Studying Liberal Arts at Lancaster offers you the opportunity to expand your mind and become a creative and critical thinker. You will develop a holistic view of global issues and engage with local communities, tackle societal challenges and explore influential ideas.

By exploring ideas from a range of arts, humanities and social science subjects, you will develop a sophisticated understanding of the key issues facing humanity, hone your problem-solving skills and practice innovative thinking. Prepare to become a versatile, global citizen ready to make a meaningful impact in an ever-changing world.

Why study Liberal Arts at Lancaster?

Think big and think differently: Develop your creative and critical thinking through dynamic, interdisciplinary approaches in humanities, arts, design and social sciences

Unleash your creativity: Choose innovative assessments that develop your interests and skills, from producing a podcast to crafting a case study or creating a performance piece

Make a real-world impact: Collaborate with local communities to design and deliver meaningful, hands-on projects that make a difference

Build a future-ready skill set: Apply your learning in practical, professional settings to master problem-solving, negotiation, communication, and empathy

Turn learning into action: Graduate with experiences and skills that demonstrate your ability to innovate, connect, and lead in a rapidly changing world

Embark on an adventure: Shape your own learning journey by choosing from a wide range of optional modules from across the humanities, arts, and social sciences

Apply your ideas to current issues

Many challenges we face today are complex and require input from a range of disciplines and perspectives. You will develop a wide-ranging understanding of real-world issues and learn how to solve problems drawing on a range of methodologies and approaches from across the Arts and Humanities.

Topics could include:

The environment and climate change

Our digital presents and futures

Relationships between human and non-human and AI

Truth objectivity and subjectivity in information

As we explore different topics, we will draw on principles from Art and Design to Politics, from English Literature to Cultural Studies and from History to Philosophy. You will encounter big thinkers, game-changing ideas, and influential theories that shape the way we understand the world, challenge conventional thinking, and inspire innovation across various fields. You'll learn to analyse, critique and question the relationships between these different perspectives.

By developing your critical and creative thinking you'll be able to relate cultural artefacts such as paintings, literature, buildings and iconic figures to the contexts of their production and reception and ask how these principles have impact in the real world. For example, how do the legacies of colonialism impact the lives of local communities today?

Learn through real-world encounters

We emphasise the importance of ‘place’ in our teaching, encouraging you to engage with local communities within their own unique locations on their own terms. A key part of the course is connecting your studies to the real world, applying what you have learned to current social issues to have a positive effect.

You will develop awareness of and engagement with community partners such as councils, charities, arts and heritage groups, health care partners and businesses; local community settings may also include Lancaster Castle, Preston Archives, the Gregson community centre or the Eden Project in Morecambe.

As you progress through the course, you will work collaboratively on live briefs aiming to produce creative solutions to social challenges set in a range of local contexts. Through these immersive experiences and collaborative projects, you will be directly addressing pressing societal challenges. You will learn how to apply your knowledge and skills in professional contexts preparing you for your future career and empowering you, as a graduate to make a difference in the world.

New ways of thinking. New ways of assessment

As you experience alternative ways of thinking and develop your awareness of the relationship between global issues and local realities, your sensitivity to cultural diversity will increase. You will become a more flexible, lateral, and creative thinker. Through human interactions you will develop negotiation skills grounded in empathy and insight. We believe that it’s not about looking for the right answers but finding the right questions to ask.

An innovative approach to study requires alternatives to traditional assessment methods. On some modules you will have creative choice over the kind of work you submit for assessment. For example, you might deliver a podcast, present a theatre performance, create a case-study or make a piece of art!

With the knowledge, skills and experiences you acquire at Lancaster, you can graduate with ambition and confidence that you will bring real value to whatever you choose to do.

Expand your horizons

Liberal Arts at Lancaster supports free-thinking students whose passions and interest may not be confined to narrow perspectives. On this course we encourage you to follow your passions, build on existing knowledge and develop new interests by creating a pathway through a wide range of subject areas from across the University, pending availability. Examples may include Languages, Geography, Design, Art, Sociology, Politics, Literature, Management, Philosophy, Linguistics, Entrepreneurship, Computing, History and more.

