View modules

You will encounter the canon of great authors, from Shakespeare onwards, but you also study themes like Film, Gender, and Empire. In other words, the degree combines traditional and contemporary aspects of the subject. Buckingham’s unique tutorial system makes for highly personalized teaching. If you’d like to try out a tutorial, come along to one of our free taster sessions.

What is Buckingham English?

• It is an encounter with the complexity and beauty of great literature
• It aids you on your journey to becoming a professional-level writer, able to write fluently and well in any context
• Like philosophy, it teaches you to argue and debate your ideas
• As a central liberal arts subject, it is a clear space to address the big questions of meaning and existence

We don’t think that formal essays are always the best way of assessing how students understand a subject, so you will find that you have opportunities to write a book review, reportage, poems and short stories, even part of a screenplay. You will learn a number of skills, not least how to write fluently and persuasively. As a result, our graduates go on into a range of careers in media, teaching, publishing, academia, business, and marketing.

This is the 3-year format of the BA degree (UCAS code Q321), which allows you the traditional summer break. Starting each September, there are 3 terms per year, leading to an assessment period in early June. Then the summer is free, before returning for the new academic year in late September. This allows you more time for reading and reflection. For the 2-year format of the degree see BA English Literature | 2 Years, 2 Years (+ 1 term).

Dissertation

In your final year, you are given the opportunity to research, develop, and write a mini-dissertation of 6,000 – 8,000 words. This sounds daunting, but you have six months to complete it, and plenty of guidance from us, so many of our students have found it one of the most rewarding parts of their studies.

Among other outcomes, you should gain from this course:

• In-depth understanding of your chosen field of study.
• Experience of completing an individual piece of research through from conception to final, fully-documented work.
• Understanding of scholarly standards of objectivity, documentation, referencing and citation.
• A more nuanced sense of the complexities of contemporary critical practice.

The final dissertation has to be bound, fully ‘styled’ and sourced (in other words, a professional piece of report writing in every sense), and is your chance to connect together many of the skills you have acquired on the Literature programme here at Buckingham. Subjects presented recently include ‘The Idea of the Gentleman in Victorian Fiction,’ ‘Heroes, Anti-Heroes, and Villains in Gothic Fiction,’ ‘Virginia Woolf’s prose fiction in the 1920s’, and ‘Sympathy and Alienation in the Plays of Christopher Marlowe’. Your bound dissertation makes an ideal accompaniment to your CV if you are applying for jobs where research and report-writing are important.

Quality teaching

We offer high quality, traditional Oxbridge-style teaching, which leads to our degrees being recognised around the world. The standards of degrees and awards are safeguarded by distinguished external examiners – senior academic staff from other universities in the UK – who approve and moderate assessed work.

High calibre staff

Most of our academic staff teach for three terms out of four, with the remaining term used for research. Because of this, we have no difficulty in attracting high calibre, highly respected lecturers, many of whom also have a background in business or industry and can offer networking opportunities for students.

Teaching methods

Teaching is carried out through a combination of lectures supported by seminars, workshops, tutorials and informal one-to-one discussion.. A key feature of the Buckingham teaching method is the use of small tutorial groups which provide the most effective means of ensuring that the students benefit from the academic expertise at their disposal. It is also the philosophy of Buckingham’s faculty to be available to students outside the scheduled tutorial times and to encourage good working relationships between staff and students.

We believe in the surpassing value of the reading, discussing and understanding of great works of literature, not simply as processes that lead to higher levels of employability and the development of valuable critical skills (which they undoubtedly do) but as ends in themselves which are enriching and, ultimately, liberating.

Assessment methods

The assessment of individual modules within each course varies according to the subject. Assessment is usually by examination, assessed coursework, or a combination of the two. Please check module information for more details.

Preparation for work

All our degree courses combine academic challenge with the transferable skills that will stand you in good stead for future employment. Many of our more vocationally-focused degrees offer the opportunity of work placements and experience in industry.

Graduate employment

Our graduates have gone on to further study at most of the world’s leading universities, including Harvard, London, Oxford and Cambridge and secured jobs in senior positions around the world. Among our alumni we have a graduate who became the head of his country’s civil service and one who became a leading Formula One motor-racing driver. Another secured a position as the Minister of Sabah and one female law graduate became the first British lawyer to become a French Advocate.

What our students and alumni say

“What attracted me to the campus initially was not only the location in terms of beauty and commutability, but the Oxbridge teaching style: small classes and tutorials, one-to-one access with teaching staff, and an open-door policy. The course modules are diverse and engaging, the research dissertation allows for an in-depth study of your own choosing, and the library staff are most accommodating. I find myself incredibly grateful to have worked alongside my lecturers who are experts within their field and exceptionally dedicated to each and every student’s growth and progression.”

Sophie Lowde
English Literature, 2019

 

“The small class sizes were one of the reasons I was drawn to study English Literature at Buckingham, but I could not have expected the personalised interactions with each of my lecturers which I would be so fortunate to have. The English department is comprised of a passionate and dedicated group of staff who truly care about their students, and are eager to see them succeed. I will forever be grateful to them for reigniting my passion for learning, and it is because of their expertise and unrivalled support that I did not even consider looking elsewhere to continue onwards to  postgraduate study.”

Amy Coles
English Literature, 2020