(BA) Bachelor of Arts
Philosophy and Art History
Current
University of Essex
University of Essex
Philosophical, Historical, and Interdisciplinary Studies (School of)
Colchester Campus
Honours Degree
Full-time
Philosophy
History of Art, Architecture and Design
BA VV53
08/05/2024
Details
Professional accreditation
None
Admission criteria
- A-levels: BBB - BBC or 120 - 112 UCAS tariff points from a minimum of 2 full A-levels.
- BTEC: DDM - DMM or 120 - 112 UCAS tariff points from a minimum of the equivalent of 2 full A-levels. The acceptability of BTECs is dependent on subject studied and optional units taken - email ugquery@essex.ac.uk for advice.
- Combined qualifications on the UCAS tariff: 120 - 112 UCAS tariff points from a minimum of 2 full A levels or equivalent. Tariff point offers may be made if you are taking a qualification, or mixture of qualifications, from the list on our undergraduate application information page.
- IB: 30 - 29 points or three Higher Level certificates with 555-554.
- IB Career-related Programme: We consider combinations of IB Diploma Programme courses with BTECs or other qualifications. Advice on acceptability can be provided, email Undergraduate Admissions.
- QAA-approved Access to HE Diploma: 6 level 3 credits at Distinction and 39 level 3 credits at Merit, depending on subject studied - advice on acceptability can be provided, email Undergraduate Admissions.
- T-levels: We consider T-levels on a case-by-case basis, depending on subject studied. The offer for most courses is Distinction overall. Depending on the course applied for there may be additional requirements, which may include a specific grade in the Core.
Contextual Offers:
We are committed to ensuring that all students with the merit and potential to benefit from an Essex education are supported to do so. For October 2024 entry, if you are a home fee paying student residing in the UK you may be eligible for a Contextual Offer of up to two A-level grades, or equivalent, below our standard conditional offer.
Factors we consider:
- Applicants from underrepresented groups
- Applicants progressing from University of Essex Schools Membership schools/colleges
- Applicants who attend a compulsory admissions interview
- Applicants who attend an Offer Holder Day at our Colchester or Southend campus
Our contextual offers policy outlines additional circumstances and eligibility criteria.
For further information about what a contextual offer may look like for your specific qualification profile, email ugquery@essex.ac.uk.
If you haven't got the grades you hoped for, have a non-traditional academic background, are a mature student, or have any questions about eligibility for your course, more information can be found on our undergraduate application information page or get in touch with our Undergraduate Admissions Team.
IELTS (International English Language Testing System) code
English language requirements for applicants whose first language is not English: IELTS 6.0 overall, or specified score in another equivalent test that we accept.
Details of English language requirements, including component scores, and the tests we accept for applicants who require a Student visa (excluding Nationals of Majority English Speaking Countries) can be found here
If we accept the English component of an international qualification it will be included in the academic levels listed above for the relevant countries.
English language shelf-life
Most English language qualifications have a validity period of 5 years. The validity period of Pearson Test of English, TOEFL and CBSE or CISCE English is 2 years.
If you require a Student visa to study in the UK please see our immigration webpages for the latest Home Office guidance on English language qualifications.
Pre-sessional English courses
If you do not meet our IELTS requirements then you may be able to complete a pre-sessional English pathway that enables you to start your course without retaking IELTS.
Pending English language qualifications
You don’t need to achieve the required level before making your application, but it will be one of the conditions of your offer.
If you cannot find the qualification that you have achieved or are pending, then please email ugquery@essex.ac.uk
.
Requirements for second and final year entry
Different requirements apply for second and final year entry, and specified component grades are also required for applicants who require a visa to study in the UK. Details of English language requirements, including UK Visas and Immigration minimum component scores, and the tests we accept for applicants who require a Student visa (excluding Nationals of Majority English Speaking Countries) can be found here
Additional Notes
If you’re an international student, but do not meet the English language or academic requirements for direct admission to this degree, you could prepare and gain entry through a pathway course. Find out more about opportunities available to you at the University of Essex International College
Course qualifiers
A course qualifier is a bracketed addition to your course title to denote a specialisation or pathway that you have achieved via the completion of specific modules during your course. The
specific module requirements for each qualifier title are noted below. Eligibility for any selected qualifier will be determined by the department and confirmed by the final year Board of
Examiners. If the required modules are not successfully completed, your course title will remain as described above without any bracketed addition. Selection of a course qualifier is
optional and student can register preferences or opt-out via Online Module Enrolment (eNROL).