You will gain a real insight into how different disciplines intersect, overlap and differ in the way they view, critique and imagine the world. You' ll experience how different disciplines approach, teach and critique key questions and issues delivered by leaders in their fields. From this experience you will develop a strong sense of comparative thinking and will be able to apply these to a wide variety of contexts both in your studies and in your future career. You will be equipped to take your place in the world as a global citizen.

Your department

School of Global Affairs

Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

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Download the course booklet to find out more about Lancaster University, how we teach Liberal Arts, and what you'll study as a Liberal Arts student.

Liberal Arts subject guide

Your year abroad

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Study abroad

The study abroad option is an exciting opportunity for anyone who is thinking of working abroad during their career or who simply wants the experience of living and studying overseas as part of their degree.

Often study abroad students describe the year abroad as a “transformative experience”, as it can shape your future career path as well as having a positive impact on your personal development.

Study abroad - Lancaster students

Experience and skills

On a study abroad course, you'll spend two years at Lancaster before going overseas in your third year to study at one of our international partner universities. This will help you to

develop your global outlook

expand your professional network

increase your cultural awareness

develop your personal skills.

You’ll return to Lancaster for your final year of study in year four.

Host universities

During your year abroad, you will choose specialist modules relating to your degree and potentially other modules offered by the host university that are specialisms of that university and country.

The places available at our overseas partners vary every year. In previous years destinations for students in the Faculty have included Australia, United States, Canada, Europe and Asia.

Alternative option

We will make reasonable endeavours to place students at an approved overseas partner university that offers appropriate modules. Occasionally places overseas may not be available for all students who want to study abroad or the place at the partner university may be withdrawn if core modules are unavailable.

If you are not offered a place to study overseas, you will be able to transfer to the equivalent standard 3-year degree scheme and would complete your studies at Lancaster. Lancaster University cannot accept responsibility for any financial aspects of the year abroad.

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What career opportunities are there with a degree in Liberal Arts?

Graduates from a Liberal Arts degree acquire transferable skills that are a real asset to a wide range of professions that require effective communication, problem-solving and leadership skills as well as an ability to work in multicultural environments. Graduate destinations could for example include government and policy-making, education, charity and arts sectors as well as journalism.

Creative and critical thinking skills are in high demand in the workplace as is the ability to communicate ideas at every level. A skilled analyst able to see all sides of an argument, you will be a persuasive negotiator while remaining open to the ideas of others. Your adaptability and flexibility, evidenced throughout your degree, will be an asset in today’s rapidly changing and sometimes challenging work environment.

The practical elements of this course will give you demonstrable experience of real-life situations where you have organised and managed workloads and collaborated as part of a team. You will have developed sensitivity to and tolerance of others along with an ability to make ethical and informed decisions.

Future careers could include:

Broadcasting: Radio or TV work

Barrister

Public relations manager

Teacher Social or community worker

Manager or team leader in charitable sector

Gallery curator

Archivist

Politics researcher

Museum Documentary maker

Journalist, Marketing or social media specialist

Manager or team leader in an Arts organisation or the Heritage Industry

Social responsibility manager

With a multitude of options supported by a strong core of Liberal Arts modules, we offer the support for you to find and shape your own path to career success. We have selected a few of these potential paths here to describe in a little more detail how the Liberal Arts course could prepare you with the skills and experience to flourish in these exciting futures.

Journalism, Digital Content, and Public Affairs Communications

The world does not need more content. It needs better sense-making. Lancaster Liberal Arts will help you build the craft behind communication that people will actually trust; analysis, cultural literacy, and a feel for how narratives will work in the wild. We will explore how “facts” travel, how assumptions get built into systems, and how public debates are shaped. Then you will make things: podcasts, case studies, creative outputs. You will graduate with a portfolio, not just opinions. This will be ideal preparation for journalism, digital content, and public affairs roles.

Evidence you can choose to graduate with: published-ready podcast or audio feature; editorial-style long-form piece; fact-checking/provenance log; audience brief; content portfolio.

Policy Adviser or Public Policy Officer

If you want to shape policy, you will need more than opinions, you will need judgement. In Lancaster’s Liberal Arts degree, we will train you to work with complexity: you will hold competing perspectives, test claims, and translate messy realities into clear options. We will build your confidence writing for decision-makers, speaking to stakeholders, and making sense of evidence that does not neatly agree with itself. Through place-based projects and live briefs, we will help you practise the real work of public change: framing problems well, negotiating constraints, and proposing action that will stand up in the room.

