Make an impact sooner with our flexible Accelerated Liberal Arts degree
Explore countless connections across the humanities with our Accelerated Liberal Arts degree. Over two years, you’ll apply theory and skills to real-world issues. We’ll give your the skills and knowledge you need to make an impact, whatever your chosen area. Our accelerated Liberal Arts degree is interdisciplinary in nature and you can cover subjects including:
- revolutions and rebellions
- world religions
- digital production
- creative writing
- journalism and the media
- political communication.
You can design your degree to specialise in areas that excite you most. Our major pathways include:
Our accelerated liberal arts programme is also available as a traditional three-year degree.
Real-world experience
During your Accelerated BA Liberal Arts degree, you can engage in real-world public presentations and creative projects through mediums like:
- film and tv
- magazines
- podcasts.
Learn in the capital
We are only 30 minutes away from central London. Therefore, you’ll have access to diverse creative, cultural, historical, and political scenes. You could explore places like:
We’ll also take you on exciting field trips to several cultural institutions, including:
A campus with a unique creative history
Our campus is attached to Strawberry Hill House. Here, renowned gothic writer, Horace Walpole, designed and lived to inspire his work. As a result, your degree will be a fully immersive and geographically distinct learning experience.
Expert teaching and support
You’ll work closely with our expert team in seminars. Our student, Davin, tells us our academics are “very helpful and are always available to provide useful feedback”.
The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide (2023) placed us in the UK’s top 5 for teaching quality.
Dr Stewart McCain
Subject Lead - Liberal Arts
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Course content
Modules
The BA Liberal Arts (Accelerated) degree adopts a three-term a year structure, which means that you complete a normal 3 year BA honours degree in just two years. The third term runs from June to July as our Liberal Arts Summer School.
In the first year of your Liberal Arts degree, you will study two core modules and three modules of your own choosing from across a minimum of two subject study areas. During the Liberal Arts Summer School you will select three from four Liberal Arts optional modules.
In the second year, you will study two core modules and choose four optional modules. During the Liberal Arts Summer School you will complete your core Liberal Arts Project alongside another Liberal Arts modules.
Indicative modules might be as follows:
Please note: it is possible that a module listed on the website will not be able to run due to reasons beyond our control. For more information please refer to our course information disclaimer.
Entry requirements
96 - 112
UCAS points
We understand that sometimes barriers you can't control get in the way of academic achievement. You are more than just your grades. We'll consider your application as a whole, taking into account things like:
- subjects studied at Level 3
- your GCSEs (or equivalent) profile
- non-academic achievements you mention in your personal statement
- your references and motivation.
International requirements
International students should check our country-specific pages for equivalents. If English is not your first language you will need to achieve an IELTS score of 6.0 overall with no less than 5.5 in any section (or equivalent). (or equivalent).
UCAS Personal statement support
Create your UCAS personal statement through our online builder and we'll email you a copy of your completed version at the end.
Further Information
For more information about entry requirements please email apply@stmarys.ac.uk.
How many UCAS points my grades are worth
A levels
A*
56 pts
A
48 pts
B
40 pts
C
32 pts
D
24 pts
E
16 pts
My qualification isn't listed:
If you can't find your qualification in this list please check the full list of UCAS tariff tables.
Fees & funding
Tuition fees
Home
£11,100
International
£18,150
*Please note: these fees are annual and may increase in line with inflation each year subject to the Government's review of Higher Education Funding.
Information about tuition fees, student loans, and funding your studies can be found within our fees and funding section.
Additional costs
Your tuition fees will cover the cost of all mandatory elements of your programme.
Additional costs could be incurred depending on optional modules chosen and other projects undertaken.
For further information about additional costs please see our additional costs webpage.
Scholarships
Find out more about our range of scholarships and bursaries available to undergraduate students .
Living costs
A guide to your living costs has been created by our Student Funding Team.
Accommodation costs vary depending on whether you opt for an en suite room and on-site catering. Take a look at our accommodation options and the prices you can expect to pay.
How the degree is taught
Teaching methods
You'll be taught on our beautiful and historic campus located in Twickenham, London.
You will study for your BA Liberal Arts accelerated degree on our beautiful and historic campus located in Twickenham, London.
Most modules will involve three hours of seminar study. All of our modules are taught in seminar groups, giving you a much better chance to discuss ideas and material with tutors and other students than in a large lecture format.
The applied nature of the BA Liberal Arts accelerated degree means that you will also have the chance to interact with, and learn from, figures active in relevant fields, such as Cultural Heritage, Government and Politics, and Journalism.
The independent project gives you a chance to shape your own programme of work. You can produce a traditional dissertation or create a website podcast series, short film, or piece of creative fiction. You can choose the media most appropriate to showcase your ideas.
Students on the BA Liberal Arts degree will be allocated a personal tutor, but in line with the focus on collective problem solving embedded through the course content each cohort will also meet as a group on a weekly basis.
Assessment methods
There are a large range of assessment strategies available to students on the BA Liberal Arts degree. You will develop skills as an academic writer through formal essays, as well as becoming a charismatic communicator through public presentations. The Liberal Arts degree fosters group problem solvers through project work and creative artists through media outputs, film, podcast, and/or performance.
All forms of assessment will be designed to enable lecturers to meet the three-week turnaround requirement for feedback.
Feedback
We adhere to the university’s policy of providing feedback on assessments within 15 working days.
Career opportunities
Our Accelerated Liberal Arts degree will help you develop essential transferrable skills, such as critical thinking, teamwork, and creative problem-solving.
Our Liberal Arts students have worked in a variety of fields, including politics and government, education and marketing and communications.
Contact our Career Services at careers@stmarys.ac.uk for further information on work and postgraduate opportunities.
Some examples of job roles and areas of work for graduates of Liberal Arts (Accelerated) BA (Hons) include:
More from St Mary's
Thinking about whether St Mary's is the right place for you? Come and visit it us on campus.
Find out more about the extensive support system available to you at St Mary’s.
Discover the many areas in which our academies are currently researching.
Discover what life is like on our London campus.