Creative Writing and English with Foundation Year BA (Hons)

Birkbeck, University of London

Have you always wanted to be a writer? Have you got a story to tell but you don't know how to unlock it? Do you want to know more about the craft of writing? Do you want to learn how to read both as a critic and as a writer?

If so, this exciting new BA Creative Writing and English with Foundation Year is ideal. In the heart of literary London, in a building that was once home to Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group, you will study with leading academics and celebrated published authors across the fields of fiction, poetry and drama.

You will also develop your knowledge and understanding of a wide range of literary writing in English, from earliest times to the present day. This degree culminates in the opportunity to develop both extended creative and critical pieces under the guidance of award-winning writers.

Before proceeding to the main degree, you will spend your Foundation Year preparing yourself for a degree in the arts by improving your study and research skills and gaining arts-related knowledge and understanding. You will also have the opportunity to study a language, should you wish to.

Upon successful completion of the Foundation Year, you can automatically progress on to our three-year, full-time, evening study BA Creative Writing and English.

We also offer part-time Foundation Year degrees which allow you to spread out your Foundation Year studies over two years. As the 'Foundation Year' is made up of 120 credits, as a part-time student you can take 60 credits in each of your first and second years before starting the main four-year BA Creative Writing and English. This means that you can take six years to complete the part-time degree with Foundation Year.

Highlights

• Our Foundation Year programmes will fully prepare you for undergraduate study. They are ideal if you are returning to study after a gap, if you have not previously studied the relevant subjects, or if you did not achieve the grades you needed for a place on your chosen undergraduate degree.

• In the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF), English Language and Literature at Birkbeck achieved 100% for a research environment conducive to producing research of the highest quality.

• You will be eligible to submit work to the annual Birkbeck creative writing journal, The Mechanics’ Institute Review. Read an account of how our students created the most recent issue of The Mechanics' Institute Review.

• Birkbeck is located in the heart of literary London, in Bloomsbury, WC1. You could be studying in a building that was once home to Virginia Woolf and frequented by members of the Bloomsbury Group, now home to our School of Arts. The building houses our own creative hub which includes the Peltz Gallery, the Gordon Square Cinema and a theatre and performance space.

• The School of Arts is an official partner of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London. Opportunities for students have included a year’s free membership of the ICA, private views, discounts on all talks and events, free members' screenings and £3 cinema tickets on Tuesdays, up to 25% off ICA Artists' Editions and a monthly e-newsletter.