Program Overview

Arts and Humanities with Foundation Year BA Hons

Overview

The Arts and Humanities with Foundation Year BA Hons is a four-year program designed for talented UK students with an interest in arts and humanities subjects, but whose personal circumstances make achieving our usual entry requirements difficult.

Qualification and Entry Requirements

• Qualification: Bachelor of Arts with Honours
• Entry Requirements:
  • BCC
  • 24 Points overall or 544 in 3 Higher Level Certificates (IB score)
  • GCSE English grade 4 (C)
• Additional entry requirements:
  • Some degrees, notably those provided by the Department of Music, and post-A level pathway Modern Languages, have additional entry requirements.
  • Progression to certain UG degree programmes within the Faculty of Arts is dependent on student holding additional specific qualifications.

Personal Circumstances

• To qualify for our Foundation Year contextual offer, you must have Home/UK fee status and meet specific criteria.
• As well as having the required grades, your current or most recent school cannot be an independent school, and you must meet at least one of the following personal background criteria:
  • You live in an area where people are less likely to go to university – check your postcode
  • You were in receipt of free school meals (FSM) on any census day in the six years before the census day of your final KS4 year (that is, the year you were aged 15-16 years old)
  • You are the first generation in your family to enter higher education
  • You will be over 21 years old when you begin your course
  • You have spent more than three months in local authority care (for this criterion you do not need to have attended a state school)
  • You have refugee status from the Home Office
  • You need to study in the East Midlands (for example for family, cultural or financial reasons)
  • You provide long term care of a sick or disabled family member

Tuition Fees

• £5,760* (2025/26 academic year)
• The university will charge the maximum approved fee, so students studying the Arts and Humanities with Foundation Year will pay £5,760 for the first (foundation) year of your degree.
• Then from your second year onwards, you will pay the latest fee applicable to UK undergraduates studying in England, which is subject to confirmation.

Additional Costs

• All students will need at least one device to approve security access requests via Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).
• We also recommend students have a suitable laptop to work both on and off-campus.
• Essential course materials are supplied.
• Books: You'll be able to access most of the books you’ll need through our libraries, though you may wish to buy your own copies of core texts.
• A limited number of modules may have compulsory texts which you are required to buy. We recommend that you budget £100 per year for books, but this figure will vary according to which modules you take.
• Volunteering and placements: For volunteering and placements, such as work experience and teaching in schools, you will need to pay for transport and refreshments.

Study Abroad

• On the direct entry degree part of this course, you can apply to study abroad at one of our partner institutions or at University of Nottingham China or University of Nottingham Malaysia.
• If you are successful in applying to study abroad, you will get the opportunity to broaden your horizons and enhance your CV by experiencing another culture.
• Teaching is typically in English, but there may be opportunities to study in another language if you are sufficiently fluent.

Placements and Internships

• You can choose to add an Optional Placement Year to your three year progression degree.
• For some of our progression degrees you could gain professional experience in film, television and other creative industries, create a network of contacts and boost your employability through our Creative Student Network internship scheme.

Key Information

• Please be aware that study abroad, compulsory year abroad, optional placements/internships and integrated year in industry opportunities may change at any time for a number of reasons, including curriculum developments, changes to arrangements with partner universities or placement/industry hosts, travel restrictions or other circumstances outside of the university’s control.

Course Overview

• Your Arts and Humanities Foundation Year will help prepare you for undergraduate study at Nottingham.
• Through a range of engaging modules spanning the arts and humanities, you will develop key skills such as communication, critical thinking, teamwork, and digital capability.
• You'll be able to tailor your assessment topics to explore aspects of your progression degree with elements of interdisciplinarity and real-world applicability.
• Your dedicated Foundation Year tutors will support you with building these skills, and the confidence for undergraduate study.

Why Choose This Course?

• Automatic progression to your degree upon successful completion of the Foundation Year - there's no need to reapply.
• Preparation for success - gain the skills and confidence during the foundation year to thrive as an undergraduate.
• Great support - benefit from dedicated foundation year tutors
• Carefully designed modules – a curriculum aimed to give you the best start to your progression degree
• Freedom to explore - deepen your knowledge of your favourite topics and explore new ones
• Build employability - develop your employability through integrated professional competencies training during the foundation year
• Change your mind – this Foundation Year allows progression to a wide range of Arts and Humanities degrees. Only music degrees, and some modern language degrees require specific subjects at A level or equivalent. If you do change your mind about this subject during the year, you can discuss your alternatives with your tutor.

Your Department

• The Foundation Year is based within the School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies but operates across the whole of the Faculty of Arts.
• Once you progress to your chosen degree you will be based within one of our schools and departments.

Important Information

• This online prospectus has been drafted in advance of the academic year to which it applies. Every effort has been made to ensure that the information is accurate at the time of publishing, but changes (for example to course content) are likely to occur given the interval between publishing and commencement of the course.

Indicative Modules

• Foundation year
  • All modules Mandatory Optional
  • Mandatory
    • Year 1
      • Important Thinkers Through History
      • Critical Thinking and Reflective Learning
      • Language and Culture
      • Media, Communication and Society
      • Narrative and Creativity
      • The Project / Language Centre modules

Teaching and Learning

• How you will learn
  • Teaching methods
    • Lectures
    • Seminars
    • Tutorials
    • Workshops
• How you will be assessed
  • Your six foundation year modules are assessed using a wide variety of methods.
  • Each module has two assessment points.
  • Assessment methods
    • Essay
    • Poster
    • Presentation
    • Portfolio (written/digital)
    • Creative piece
    • Workbook
  • If taking a language module in place of the The Project:
    • Exam
    • Oral exam

Careers

• Careers overview
  • Evidence shows that students commencing their university study at foundation level achieve the same levels of undergraduate degree as their fellow direct-route students, which in turn leads to the same wide range of career options.
• Job prospects
  • Average starting salary and career progression
    • 78.8% of undergraduates from the Faculty of Arts secured graduate level employment or further study within 15 months of graduation.
    • The average annual starting salary for these graduates was £23,974.
• Careers advice
  • Studying for a degree at the University of Nottingham will provide you with the type of skills and experiences that will prove invaluable in any career, whichever direction you decide to take.
  • Throughout your time with us, our Careers and Employability Service can work with you to improve your employability skills even further; assisting with job or course applications, searching for appropriate work experience placements and hosting events to bring you closer to a wide range of prospective employers.