Our BA Liberal Arts (including Foundation Year) could be suitable for you if your academic qualifications do not yet meet our entry requirements for a three-year version of our arts and humanities courses and you want a programme that improves your skills to support your academic performance.

Open to UK and EU applicants, this four-year course includes a Foundation Year (known as Year Zero) which is delivered by our Essex Pathways Department followed by a further three years of study in our School of Philosophical Historical and Interdisciplinary Studies.

During Year Zero you will study on our Arts and Humanities Pathway which will cover topics such as Analysing Film, Text and Image and Theory of Knowledge. At the end of Year Zero all students who pass the Arts and Humanities Pathway will have a choice of which course to progress with. As well as BA Liberal Arts students on the Arts and Humanities Pathway could also study BA Philosphy or BA History, amongst other courses.

On our four-year BA Liberal Arts (including foundation year), we work with you to help to develop your subject-specific knowledge and to improve your academic skills. You receive a thorough grounding in these areas during your foundation year (known as Year Zero) to prepare you for a further three years of undergraduate study at Essex. Our five-year version of this course enables you to study abroad during your fourth year of study.

After successful completion of Year Zero in our Essex Pathways Department, you progress to complete your course with our School of Philosophical, Historical and Interdisciplinary Studies.

At Essex, our BA Liberal Arts will allow you to study a variety of subjects. With the opportunity to major in History, Literature, Art History, Philosophy, Politics, Media Studies or Sociology, you broaden your horizons by exploring the ways in which the humanities and social sciences help us to think imaginatively and critically about the worlds we live in.

You take modules which cover the historical foundations of the humanities, challenge dominant worldviews, and explore innovative and subversive essays and manifestos. The flexible structure of this course allows you to choose a range of optional modules across literature, film, philosophy, history of art, history, linguistics, politics, sociology and modern languages.

The types of issues and problems you might explore include:

How commercial and independent films interpret human relationships

How to compose your own writing, inspired by the great essayists

Important philosophical questions about life, death and religion

Great works of art and literature

Languages

The choice is yours: you choose your modules based on your own background and interests. You engage with unusual, controversial, and provocative ideas, so that you can use the humanities and social sciences to become critically aware and possess the tools to change the world for the better.

Study abroad

Your education extends beyond our University campus. The five-year version of our degree allows you to spend your fourth year studying abroad, while otherwise remaining identical to the four-year course.

You study modules in the liberal arts and social sciences, comparable to what you might take at Essex.

Studying abroad can allow you to experience other cultures and languages, to broaden your degree socially and academically, and to demonstrate to employers that you are mature, adaptable, and organised.

If you spend a full year abroad you'll only pay 15% of your usual tuition fee to Essex for that year. You won't pay any tuition fees to your host university