English Literature (Placement Year)

BA Hons

  • UCAS code Q301
  • Entry year 2025
  • A level requirements AAB
  • Duration Full time 4 years

Overview

Top reasons to study with us

  • 6

    6th for Creative Writing

    The Complete University Guide (2025)

  • 7

    7th for Creative Writing

    The Guardian University Guide (2025)

  • 7

    7th for English

    The Guardian University Guide (2025)

Why Lancaster?

  • Be encouraged to develop your own critical voice as you discuss and debate with our widely-published scholars and critics
  • Get involved with our four student-run literary journals: Cake, Lux, Flash, and Errant
  • Be inspired by our rich programme of literary events on campus, online, and in the city’s historic Castle Quarter
  • Study close to the beautiful Lake District, home of the Romantic poets, and inspiration for many writers since
  • Develop a host of professional skills from within literary study, such as researching, persuading and presenting

Literary study at Lancaster offers a rich engagement with the very best of literature, from the medieval period to the present day. You’ll have the chance to study all the great names, as well as voices that have been forgotten or overlooked. And, along the way, you can explore a host of different literary forms - such as, for example, ancient myth, Puritan sermon, nineteenth-century slave narrative, modernist epigram, and the contemporary graphic novel.

Acts of reading

The study of literature here is founded on the conviction that reading is not passive but active; it is something that acts upon both the texts that we read and the world in which we live. Neither those texts nor the world are left the same as they were before. This means that as well as encouraging and nurturing all kinds of established forms of literary scholarship, such as archival work, historicism, close reading, and literary theory, we are pioneers in experimental or creative forms of literary criticism.

Studying with us means not only a deep and close engagement with literature itself but an appreciation of how literature explores many other worlds – politics, ecology, philosophy, psychology, theology, film, and fashion, etc. To support this, in your first year, if you wish, you can study one or two subjects outside of English Literature, choosing from a vast range of modules. And you can, if you wish, continue to take modules from other subject areas in your second and final years.

Support, events, and study trips

Your lectures will be supplemented by small-group seminars, and the invitation to meet one-to-one with your tutor to discuss your work. You will be able to select from a host of modules and, in your final Dissertation, free to explore, with regular one-to-one tutorial support, a literary topic or theme of your own choosing.

Many of our special literary events, such as talks from visiting scholars and authors, take place in the University Suite at Lancaster’s spectacular medieval Castle. The Castle is also usually the setting for our student-led summer Shakespeare production, whilst the archive-rich Wordsworth Museum at Grasmere is usually the venue for our study retreat day. The Department’s May Gathering, a social event, is usually held at Lancaster’s ancient Priory.

The University also offers short, overseas study trips outside of term time – a visit to New York has been particularly popular in previous years. You can also study English Literature with a study abroad year.

Careers

Throughout your degree here you will be learning vital professional skills, such as written and oral communication, thinking both critically and creatively, and presenting well-researched arguments.

In addition, your first-year core module includes options such as Creating a Literary Tour and Creating a Literary Podcast; and every year you will be invited to our literature-specific careers workshops, featuring former students.

Your skills will be valued by a range of sectors -- from marketing to law, social work to professional services, and business to the media. Our graduates have gone on to become:

  • Teachers
  • Computer programmers
  • Publishers
  • Copywriters
  • Advertisers
  • Authors
  • Journalists

Others have gone on to postgraduate study here and elsewhere.

Lancaster University is dedicated to ensuring you not only gain a highly reputable degree, but that you also graduate with relevant life and work based skills. We are unique in that every student is eligible to participate in The Lancaster Award which offers you the opportunity to complete key activities such as work experience, employability/career development, campus community and social development. Visit our Employability section for full details.

Entry requirements

Grade Requirements

A Level AAB

IELTS 6.5 overall with at least 5.5 in each component. For other English language qualifications we accept, please see our English language requirements webpages.

Other Qualifications

International Baccalaureate 35 points overall with 16 points from the best 3 Higher Level subjects

BTEC Distinction, Distinction, Distinction

We welcome applications from students with a range of alternative UK and international qualifications, including combinations of qualification. Further guidance on admission to the University, including other qualifications that we accept, frequently asked questions and information on applying, can be found on our general admissions webpages.

Contact Admissions Team + 44 (0) 1524 592028 or via ugadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk

International foundation programmes

Delivered in partnership with INTO Lancaster University, 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 INTO Lancaster University website 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

Lancaster University offers a range of programmes, some of which follow a structured study programme, and some which offer the chance for you to devise a more flexible programme to complement your main specialism.

Information contained on the website with respect to modules is correct at the time of publication, and the University will make every reasonable effort to offer modules as advertised. In some cases changes may be necessary and may result in some combinations being unavailable, for example as a result of student feedback, timetabling, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes and new research. Not all optional modules are available every year.

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Fees and funding

Our annual tuition fee is set for a 12-month session, starting in the October of your year of study.

Our Undergraduate Tuition Fees for 2025/26 are:

Home International
£9,250 £24,700

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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:

Unfortunately no scholarships and bursaries match your selection, but there are more listed on scholarships and bursaries page.

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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.

Important information

The information on this site relates primarily to 2025/2026 entry to the University 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.

More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our legal information.

Our Students’ Charter

We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. View our Charter and other policies.

Undergraduate open days 2024

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