Liberal Arts (BA)

Course overview

On this interdisciplinary degree we will encourage you to think independently as you work closely with experts from across the University. In small groups you will explore challenging problems from different times and places, using a toolkit of emergent skills to create your own responses. This course is ideal for passionate students who want to learn across disciplines and build their degree around their interests and ambitions.

Expert tutors with a passion for liberal education lead the Liberal Arts modules. These modules focus on investigating key issues from multiple disciplinary perspectives and developing your critical thinking skills. You will learn how to analyse cutting-edge problems and to think independently as you evaluate evidence and interpretations. These modules will also help you to build your primary and secondary research skills. We will ensure that you have the intellectual tools needed to undertake advanced undergraduate research by your final year. We will also prepare you to engage in different modules when you explore what Warwick has to offer across the arts, sciences, and social sciences.

Within the first year, you will choose either a disciplinary route or a bespoke pathway, bringing together modules most suited to your interests and strengths. You will spend 25-50% of your degree studying modules relating to your chosen route/pathway. These modules will give you the knowledge, skills, and expertise to become a leader in an area you are passionate about. Our tutors will guide your decision about which route or pathway to choose and will provide support to you throughout the degree. As your interests may develop over time, a unique feature of this degree is the ability to adapt your route/pathway further down the line.

Liberal Arts at Warwick aims to develop innovative critical thinkers who will be able to confront the global challenges of the past, present, and future. As such, we also offer the opportunity of extending your degree by a year either to study abroad or to complete a work placement. To give you the time to consider whether these opportunities are right for you, we automatically enrol all of our new students on the three-year course. Once you join us, you will have the option to change to a four-year course with an intercalated year of study abroad or work placement in the third year. The year spent studying abroad or on work placement is subject to departmental academic requirements.

The skills you develop during your degree are as important as the course content. You will also have the opportunity to complete co-curricular certificates and short work placements. These will help you develop your professional skills, giving you the edge when it comes to your employability. You will have the support of our dedicated Employability and Placement Manager who provides one-to-one careers guidance.

What is Liberal Arts?

A Liberal Arts education puts critical thinking and innovative problem solving at the heart of learning. It is based on a long tradition of thinking across different disciplines to solve the most pressing challenges of the day and of the human experience. It aims to form critical global citizens who will be future leaders and independent thinkers in their own field. By teaching you how to learn rather than what to learn, a Liberal Arts education will expose you to a broad range of knowledge, allowing you to specialise in an issue or problem that matters most to you. Find out more about our approach to liberal education at Warwick.Link opens in a new window

Study abroad

As part of your Liberal Arts degree, you have the unique opportunity to study abroad for one year at one of our Liberal Arts partners. Although studying abroad is not compulsory, we encourage you to consider this opportunity and will help guide you in your choices. We have exclusive partnerships with specialist Liberal Arts programmes in both Europe and Canada:

• Concordia University (Montréal, Canada)
• University College Leiden (The Hague, Netherlands)
• Jacobs University (Bremen, Germany)
• Leuphana University, (Lüneburg, Germany)
• University College Freiburg (Freiburg, Germany)

By studying at one of our Liberal Arts partners, you will gain a unique understanding of the approach taken to liberal education within different educational cultures. This will allow you to gain an understanding of the global context of your degree. The year spent studying abroad will not contribute towards the overall grade of your degree, however, it will be recorded on your Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR).

During your study abroad experience, you will develop knowledge and understanding of a different culture. Although the teaching is in English at our partner institutions, we strongly encourage students to acquire competency in another language while studying abroad.

Alternatively, you may also have the opportunity to study abroad at one of the University of Warwick's partner institutions. Please note that the availability of these partners vary each year, and we are unable to guarantee their availability for all students.

