Our BA Philosophy (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 Philosophy students on the Arts and Humanities Pathway could also study BA Art History or BA History, amongst other courses.

Our four-year BA Philosophy (including foundation year), will be suitable for you if your academic qualifications do not yet meet our entrance requirements for the three-year version of this course and you want a programme that increases your subject knowledge as well as improves your academic skills in order to support your academic performance. Our five-year version of this course enables you to study abroad during your fourth year of study.

This course includes a foundation year (Year Zero), followed by a further three or four years of study depending on whether you choose to study abroad for a year.

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, we take philosophy back to its roots in everyday existential, social and political problems. We embrace the relevance of philosophy to other forms of enquiry – political, cultural, legal, medical, aesthetic – and bring this to bear on urgent issues in public life, such as the controversial issues raised by mental health legislation or public policy regarding end of life care.

We cover a wide range of topics from the meaning of life to capitalism and its critics, from ancient philosophy to current trends in European thought and we have particular strengths in the areas of:

Ethics

Political philosophy

Philosophy of religion

European philosophy (including critical theory, phenomenology, and existentialism)

Study abroad

Your education extends beyond our University campus. We support you in this by providing the option of an additional year. The five-year version of our degree allows you to spend the fourth year studying abroad, while otherwise remaining identical to the four-year course.

Studying abroad allows 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