Evidence you can choose to graduate with: policy briefing pack; stakeholder map; evidence review; options appraisal; short implementation plan.

Arts, Heritage and Cultural Project Management

Cultural work is never only about culture. It is about audiences, institutions, place, politics, and delivery. Lancaster’s Liberal Arts degree will help you connect artefacts to context, and context to action. You will learn to interpret cultural forms, understand public value, and design experiences that will engage real communities rather than imaginary “users”. Through live briefs and place-based learning, we will build practical project skills: planning, collaboration, stakeholder management, and communicating purpose. If you want a career producing exhibitions, festivals, heritage programmes or cultural partnerships, this will be a serious foundation.

Evidence you can choose to graduate with: cultural project plan; audience development outline; interpretive narrative copy; partnership proposal; showcase-ready portfolio piece.

Charity / NGO Programme Officer / Community Engagement Lead

Impactful community work is not just “being nice”. It is about organising, listening, negotiating, and delivering. At Lancaster, we will place you in contexts where social value will be made (and sometimes lost): communities, charities, public services and local partners. You will learn how to work with lived experience respectfully, turn insight into practical programmes, and manage tensions that will come with limited resources and high stakes. Through collaborative, real-world projects, we will help you produce the evidence employers will want most: credibility, coordination, and the ability to move from intention to outcomes.

Evidence you can choose to graduate with: community engagement plan; partner-ready project proposal; facilitation outputs; impact narrative; evaluation outline.

Marketing, Brand and Public Relations

Branding is not decoration; it is meaning under pressure. Lancaster’s Liberal Arts will build the capabilities that sit underneath effective marketing and PR: cultural insight, persuasive writing, ethical judgement, and an ability to read the room, socially and strategically. You will learn how people will interpret messages, why narratives stick, and how context can change everything. Creative assessments will become portfolio pieces; live projects will build stakeholder skills and delivery discipline. The result will not be just “communication”, it will be strategic communication: grounded, credible, and adaptable across industries and fast-moving roles.

Evidence you can choose to graduate with: brand narrative and messaging framework; campaign concept deck; audience insight snapshot; measurement plan; portfolio of creative outputs.

Further Studies

This course also prepares for further study at Postgraduate level; for instance, you could go on to the Global Leadership MAs in the School of Global Affairs:

MA Sustainability and Global Environmental Futures

MA Global Medical and Health Humanities

Alternatively, you could study postgraduate courses across a wide range of disciplines in the humanities, arts, social sciences and beyond.

What careers and employability support does Lancaster offer?

Our degrees open up an extremely wide array of career pathways in businesses and

organisations, large and small, in the UK and overseas.

We run a paid internship scheme specifically for our arts, humanities and social

sciences students, supported by a specialist Employability Team. The team offer

individual consultations and tailored application guidance, as well as careers events,

development opportunities, and resources.

Whether you have a clear idea of your potential career path or need some help

considering the options, our friendly team is on hand.

Lancaster is unique in that every student is eligible to participate in The Lancaster

Award which recognises activities such as work experience, community engagement or

volunteering and social development. A valuable addition to your CV!

Find out more about Lancaster’s careers events, extensive resources and personal

support for Careers and Employability.

Entry requirements

These are the typical grades that you will need to study this course. This section will tell you whether you need qualifications in specific subjects, what our English language requirements are, and if there are any extra requirements such as attending an interview or submitting a portfolio.

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A levels

Access to HE Diploma

36 Level 3 credits at Distinction plus 9 Level 3 credits at Merit

Advanced Skills Baccalaureate Wales

We accept the Advanced Skills Baccalaureate Wales in place of one A level, or equivalent qualification, as long as any subject requirements are met.

BTEC Extended Diploma

BTEC in combination with A levels

A level at grade B plus BTEC(s) at DD, or A levels at grade AB plus BTEC at D

International Baccalaureate

35 points overall with 16 points from the best 3 HL subjects

Scottish Highers and Advanced Highers

We are happy to admit applicants on the basis of five Highers, but where we require a specific subject at A level, we will typically require an Advanced Higher in that subject. If you do not meet the grade requirement through Highers alone, we will consider a combination of Highers and Advanced Highers in separate subjects. Please contact the Admissions team for more information.

