BA (Hons) Scottish Cultural Studies
COURSE INFORMATION:
Place of Study: Shetland College UHI, Lerwick & selected Learning Centres.
Mode of Study: Full time or Part time
Length of course:
Full time: 1 year (Cert HE), 2 years (DipHE), 3 years (BA) 4 years (BA Hons)
Part time: 2/3 years (Cert HE), 4/5 years(Dip HE), 6 years (BA), 8 years (BA Hons)
Start Date:
Full time: August 2011
Part time: February 2012
Entry Requirements: Three Highers at C or equivalent - 1 in English. Alternative qualifications, awards or appropriate access programmes also considered. Applications from individuals without these qualifications but who demonstrate ability are welcomed.
COURSE SUMMARY:
Cultural Studies is an interdisciplinary programme drawing mainly from the Humanities and Social Science traditions. It seeks to investigate the culture of the Highlands and Islands as the lived experience of communities. Areas covered will include: Archaeology; Cultural History; Ethnography; Economics; Language; Literature; Music; Politics; Religious Studies; and Sociology.
COURSE CONTENT:
Each full-time year of study consists of eight study modules, each of which will take the student around 150 hours to complete during class time and private study. Students must study core modules but will be offered a range of additional optional modules to study from other UHI courses.
Level 1 - Cert HE modules: Introduction to the Highlands and Islands; Scottish Literature and Society; Information and Communication Technology; Introduction to Popular Culture; Language of the Highlands and Islands; What is Culture?; History of Material Culture; and Northern Heritage.
Optional module: Politics of the British Isles.
Level 2 - DipHE modules: The Highlands and Islands in the Contemporary North Atlantic Rim; Archaeology and Built Heritage Conservation; Medieval Literature of the Highlands and Islands; Tradition, Custom and Belief; Language and Culture; and Identity.
Optional modules: Music and Song of the Highlands & Islands; Museum Studies; Field course: Excavation Skills; Introduction to Gaelic, Scots, Orcadian and Shetlandic; and Archaeological Reconnaissance and Recording.
Level 3 - BA modules: Interdisciplinary Project; and Development Issues in the Highlands and Islands.
Optional modules: Introduction to Old Norse Studies; Perceptions of Heritage; Architecture; Culture Identity and Social Space; Scottish Church History; Ethnobotany; History of Scottish Legal Systems; The Scottish Enlightenment; The History of Scottish Identity; Perceptions of Heritage; Letters Home; and Post Colonial Literature.
Level 4 - BA(Hons) modules: Dissertation.
Optional modules: Scottish Tradition in Philosophy; Editing Older Scots; Scottish Pictorial Art; Scottish Drama: Staging War; Visual Sociology; Modern Literature of the North Atlantic; and Funerary and Burial Archaeology.
GOOD REASONS TO STUDY THIS COURSE:
- Access to highly qualified specialist staff from around the Highlands and Islands
- Students become familiar with advanced communication techniques which are valuable transferable skills
- Because the course has a large amount of self directed study there is the flexibility to fit the course around existing work and family commitments
- The course allows you to move between full and part-time study according to your circumstances
- The course allows you to aim high - for an honours degree, but with the option of certificated interim exit points.
HOW WILL I STUDY?
Taught by video conferencing (VC), virtual learning environment (VLE), CD ROMs, the Internet, email and conventional distance learning packs.
There will be opportunities to study summer schools in Shetland and elsewhere around the UHI network.
STUDENT QUOTE:
"The best thing about the course has been tutors' enthusiasm and encouragement in the VC's to ask questions and participate." Anon.
STAFF QUOTE:
"The course has become a model for course delivery across the UHI partnership. It particularly suits students with busy lives. The course has had great success in developing students’ talents, several have gone on to do PhDs and two got distinctions when they went onto MAs at Bournemouth and Oxford Universities." Dr Simon Clarke, Head of Section.
REVIEW COMMITTEE QUOTE:
"The programme is exemplary in structure, design, student support and outcome, and this is evident in the student achievement.
The panel commend the programme for its relevance to the socio-cultural context of the Highlands and Islands and the way in which students have been empowered to develop their potential. Also commended was the research culture of the staff and the programmes national impact and external recognition." Professor Dennis Walder - Chair of Open University review.
PROGRESSION:
Academic: Postgraduate study and postgraduate teaching diploma.
Employment/Career: Students will develop the practical and professional skills to enable them to take a number of career options including: teaching; media/journalism; tourism; government agencies; and heritage management. Former students have obtained work with Shetland Amenity Trust, Shetland Museum and UHI.
Former students have: Gone on to careers in heritage sector and to postgraduate study with UHI, Oxford University and Bournemouth University, postgraduate teaching diplomas and study at MA and PhD level.
