centuries, this module explores shifts in the definition, understanding, evaluation, and management of exceptional mental states.

    • Rakes, Rascals and Rudeness in the Eighteenth Century (ENG5008)

      The eighteenth century was styled as an age of politeness and elegance. However, the literature of the period is obsessed with impoliteness in many forms. This module considers various manifestations of this obsession, and the relationship between politeness, manners and rudeness during the period.

    • American Novel (ENG5003MX)

      This module will explore the development of the novel in America from its beginnings in the eighteenth century through to the twentieth century. As part of this module, students will consider changes in the novel form with particular reference to America’s literary history.

  • Optional placement year

  • Undertake an optional placement year where you can build a number of key employability skills. Put theory onto practice, get a taste for your chosen career and expand upon your professional network.

    Core modules

    • School of Society and Culture Placement Year (SSC600)

      Students have the opportunity to gain work experience that will set them apart in the job market when they graduate by undertaking a 48-week optional placement year. This year allows them to apply and hone the knowledge and skills acquired from the previous years of their programme in the real world.

  • Final year

  • In your final year, you’ll hone your reading and writing. You’ll study modern experimental writing and choose from literary and creative modules focusing on specific forms, from science fiction to modern poetry and screenwriting. Or, you’ll have a further opportunity to choose a module from another subject in the school if you wish to branch out. You’ll also design and develop your own year-long dissertation project, which you'll work on with focused support from your personal supervisor.

    Core modules

    • Dissertation (ENG6001)

      A year-long independent study project working on a topic of the student’s choice with the aid of a personal supervisor. Content will vary accordingly.

    • Modernism (ENG6002)

      This module will explore a number of themes through an examination of writing published in the approximate period 1910-1930. The themes will include structural and linguistic experimentation, historical and artistic influences, the First World War and literary networks.

    Optional modules

    • American Crime Writing (ENG6005)

      This module considers the development of twentieth-century American crime fiction from hard-boiled detectives, to myths of the mafia, and postmodern reinventions of the genre. This module will explore the cultural contexts of American crime writing, prevailing conventions of the genre, as well as challenges to those conventions.

    • Laughing Matters: Cruelty and Comedy of Literary Satire (ENG6006)

      Introduces historical and contemporary satirical theories; analyses satirical forms; enables critical engagement with the foundational associated modes: comedy, parody, irony and hyperbole.

    • Advanced Poetry Workshop (ENG6007)

      In this final year module we will examine a range of contemporary poetry and poetic theory as a way for students to advance their own composition of poems. Class time will be divided between seminar discussions of published poetry/theory, writing exercises, and workshops of student poetry.

    • Features Journalism Workshop (ENG6008)

      This module offers students an in-depth experience of professional writing. We will explore technique in features and literary journalism; music reviews, opinion columns and longer immersion features as well as other contemporary works of non-fiction feature writing, both short- and long-form, from sub-genres including profiles and interviews, autobiography and columns, travel writing, and reportage. We will learn to research and produce our own works of professional nonfiction and critically evaluate them.

    • Script to Screen: Making Films, Podcasts, and More (ENG6009)

      This final year module asks students to realise an original script of their own making with an on-screen production. In addition to writing their own scripts, students will be introduced to the production side of things, including storyboarding, working with actors, cameras, and using film-making software. We’ll also study some classic examples of page to screen adaptations (albeit most on bigger budgets than you’ll have!). The module is taught through lecture, seminars, and workshops where students are asked to submit and feedback to peers and tutors on a regular basis.

    • Brave New Worlds: Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Politics (ENG6010)

      Science Fiction seems to be a field or mode that is particularly difficult to define, in part because it crosses over with many other forms. But it is also one of the most popular types of literature easily ranging from the highbrow to the low. This module will explore SF writing since 1960, with a particular focus on the hybridity of the field and the ways in which it intersects with fantasy writing, to explore a range of political issues in the contemporary world. SF is ‘a wide-ranging, multivalent and endlessly cross-fertilizing cultural idiom.’ (Roberts, 2006, 2) But is it really concerned with the future, or in fact, driven by nostalgia to engage with the ways in which the past has constructed the present? The module will be thematically structured and will concentrate on Anglophone writing.

Every undergraduate taught course has a detailed programme specification document describing the course aims, the course structure, the teaching and learning methods, the learning outcomes and the rules of assessment.

The following programme specification represents the latest course structure and may be subject to change:

BA English and Creative Writing with Foundation Programme Specification Sep22 7228

The modules shown for this course are those currently being studied by our students, or are proposed new modules. Please note that programme structures and individual modules are subject to amendment from time to time as part of the University’s curriculum enrichment programme and in line with changes in the University’s policies and requirements.

In light of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the changeable nature of the situation and any updates to government guidance, we may need to make further, last minute adjustments to how we deliver our teaching and learning on some or all of our programmes, at any time during the academic year. We want to reassure you that even if we do have to adjust the way in which we teach our programmes, we will be working to maintain the quality of the student learning experience and learning outcomes at all times.
Personalise your degree
All our degrees have a wide range of optional modules and there is even the opportunity to study modules from any of the School of Society and Culture 's subject areas.
You could graduate with one of the following personalised course title combinations:
 
English and Creative Writing with Acting

Modules

  • Acting for Audio: Radio, Podcast, Voiceover (ACT5002MX)

    This module trains students to work professionally in mediatised/recorded settings. Students learn techniques appropriate to the preparation and performance of non-theatrical formats (such as audio drama) through text-based analysis, narrative and dramatic theory and genre-specific acting techniques.