T levels

Distinction overall

GCSE requirements

English Language grade 4/C.

We will also look at your overall GCSE profile when considering your application as a whole.

We do have flexibility when considering GCSE requirements. Go to our GCSE information for more details.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language, we require an IELTS score of 6.5 overall with at least 5.5 in each component for this programme. English language qualifications for undergraduate study.

Help from our Admissions team

If you are thinking of applying to Lancaster and you would like to ask us a question, complete our enquiry form and one of the team will get back to you.

We also have more details on our website about:

Other qualifications we accept

International qualifications

How to apply and what happens afterwards

International foundation programmes

Delivered in partnership with Lancaster University International Study Centre, our one-year tailored foundation pathways are designed to improve your subject knowledge and English language skills to the level required by a range of Lancaster University degrees. Visit the Lancaster University International Study Centre for more details and a list of eligible degrees you can progress onto.

Contextual admissions

Contextual admissions could help you gain a place at university if you have faced additional challenges during your education which might have impacted your results. Visit our contextual admissions page to find out about how this works and whether you could be eligible.

Course structure

We continually review and enhance our curriculum to ensure we are delivering the best possible learning experience, and to make sure that the subject knowledge and transferable skills you develop will prepare you for your future. The University will make every reasonable effort to offer programmes and modules as advertised. In some cases, changes may be necessary and may result in new modules or some modules and combinations being unavailable, for example as a result of student feedback, timetabling, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes and new research. Where the course offers optional modules, they may not all be available every year.

core modules accordion

Perspectives on Liberal Arts

Discover how conceptions of the Liberal Arts in global and local contexts are shaped through past and present narratives. You will engage with a series of cultural artefacts, such as a film, museum object, or an iconic figure, and through these you’ll explore a range of social issues and opportunities that connect the humanities to the real world.

You will approach each cultural artefact of study from a range of disciplinary methods, including subjects such as:

Approaching objectivity

Power structures

Decolonisation

Digital literacy

By focusing on narratives – how they are constructed, what effects they have, who they are aimed at – you will begin to understand and critique how humanity shares knowledge, tackles problems, and creates opportunities.

Optional

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Global Religions and Society

In this module you will explore religion as a central dimension of global society, focusing on how religious ideas, practices, and identities intersect with major political and ethical issues. It provides a focused introduction to religion in global contexts.

The module is organised into three main areas, which explore “religion” as a category of analysis. These may be organised either regionally – for example, Africa, South Asia, and the Muslim world – or thematically, depending on available expertise. Thematic focuses may include issues such as conflict and peacebuilding, climate change and environmental ethics, or questions of gender, identity, and power.

Throughout this course you will engage with case studies that illustrate how religion shapes and is shaped by global political, cultural, and social dynamics.

Understanding Culture

This module starts with an introductory session on ‘What is culture?’, and will then take you onto a learning journey through a range of cultural phenomena and practices. In each case, you will engage with relevant critical and analytical theory from a different discipline and with an experientially grounded ‘voice.’

The theories, phenomena and practices include a selection of any of the below:

The figure of the witch and Silvia Federici’s analysis of the European witch-hunts: feminist historiography and the critique of popular representations

The reactionary mind: the interplay of disposition and ideology in the study of ultra-conservatism through political theory and programmatic texts

Power and bureaucracy: cultural practices, observation and representation: anthropology, sociology and literature

Extremity: photography, poetry and theory that respond to situations of extreme violence

Culture and class: addressing complexity in sociology and the literary essay

Effects of racism: countering alienation and saying the unsayable in the work of Frantz Fanon

Exploring gender diversity and difference on the borderline of academic theory and the essay through Helene Cixous, Gloria Anzaldua and Paul Preciado

The potentials and limitations of critical self-awareness: interrogating whiteness through cultural representations and activist intervention

Cultural memory: an intercultural exploration of practices and social significance

The resistance to big infrastructure projects in critical writing, organisational practice, and documentary

The cultures of the far right: critically exposing the meta-political cultural agenda of the contemporary far right

Interrogating our own implication in technology: tech commons or big tech?

