BA Liberal Arts

About this course

Liberal arts is a tradition of education that dates to antiquity and reflects a conviction that intellectual breadth, the ability to move between disciplines and to connect ideas across different domains of knowledge, is not a dilution of expertise but a form of genuine cultivation. Where specialist degrees go deep in one field, a liberal arts degree invites you to range widely across the humanities, social sciences, arts and sometimes sciences, developing a mind that can engage seriously with different kinds of question and different ways of knowing. The tradition has experienced a significant revival in UK higher education as graduates and employers alike recognise the value of versatility, critical thinking and the ability to learn across boundaries. At Birkbeck College, a university with a long tradition of making higher education accessible to adult learners through evening and flexible study, this degree is studied part-time, allowing you to combine your studies with work and other commitments. You will be able to plot your own path through an array of subject areas spanning literature, art, history, law, politics and psychology, following your intellectual interests across disciplinary boundaries rather than being confined to a single department. This flexibility is one of the degree's defining strengths, allowing you to build a genuinely personalised programme of study. Liberal arts graduates bring a combination of intellectual versatility, critical thinking, communication and cultural awareness that is valued across law, the civil service, management, publishing, journalism, education, arts administration, the charitable sector and international organisations. Many employers actively seek graduates who can think across domains and bring humanistic perspective to practical problems. Postgraduate study in a wide range of fields is open to liberal arts graduates, who often find that the breadth of their undergraduate training is an asset in moving into specialist programmes in law, social science, the arts or management.

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