/ Undergraduate /
Start date:
September 2024
September 2025
Entry tariff:
2024/25 entry: Call 0300 303 8320 to find out if you are eligible for this programme in Clearing
UCAS Code:
Q300
Q302
Clearing
This course is open for Clearing
Call us on 0300 303 8320Complete our online application form
In our BA English Literature programme, enhance your creative and analytical skills with exciting modules covering different themes, periods, and topics, including creative writing. Cultivate your professional skills and confidence for success in your chosen career.
Did you know?
Roehampton ranks among the top 5 universities in London for English (Guardian University Guide 2024), and within the top 10 in the UK for student satisfaction in English (Complete University Guide 2022).
Foundation Year
This course can also be studied with a foundation year (September entry only).
Ranked among the top 5 universities in London for English
(Guardian University Guide 2024)
Ranked in the top 15% in the world
Times Higher Education Young University Rankings 2024
English Literature ranked 1st in London for Learning Resources
National Student Survey 2024
Modules
This course offers all students the option of a one-year paid work placement, to boost your employability even further. If you choose this route, you will take the placement following year two of your course, and then return to complete your degree.
Why take a placement?
A placement year is the perfect opportunity to gain valuable work experience, to build on the career skills we will teach you on this degree. The connections you make on the placement will improve your career prospects further, and equip you with the skills you need to secure graduate-level employment.
How we support you
The University's Placement and Work Experience Team are experts at helping you to secure a placement. They will work closely with you from the start, helping you research potential employers, discover placement opportunities, create and pitch your CV, and will coach you to perform well in interviews. We aren't able to guarantee a placement, but our sector-leading advisors will give you the best possible chance of securing one.
Find out more about how we'll support you
We understand that your plans might change once you start your programme. If you decide not to do a placement, you will have the option of completing the three year version of your programme.
Whatever your choice, you will have access to many opportunities for work experience through our Placement and Work Experience Team, and access to face-to-face and 24/7 online careers support.
This course is offered as a degree with foundation year – a four-year programme which provides an additional foundation year at the beginning of the degree, that will give you academic and practical experience, as well as the skills you need to ensure you are equipped to successfully complete your chosen degree.
£2,000 Foundation Scholarships for all home students
Find out more about our degrees with a foundation year
Skills
Graduate with a broad, transferable range of creative, analytical, and professional skills.
This incorporates:
- Being a sophisticated reader of literary and cultural texts and refining your professional reading, editing, and writing skills
- Becoming adept at switching your style to suit different creative and professional contexts
- Developing skills in research and analysis, problem solving, digital content creation, and copywriting
- Getting hands-on experience with our in-house publisher, Fincham Press, as well as getting involved with our literature and creative writing society and wider school events
- The option of learning and developing creative writing skills alongside your literary ones
These strands will ensure that you are ready for an exciting career. Equally important are the following, which are also important to our teaching and learning
· Confidence: the ability to answer questions without fear
· Observation: seeing problems clearly
· Humility: knowing you don’t know everything
· Mindfulness: being aware of positive thought processes
· Curiosity: experimenting and exploring
· Resourcefulness: knowing where to come up with ideas
· Action: the ability to put ideas into action and to meet deadlines
With the BA English Literature, you will be ready for a wide range of jobs where you are able to think deeply and critically, and to communicate complex ideas persuasively and accessibly to different audiences – all important skills in a workplace that, in the current age of AI, will see an ever-increasing need for critical and creative thinkers.
Roehampton is also ranked in the top 8 universities in the UK for graduate salaries for English and Creative Writing (Longitudinal Education Outcomes, 2020 results, earnings one year after graduation).
Learning
In this exciting programme, you will learn through a mix of lectures, seminars, workshops, and personalised tutorials in a supportive campus environment.
You will have no written exams. Instead, you will evaluate critical and creative thinking through coursework made up of essays, presentations, creative options and digital portfolios of your choosing.
Our diverse curriculum spans from traditional topics like Shakespeare and Dickens to contemporary issues such as gender, multiculturalism, and environmentalism in literature.
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Fantasy literature and fantasy world-building
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Literature in translation from authors all around the globe ·
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Global London through modern fiction, film, and television
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Race, gender, and sexuality studies from the Early Modern period to the present day
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The relationship between literature, film, and philosophy
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Creative writing and experimental fiction
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Gods and Heroes in Renaissance and Middle English literatures
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Literature from the Romantic and Victorian periods
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Genre fiction, popular culture, and media studies
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Children's and young adult literature and culture
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Modernist writing and film
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Tragedy from Ancient Greece to Shakespeare and the present day
Dr Ian Kinane
Hi there, I’m Ian Kinane and I teach on the BA in English Literature, mainly in the areas of popular literature and culture, genre fiction, and children's literature. I am the general editor of the International Journal of James Bond Studies (which is a thing!), and my current research explores notions of bi-erasure in popular culture at large; I am currently putting together an edited collection provisionally titled Literature, Culture, and Bisexuality. Outside of work, I enjoy playing with my cat Sylvie, making theatre, working with young people, and reading (of course!). I look forward to working with you!
Dr Mary Shannon
Hi, I'm Mary L. Shannon, I specialise in 19th-century literature and culture so you'll find me teaching modules on Victorian Literature, Children's Literature, and Popular Culture, among other things. I currently run the 3rd year Final Project module. I am also Disabilities Co-ordinator for the School of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences: contact me if you'd like to talk about adjustments that you might need to help you thrive in your studies at Roehampton.
