This certificate offers you a broad introduction to the arts and humanities across a range of subjects, including history, art history, philosophy, classical studies, religious studies, music and English. Your study experience will be equivalent to the first year of a full-time degree and will provide core subject knowledge and study skills needed for both higher education and distance learning, to help you progress to study at Level 2.
This Diploma of Higher Education in Humanities offers you a broad introduction to the arts and humanities and the option to specialise in one or more subjects, including history, art history, philosophy, creative writing, classical studies, religious studies, music, English, French, German and Spanish.
The diploma is designed to follow on from the Certificate of Higher Education in Humanities (T07) and if you have completed the Certificate, you will already be half way towards this diploma.
Your study experience will be equivalent to the first two years of a full-time degree and will provide both the subject knowledge and the study skills needed to progress to study at Level 3.
If you're awarded this degree you'll have:
a broad understanding of the English language, including its history, contemporary use and its development as a global language
received a wide-ranging introduction to literary texts in English (and translated into English)
developed skills in the interpretation of both literary and non-literary texts, including spoken, written and multimodal texts
developed a critical understanding of the range and variety of traditions and approaches to the study of literature and language.
If you're awarded this degree you will have developed and deepened your knowledge of particular subject areas within a broad framework designed to meet high national standards for single-subject history degrees:
you'll have knowledge and understanding of the discipline of history and some of its sub-disciplines
you'll be conversant with various historical methodologies
you'll have learned to recognise and use primary and secondary historical sources
you'll have learned to write history essays of an acceptable standard and, in so doing, to present coherent, rational and logical argument
you'll have had an introduction to the approaches and methodologies of other arts disciplines, such as literature, art history and philosophy
you'll have had practical experience of writing an extended piece of work demanding independent learning
you'll have worked with information and communications technology (ICT) in a context of historical study, and have had opportunities to develop this work at a more advanced level.
If you're awarded this degree you'll have a broad knowledge of aspects of western European culture in the past, and an understanding of how different disciplines treat similar cultural developments. You'll also have skills associated with a range of different disciplines. You can study a broad range of disciplines or specialise in one or two disciplines from the following list: Art History, Classical Studies, Creative Writing, English Language, History, Literature, Music, Philosophy, Religious Studies, French, German or Spanish.
This degree provides you with the opportunity to explore all aspects of English as an academic subject. There will be a particular emphasis on the studies of literature in English, including the study of key texts from other literary traditions in translation. You can choose from an exciting variety of modules in English language studies, literature in English, and creative writing.
Note: This degree will replace BA (Honours) Literature (B02).
If you're awarded this degree you'll understand key concepts, theories, methods and debates in selected areas of philosophy and psychology. You'll be able to exercise critical judgement in the understanding and interpretation of philosophical texts and arguments, and appreciate different perspectives within psychology and be able to evaluate them critically. You'll also have a range of generic skills, including numerical and IT skills, and you'll have developed as an independent learner.
If you're awarded a BA (Hons) Politics, Philosophy and Economics you will have developed a set of quantitative and conceptual skills which enable you to understand and analyse complex information.
Each year, more than 40 per cent of all OU students who graduate do so with the Open degree and our graduates are fiercely proud of this – the Open degree is part of what makes The Open University unique.
An Open degree allows you to take modules from any of our undergraduate subject areas. There are two main types of Open degree – a Bachelor of Arts (BA) or a Bachelor of Science (BSc) – they both share the qualification code BD. You can study an Open degree with honours or without honours.
The advantage of this degree is that it gives you the chance to choose what to study across a wide range of subjects. You can follow your personal interests, which may develop and change as your studies continue. You can also pursue career needs that may be in more than one subject area, or you might want to combine personal and career interests.
So, if you want to develop both your information technology and your Spanish language skills, or combine humanities with engineering and management, you can. You have considerable flexibility over the combination of modules you can choose.
An Open degree allows you to develop and change your interests as you go on. So it's possible for you to gain a BSc that includes several modules in the Arts or a BA that includes some science modules. Whether you get a BA or a BSc will depend on the balance of modules you've taken. And it can be awarded with or without honours. A transcript giving you a detailed record of the modules you took and the results you achieved will accompany the award.
And if you have already completed some study at higher education we may be able to give you credit that you can count towards an Open degree (more than to a degree in a named subject).
If you have already completed a Foundation Degree, you can ‘top-up' to a BA/BSc (Honours) Open degree by studying further modules, at Level 3 (see Building on previous study for further details).