High Drop-out Rate Alert
25% of students drop out or transfer from this specific course. Consider asking why on an open day.
BA Liberal Arts
About this course
Liberal arts is a model of education that refuses to confine itself to a single discipline, instead giving you the freedom to think across the arts, humanities and social sciences while developing genuine depth in an area that engages you most. It is a tradition rooted in the conviction that the most important intellectual skills, critical reasoning, the ability to construct and evaluate arguments, to understand context and to communicate with precision, are developed through sustained engagement with a range of great questions rather than early specialisation in a narrow field. At the University of Southampton, this three-year full-time degree includes a sandwich year, year abroad and work placement, making it one of the most practically and internationally enriched liberal arts programmes available in the UK. You will draw on disciplines including history, literature, philosophy, politics, sociology and cultural studies, with the freedom to shape your programme around the questions and subjects that interest you most while maintaining a coherent academic identity. The year abroad places your studies in an international context, and the placement gives you professional experience in a role that draws on the analytical and communicative skills the degree develops. Southampton's liberal arts programme operates within a research-intensive university, giving you access to teaching and resources across a genuinely broad range of disciplines. A typical entry tariff of around 136 points is expected. Liberal arts graduates enter careers across an exceptionally wide range, from law, journalism, the civil service and management consulting to education, arts administration, international development and the technology sector. The degree is valued wherever employers need people who can think across disciplines, communicate complex ideas clearly and adapt to new contexts rapidly. Many graduates proceed to postgraduate study in a specific field they have identified as their particular interest, while others use the breadth of their education to move into generalist roles that benefit from diverse intellectual formation.
Syllabus & Modules
Typical curriculumStudent Satisfaction
National Student Survey - 15 respondents (78% response rate)
Similarly Ranked Alternatives
What comes next? 🎓
Choosing the right university starts with choosing the right school. Explore transparent, data-driven school profiles powered by official DfE statistics.
Explore Schools on WhatSchool.ai →