  • Auditions and Showreels (ACT6002MX)

    Focused on employment in the theatre industry after graduation, this module is all about auditioning practices and techniques, self-taping, casting calls, character break-downs, working with your ‘pages’ and pulling together your showreel.

English and Creative Writing with Art History

Modules

  • Painting Sex and Power (ARH5008MX)

    The module examines the link between the perception of sexuality and power in a variety of media, and from diverse historical and geographic contexts. Critical approaches from gender studies will be combined with visual analysis in order to contextualize the biased and stereotypical nature of the imagery.

  • Questions in Contemporary Art (ARH6002MX)

    The module introduces and examines selected questions raised in the last three decades in contemporary art. Case studies drawn from art history, critical and cultural theory, and where appropriate related disciplines, will be examined.

English and Creative Writing with Drama

Modules

  • Site Specific Performance (PER5003MX)

    Outdoor, off-campus, real-world performance-making informed by research-led seminar-based explorations of an exciting and diverse range of performative case studies and influential theories, this module gives students the opportunity to study independently and work together to open up for themselves a whole new way of seeing the world as a site for theatre.

  • Apply, Fund, Deliver, Repeat (PER5006MX)

    Apply, Fund, Deliver, Repeat is a training module for students to build their management and professional capabilities. Just as the students are required to have performance training, they will also undergo training on budgetary and management skills while learning how to successfully apply for funding and then how to manage those funds once the project is underway.

  • Applied Drama (PER6002MX)

    This module offers students access to community-based professionals and work-based experiences with a meaningful employability focus. Through seminars and independent practice students learn the skills to work with and for community groups and interests, using performance-making as a means to address real-world problems and social issues.

English and Creative Writing with Music

Modules

  • Psychology of Music (MUS5003MX)

    This module introduces students to concepts in psychoacoustics, psychology and music therapy within a musical context. Students will critically engage with related topics through a series of lectures and workshops, which place theory within musical and creative practice.

  • Recording Sound and Music (MUS5006MX)

    Students will learn how to combine their technical recording abilities with their creative skills in music production. They will be introduced to a variety of recording contexts from a practical and theoretical perspective.

  • Music in the Community (MUS6003MX)

    This module will introduce students to practical applications of music to encourage and expand their understanding of the ‘real-life’ uses of musical skills. A series of lectures will cover the concepts and skills required to carry out music work, before students apply these in practical situations.

English and Creative Writing with History

Modules

  • Global Cold War: Politics, Culture and Society (HIS5004MX)

    This module is an introduction to major themes in the political, social and cultural history of the modern world with special focus on the 20th century and the Cold War.

  • Eighteenth-Century Empires (HIS5007MX)

    This module is designed to explore the ‘long eighteenth century’ with a broad geographical focus, encompassing, but not limited to the Atlantic Isles, Atlantic world, formal and informal empire, and trading connections. It takes in the slave trade and impact of slavery globally, studies voyages of exploration, examines the scientific and political enlightenment, and wider cultural and social impacts of imperialism.

  • Middle Kingdoms: Themes in Early Modern Asia (HIS5009MX)

    This module introduces the history of early modern Japan (c.16th-19th centuries). At one level, it explores key questions shaping the histories of the late Sengoku (‘Warring States’) and Tokugawa Japan. Building on these questions, it then situates the Japanese experience in a trans-regional perspective with reference to early modern China, Korea, Ryukyu, as well as Europe.

  • Dunkirk to D Day: The Second World War in Europe (HIS5014MX)

    The module examines the Second World War in Europe and the Atlantic Ocean from 1940 to late 1944.

  • Piracy and Privateering, c.1560-1816 (HIS6002MX)

    This module explores piracy and privateering activity in the seas around the British Isles and further afield from the reign of Queen Elizabeth to the end of the second Barbary War in 1816. This course focuses on the social history of piracy and privateering, the organisation of pirate society, and the economic impact of piracy and privateering.

  • America, the United Nations and International Relations 1945 to the present (HIS6006MX)

    This module provides a detailed examination of the relationship between the United States of America and the United Nations in the management of international relations from 1945 to the present.

English and Creative Writing with Computing

Modules

  • Physical Computing: Creative and Interactive Systems (AMT5006MX)

    Physical computing is all about designing and creating objects that use a range of sensors, actuators, and software to interact with the world around them. Students will learn to develop their own systems using programming environments, electronic components, and microcontroller boards. Most of the module will be organised around practical, hands-on design-and-build exercises.

  • Data Science Ethics (AMT6004MX)

    This module introduces allows student a hands-on experience in data science and the ethical considerations associated with our digital footprint. Learners will gain experience in writing code to clean, analyse and interrogate large dataset, understanding what meanings can be revealed from these datasets. Students will also investigate the ethical implications, assumptions and biases that are present in these techniques.

English and Creative Writing with Criminology

Modules

  • Green Criminology (CRM6010MX)

    This module will address theoretical perspectives, methodological issues, and empirical research related to the field of green criminology, including applied concerns, such as policy and social/political praxis, through a range of concepts, topics, and themes that are central to green criminology.

  • Security Management (CRM6011MX)

    This module provides students with a critical insight into the professional domain of security management. It provides an overview of the theories, policies, procedures and practices that underpin the work of the security manager, and focuses upon a career-relevant knowledge and understanding of this significant area of expertise.

  • Forensic Criminology: Social Investigations (CRM5006MX)

    This module focuses on how social science can contribute to criminal investigations. This involvesforensically investigating the backgrounds and experiences of individuals involved in criminal or deviantbehaviour. The sociology of the police who are tasked to conduct investigations is also analysed. Students will be encouraged to apply criminological techniques and theory to scenario-based examples which will focus on victims, offenders and the police, and their positions in society.