Connecting Communities

Discover opportunities for making a real difference in the local community by mapping and remapping the region and its range of communities. You will learn critical and theoretical approaches to spatial humanities. Then, through workshops on location in community settings and a series of guest speakers, you will use this knowledge and experience to map community organisations and networks.

Addressing a range of themes such as mobilities, networks, invisible existence, or cohesion, you’ll create and archive a landscape visualisation of the region which will build each year to enact lasting change and engagement with North-West communities.

Transcultural Approaches to Social Challenges

Develop your critical and analytical skills in relation to culturally, socially and politically relevant themes. You will learn to read critically within and across a variety of disciplines and genres. Themes may include:

Crisis and paradigm shifts

The State and Institutions

The relationship between ideology (or post-ideology) and political formation

Relationality with place

Resistance to infrastructure projects

Cyberpunk and Big Tech

Alongside each theme you will study contextualizing information such as interviews or manifestos by individuals or collectives, another text that offers analysis or intervention and a representation (for example, a film, novella, essay, exhibition and so on). You will develop an ability to make informed choices about which materials to draw on for what purpose and in what way.

Employability, Purpose and Social Impact (Discovery module)

Hone a strong sense of purpose and gain the satisfaction of applying your skills and knowledge to a community, charity or student-led initiative.

Your challenge will be to take responsibility for arranging and completing a voluntary or fundraising activity—locally, virtually or during vacation periods at home. You will need to show that you have made a positive difference through this activity.

In class, you will be asked to reflect on this experience and explore the wider social impact of the work. In doing so you will build your confidence in your ability to contribute meaningfully to society through your future personal and professional path.

Global Challenges and Collaborative Solutions (Discovery module)

You are invited to collaborate in an interdisciplinary team with other students as you explore major global challenges such as climate change, inequality or emerging technologies.

Throughout the module you will examine how the humanities, arts and social sciences contribute to understanding and addressing complex issues. Classroom discussions and activities focus on the process of identifying problems and considering innovative, ethical responses, while helping you to consider and articulate the relevance of this work to your personal and professional development.

Taking an Idea and Making it Happen (Discovery module)

Explore how ideas can be developed into real-world projects with lasting value. Through hands-on collaboration and problem-solving, you will develop innovative projects, learn how to bring ideas to life and explore ways to sustain them.

Whether you are working in a team or individually, you will be encouraged to experiment with different approaches to making a difference in artistic, cultural, social and community spaces.

Global Religions, Women and Gender

In this module you will explore how issues concerning gender, womanhood, and sexuality have played out in relation to culture and religious traditions across the world and through time. You will be encouraged to question preconceptions and examine – through an analytical gender lens – how practices of piety have both empowered and enabled, as well as controlled, women in expressing their experiences, identities, and agency. You will explore how religious texts, rituals, and institutions have constrained or facilitated gendered expressions using case studies from Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, and indigenous traditions.

A focus on the subcontinent may examine sacred womanhood, investigating connections between power, antinomianism, transcendence, and female power-essences embodied in wild goddesses, women philosophers, and mystics. Alongside gender, womanhood, and femininity, you may also explore conceptions of transgenderism in religious imagery, mythology, and counternormative narrative traditions in which patriarchal hierarchies are questioned and subverted.

Within the context of Islam, you may consider how women have historically occupied roles as transmitters of hadith (prophetic tradition), jurists, and theologians, while also being subjects of legal, theological, and mystical discourses that both regulate and sanctify female bodies. Alongside this, you may explore the rich traditions of female piety and mystical experience within Sufism, where women have served as spiritual guides, poets, and saints, often occupying forms of authority that transcend formal hierarchies.

The module may also include a comparative focus on other religious traditions, bringing new questions to light about how gender and power intersect across different cultural contexts. Drawing on feminist, postcolonial, and decolonial approaches, you will examine global parallels in how women have negotiated, subverted, and reinterpreted normative gender frameworks in religions – whether through embodied practices of piety, counter-normative narrative, or decolonial feminist frameworks.

