Humanities and Social Sciences
University of Portsmouth
UCAS Code: L910 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
University of Portsmouth
UCAS Code: L910 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
96-112 points to include a minimum of 2 A levels, to include a social science or humanities subject.
96-112 Tariff points from the Access to HE Diploma (Humanities or Social Sciences).
Cambridge Pre-U score of 42-46, to include a Principal Subject in a relevant subject.
GCSE/National 4/National 5
2 GCSEs at grade C/4 or above to include English.
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
24 points from the IB Diploma, with 444 at Higher Level, to include a relevant subject.
Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)
H3,H4,H4,H4,H4-H3,H3,H3,H3,H4
To include Higher Level humanities, social sciences, or another relevant subject.
OCR Cambridge Technical Extended Diploma
Must be with a Humanities, Social Sciences or another relevant subject.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Must be with a Humanities, Social sciences or another relevant subject.
96-112 Tariff points to include a minimum of 2 Advanced Highers, to include humanities, social sciences, or another relevant subject.
Acceptable when combined with other qualifications.
UCAS Tariff
96-112 points to include a minimum of 2 A levels, or equivalent, to include a social science or humanities subject.
96-112 points from the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate including 1 A level in a relevant subject, plus the Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate.
About this course
This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.
**Overview**
Understand and address some of the world’s most pressing challenges with this BA (Hons) in Humanities and Social Sciences. This interdisciplinary course combines modules from History, Sociology, Politics, International Relations, and English Literature, giving you the tools to critically analyse complex global issues such as inequality, climate change, and cultural dynamics.
Through research-led teaching and practical learning, you’ll develop skills in critical thinking, research, communication, and problem-solving, preparing you to make a meaningful impact in society. Studying in a supportive and inclusive environment, you’ll explore key topics through a range of perspectives, empowering you to create solutions to real-world problems.
Graduates are well-equipped for careers in social research, policy-making, education, and the charity sector.
This is a new course and we’re currently finalising the detailed information for this page. You can still see entry requirements and apply.
**This is a Connected Degree**
Portsmouth is the only University in the UK with the flexibility to choose when to do an optional paid placement or self-employed year. Either take a placement in your third year, or finish your studies first and complete a placement in your fourth year. You can decide if and when to take a placement after you've started your course.
Modules
Year 1:
Core modules:
Navigating Global Challenges – 20 credits
Popular Culture – 20 credits
Psychology for the Social Sciences – 20 credits
Social Inequalities – 20 credits
Societies, Nations, and Empires: Europe 1750-2000 – 20 credits
Political Thought – 20 credits
Year 2:
Optional modules:
A History of US Foreign Policy: From the Great War to 9/11 – 20 credits
Analysing Foreign Policy – 20 credits
Bending the Truth a Little? Researching Politics, International Relations and Development – 20 credits
Bloody Shakespeare: The Politics and Poetics of Violence – 20 credits
British Political Leadership – 20 credits
Crime Writing – 20 credits
Critical Psychology – 20 credits
Debating the Past – 20 credits
Doing Sociological Research – 20 credits
Dystopian and Apocalyptic Environments: Ecocrisis in the Literary Imagination – 20 credits
East Asian States and Societies – 20 credits
Empire and Its Afterlives in Britain, Europe, and Africa – 20 credits
Global Crises: Climate, Conflict and Insecurity – 20 credits
Global Political Economy – 20 credits
Ideology and Politics – 20 credits
News, Discourse, and Media – 20 credits
Puritans to Postmodernists: American Literature – 20 credits
Sociology of Culture: Taste, Value and Celebrity – 20 credits
Space, Place and Being – 20 credits
The Geopolitics and Geo-Economics of Africa – 20 credits
The Hidden Lives of Things: Material Culture in the Early Modern World – 20 credits
Transitional Justice and Human Rights – 20 credits
Underworlds: Crime, Deviance and Punishment in Britain, 1500-1900 – 20 credits
US Politics – 20 credits
Women's Writing in the Americas – 20 credits
Year 3:
Core modules:
Dissertation – 40 credits
Independent Project – 20 credits
Major Project – 40 credits
Optional modules:
Civil Rights USA – 20 credits
Consuming Fictions: Food and Appetite in Victorian Culture – 20 credits
Creative Research Methods in Psychology – 20 credits
Emotions and Social Life – 20 credits
Equality or Liberation? Theorising Social Justice – 20 credits
Family, Career and Generation – 20 credits
France in the World: Global Actor or Global Maverick? – 20 credits
Gender and Sexuality – 20 credits
Global Capitalism – 20 credits
Global Capitalism: Past, Present and Future – 20 credits
Health, Wellbeing and Happiness – 20 credits
Holocaust Literatures – 20 credits
International Security in the Asia-Pacific – 20 credits
Looking for Utopia, Finding Dystopia? Ideas and Ideologies in the New Millennium – 20 credits
Magical Realism – 20 credits
News, Discourse, and Media – 20 credits
NGOs and Social Movements – 20 credits
Post Brexit Politics – 20 credits
Professional Experience – 20 credits
Religion and Politics in Global Perspective – 20 credits
Sociology of Culture: Taste, Value and Celebrity – 20 credits
Specialist Option: Empires and Identities – 20 credits
Specialist Option: Everyday Life, Extraordinary Lives and Challenging Inequality – 20 credits
Specialist Option: Popular Cultures – 20 credits
Specialist Option: Societies in Revolution – 20 credits
The European Union: A Global Power in the Making? – 20 credits
The Gothic – 20 credits
Time, Temporality, Contemporary Fiction – 20 credits
US Masculinities – 20 credits
The Uni
University of Portsmouth
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if the overall teaching satisfaction score here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Literature in english
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
Sociology, social policy and anthropology
Sorry, no information to show
This is usually because there were too few respondents in the data we receive to be able to provide results about the subject at this university.
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
History
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Literature in english
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
Sociology, social policy and anthropology
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
This section covers a range of subjects that are often very different, so if you have a particular course in mind, the data here might not fully reflect the possible outcomes from your particular choice. Graduates from these subjects tend to do similar sorts of things to graduates from other social studies courses, so welfare and community roles are common, as are education, whilst graduates also often go into management, marketing and HR jobs and jobs in the police, and employment rates are good in general — but talk to course tutors and attend open days and try to get stats for the course you’re interested in.
History
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
History is a very popular subject (although numbers have fallen of late) — in 2015, over 10,000 UK students graduated in a history-related course. Obviously, there aren't 11,000 jobs as historians available every year, but history is a good, flexible degree that allows graduates to go into a wide range of different jobs, and consequently history graduates have an unemployment rate comparable to the national graduate average. Many — probably most — jobs for graduates don't ask for a particular degree to go into them and history graduates are well set to take advantage. That's why so many go into jobs in the finance industry, human resources, marketing, PR and events management, as well as the more obvious roles in education, welfare and the arts. Around one in five history graduates went into further study last year. History and teaching were the most popular further study subjects for history graduates, but law, journalism, and politics were also popular postgraduate courses.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Literature in english
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£17k
£22k
£29k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
Sociology, social policy and anthropology
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£20k
£26k
£29k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
History
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£20k
£25k
£29k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):
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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).
This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.
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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.
You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
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Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Graduate field commentary:
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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