  • Contemporary Issues in Criminology (CRM5007MX)

    This module focuses upon a contemporary criminological or criminal justice-related issue that has received attention in the media and in official reports but may not be well covered yet in an established academic literature. The purpose of the module is for students to collect data on the issue and to subject it to a criminological analysis appropriate to the topic.

  • Security and Policing Today: Debates and Issues (CRM5008MX)

    This module provides students with a contemporary overview of debates and issues in policing and security environments that inform practice and development in the field. The module examines how modern policing and security function, the impact of professionalization on all aspects of policing tasks and the tensions and benefits attained from multi-agency working. The module considers policing legitimacy, the ethics of crime control and associated engagement with the diversity of contemporary society, competing community interests and professional practice.

English and Creative Writing with International Relations

Modules

  • Global Environmental Politics (PIR6007MX)

    This module examines the problem of environmental degradation and its implications for our global political economy. It discusses the major debates in political thought around the primary causes of environmental degradation. The module outlines the major attempts to build international regimes for global environmental governance, and the difficulties and obstacles that such attempts have encountered. A range of ideas, critiques, policy proposals, innovations in governance, and templates for political activism within the environmental movement are critically evaluated.

  • Refugee Studies (PIR5009MX)

    This module focuses on the political, economic and social context of forced migration and considers the complex and varied nature of global refugee populations. It analyses responses at international, national and regional level and engages with a range of challenging questions around international co-operation, the framework of international protection, humanitarianism and the causes of displacement.

  • Civil Society and the Public Sphere (PIR5010MX)

    This module analyses the role of civil society and the public sphere in democratic governance and in democratization from a variety of theoretical perspectives.

  • Global Development (PIR5011MX)

    This module embraces both theoretical and empirical approaches to understanding development issues and policies, at international and multilateral scale. The approach incorporates historical, economic, political and social perspectives. The module considers issues faced by international development agencies, as well as the impact on populations in the developing world to illustrate and provide context for the discussion of various developmental concerns.

  • Democracy and Globalization: Citizens and the Modern State (PIR5012MX)

    Students taking this course will discover how social and economic change in the modern era impacts upon traditional political structures. The course demonstrates how structures face increasing challenges from alternative forms of political action, ranging in scope from the local to global, as well as a resurgence of the forces of populism and nationalism. Much of the analysis will be comparative in scope.

  • Voter Behaviour and Effective Election Campaigning (PIR6008MX)

    This module undertakes an advanced examination of contemporary trends and developments in theories of electoral behaviour globally; then more specifically the relationship between electoral rules, electoral systems and election outcomes; the evolution of campaign techniques, and the role, mechanics, and accuracy of opinion polls in modern electoral politics. These global understandings are applied directly to the case of British politics.

English and Creative Writing with Politics

Modules

  • Voter Behaviour and Effective Election Campaigning (PIR6008MX)

    This module undertakes an advanced examination of contemporary trends and developments in theories of electoral behaviour globally; then more specifically the relationship between electoral rules, electoral systems and election outcomes; the evolution of campaign techniques, and the role, mechanics, and accuracy of opinion polls in modern electoral politics. These global understandings are applied directly to the case of British politics.

  • Refugee Studies (PIR5009MX)

    This module focuses on the political, economic and social context of forced migration and considers the complex and varied nature of global refugee populations. It analyses responses at international, national and regional level and engages with a range of challenging questions around international co-operation, the framework of international protection, humanitarianism and the causes of displacement.

  • Civil Society and the Public Sphere (PIR5010MX)

    This module analyses the role of civil society and the public sphere in democratic governance and in democratization from a variety of theoretical perspectives.

  • Global Development (PIR5011MX)

    This module embraces both theoretical and empirical approaches to understanding development issues and policies, at international and multilateral scale. The approach incorporates historical, economic, political and social perspectives. The module considers issues faced by international development agencies, as well as the impact on populations in the developing world to illustrate and provide context for the discussion of various developmental concerns.

  • Democracy and Globalization: Citizens and the Modern State (PIR5012MX)

    Students taking this course will discover how social and economic change in the modern era impacts upon traditional political structures. The course demonstrates how structures face increasing challenges from alternative forms of political action, ranging in scope from the local to global, as well as a resurgence of the forces of populism and nationalism. Much of the analysis will be comparative in scope.

  • Global Environmental Politics (PIR6007MX)

    This module examines the problem of environmental degradation and its implications for our global political economy. It discusses the major debates in political thought around the primary causes of environmental degradation. The module outlines the major attempts to build international regimes for global environmental governance, and the difficulties and obstacles that such attempts have encountered. A range of ideas, critiques, policy proposals, innovations in governance, and templates for political activism within the environmental movement are critically evaluated.

English and Creative Writing with Law

Modules

  • Environmental Law (LAW6011MX)

    The module provides an examination of key themes in environmental law, with a focus on the generation, application and enforcement of this law within a critical and applied context.

  • Public and International Law (LAW6012MX)

    A module that focuses on the primary legal principles of the public international legal order, before supporting the development of in-depth understanding of a chosen international legal area of a contemporary nature.

  • Environmental Law (LAW5009MX)

    The module provides an examination of key themes in environmental law, with a focus on the generation, application and enforcement of this law within a critical and applied context.

  • Law in Society (LAW5010MX)

    To introduce students to the real-world impact and operation of domestic English law in society and consider social, cultural, practical and ethical implications.