Language and Identity in France, Spain, Germany and the Sinophone World

Spanning the linguistic and cultural contexts of France, Germany, Spain, and the Sinophone world, this module explores how language functions as a primary site of identity formation, political contestation, and cultural power. You will explore various topics, such as:

Language standardisation and stigma

Minority and regional languages

Multilingualism and migration

Linguistic nationalism

Colonial and postcolonial language politics

The relationship between language, class, and social reproduction

Through sociolinguistics, cultural theory, and the analysis of film and literature, you will investigate:

The ways in which language policies reflect and reproduce relations of power, and how their human costs and exclusions are narrated from the point of view of language users in film and literature

How literary texts and films represent linguistic variation, regional difference, and cultural belonging through visual and narrative strategies

The relationship between linguistic prestige and social inequality, and how minority voices are marginalised or amplified

How colonial and migratory histories have shaped the linguistic landscapes of France, Germany, Spain, and the Sinophone world, and how individuals within those landscapes receive and negotiate that inheritance

The ways in which regional and minority languages (Alsatian, Catalan, Galician, and others) are negotiating their place within, and against, the dominant language policies of their respective national contexts

How diasporic and multilingual communities navigate questions of linguistic identity and belonging, as lived experience and as artistic subject matter

What the comparative study of language politics across different cultural contexts reveals about power, resistance, and cultural survival

Society on Screen: The Language of Film

This module equips you with the skill set to analyse films from the UK, Europe, Latin America and China in their socio-historical contexts through core themes, typically migration, the environment, artificial intelligence and gender. You will make use of the ‘language of film’ (cinematic techniques and genre conventions) to explore migration, for example, through sociological concepts of human movement, the role of documentary in representing beneficial and detrimental approaches to the environment, the concept of ‘artificial culture’ through the blurring of human/non-human boundaries in film, and the relationships between masculinities and different forms of violence on screen.

In the process, the following questions, among others, are addressed:

How do films deal with the complexity of topics relevant to modern society such as migration, the environment, artificial intelligence and gender?

Do films which deal with these topics entertain viewers, instruct them, or both?

How might the aims of these films be obstructed or enhanced?

What role do production limitations and opportunities have to play?

In what ways are cinematic techniques instrumental in our interpretations of those topics?

How relevant are genre conventions and expectations to our readings of such films?

What can be learned from both traditional and radical forms of cinema?

What can we learn by applying lenses such as structural violence, community-formation and the gendered gaze?

Your Year Abroad

In your third year you will study at one of our international partner universities. This will help you to expand your global outlook and professional network, as well as developing your cultural and personal skills. It is also an opportunity to gain a different perspective on your subject through studying it in another country.

You will choose specialist modules relating to your degree and potentially modules from other subjects offered by the host university that are specific to that university and country.

The availability of places at overseas partners varies each year. In previous years destinations for students in the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences have included Australia, United States, Canada, Europe and Asia.

Liberal Arts Independent Project

In this final project module, you will apply your own Liberal Arts perspective in a practical, external-facing way designed to strengthen a range of employability skills. Inspired by works of relevant historical and contemporary figures, you will collaborate with external stakeholders to create a project in response to a jointly devised brief.

You’ll work on the project element of the module as a group. The output(s) will be presented at the end of the year and may take different forms such as:

Creative performance

Policy work

Multimedia projects

You will also create an individual journal in which you will discuss your contribution to the project, drawing on the experience, knowledge and skills you have acquired through your degree.

Research and Engagement in the Humanities

You will explore how humanities research gets out into the world, and what happens when it meets other kinds of knowledge. You will look at the relationship between academic research, professional practice and expertise through experience.

Through examples, discussion and practical work, you will develop your own sense of how humanities research can work with people, places, organisations and publics.

Queer Futures (Discovery module)

What do we understand by queerness? Looking back at earlier interpretations, we imagine how queerness might evolve—how it might be lived, felt and understood in the future.

You will explore queer futures from a range of perspectives and viewpoints, while examining both feminist and queer theory, as well as queer media and cultural texts and material relating to areas such as activism, politics and healthcare.

People Power and Collective Action (Discovery module)

What are the possibilities and pitfalls of community and citizen action, voice and agency? This module uses interdisciplinary case-studies to critically examine collaboration with communities.

