Liberal Arts

Develop an interdisciplinary understanding of today’s complex world and its challenges from subjects including English, history, philosophy, and global politics.

Shape your own degree in humanities and social sciences.

Study at ARU in Cambridge, and explore global issues and challenges such as inequality, social justice, violence, the essence of humanity and the future of AI.

This course includes a range of optional modules, so you can focus on your areas of interest. You'll also build your research skills, and learn how to deliver arguments through different communication channels.

Throughout the course, you’ll develop transferable skills that will prepare you to tackle real-world problems in a systematic and flexible manner.

Why ARU?

• Tailor your degree to your own interests, with a range of optional modules.

• Build your knowledge as you study alongside students from across the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

• Make contacts through a range of events including guest talks and live lit jams.

• Showcase your writing at events organised by our Cambridge Writing Centre.

Careers

Graduate with skills and knowledge that are valued in the 21st-century workplace.

These include independent thought, and the ability to communicate your research findings to diverse audiences.

While you're studying here, you'll enhance your skills through live briefs, with external businesses giving you real-world challenges to solve. You’ll also have opportunities to gain work experience through our contacts with local organisations and employers, and to volunteer in local schools.

You can choose to study a modern foreign language, which will give you a real advantage in the global job market, or study abroad for a trimester.

Course Modules

Year 1

• Introduction to the Study of Literature and Writing

• A History of Now

• Language, Communication and Society

• Introduction to Philosophy: The Big Questions

• Into ARU

Year 2

• Ruskin Module (15 credits)

• Give Peace a Chance: Fundamental Issues and Perspectives on Contemporary International Relations

• Woke Wars

• Mobilities and Migration

• Bridging Cultures

• Critical Social Thought: Knowledge, Power and Division

• Key Paradigms 2: Sociology and Politics *

• Sociology of Health Inequalities *

• Violence and Confrontation *

• The United States in the 20th Century *

• Professional Placement *

• Digital Media Theory: Social Media, AI and the Cultures of the Internet *

• Science Fiction *

• Leisure and Popular Culture in Britain, 1800 to the Present *

• Violence, Gender and Victimisation *

• Spirituality, Religion and the Secular *

• From Welfare State to European State? British politics and society, 1906-1975 *

• Hanging, Prisons and Community Service: Crime and Punishment in Britain throughout the Ages *

• Online Journalism *

• Cult Media *

• Researching Society and Culture *

• Anglia Language Programme (15 credits) *

• Nineteenth Century Afterlives and Adaptations *

Year 3

• Major Project

• Research Communication

• The Making of Modern Media

• Global Feminisms *

• From Workhouses to Universal Credit: The Past, Present and Future of the British Welfare State *

• The Cultural Politics of Celebrity *

• Key Paradigms 3: International and Global Perspectives in Education *

• Literature and Exile: Displacement, Identity, Self *

• Gender and Sexuality in Britain: 1880-2000 *

• Concepts of Good and Evil *

• Environment, Nature and Society *

• A Global History of Government and Society, 1945-1999 *

• 'Fake News', Conflict and Law *

• Communication, Flesh, Philosophy *

• New Media Discourse *

• Anglia Language Programme (15 credits) *

*optional