  • Intellectual Property Law (LAW5011MX)

    This module focuses on the law and concepts of intellectual property, examining in addition related legal themes of information access, dissemination and control.

  • Law, Literature and the Screen (LAW5012MX)

    To introduce students to fictional and factional representations of the legal order in prose, film and TV, and to examine the inter-connections between law, literature and the screen.

English and Creative Writing with Sociology

Modules

  • Globalisation and Social Justice (SOC5005MX)

    This module investigates the key debates of globalisation and critically evaluates, in terms of its economic, political, socio-cultural and legal dimensions, the causes and consequences of a globalising world. It furthermore explores a range of international social justice issues to examine the relationships (causative and ameliorative) between policies and (in)justice

  • Gender, Sex and Sexuality (SOC5006MX)

    This module introduces students to the sociology of gender, sex and sexuality. It interrogates these concepts with particular reference to identity, activism, social justice and social change. It develops an understanding of the similarities, differences and intersections between gender, sex, sexuality and other social signifiers of difference/diversity including ‘race’, ethnicity, dis/ability, class and age.

  • Health, Medical Power and Social Justice (SOC6004MX)

    This module considers a range of issues concerning health, illness and medical power in contemporary society. The module seeks to develop an understanding of the impact of ‘medicalisation’ on everyday life, as well as the importance of social divisions, such as age, gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status. There will be a focus on a range of sociological perspectives on health with an opportunity to focus upon areas of particular interest.

English and Creative Writing with Policing and Security Management

Modules

  • Security Management (CRM6011MX)

    This module provides students with a critical insight into the professional domain of security management. It provides an overview of the theories, policies, procedures and practices that underpin the work of the security manager, and focuses upon a career-relevant knowledge and understanding of this significant area of expertise.

  • Security and Policing Today: Debates and Issues (CRM5008MX)

    This module provides students with a contemporary overview of debates and issues in policing and security environments that inform practice and development in the field. The module examines how modern policing and security function, the impact of professionalization on all aspects of policing tasks and the tensions and benefits attained from multi-agency working. The module considers policing legitimacy, the ethics of crime control and associated engagement with the diversity of contemporary society, competing community interests and professional practice.

  • Forensic Criminology: Social Investigations (CRM5006MX)

    This module focuses on how social science can contribute to criminal investigations. This involvesforensically investigating the backgrounds and experiences of individuals involved in criminal or deviantbehaviour. The sociology of the police who are tasked to conduct investigations is also analysed. Students will be encouraged to apply criminological techniques and theory to scenario-based examples which will focus on victims, offenders and the police, and their positions in society.

English and Creative Writing with Musical Theatre

Modules

  • Choreography Repertory (MTH6004MX)

    Students learn, rehearse and perform dance repertory to a high standard. To support students’ ability to execute the choreography effectively a continued engagement with dance technique and its relationship to creative and performance skills is incorporated. Students will gain an understanding of their role as a contributing interpreter of this repertory and how to make this work their own.

  • Applied Dance (DAN6001MX)

    This module offers students access to community-based professionals and work-based experiences with a meaningful employability focus. Through co-taught seminars and independent practice students learn the skills to work with and for community groups and interests, applying community dance practice and performance-making as a means to address real-world problems and social issues.

  • Dance Technique (DAN5001MX)

    Students will develop their technical dance skills and ability to apply a range of dynamic qualities and spatial properties in performance. The module will develop students’ understanding of dance as a cultural discourse and foster awareness and appreciation of other cultural dance forms. Students will engage with workshop participation and leading skills, as well as learning how to give, receive and use critical feedback.

  • Dancing for Camera (DAN5002MX)

    Taught by experienced practitioners, students learn to compose and perform dance for camera and to develop and edit material to produce high quality ‘screendance’. Screendance as a hybrid and interdisciplinary form will enable students to develop new ways to innovate and create choreography in the site-specificity of media space.

  • Acting through Song (MTH5001MX)

    Acting through song involves ‘telling the story’ and ‘selling the story’, as well as performance skills in characterisation and specific vocal expertise. Working from a range of scores and lyrics, students experiment with different approach to acting through song in a supportive salon environment, with tutor and peer feedback throughout.

English and Creative Writing with Dance

Modules

  • Applied Dance (DAN6001MX)

    This module offers students access to community-based professionals and work-based experiences with a meaningful employability focus. Through co-taught seminars and independent practice students learn the skills to work with and for community groups and interests, applying community dance practice and performance-making as a means to address real-world problems and social issues.

  • Dance Technique (DAN5001MX)

    Students will develop their technical dance skills and ability to apply a range of dynamic qualities and spatial properties in performance. The module will develop students’ understanding of dance as a cultural discourse and foster awareness and appreciation of other cultural dance forms. Students will engage with workshop participation and leading skills, as well as learning how to give, receive and use critical feedback.

  • Dancing for Camera (DAN5002MX)

    Taught by experienced practitioners, students learn to compose and perform dance for camera and to develop and edit material to produce high quality ‘screendance’. Screendance as a hybrid and interdisciplinary form will enable students to develop new ways to innovate and create choreography in the site-specificity of media space.

All modules (55)

School of Society and Culture

BA (Hons) Acting (Full-time)

  • Acting for Audio: Radio, Podcast, Voiceover (ACT5002MX)

    This module trains students to work professionally in mediatised/recorded settings. Students learn techniques appropriate to the preparation and performance of non-theatrical formats (such as audio drama) through text-based analysis, narrative and dramatic theory and genre-specific acting techniques.

