BA (Hons) in English Literature

Overview

Studying English at BGU provides an exciting and wide-ranging engagement with the power of human creativity and the rich heritage of literary expression. You will study great works of literature from Sophocles to Ali Smith, Bernardine Evaristo, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, directing your own path of learning through module options such as creative writing and crime fiction, American and World Literature, Restoration drama and trauma narrative, Victorian, Romantic, and contemporary literature.

You will study great works of literature from Sophocles to Ali Smith, Bernardine Evaristo, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, directing your own path of learning through module options including creative and environmental writing, crime fiction, American and World Literature, drama and children’s literature, film studies, Victorian, Romantic, and contemporary literature.

Why study this course

Key Facts

• Award: BA (Hons)
• UCAS Code: Q300
• Duration: 3 years
• Mode of Study: Full-time
• Start Date: September
• Awarding Institution: Bishop Grosseteste University
• Institution Code: B38

About The Course

Studying English at BGU gives you access to the intense power of human creativity, with opportunities to debate critical questions that continue to shape the investigation of literature. You will encounter authors such as Shakespeare, Wilde and Pinter, Blake, Tennyson and Dylan, Wollstonecraft, Woolf and Winterson, Dickens, Morrison, and Blackman, and explore the richness and diversity of literary expression. All of this whilst you develop your understanding of key genres, styles, periods and contexts, supported by a passionate team of research-active lecturers.

At BGU you will study an exciting range of writers, texts and topics. You will be able to study works in their historical and genre contexts, explore literary concepts and themes (identity, memory, gender and adolescence), make intertextual and creative connections (myth, adaptation, film, creative writing) and develop your critical independence and career prospects with extended research and work-based projects (English@Work, research project). Throughout your studies, you can follow your own interests through optional modules, and choose your own focal points and textual examples for assessment tasks.

You will acquire key academic and transferable skills such as critical thinking and evaluation, analysis, research and high-level communication skills through diverse methods of assessment, which blend established critical and communication skills with up-to-date digital literacies and platforms. You will develop expressive and creative skills fit for the 21st century; combining written essays and oral presentations with e-portfolios, multimodal video, posters, hypertext, digital publication, and independent research projects. You will benefit from an innovative and flexible approach to teaching and learning that promotes student participation and engagement. With the close academic support you will receive here at BGU, you will have the opportunities and guidance to fulfil your full potential.

As an English student at BGU, your engagement with literature won’t stop at the seminar door. The English team are all research-active lecturers who are passionate about the study of literature and its positive impact on the individual and wider society. We actively support a range of organised events and visits to enable wider participation with literary culture, including visiting speakers, a research seminar series, subsidised film and theatre trips, workshops and celebrations, poetry readings and literary awards.

(Please note that depending on your choice of English course, you may have a choice of optional modules in your second and third years.)

Delivery

There is no one-size-fits-all method of teaching at BGU – we shape our methods to suit each subject and each group, combining the best aspects of traditional university teaching with innovative techniques to promote student participation and interactivity.

You will be taught in a variety of ways, from lectures, tutorials and seminars, to practical workshops, coursework and work-based placements. Small group seminars and workshops will provide you with an opportunity to review issues raised in lectures, and you will be expected to carry out independent study.

Placements are a key part of degree study at BGU. They provide an enriching learning experience for you to apply the skills and knowledge you will gain from your course and, in doing so, give valuable real-world experience to boost your career.

How you will be taught

Please note that due to COVID-19 our delivery methods may be subject to change in 2021. You will be informed of any changes at the earliest opportunity.

There is no one-size-fits-all method of teaching at BGU – we shape our methods to suit each subject and each group, combining the best aspects of traditional university teaching with innovative techniques to promote student participation and interactivity.

You will be taught in a variety of ways, from lectures, tutorials and seminars, to practical workshops, coursework and work-based placements. Small group seminars and workshops will provide you with an opportunity to review issues raised in lectures, and you will be expected to carry out independent study.

Placements are a key part of degree study within many courses at BGU. They provide an enriching learning experience for you to apply the skills and knowledge you will gain from your course and, in doing so, give valuable real-world experience to boost your career.