Prof. Jane Kingsley-Smith
Hi, I'm Jane Kingsley-Smith, and I'm a Professor in Shakespeare Studies at Roehampton. My teaching interest is mainly Shakespeare and early modern lyric poetry. I wrote a book called The Afterlife of Shakespeare's Sonnets, which explored how individual poems have been interpreted across the centuries - why George Eliot though they were exasperating, which one Dickens obsessively referred to - that kind of thing. In my spare time, I like reading contemporary novels and rewatching Succession (very Shakespearean).
Dr Alberto Fernandez-Carbajal
Hello! My name is Alberto and my preferred pronouns are they/them. I'm the programme convener for English Literature, which means I oversee the running of our course in liaison with students and staff. I will be your first point of contact if you need help navigating our programme. My research is placed at the intersection of colonial, postcolonial, queer, and diaspora studies.
Dr Dustin Frazier Wood
Hi, I'm Dustin, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Humanities. You'll meet me in your first semester in Discovering Literature, a module that ranges from Homer's Odyssey to the drag, punk-rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
Tim Atkins
I'm Tim, Hello!
I teach creative writing on the MA Creative Writing and BA English Lit. I'm a published short story writer, poet, and playwright.
Dr Jerome Boyd Maunsell
Hi, I’m Jerome, and I'm a Lecturer in the Department of English and Creative Writing. I’m a biographer, writer and critic, and I’m especially fascinated by life writing in all its forms – including autobiography, biography, diaries, notebooks, letters, reportage and travel writing – and how we make sense of our lives through narrative.
Dr Alexander Bubb
Hi, I'm Alex and I teach on the BA English Literature and the MA Children's Literature. You'll often see me walking on campus with my dog Frida, who comes to most of my classes. I'm a nineteenth-century specialist and I teach Romantic & Victorian Bodies, and Questioning the Canon, among other modules
Anthony Paraskeva
I specialise in twentieth and twenty-first century literature, cinema and media, and I teach on modules including Visual Storytelling, Literature and Media, Tragedy, and Dystopias. My research interests in modernism, screenwriting, performance, and the relations between narrative forms in different media (books, film, TV, games), closely inform my approach to teaching. As well as writing books on Samuel Beckett, silent cinema, and multimedia editing techniques, I am also a filmmaker, and recently completed a feature-length horror film based the Greek myth of Medea.
Dr. Lisa Sainsbury
Hello! I am Lisa Sainsbury, Associate Professor of Children’s Literature in the School of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS). I teach on aspects of YA, childhood studies, and creative writing for young readers at all levels of study. I also am the Research Degrees Convener for the School of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. I am Series Editor for Bloomsbury’s Perspectives on Children’s Literature and Chair of the National Community of Researchers in Children’s Literature (NCRCL). My ongoing research focusses on the philosophical remit of children’s literature, as explored in two of my books: Ethics and British Children’s Literature: Unexamined Life (Bloomsbury: 2013) and Metaphysics of Children’s Literature: Climbing Fuzzy Mountains (Bloomsbury: 2021).
Career
Shape the future landscape of literature.
Graduates go on to work in a wide variety of fields. A degree in English Literature trains you in a variety of transferable critical skills. These are valued by employers across a whole range of literary and cultural arts industries, and beyond.
Our graduates have gone on to work as:
- Journalists
- Copywriters
- Podcasters
- Librarians
- Editors
- Teachers
- Social media marketers
- Policy advocates
- Fundraising strategists
- Radio presenters
- Script editors
- Theatre directors
Wherever you want to go in the future, you’ll be preparing for the world of work from day one at Roehampton, with regular access to:
- Career development events
- Guest industry speakers
- Networking opportunities
- Personalised mentoring and careers support
You’ll graduate ready to grab every opportunity that comes your way.
Our careers support team is available to support you from the start of your studies until after you graduate. We will help you build your CV, prepare for interviews, and meet and learn from successful graduates working at the top of their careers.
You’ll also have opportunities to work with our partners across London and beyond, and to attend a Roehampton jobs fair where you can find out about graduate opportunities and meet employers.
Open days
Get a real taste of our campus, community and what it’s like to study at Roehampton
Applying
Full-time UK undergraduate students apply through UCAS.
Entry tariff
2024/25 entry: Call 0300 303 8320 to find out if you are eligible for this programme in Clearing
We welcome applications from students studying T Levels.
For all courses we also accept a wide range of other qualifications and experience. Contact us to find out more.
When we consider applications to study with us, we form a complete view of your achievements to date, and future potential, and can offer flexibility in entry requirements. Find out more about our Contextual Offer scheme.
General entry requirements
September 2024 entry tuition fees
Year one fees
UK: £9,250
Placement year: £998
We offer a wide range of scholarships and bursaries. See our 2024 financial support pages for UK students.
We also provide other ways to support the cost of living, including free buses and on-campus car parking, hardship support and some of the most affordable student accommodation and catering in London. Find out more about how we can support you.
International undergraduate students apply through our direct application system.
Entry tariff
We welcome applications from students studying T Levels.
For all courses we also accept a wide range of other qualifications and experience. Contact us to find out more.
When we consider applications to study with us, we form a complete view of your achievements to date, and future potential, and can offer flexibility in entry requirements. Find out more about our Contextual Offer scheme.
General entry requirements
September 2024 entry tuition fees
Year one fees
EU and International: £15,488
Placement year: £998
We offer a wide range of scholarships and bursaries. See our 2024 financial support pages for international students.
We also provide other ways to support the cost of living, including free buses and on-campus car parking, hardship support and some of the most affordable student accommodation and catering in London. Find out more about how we can support you.