Art History and History (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad) BA (Hons)

Our five-year BA Art History and History (including foundation year and year abroad), 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 three years of study, plus 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. On our course you explore the interactions and differences between history and the visual arts in history and investigate the ways in which the two disciplines can be integrated. ‘Histories’ are a challenge and we encourage you to look beyond simplistic ideas which offer works of art as merely a way of documenting a kind of ‘truth’. At Essex you understand the ways in which history, ideas and ideologies are manifested in images and challenge the definitions and perceptions of what documentation and evidence might be. You study history and art history together in order to appreciate the relationships between them.You spend your fourth year studying abroad allowing you to experience other cultures and languages, to broaden your degree socially and academically, and to demonstrate to employers that you are mature, adaptable, and organised.