None
Rules of assessment
Rules of assessment are the rules, principles and frameworks which the University uses to calculate your course progression and final results.
Additional notes
Final year: Students may only take one final-year project/dissertation option from the following list: AR382-6-FY or AR383-6-SP or PY426-6-AU or PY426-6-SP.
Students who have the option to do so may, if they wish and have the module supervisor’s permission, take 30 credits at level 6 in year 2. They may also take 30 credits at level 5 in year 3. It is recommended that students take 120 credits at level 6 as at least 90 credits at this level must be passed to be awarded a degree. See section D: Rules of Assessment.
External examiners
Dr Dominic Paterson
Senior Lecturer in History of Art / Curator of Contemporary Art
University of Glasgow
External Examiners provide an independent overview of our courses, offering their expertise and help towards our continual improvement of course content, teaching, learning, and assessment.
External Examiners are normally academics from other higher education institutions, but may be from the industry, business or the profession as appropriate for the course.
They comment on how well courses align with national standards, and on how well the teaching, learning and assessment methods allow students to develop and demonstrate the relevant knowledge and skills needed to achieve their awards.
External Examiners who are responsible for awards are key members of Boards of Examiners. These boards make decisions about student progression within their course and about whether students can receive their final award.
Programme aims
1. To offer a varied, flexible and distinctive curriculum across the field of art history and philosophy.
2. To provide the opportunity for an understanding of both artistic and philosophical events within a broader theoretical, aesthetic and cultural context.
3. To enable students to understand the relationship between the ideas, theories and aesthetic concepts of the past and the present and to enable consideration of the ways in which this is documented creatively and visually.
4. To encourage both critical engagement with and enjoyment of the visual arts, particularly through first-hand observation.
5. To develop the skills of research analysis and argument which bring the disciplines of philosophy and art history together and to enable students to understand and to appreciate the relationship between them with a degree of critical awareness.
6. To enable students to undertake independent study in a dissertation on a topic of their choice within the School.
7. To provide the knowledge and skills (critical inquiry and argument, imaginative understanding, written, spoken and visual interpretation, communication and presentation) that will not only stand students in good stead for more specialised academic careers, but will also enhance their opportunities for employment in a wide range of other careers.
Learning outcomes and learning, teaching and assessment methods
On successful completion of the programme a graduate should demonstrate knowledge and skills as follows:
A: Knowledge and understanding
A1: Knowledge of philosophical texts from a variety of traditions and visual art from the Early Renaissance to the present day, including theoretical issues that have been central to the Western European and Latin American traditions in visual art.
A2: Knowledge of significant figures in the history of philosophy, and of some central theories, arguments and issues connected with them, and figures in art history as well as the relationships of works of visual art to the broader cultural context.
A3: Knowledge of techniques of philosophical reasoning and conceptions of philosophical method, embracing diverse traditions and approaches, as well as basic methods of critical analysis and argument appropriate to visual artefacts.
A4: Knowledge of major issues currently being debated by philosophers and some substantive areas of current research in the field of art history including an awareness of the development of these areas of research.
Learning methods
A1-A4 are acquired through lectures, classes and coursework (with regular feedback, both oral and written, from tutors).
Assessment methods
Assessment is continual throughout each academic year. Depending on module choices this can take the form of written essays, literature reviews, take-home research papers, in-class slide tests, summaries of weekly readings, and unseen written examinations, including questions on visual material in photographic form.
Similarly, more informal but regular contact with tutors, both in classroom discussion and tutorial sessions, enables continued reflection and improvement throughout the entire course.
B: Intellectual and cognitive skills
B1: Ability to analyse a given body of material, breaking it down into component points or parts and highlighting the most significant among them, and to present one's own evaluation of it.
B2: Ability to use and criticise specialised philosophical or art historical terminology.