  • Auditions and Showreels (ACT6002MX)

    Focused on employment in the theatre industry after graduation, this module is all about auditioning practices and techniques, self-taping, casting calls, character break-downs, working with your ‘pages’ and pulling together your showreel.

BA (Hons) Art History (Full-time)

  • Painting Sex and Power (ARH5008MX)

    The module examines the link between the perception of sexuality and power in a variety of media, and from diverse historical and geographic contexts. Critical approaches from gender studies will be combined with visual analysis in order to contextualize the biased and stereotypical nature of the imagery.

  • Questions in Contemporary Art (ARH6002MX)

    The module introduces and examines selected questions raised in the last three decades in contemporary art. Case studies drawn from art history, critical and cultural theory, and where appropriate related disciplines, will be examined.

BA (Hons) Drama (Full-time)

  • Site Specific Performance (PER5003MX)

    Outdoor, off-campus, real-world performance-making informed by research-led seminar-based explorations of an exciting and diverse range of performative case studies and influential theories, this module gives students the opportunity to study independently and work together to open up for themselves a whole new way of seeing the world as a site for theatre.

  • Apply, Fund, Deliver, Repeat (PER5006MX)

    Apply, Fund, Deliver, Repeat is a training module for students to build their management and professional capabilities. Just as the students are required to have performance training, they will also undergo training on budgetary and management skills while learning how to successfully apply for funding and then how to manage those funds once the project is underway.

  • Applied Drama (PER6002MX)

    This module offers students access to community-based professionals and work-based experiences with a meaningful employability focus. Through seminars and independent practice students learn the skills to work with and for community groups and interests, using performance-making as a means to address real-world problems and social issues.

BA (Hons) Music (Full-time)

  • Psychology of Music (MUS5003MX)

    This module introduces students to concepts in psychoacoustics, psychology and music therapy within a musical context. Students will critically engage with related topics through a series of lectures and workshops, which place theory within musical and creative practice.

  • Recording Sound and Music (MUS5006MX)

    Students will learn how to combine their technical recording abilities with their creative skills in music production. They will be introduced to a variety of recording contexts from a practical and theoretical perspective.

  • Music in the Community (MUS6003MX)

    This module will introduce students to practical applications of music to encourage and expand their understanding of the ‘real-life’ uses of musical skills. A series of lectures will cover the concepts and skills required to carry out music work, before students apply these in practical situations.

BA (Hons) History (Full-time)

  • Global Cold War: Politics, Culture and Society (HIS5004MX)

    This module is an introduction to major themes in the political, social and cultural history of the modern world with special focus on the 20th century and the Cold War.

  • Eighteenth-Century Empires (HIS5007MX)

    This module is designed to explore the ‘long eighteenth century’ with a broad geographical focus, encompassing, but not limited to the Atlantic Isles, Atlantic world, formal and informal empire, and trading connections. It takes in the slave trade and impact of slavery globally, studies voyages of exploration, examines the scientific and political enlightenment, and wider cultural and social impacts of imperialism.

  • Middle Kingdoms: Themes in Early Modern Asia (HIS5009MX)

    This module introduces the history of early modern Japan (c.16th-19th centuries). At one level, it explores key questions shaping the histories of the late Sengoku (‘Warring States’) and Tokugawa Japan. Building on these questions, it then situates the Japanese experience in a trans-regional perspective with reference to early modern China, Korea, Ryukyu, as well as Europe.

  • Dunkirk to D Day: The Second World War in Europe (HIS5014MX)

    The module examines the Second World War in Europe and the Atlantic Ocean from 1940 to late 1944.

  • Piracy and Privateering, c.1560-1816 (HIS6002MX)

    This module explores piracy and privateering activity in the seas around the British Isles and further afield from the reign of Queen Elizabeth to the end of the second Barbary War in 1816. This course focuses on the social history of piracy and privateering, the organisation of pirate society, and the economic impact of piracy and privateering.

  • America, the United Nations and International Relations 1945 to the present (HIS6006MX)

    This module provides a detailed examination of the relationship between the United States of America and the United Nations in the management of international relations from 1945 to the present.

BSc (Hons) Audio and Music Technology (Full-time)

  • Physical Computing: Creative and Interactive Systems (AMT5006MX)

    Physical computing is all about designing and creating objects that use a range of sensors, actuators, and software to interact with the world around them. Students will learn to develop their own systems using programming environments, electronic components, and microcontroller boards. Most of the module will be organised around practical, hands-on design-and-build exercises.

  • Data Science Ethics (AMT6004MX)

    This module introduces allows student a hands-on experience in data science and the ethical considerations associated with our digital footprint. Learners will gain experience in writing code to clean, analyse and interrogate large dataset, understanding what meanings can be revealed from these datasets. Students will also investigate the ethical implications, assumptions and biases that are present in these techniques.

BSc (Hons) Criminology (Full-time)

  • Green Criminology (CRM6010MX)

    This module will address theoretical perspectives, methodological issues, and empirical research related to the field of green criminology, including applied concerns, such as policy and social/political praxis, through a range of concepts, topics, and themes that are central to green criminology.

  • Security Management (CRM6011MX)

    This module provides students with a critical insight into the professional domain of security management. It provides an overview of the theories, policies, procedures and practices that underpin the work of the security manager, and focuses upon a career-relevant knowledge and understanding of this significant area of expertise.