You will participate in activities such as a mock citizens' assembly, visit local community groups and hear different points of view from a range of guest speakers on concepts like power, race, gender, class, affect and justice.

Confronting the Climate Crisis (Discovery module)

How might we engage with the implications of environmental transformation locally, nationally and globally? Where do we have agency and capacity to intervene?

This module brings together a range of perspectives—historical, political, philosophical and cultural—to explore the nature and severity of the effects of the climate crisis on our world.

Artistic Fusions (Discovery module)

What happens when radically different forms of art meet? How do these fused forms change our understanding of the world? We will draw on material from different periods and continents, to explore works of art where, for example, film meets history, poetry meets philosophy, fine art meets sociology, religion meets fiction, and theatre meets politics.

State and Religion

Explore how religion and the modern state have developed in relation to one another across different historical and global contexts. You will be encouraged to question common assumptions about secularism and political authority and examine how religion continues to shape political life. You will further analyse how religious traditions both influence and are transformed by modern state structures.

You will engage with key questions such as:

What role does religion play in contemporary governance?

How have modern states redefined religious authority and practice?

To what extent does religion support, challenge, or reconfigure political ideologies such as liberal democracy and human rights?

Why does religion remain central to political mobilisation in many postcolonial and non-Western contexts?

You will explore how religion intersects with law, political authority, and national identity using case studies from Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and other traditions. Particular attention may be given to themes such as secularism and the postcolonial nation-state; religion and law-making; religion and human rights, especially in relation to minority and women’s rights; and religion as a site of political protest and resistance.

You may also examine the concept of civil religion, particularly in relation to nationalism and state identity, as well as the ways in which religion is mobilised in contemporary political discourse. Drawing on interdisciplinary approaches, including political theory, anthropology, and religious studies, this module highlights the global complexity of the relationship between religion and the modern state.

Autocrats, Dictators and Caudillos: Dictatorship and Representation in the 20th and 21st Centuries

What do we mean by 'dictatorship' in the 20th and 21st centuries? You will explore distinctions between totalitarianism and authoritarianism, single party rule, military and personalist dictatorships, for example. We will discuss the political, social and ideological conditions that enable dictators to come to power, consider the structures they put in place to establish and maintain their rule, and reflect on why so many dictators have clung onto power for so long.

This module addresses questions, such as:

How have dictators represented their political projects to the people?

What is the importance of rhetoric to the dictator?

What kind of language have they used?

What is the role of 'official literature' in representing the regime to the people?

You will read extracts from speeches, political tracts and literary material produced by dictators in order to explore the relationship between discourse and power. The module will also consider how writers, poets and film makers have critiqued dictatorship in their cultural production:

What narrative strategies do cultural producers use to express their opposition to a dictator while writing under the control of the regime?

What is the power of writing?

How does writing from a position of exile change the way in which writers critique dictatorship?

Does the writing of and author reproduce the same structures they are trying to counter?

Does the writer, therefore, assume the role of a dictator?

Sciences and Cultures Lab

In this module you will explore the relationships between sciences and cultures in an experimental “laboratory” environment, spanning scientific and humanistic knowledge in diverse linguistic and cultural settings across the world.

Topics covered include Spirits and Matter, Neoshamanism, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Science Futures, Transformations in Medical Science, Hospitals, Healthcare, Witchcraft, Cosmologies, Technocracies etc.

Sources come from multiple genres, such as speculative fiction, graphic novels, film, philosophical essays, and online talks. Focusing on diverse humanities perspectives and renderings of scientific goods and harms, this module asks intriguing questions relevant to the twenty-first century human condition:

How do sciences and cultures interact, assemble and co-create in the world, and how do such co-creations shape and transform the world?

How can we imagine the future of the relationship between sciences and cultures, and what is our role as interdisciplinary arts, humanities and social sciences scholars in imagining this relationship?

How do diverse works explore the relationship between sciences and cultures?

In what ways do cultural ideas and practices inspire new modes of engagement with science and technology?

What unseen matters (e.g. microbes, particles) and horrors can science fiction render visible and comprehensible?

Where is AI taking humanity: unexplored territories and are we the robots of a post-human future?

