English

Throughout the ages, the written word has been a powerful force for political action, historical documentary, creative expression and transformation. At NTU, we share your passion for English, and on this degree we bring this passion to enhancing, interrogating, and challenging your understanding, while also developing your talents and strengths.

English at NTU is a future-facing course that interrogates the past. We encourage our students to think creatively about real world issues and focus on how knowledge of literature matters in today’s world. Flexibility and creativity in expression and thought is central to our teaching, learning, and assessment, all of which is carried out via a range of methodologies embracing both traditional and digital formats and technologies. The course team are all active researchers and writers, whose expertise in new developments in the discipline feeds directly into your modules. You will study texts from the Renaissance to the present and be encouraged to stretch yourself intellectually and imaginatively by exploring literature both as practitioners and critics.

Our lively learning community offers a nurturing, friendly, and supportive environment, with extensive pastoral provision. Students select their own pathway through the course via a variety of optional modules which gives the flexibility and freedom to develop critical and textual specialisms and interdisciplinary connections. In the final year, students have the freedom to undertake either a traditional dissertation or an alternative industry-focused capstone project.

The English team’s links with cultural organisations and industry in Nottingham (for example, Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature) and beyond directly feed into the course, offering our students opportunities to engage with the wider local community and local literary industry. Unlike many other BA English courses, our employability pathway is embedded, ensuring direct connections between studying the subject and our students’ futures.

Why study English at NTU?

• A student favourite. 95% of English students are positive about the teaching on this course (National Student Survey (NSS) 2025).

• Be at the forefront of innovation. Informed by cutting-edge research and developments in the discipline, including the subject’s relationship with digital technologies.

• Be industry-ready. Embedded employability pathways, and opportunities for practicing skills in expression and creativity in workplace settings and the wider community.

• Be part of today’s cultural conversations. Active engagement with contemporary cultural issues.

Course Modules

Throughout the course, modules will cover a variety of subjects, a few examples include:

• Literary Pasts, Presents and Futures

• Reading the Future

• Writing in a UNESCO City of Literature

• Literary Practices: Writing, Editing, Publishing

• Rebel Literatures, and Writing Justice

• Changing Worlds

To view the full list of modules, visit the course page: https://www.ntu.ac.uk/course/arts-and-humanities/ug/ba-hons-english

English module assessments are varied and engaging. Modules are mainly assessed through a combination of essays, blogposts, portfolios, podcasts, presentations (digital and in-person), creative responses and outputs, critical responses to digital resources, textual analysis, reviews, project proposals, and digital media exercises, helping you to hone a wide range of work-ready skills and attributes.