  • Forensic Criminology: Social Investigations (CRM5006MX)

    This module focuses on how social science can contribute to criminal investigations. This involvesforensically investigating the backgrounds and experiences of individuals involved in criminal or deviantbehaviour. The sociology of the police who are tasked to conduct investigations is also analysed. Students will be encouraged to apply criminological techniques and theory to scenario-based examples which will focus on victims, offenders and the police, and their positions in society.

  • Contemporary Issues in Criminology (CRM5007MX)

    This module focuses upon a contemporary criminological or criminal justice-related issue that has received attention in the media and in official reports but may not be well covered yet in an established academic literature. The purpose of the module is for students to collect data on the issue and to subject it to a criminological analysis appropriate to the topic.

  • Security and Policing Today: Debates and Issues (CRM5008MX)

    This module provides students with a contemporary overview of debates and issues in policing and security environments that inform practice and development in the field. The module examines how modern policing and security function, the impact of professionalization on all aspects of policing tasks and the tensions and benefits attained from multi-agency working. The module considers policing legitimacy, the ethics of crime control and associated engagement with the diversity of contemporary society, competing community interests and professional practice.

BSc (Hons) International Relations (Full-time)

  • Global Environmental Politics (PIR6007MX)

    This module examines the problem of environmental degradation and its implications for our global political economy. It discusses the major debates in political thought around the primary causes of environmental degradation. The module outlines the major attempts to build international regimes for global environmental governance, and the difficulties and obstacles that such attempts have encountered. A range of ideas, critiques, policy proposals, innovations in governance, and templates for political activism within the environmental movement are critically evaluated.

  • Refugee Studies (PIR5009MX)

    This module focuses on the political, economic and social context of forced migration and considers the complex and varied nature of global refugee populations. It analyses responses at international, national and regional level and engages with a range of challenging questions around international co-operation, the framework of international protection, humanitarianism and the causes of displacement.

  • Civil Society and the Public Sphere (PIR5010MX)

    This module analyses the role of civil society and the public sphere in democratic governance and in democratization from a variety of theoretical perspectives.

  • Global Development (PIR5011MX)

    This module embraces both theoretical and empirical approaches to understanding development issues and policies, at international and multilateral scale. The approach incorporates historical, economic, political and social perspectives. The module considers issues faced by international development agencies, as well as the impact on populations in the developing world to illustrate and provide context for the discussion of various developmental concerns.

  • Democracy and Globalization: Citizens and the Modern State (PIR5012MX)

    Students taking this course will discover how social and economic change in the modern era impacts upon traditional political structures. The course demonstrates how structures face increasing challenges from alternative forms of political action, ranging in scope from the local to global, as well as a resurgence of the forces of populism and nationalism. Much of the analysis will be comparative in scope.

  • Voter Behaviour and Effective Election Campaigning (PIR6008MX)

    This module undertakes an advanced examination of contemporary trends and developments in theories of electoral behaviour globally; then more specifically the relationship between electoral rules, electoral systems and election outcomes; the evolution of campaign techniques, and the role, mechanics, and accuracy of opinion polls in modern electoral politics. These global understandings are applied directly to the case of British politics.

BSc (Hons) Politics (Full-time)

  • Voter Behaviour and Effective Election Campaigning (PIR6008MX)

    This module undertakes an advanced examination of contemporary trends and developments in theories of electoral behaviour globally; then more specifically the relationship between electoral rules, electoral systems and election outcomes; the evolution of campaign techniques, and the role, mechanics, and accuracy of opinion polls in modern electoral politics. These global understandings are applied directly to the case of British politics.

  • Refugee Studies (PIR5009MX)

    This module focuses on the political, economic and social context of forced migration and considers the complex and varied nature of global refugee populations. It analyses responses at international, national and regional level and engages with a range of challenging questions around international co-operation, the framework of international protection, humanitarianism and the causes of displacement.

  • Civil Society and the Public Sphere (PIR5010MX)

    This module analyses the role of civil society and the public sphere in democratic governance and in democratization from a variety of theoretical perspectives.

  • Global Development (PIR5011MX)

    This module embraces both theoretical and empirical approaches to understanding development issues and policies, at international and multilateral scale. The approach incorporates historical, economic, political and social perspectives. The module considers issues faced by international development agencies, as well as the impact on populations in the developing world to illustrate and provide context for the discussion of various developmental concerns.

  • Democracy and Globalization: Citizens and the Modern State (PIR5012MX)

    Students taking this course will discover how social and economic change in the modern era impacts upon traditional political structures. The course demonstrates how structures face increasing challenges from alternative forms of political action, ranging in scope from the local to global, as well as a resurgence of the forces of populism and nationalism. Much of the analysis will be comparative in scope.

  • Global Environmental Politics (PIR6007MX)

    This module examines the problem of environmental degradation and its implications for our global political economy. It discusses the major debates in political thought around the primary causes of environmental degradation. The module outlines the major attempts to build international regimes for global environmental governance, and the difficulties and obstacles that such attempts have encountered. A range of ideas, critiques, policy proposals, innovations in governance, and templates for political activism within the environmental movement are critically evaluated.

LLB (Hons) Law (Full-time)

  • Environmental Law (LAW6011MX)

    The module provides an examination of key themes in environmental law, with a focus on the generation, application and enforcement of this law within a critical and applied context.

  • Public and International Law (LAW6012MX)

    A module that focuses on the primary legal principles of the public international legal order, before supporting the development of in-depth understanding of a chosen international legal area of a contemporary nature.

  • Environmental Law (LAW5009MX)

    The module provides an examination of key themes in environmental law, with a focus on the generation, application and enforcement of this law within a critical and applied context.