We also offer short-term study abroad experiences through our School for Cross-faculty Studies (SCFS) Venice programme, which includes two SCFS Venice modules:

• A Sustainable Serenissima: Water and the Future of Venice (content applies to 2022/23 year of study)
• Venice: Resistance and Representation (content applies to 2023/24 year of study)

As a Liberal Arts student, you will have priority on these two-week intensive modules. You can study both if you would like to stay in Venice for a month! Venice is a fascinating case study for problem-based learning about sustainability challenges and for exploring traditions of resistance from the Renaissance to the present day. These modules can be taken after your second year (or your third year if you take a study abroad/work placement year). The work you do on these modules will count towards your final year of study.

For more information about studying abroad please see our Study Abroad pages.

Teaching

In Liberal Arts we use a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) approach. This is where you understand a topic by examining complex problems from a variety of perspectives. You will then develop your own distinctive stance on that problem. Our students are co-creators of knowledge in the classroom.

The Liberal Arts modules are delivered using PBL workshops, which are shaped by the independent research conducted by students. Rather than attending formal lectures, you will spend your time in the classroom debating, framing, and presenting research questions/responses. This is an active learning method that relies on your specific interests. Therefore, the content we teach (explored through in-depth case studies) changes from year to year depending on the student cohort and current events.

Optional modules from across the University may involve lectures, seminars, tutorials, and/or laboratories. You will be taught by tutors from different disciplines. We will support you to bring together these various approaches in a way that makes sense to you.

Class sizes

We believe that students learn best when doing hands-on activities in small groups. Modules in the Liberal Arts Department typically range from 4 to 18 students per class. Most of the core modules have around 8 to 18 students per class. The size of our classes are designed to create a close and supportive learning community, ideal for Problem-Based Learning.

Students taking optional modules in other departments may find themselves in more varied class sizes.

Typical contact hours

Contact hours vary significantly depending on your route/pathway modules. A Liberal Arts student can typically expect between 8 and 12 contact hours a week, including route/pathway modules. You may have more than 12 hours, depending on your module choices. Module offerings in other departments may involve different contact hours per week.

Core Liberal Arts modules in the first and second year consist of one, two-hour workshop per week. Much of our teaching takes place over two terms. Most year-long modules have around 44 hours of teaching time each. We also offer regular out-of-classroom activities, including film screenings, skills sessions, discussion groups, reading groups, and field trips.

In addition, across the first two terms of the first year you will attend ten one-hour sessions as part of an introductory module (Liberal Arts: Principles and Praxis).

The final-year core Dissertation module usually involves five hours of lectures and 12 supervision sessions across three terms.

Warwick IFPLink opens in a new window: Complete the Certificate of General Secondary Education (Thanawiya) with a final score of 80% overall in the final year

Undergraduate: Warwick IFP required. Alternatively IB, A-Levels, APs/SAT IIs will be considered.

Placements and work experience

We encourage you to undertake a work placement as part of your degree. This will enable you to develop your skills in a professional environment. It is an opportunity to apply theory to practice and learn from industry professionals. The two work placement options are:

1. Year-long work placement

You will complete a four-year degree and your work placement will take place in your third year. The work placement can take place in or outside the UK and will be formally recognised on your Higher Education Achievement Report.

2. Short work placement

We also support students to undertake shorter work placements throughout the year.

Our students have been successful in securing work placements with employers from the private, public, and third sectors. These employers include research institutions, governmental bodies, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), media organisations, fashion companies, environmental consultancies, financial consultancies, and many others. They have undertaken diverse roles such as Marketing Assistant, Researcher, Project Officer, and Editor.

Your career

Graduates from Liberal Arts courses pursue a wide range of careers. As a Warwick Liberal Arts student, you will equally have a range of career opportunities available to you. The variety of opportunities will depend on your chosen pathway.

Liberal Arts graduates tend to gravitate towards research-intensive and/or leadership roles, where they can use their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Our graduates have worked in a diverse range of fields and sectors, with recent graduates in the public, private, and third sectors.

Find out more about Warwick Liberal Arts careers.Link opens in a new window

Helping you find the right career

We have a dedicated Employability and Placement Manager in our department who provides careers guidance. They work with employers to source work placement opportunities for our students and offer guidance to students before and during placements.

The University's Student Opportunity team also supports students to develop employability skills and guidance on careers options.

Find out more about careers support at Warwick