Information about Degrees in the Humanities and Social Studies

The BA Degrees and Associated BScEcon and BSc Degrees

The Humanities and Social Studies degrees offered at Cardiff are taught by the following academic schools:

• English, Communication and Philosophy
• European Languages, Translation and Politics
• History, Archaeology and Religion
• Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies
• Music
• Welsh

BA Degrees: Structure and Flexibility

Year One

Once you have been accepted by an academic school, you are guaranteed a place to study the subject(s) which you nominated in the choices section of your UCAS application. You will normally study three subjects in Year One. If you choose to do a Single Honours degree programme, you will study your chosen subject plus two additional subjects in your first year. If you choose to do a Joint Honours degree programme, you will study your chosen subjects plus one other subject in your first year. There are some exceptions to this e.g. students taking Japanese and another foreign language spend half of their time in the first year studying each language.
A huge range of choice is available. You should be aware that an academic school may strongly recommend an especially appropriate second subject for a particular degree programme.

Year Two and Final Year

In Year Two and the Final Year you continue to study the Single or Joint Honours subject(s) you originally chose when applying through UCAS. However, you may wish to change your degree programme choice in some way by, for example, changing from Single to Joint Honours or vice versa, or by continuing to study one or both of your additional subject(s) from Year One by following a different degree programme. This may be possible providing you have achieved the necessary academic requirements and providing you have obtained the approval of the heads of the appropriate academic schools.

BA Degrees: Subject options in Year One

Your three subjects for year one can be chosen from any listed in groups A-H below but you can choose only one subject from each group. (Subject codes shown in brackets).

GROUP A
English Literature (EL)
Politics (PO)
Sociology (SO)
Ancient (Hellenistic) Greek (AHG)
Classical Hebrew (CH)
Sanskrit (SA)

Maths (MA)

GROUP B
Education (ED) #
History (HI)
Cultural Criticism (CC)

Maths (MA)

GROUP C
French (FR)
Religious Studies (RS)
Communication (CO)

GROUP D
Ancient History (AH)
Economics (EC)
English Language (LC)
Theological Studies (ThS)

GROUP E
German (GE)
Philosophy (PH)
Welsh A (route 1)▀ (WA1)
Welsh A (route 2)+ (WA2)

GROUP F
Archaeology A (AA)
Music (MU)
Spanish (SP)
Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies (JFM)

GROUP G

History (HI)
Italian (IT)
Medieval & Renaissance
English Literature (MREL)
Sociology (SP) #
Maths (WA)

GROUP H
Welsh A (Route 1)* (WA1)
Welsh A (Route 2)+ (WA2)
Welsh B ^ (WB3)
Archaeology B (AB)
Japanese (JA)

Maths (MA)

▀for those with Welsh as a first language
+for those with Welsh as a second language
^Beginners' Welsh
# Some students may be unable to take Education or Sociology as an additional subject owing to timetabling constraints.

Owing to timetabling constraints History and Journalism cannot be taken together.

These groupings are accurate at the time of going to press and may be subject to change.

Further information

In the summer you will be sent a leaflet directing you to the University website where you will find all the enrolment information you need, including the Humanities and Social Studies Year One Enrolment & Subject Guide. It is very important that you read the Guide before coming to Cardiff. It gives you essential information both on academic subjects and on enrolment. Studying the Guide beforehand will give you the necessary time to think about your choice of additional subjects. You will need to check whether either of these additional subjects (or one subject if you are intending to study a Joint Honours degree) requires any specialist knowledge. To take a Music option, for example, musical knowledge is required. You can check the requirements by reading the academic school entry carefully. An essential part of your enrolment at Cardiff University is a meeting with your personal tutor to discuss and confirm the additional subject(s) which you have selected. You should not enrol on any modules online until you have seen your personal tutor and attended Humanities and Social Studies enrolment.
The BA Joint Honours degree programmes that are available are listed on the following pages.
For further details of all BA Single and Joint Honours degree programmes, please see appropriate academic school entries.

Notes

1. Social Sciences (including Education) 

Please see the entry for Cardiff School of Social Sciences for details of Joint Honours degrees with History, Journalism, Philosophy, Politics, Religious Studies and Welsh.

2. Law
Please see the entry for Cardiff Law School for details on combined law degrees with French, German, Politics and Welsh. 

Transfer to be BScEcon

It is possible to transfer to a BScEcon degree at the end of Year One. To do so, you must normally have studied the relevant subject(s) in Year One and obtained the approval of the head of the appropriate School.

BScEcon Degrees: Structure and Flexibility

Year One

You study six double modules chosen from the modules offered in the subject areas listed above, under the heading ‘BScEcon Degrees: Subject options in Year One’. To continue to Single Honours or Joint Honours level, you are normally required to take certain core modules in Year One. Details and guidance are available in the relevant academic school entry and from the listed Admissions Tutors.

Year Two and Final Year

In Year Two and the Final Year you continue to study the Single or Joint Honours subject(s) you originally chose when applying through UCAS. However, you may wish to change your degree programme in some way, by, for example, changing from a Single to Joint Honours or vice versa. This may be possible providing you have achieved the necessary academic requirements and providing you have obtained the approval of the head of the appropriate academic school. The Honours modules which contribute to your final degree are taken in Year Two and the Final
Year. The BScEcon Joint Honours degree programmes which are available are listed on the following pages.
For further details of all BScEcon Single and Joint Honours degrees, please see appropriate
academic School entries.

Transfer to BA

It is possible to transfer to a BA degree at the end of Year One. To do so, you must normally have studied the relevant subject(s) in Year One and obtained the approval of the head of the appropriate School.

BSc Degrees

The following BSc degrees are available in Humanities and Social Studies:

BSc Archaeology
BSc Conservation of Objects in Museums and Archaeology