Assessment

Assessments in English are designed to give you the oral, written and digital skills to be confident and successful in the 21st-century world. Through a staged process of development, you will learn how to express yourself persuasively and reflectively across a range of media and platforms: you will write short essays and a long dissertation, deliver oral arguments and create presentations, build digital portfolios and develop personal projects. Instead of time spent in examination rooms, you will experience a diversity of assessment methods, and acquire a broad platform of transferable skills that will prepare you for your future life.

Careers & Further Study

Studying English at BGU equips you to succeed in a diverse range of professions, including creative and professional writing, publishing, editing, human resources, public policy, journalism, social media, and public relations fields, marketing, technology, librarianship, teaching, and a wide range of creative and media industries.

The highly transferable skills embedded in the English course focus on creative thinking, flexibility, communication skills and problem-solving abilities that are consistently sought after by graduate employers. English staff work closely with BGU’s Careers and Employability department and a range of community partners to find ways of engaging students in real-world projects and putting those transferable skills to use in a way that builds your CV. As an approachable, supportive team we get to know our students well, so we can help you identify and develop your individual strengths, and build your confidence in areas where you want to improve.

Interested in a career in teaching?

As an Undergraduate student at BGU, you'll be offered a free place on one of our Preparing for Teaching (P4T) courses as a part of your degree (currently exclusive to BGU students).

Led by our team of teacher training experts, the course is designed to prepare you to apply for a place on a PGCE programme. It covers topics such as:

• How to apply
• What to expect at an interview
• The realities of teaching and much more

Not only will you gain essential skills that will support you in your future career, by completing the course you'll also get a guaranteed interview to one of our highly sought after PGCE courses.

Support

Studying at BGU is a student-centred experience. Staff and students work together in a friendly and supportive atmosphere as part of an intimate campus community. You will know every member of staff personally and feel confident approaching them for help and advice, and staff members will recognise you, not just by sight, but as an individual with unique talents and interests.

We will be there to support you, personally and academically, from induction to graduation.

About BGU

Here at Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU), we’ve been educating students in the historic heart of the City of Lincoln for over 150 years, located on a beautifully green and pleasant campus just a few minutes’ walk from Lincoln Cathedral, Castle and the old Roman city. We’re set on a single-site campus, so just about everything you need is close by, whether it be your tutors, your friends, your lectures or the places in which you like to relax.

We began life in 1862 as an Anglican teacher training college for women. To mark our centenary in 1962, our name was changed to incorporate the current ‘Bishop Grosseteste’ title, in honour of Robert Grosseteste, the thirteenth-century scientist, philosopher, educator, and Bishop of Lincoln (so he’s the one you have to thank for the long name!). In 2012 we achieved full university status and haven’t looked back since. We’ve seen a lot of things come and go since 1862, but we’ve never stopped providing first-class education and turning out high-calibre graduates who go out into the world and change people’s lives for the better.

In recent years we’ve undergone an explosion of growth in many areas, remaining a small and friendly university whilst expanding and developing our portfolio of courses into more exciting new areas than ever before. We still consider ourselves experts in education – we have been doing it for over 150 years after all – but our teaching courses now sit alongside an exciting range of other disciplines. We currently educate over 2,000 students in a wide range of subjects – within our ever-expanding undergraduate portfolio, our traditional PGCE teacher training routes, work-based Foundation Degrees, Masters courses and even Doctoral study (and much more in between). We pride ourselves on being a supportive community, always striving to improve the lives of our students.

We’re exceptionally proud of the fact that, over the past 150 years, our commitment to first-class education has remained consistent. Our students are some of the happiest in the UK, which is incredibly important to us. We really care about our students and aim to support them all of the way through their studies, from application to graduation. Life after BGU is extremely important and we offer many different methods of support for your future career along the way.

Our Beautiful Campus

We’re very proud of our campus. We’ve been here for a very long time, developing and growing with the city around us. We continually look to make improvements to ensure BGU is an excellent place in which to study, live, work and relax. In recent years, we’ve built upon and reimagined many elements of our campus to ensure that our students’ time with us will be as stimulating, interesting, relaxing and rewarding as possible.

