Program Overview

Our five-year BA European Studies (including foundation year), will be suitable for you if your academic qualifications do not yet meet our entrance requirements for the four-year version of this course and you want a programme that increases your subject knowledge as well as improves your academic skills in order to support your academic performance.

This five-year course includes a foundation year (Year Zero), followed by a further four years of study including a study abroad year. During your Year Zero, you study three academic subjects relevant to your chosen course as well as a compulsory academic skills module, with additional English language for non-English speakers.

You are an Essex student from day one, a member of our global community based at the most internationally diverse campus university in the UK.

After successful completion of Year Zero in our Essex Pathways Department, you progress to complete your course with our Interdisciplinary Studies Centre.

Switch on the news any day of the week, or pick up just about any national newspaper, and you will be sure to come across an item on Europe. It is clear that the future of Europe is a geo-political question of profound importance for the future of the world we live in. Yet, few of us truly understand the complex phenomenon that is modern Europe.

In European Studies, you'll explore Europe’s economic, legal, and sociological context, as well as its historical origins and develop an understanding of Europe’s rich cultural traditions. The artists, writers, musicians, composers and film-makers of Europe have exerted a cultural influence that even now is not eclipsed by the dominance of America on the world’s stage.

Based within our Interdisciplinary Studies Centre (ISC), European studies is a subject that approaches the complex idea of Europe via a wide range of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. We have expertise in modern languages, literature, film, history of art, history, politics and sociology, with experienced staff in all disciplines. Our five-year course means that you can spend your fourth year in Europe, learning a second language and immersing yourself in European cultures.

Here at Essex, our teaching and research in European studies offers maximum flexibility for you to study areas that interest you, so you can pursue a wide range of topics including:

• European identity and the development of the EU
• Representations of non-Europeans in art
• Europe’s colonial history
• Religion in Europe
• EU law

The study of Europe is vital for ongoing discussion of what Europe’s future ought to be; a discussion that will profoundly affect every European citizen. Through a course in European studies, you can acquire the knowledge, skills and experience to make an active contribution to one of the most important political and cultural processes of the century.