What are the ways in which contemporary philosophy, literature and film dialogue and co-innovate with biomedical science, changing how we think and delivering real impact in healthcare?

In what ways can contemporary technocracies be informed by ancient and new cultural traditions to ensure that the societies of the future forefront human-centred wellbeing?

What are some of the diverse ways in which sciences and cultures, spirits and materials have interacted, co-created, and transformed in tandem across different contexts?

In what ways can the humanities productively appropriate and reposition techniques and approaches from the sciences, and vice versa?

What conditions facilitate the creation of new “formulas” that blend/explode/remould scientific and cultural ideas, norms, practices?

Shaping Your Future

You will explore imagined futures through creative and critical approaches. You will consider how you can contribute to future challenges, from community and the environment to technology, utopia, dystopia and alternative timelines.

Starting with a series of workshops on set readings, you’ll progress on to envisaging your future career through a series of interventions and collaborative work.

Fees and funding

Our annual tuition fee is set for a 12-month session, starting at the beginning of each academic year.

Our Undergraduate Tuition Fees for 2027/28 are:

International

Fees and funding information

Additional fees and funding information accordion

Additional costs

There may be extra costs related to your course for items such as books, stationery, printing, photocopying, binding and general subsistence on trips and visits. Following graduation, you may need to pay a subscription to a professional body for some chosen careers.

Specific additional costs for studying at Lancaster are listed below.

College fees

Lancaster is proud to be one of only a handful of UK universities to have a collegiate system. Every student belongs to a college, and all students pay a small college membership fee which supports the running of college events and activities. Students on some distance-learning courses are not liable to pay a college fee.

For students starting in 2026 or 2027, the fee is £40 for undergraduates and research students and £15 for students on one-year courses. Students on some distance-learning courses are not liable to pay a college fee.

Computer equipment and internet access

To support your studies, you will also require access to a computer, along with reliable internet access. You will be able to access a range of software and services from a Windows, Mac, Chromebook or Linux device. For certain degree programmes, you may need a specific device, or we may provide you with a laptop and appropriate software - details of which will be available on relevant programme pages. A dedicated IT support helpdesk is available in the event of any problems.

The University provides limited financial support to assist students who do not have the required IT equipment or broadband support in place.

Study abroad courses

In addition to travel and accommodation costs, while you are studying abroad, you will need to have a passport and, depending on the country, there may be other costs such as travel documents (e.g. visa or work permit) and any tests and vaccines that are required at the time of travel. Some countries may require proof of funds.

Placement and industry year courses

In addition to possible commuting costs during your placement, you may need to buy clothing that is suitable for your workplace and you may have accommodation costs. Depending on the employer and your job, you may have other costs such as copies of personal documents required by your employer for example.

What is my fee status?

The fee that you pay will depend on whether you are considered to be a home or international student. Read more about how we assign your fee status.

Fees in subsequent years

Home fees are subject to annual review, and are liable to rise each year in line with UK government policy. International fees (including EU) are reviewed annually and are not fixed for the duration of your studies. Read more about fees in subsequent years.

Fees for study abroad and work placements

We will charge tuition fees to Home undergraduate students on full-year study abroad/work placements in line with the maximum amounts permitted by the Department for Education. The current maximum levels are:

Students studying abroad for a year: 15% of the standard tuition fee

Students taking a work placement for a year: 20% of the standard tuition fee

International students on full-year study abroad/work placements will also be charged in line with the maximum amounts permitted by the Department for Education. The current maximum levels are:

Students studying abroad for a year: 15% of the standard international tuition fee during the Study Abroad year

Students taking a work placement for a year: 20% of the standard international tuition fee during the Placement year

Please note that the maximum levels chargeable in future years may be subject to changes in Government policy.

Scholarships and bursaries

You will be automatically considered for our main scholarships and bursaries when you apply, so there's nothing extra that you need to do.

You may be eligible for the following funding opportunities, depending on your fee status:

Fee status:

Any fee status

Home students

International students

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We also have other, more specialised scholarships and bursaries - such as those for students from specific countries.

Browse Lancaster University's scholarships and bursaries.

Similar courses

BA Hons : Y001

Liberal Arts (Placement Year)

BA Hons : Y002

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The information on this site relates primarily to the stated entry year and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.

The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.

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