Some of our buildings date from the 1840s and are still in use today. We complement these fine Victorian buildings with brand new teaching and learning spaces, providing an enticing mix of the old and the new, the intimate and the expansive. Our modern library and brand new state-of-the-art teaching rooms will ensure that our students have the best facilities possible for their time here.

But, of course, the academic side of things is only one part of studying for a degree. Our Students also need to make sure that their university can satisfy their hunger, thirst and entertainment needs – fortunately, we’ve got that covered! With places on campus to eat, drink, relax, meet friends, socialise, watch the latest films and exercise, we certainly manage to pack a lot into our campus to keep you busy!

Our GOLD-Rated Teaching

Our teaching has been awarded the highest possible rating in the first-ever Government-led Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) assessment, a rating which was awarded to just the top 26% of universities in the UK. This shows that our students receive the same high standard of education at BGU as they would at other leading universities such as Cambridge and Oxford.

We’ve always strived to provide outstanding teaching and learning here at BGU and now we have the award to prove it. This means that incoming student can rest assured that coming to study at BGU will provide them with the education of the highest quality possible.

The judging panel recognised and highlighted BGU’s strengths in all three elements of the TEF – namely teaching quality, the learning environment and student outcomes. Their written statement praised BGU’s “personalised approach with high-quality support” and commented on the outstanding support that is available at BGU which ensures “that students from all backgrounds achieve excellent outcomes”.

We’re incredibly proud of this recognition of our teaching excellence, and will continue to provide a first-class education to all of our students.

Our Highly-Employable Graduates

The employability rates of our graduates are consistently high. In 8 of the last 10 years, we’ve been top nationally for employability and further study one year after graduation – no other university in the country can boast that! Of course, we think our students are fantastic from the minute they arrive on campus, but we aim to offer as much support as we can throughout their time here in order to help make them as employable as possible.

Our courses are tailored to help prepare students for life after graduation. This could be through placements in settings relevant to their field, or through one-to-one support time offered within the university. We also try to keep our class sizes smaller, to allow for a more personalised learning experience.

We also offer students the chance to participate in our Employability Award, which is designed to help them to become fully prepared for the working environment by the time they graduate, gaining valuable experience along the way. They earn points by participating in additional work experience, volunteering, part-time and vacation work, attending relevant employability award workshops and lectures, and taking part in on-campus activities.

Our Happy Students

Here at BGU, our students are amongst the happiest in the UK, and they love studying here – proven by the fact that we have consistently high ratings for student satisfaction in the National Student Survey. We think there are a number of reasons as to why our students are so happy. It could be down to the excellent facilities they have right here on campus, the support they receive from before they’ve even started studying here, or that fact that they continue to receive that support up until graduation and beyond!

Right here on campus, we have a wide range of facilities, ranging from our very own cinema, cafes and a gym through to subject-specific state-of-the-art facilities, such as the brand new Archaeology lab and the Business hub (not to mention our theatre, Human Performance Laboratory and much more besides). Our students enjoy full use of these facilities throughout their studies here with us and we are always looking to improve our campus and what we have to offer.

We really care about our students, so we aim to support them all the way through their studies, from application to graduation. Life after BGU is extremely important and we offer many different methods of support for your future career along the way.

Our Future

We’re being bold, expanding our horizons and looking to make life better for all our students. Our most recent University Strategy outlines how we intend to deliver a portfolio of courses which is not only attractive to students but also fully equips them for the world of work or further study. In recent years we’ve built new additions to our campus (for example our brand new state-of-the-art flexible teaching spaces in Constance Stewart Hall) and developed a suite of new degree courses (Counselling, Sociology, Health & Social Care and Business, to name a few) and we don’t plan to stop there. There are more developments in the pipeline which will grow our university and improve the experience for our students.

Our Vision

Bishop Grosseteste University is committed to being a leader in learning, to inspire excellence, and to enrich the lives of its students and staff and the communities it serves.

Our Mission

Inspired by the University’s Church of England foundation our mission is to:

• Excel at teaching, learning and research
• Enable all students to achieve in the highest possible standard in their chosen field of study
• Provide life‑enriching opportunities for our students
• Recognise aspiration and achievements and provide opportunities for self‑development
• Foster an ethos in which individuals are valued and diversity is celebrated
• Develop productive partnerships to extend and deepen our external contribution regionally, nationally and internationally