B3: Ability to summarise complex and demanding texts, often written at historical distance, and to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the views they propose.
B4: Ability to identify underlying issues in philosophical texts, debates and arguments, and to highlight deficiencies such as unquestioned assumptions, superficial analogies and unsubstantiated claims.
B5: Respond to unfamiliar artefacts, issues or ideas with an open mind
B6: Solve problems using knowledge and experience.
Learning methods
Intellectual and cognitive skills are introduced through background reading, of primary and secondary material (be this class reading and/or preparation for presentation work) by in class discussion and by visual analysis of works of art in order to cover B1-B6.
Similarly all skills B1-B6 are developed with feedback from tutors and in peer groups more generally.
Assessment methods
Assessment is continual throughout each academic year. Depending on module choices this can take the form of written essays, literature reviews, take-home research papers, in-class slide tests, summaries of weekly readings, and unseen written examinations, including questions on visual material in photographic form.
Similarly, more informal but regular contact with tutors, both in classroom discussion and tutorial sessions, enables continued reflection and improvement throughout the entire course.
C: Practical skills
C1: Critical Skills: including selection of relevant material from a range of sources, including books, journal articles, library and internet resources, and appraisal of other people's arguments on the basis of familiarity with source materials and current literature.
C2: Research Skills: including use of appropriate methods to locate primary and secondary sources, and works of visual art.
C3: Writing Skills: including use of academic conventions and logical, structured argument, and the ability to express oneself clearly
C4: Visual Skills: including observation (recognition of materials and techniques but also other aspects of works of visual art such as formal organisation or narrative structure), description (using ordinary as well as specialised language) and analysis.
Learning methods
Preparation for and participation in seminar discussion develops C1-C4. The presentations demonstrate C3 and C4 in particular.
The final year dissertation, compulsory for the course, enables students to focus on all areas but especially C1 and C2 and as such introduces students to the demands of independent research which is a key indicator to the demands of, as well as any potential inclination towards postgraduate study.
Assessment methods
Assessment is continual throughout each academic year, depending on modules this can take the form of written essays, literature reviews, take-home research papers, in-class slide tests, summaries of weekly readings, and unseen written examinations, including questions on visual material in photographic form.
Similarly, more informal but regular contact with tutors, both in classroom discussion and tutorial sessions, enables continued reflection and improvement throughout the entire course.
C1 and C2 are assessed by analysis of documents and bibliographical materials.
C1, C2, C4 are assessed as part of group work in particular.
C1, C2, C3 and C4 are assessed by coursework in particular.
Presentation work and examinations also test the skills of working under pressure without notes and cover C1-C4.
D: Key skills
D1: The ability to communicate information, arguments and ideas cogently and effectively in a range of different contexts using a range of different aids or resources; special ability to deploy visual material in a variety of media in the context of presentations or written work
D2: Students should be able to make use of IT for research purposes (including searchable databases such as library catalogues and internet sources), to present assessed work, and be able to use email.
D3: Ability to identify the problem to be solved; to articulate critically the assumptions underlying or connected with the problem; to compare and contrast differing and often contradictory solutions to the problem; and to provide argument and evidence in defence of one's solution to the problem.
D4: Students will be given the opportunity to work constructively and productively in groups, and be able to participate effectively in seminars.
D5: Ability to read closely and carefully; to organize one's reading and thinking in relation to specific topics; take responsibility for their own work; reflect on their own learning and performance and make constructive use of feedback from the lecturer in the form of written comments on coursework and oral communication; and to work to deadlines
Learning methods
Skills D1-5 are acquired and developed through the teaching and learning methods described above and in class discussions.
The four key skills are implicit throughout the degree. Communication is developed through seminar discussion, but also through attending lectures.
Students are encouraged to use the University key skills on-line package (listed in the School Handbook), word processing packages, library searches and internet resources.
Students are expected and encouraged to share responsibility for their own programme of studies.
Assessment methods
Outcomes D1-5 are assessed through continuous coursework and unseen written examinations.
Coursework consists of essays written during the academic year for a specified module, returned with a grade and written feedback for the student.
Examinations consist of essay-based questions, for which revision classes are provided.