  • Law in Society (LAW5010MX)

    To introduce students to the real-world impact and operation of domestic English law in society and consider social, cultural, practical and ethical implications.

  • Intellectual Property Law (LAW5011MX)

    This module focuses on the law and concepts of intellectual property, examining in addition related legal themes of information access, dissemination and control.

  • Law, Literature and the Screen (LAW5012MX)

    To introduce students to fictional and factional representations of the legal order in prose, film and TV, and to examine the inter-connections between law, literature and the screen.

BSc (Hons) Sociology (Full-time)

  • Globalisation and Social Justice (SOC5005MX)

    This module investigates the key debates of globalisation and critically evaluates, in terms of its economic, political, socio-cultural and legal dimensions, the causes and consequences of a globalising world. It furthermore explores a range of international social justice issues to examine the relationships (causative and ameliorative) between policies and (in)justice

  • Gender, Sex and Sexuality (SOC5006MX)

    This module introduces students to the sociology of gender, sex and sexuality. It interrogates these concepts with particular reference to identity, activism, social justice and social change. It develops an understanding of the similarities, differences and intersections between gender, sex, sexuality and other social signifiers of difference/diversity including ‘race’, ethnicity, dis/ability, class and age.

  • Health, Medical Power and Social Justice (SOC6004MX)

    This module considers a range of issues concerning health, illness and medical power in contemporary society. The module seeks to develop an understanding of the impact of ‘medicalisation’ on everyday life, as well as the importance of social divisions, such as age, gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status. There will be a focus on a range of sociological perspectives on health with an opportunity to focus upon areas of particular interest.

BSc (Hons) Criminology (Full-time)

  • Security Management (CRM6011MX)

    This module provides students with a critical insight into the professional domain of security management. It provides an overview of the theories, policies, procedures and practices that underpin the work of the security manager, and focuses upon a career-relevant knowledge and understanding of this significant area of expertise.

  • Security and Policing Today: Debates and Issues (CRM5008MX)

    This module provides students with a contemporary overview of debates and issues in policing and security environments that inform practice and development in the field. The module examines how modern policing and security function, the impact of professionalization on all aspects of policing tasks and the tensions and benefits attained from multi-agency working. The module considers policing legitimacy, the ethics of crime control and associated engagement with the diversity of contemporary society, competing community interests and professional practice.

  • Forensic Criminology: Social Investigations (CRM5006MX)

    This module focuses on how social science can contribute to criminal investigations. This involvesforensically investigating the backgrounds and experiences of individuals involved in criminal or deviantbehaviour. The sociology of the police who are tasked to conduct investigations is also analysed. Students will be encouraged to apply criminological techniques and theory to scenario-based examples which will focus on victims, offenders and the police, and their positions in society.

BA (Hons) Musical Theatre (Full-time)

  • Choreography Repertory (MTH6004MX)

    Students learn, rehearse and perform dance repertory to a high standard. To support students’ ability to execute the choreography effectively a continued engagement with dance technique and its relationship to creative and performance skills is incorporated. Students will gain an understanding of their role as a contributing interpreter of this repertory and how to make this work their own.

  • Applied Dance (DAN6001MX)

    This module offers students access to community-based professionals and work-based experiences with a meaningful employability focus. Through co-taught seminars and independent practice students learn the skills to work with and for community groups and interests, applying community dance practice and performance-making as a means to address real-world problems and social issues.

  • Dance Technique (DAN5001MX)

    Students will develop their technical dance skills and ability to apply a range of dynamic qualities and spatial properties in performance. The module will develop students’ understanding of dance as a cultural discourse and foster awareness and appreciation of other cultural dance forms. Students will engage with workshop participation and leading skills, as well as learning how to give, receive and use critical feedback.

  • Dancing for Camera (DAN5002MX)

    Taught by experienced practitioners, students learn to compose and perform dance for camera and to develop and edit material to produce high quality ‘screendance’. Screendance as a hybrid and interdisciplinary form will enable students to develop new ways to innovate and create choreography in the site-specificity of media space.

  • Acting through Song (MTH5001MX)

    Acting through song involves ‘telling the story’ and ‘selling the story’, as well as performance skills in characterisation and specific vocal expertise. Working from a range of scores and lyrics, students experiment with different approach to acting through song in a supportive salon environment, with tutor and peer feedback throughout.

BA (Hons) Musical Theatre (Full-time)

  • Applied Dance (DAN6001MX)

    This module offers students access to community-based professionals and work-based experiences with a meaningful employability focus. Through co-taught seminars and independent practice students learn the skills to work with and for community groups and interests, applying community dance practice and performance-making as a means to address real-world problems and social issues.

  • Dance Technique (DAN5001MX)

    Students will develop their technical dance skills and ability to apply a range of dynamic qualities and spatial properties in performance. The module will develop students’ understanding of dance as a cultural discourse and foster awareness and appreciation of other cultural dance forms. Students will engage with workshop participation and leading skills, as well as learning how to give, receive and use critical feedback.

  • Dancing for Camera (DAN5002MX)

    Taught by experienced practitioners, students learn to compose and perform dance for camera and to develop and edit material to produce high quality ‘screendance’. Screendance as a hybrid and interdisciplinary form will enable students to develop new ways to innovate and create choreography in the site-specificity of media space.

Entry requirements

UCAS tariff

32- 48

Don’t have 32–48 UCAS tariff points? We will consider ‘non-standard’ applications on a case-by-case basis.

A levels
Typical offer is 32 points from a minimum of two A levels.

