MA Modern Liberal Arts

This Modern Liberal Arts course offers the possibility to explore ideas across the wide range of these intellectual areas.

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MA Modern Liberal Arts at University of Winchester

MA Modern Liberal Arts offers a different and exciting way for students to plan their studies around their own intellectual interests and questions. The programme is designed for those who, after their first degree, wish to return to higher education without having to commit themselves to a specific subject discipline.

Fact File

Entry requirements: Normally a first or second-class Honours degree in a related subject or professional experience in the area of study

Full-time: 1 year
Part-time: 2 years

Programme Coordinator: Derek Bunyard
Telephone +44 (0) 1962 827219
Email Derek.Bunyard@winchester.ac.uk

If English is not your first language: IELTS 6.5 (including 6.5 in academic writing) or a TOEFL score of 575 (paper-based) or 232 (computer-based) or equivalent

Start dates: September

Application process: UKPASS (full-time applicants only) or Direct Entry Application Form (part-time applicants only)

Programme Content

The Liberal Arts (Latin liberalis, free, and ars, art or principled practice) can claim to be the oldest programme of higher education in Western history. In medieval culture this
became formalised as the trivium, with the quadrivium of arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. Essentially, these seven subjects laid out the uniform laws of what could be known and achieved in the natural universe. These broad areas of enquiry are better known now as philosophy, the humanities, social science, natural science and the fine arts. As such, and rather than confining study to a recognised subject discipline, MA Modern Liberal Arts offers the possibility to explore ideas across the wide range of these intellectual areas. Students decide the content of their studies in liaison with tutor(s) from within the broad range of intellectual areas that constitute Modern Liberal Arts.

Modules

Areas of study:
• Ancient, Medieval and Modern Philosophies
• Renaissance Humanism
• Modern Social and Political Thought
• The Holocaust
• Religion
• Philosophy and Music
• Models and Philosophies of Higher Education
• Ecology
• Race
• Gender
• Women’s History 

Learning and Teaching

Core tuition is through one-to-one contact; assignments are based on areas of enquiry identified by individual students. In addition, students experience learning in a number of different ways, including listening and talking to tutors and peers, independent research from books, journals, the web, from quiet reflection and questioning, and from the thinking and preparation required for the successful completion of assignments.

Assessment

Credits are differentiated and awarded according to the size and number of written projects, again chosen by the student. Titles are individually negotiated between student and tutor.

Careers

The programme offers training in postgraduate employability skills and enables those in mid-career to return to higher education around their own interests. It also provides a rigorous preparation for those wishing to pursue a career in research in higher education and who are intending to take a PhD.