18 Unit BTEC National Diploma/QCF Extended Diploma
PPP. Refer to tutor; however, a BTEC is usually only considered with another qualification, i.e., A level.

International Baccalaureate
24 overall.

All Access courses
Pass a named Access to HE Diploma (preferably English, humanities or combined), including GCSE English and Mathematics grade C/4 or above or equivalent.

T levels
Pass in any subject.

GCSE English
Grade C/4 or above. If your grade is lower than this, please refer to our Admissions team for further advice.

We are looking for applicants with good potential, including those with non-standard qualifications and backgrounds, so will consider every application on a case-by-case basis.

Get in touch with our friendly Admissions team on +44 (0)1752 585858 or email us at admissions@plymouth.ac.uk.

English language requirements

We welcome applicants with international qualifications. To view other accepted qualifications, please refer to our tariff glossary.

Fees, costs and funding

New Student 2022-2023 2023-2024
Home £9,250 £9,250
International £14,600 £15,600
Part time (Home) £770 £770
Full time fees shown are per annum. Part time fees shown are per 10 credits. Please note that fees are reviewed on an annual basis. Fees and the conditions that apply to them shown in the prospectus are correct at the time of going to print. Fees shown on the web are the most up to date but are still subject to change in exceptional circumstances. More information about fees and funding.

Additional costs

This course is delivered by the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business and more details of any additional costs associated with the faculty's courses are listed on the following page: Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business additional costs.

Undergraduate scholarships for international students

To reward outstanding achievement the University of Plymouth offers scholarship schemes to help towards funding your studies.

Find out whether you are eligible and how you can apply

How to apply

There are two ways to apply for the foundation course. 

Route 1: applications can be made through UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service). 

UCAS will ask for the information contained in the box at the top of this course page including the UCAS course code and the institution code.

To apply for this course and for more information about submitting an application including application deadline dates through this route, please visit the UCAS website.

Route 2: non-standard applications. If you come with other qualifications and/or do not have 48 UCAS tariff points, please get in touch with our friendly admissions team on +44 (0)1752 585858 or email us at admissions@plymouth.ac.uk. 

We will consider all applications on a case-by-case basis. 

International students: Support is also available to overseas students applying to the University from our International Office via our how to apply webpage or email international-admissions@plymouth.ac.uk.

Not quite got these qualifications, or you bring with you other relevant experience? We will consider ‘non-standard applications’.   

Get in touch with our friendly admissions team on +44 (0)1752 585858 or email us at admissions@plymouth.ac.uk.

Learning from experts, you'll have a wealth of resources at your fingertips

Expert-led Expert-led
 All modules are taught by specialists actively writing and researching in their fields – this award-winning research is embedded in their everyday teaching.

Fully supported Fully supported
 Access resources such as the Charles Seale-Hayne Library, specialist writing support from the Learning Gateway and Writing Cafe, and the archives at Plymouth's museum and art gallery, The Box.

Real-world skills Real-world skills
 Focused course content allows you to narrow your specialisms while field trips and work-based learning ensure your skills are transferable to employment.

Plymouth's creative writing experience

New to creative writing or looking to expand your talents? 

No matter the level of study you want to pursue – undergraduate, masters, PhD – the creative writing experience at Plymouth allows you to explore every possible aspect of writing.

Ready your writing for submission to the world. Discover your voice and refine your craft with our thrilling series of study opportunities.

Find out what it is like to study creative writing at Plymouth

<p>Writing in a notepad on the cliffs overlooking a beach</p>

Write your future

Take advantage of the many opportunities on offer to develop the knowledge and practical experience to succeed.

Options without limit
The broad variety of skills you will hone are highly valued in almost every field, giving you access to numerous career pathways.

International exchange

Expand your horizons overseas
Experience other cultures and grow your network by studying or working abroad in either Europe or the US.

Become a published author
Gain invaluable experience with INK, our in-house magazine, building skills in everything from desktop publishing to editing and magazine journalism.

Featured modules

<p>Countryside</p>
Literatures of Environmental Crisis
Thunderstorm image courtesy of Pixabay
Apocalypse and the Modern Novel
<p>Picture of army troops.</p>
War Writing Since 1914
<p>The moon through a window - BA English featured module</p>
Gothic Fictions: Villains, Virgins, Vampires
<p>Woman's hand writing on a notebook with a pen on a wooden desk.<br></p>
Professional Writing
Surveillance camera and graffiti (image courtesy of iStock - 000011792920)
American Crime Writing

Meet our experts

In the media

Listen to Dr Miriam Darlington on BBC Radio 4 Natural Histories programme Listen to Dr Miriam Darlington on BBC Radio 4 Natural Histories programme
 Miriam describes the first time she ever saw an otter and shows Brett Westwood the paw prints on the banks of the River Dart

Listen to Dr Arun Soon on BBC Radio 6 Cerys Matthews show Listen to Dr Arun Soon on BBC Radio 6 Cerys Matthews show
 Arun's album and accompanying book, Searching Erskine, was inspired by his grandmother, who was one of the last islanders to leave Vallay – a now uninhabited island

“The creative arts are a brilliant way for people to express feelings they might not be ready to talk about. 

“Creative writing and painting are positive mediums to express my emotions. Poetry in particular helps process my experiences with masculinity and mental health.”
Discover how creative writing – in tandem with a rising reputation for painting – helps current BA (Hons) English and Creative Writing student Ieuan Holt express different pieces of himself.
<p>Ieuan Holt at the Royal Academy of Arts<br></p>

*These are the latest results from the National Student Survey. Please note that the data published on Discover Uni (Unistats) is updated annually in September.