International Foundation Programme (Humanities) - Credit

Through this module, students will improve the transferable academic skills necessary to successfully complete all the other modules on the IFP and to succeed on their future undergraduate programme. The programme of study will cover critical and analytical skills in both written and spoken format.

Students will attend regular seminars/workshops each week, focusing on furthering their academic skills: they will receive input on seminar participation and presentation skills, and will develop the knowledge to produce EITHER a simplified written Case Study OR an essay (the 'project'). They will also have the opportunity to meet with their tutor four to five times during the term for a tutorial, to discuss their project and progress on the module.

Students will create an electronic Portfolio consisting of reflective journal entries based on the progression of their project, which will be assessed and personal skills development on the Academic Skills and Foundation Project modules. in an reflective interview. . Students will engage in seminars, for which they choose the topic and undertake the research, one of which will provide the basis of a group presentation. At the end of the term, students will submit their individual complete Project Essay OR Case Study on an issue researched through the literature review..

Through this module, students will develop the transferable linguistic and academic skills necessary to successfully complete all the other modules on the IFP. The programme of study will cover academic writing, reading, speaking and listening skills.

Through this module, students will develop the transferable linguistic and academic skills necessary to successfully complete all the other modules on the IFP. The programme of study focuses primarily on grammar, vocabulary and academic writing skills but will include all language skills.

The module begins with an intensive revision of language structures and goes on to embed these structures into academic writing. Students will learn key steps in the writing process and be introduced to a range of written academic genres. Throughout the module, students will also develop their academic vocabulary through reading and writing tasks specially designed for this.

This module provides students with an introduction to elementary spatial design theory and practice. It prepares students for Stage One entry into degree courses in architecture, interior design and interior architecture, in addition to associated areas of design study.

Key curriculum areas that might be covered include observation (how to read spatial environments), making (basic principles of construction of objects and environments), recording & communication (skills in freehand drawing, basic workshop techniques for making maquettes, and photography), formal manipulation through design projects (scale, the user, synthesis of competing demands), basic principles of design history, brief making and questioning and a possible Field trip

The syllabus comprises the following subject areas:

i. History/theory and construction/manufacture

ii. Observation and documentation

iii. Systems of communication: drawings, scale, model making, photography.

iv. Design Project

The last decades of the nineteenth century witnessed a growing rivalry between the newly formed German state and other so-called Great Powers including Britain, France and Russia. Tensions between these nations would erupt in 1914, and again in 1939, as these powers embarked upon catastrophic conflicts that witnessed the deaths of millions. In Russia, the catastrophe of the First World War led to the birth of a new political regime – the Soviet Union – while Europe also found itself rivalled by the emergence of a new superpower: the USA. Indeed, in the aftermath of the Second World War a new tension arose between the Soviet Union and the Americans, with European nations drawn into their spheres of influence. Europe was divided between east and west by what Winston Churchill had described in 1946 as an 'iron curtain', with Germany at its centre. After decades of tensions, it was perhaps fitting that Berlin was the setting for the fall of a system with its roots in the political machinations of the late nineteenth-century.

This module will challenge develop their understandings of political, economic, social and cultural developments in modern European history, increasing their historical knowledge and engaging with key historiographical debates. Utilising a range of primary and secondary sources, students will be encouraged to discuss complex developments in a structured and critical way. These skills will be introduced to students through the consideration of a number of topics including: the Revolutions of 1848; the rise of Germany as a major European Power; Revolutionary Russia and the rise of the Soviet Union; the European experiences of the First and Second World Wars; the origins of the Cold War; the division of Europe; the European relationship with the USA; European détente; the revolutions of 1989.

The module aims to develop your critical understanding of literary text by an exploration of the translation of narratives onto stage and screen. From Shakespearean drama to the contemporary novel, we will look at the ways in which texts can be interpreted and re-interpreted for different audiences, and the dramatic and stylistic choices that authors, directors and script writers make.

The module includes a study of stylistic variation in a selection of texts from the three main genres. Through a study of poetry we will develop an awareness of language and learn key close reading skills which we will later use in our analysis of larger texts. In the fiction segment, we will look at how prose narratives are constructed and learn to appreciate the contribution of 'point of view', the treatment of time, the use of narrators and presentation of speech and thought. In the Drama segment we will look at how selected works convey characterisation, setting, plot and how the techniques used in plays are different from those in prose fiction. The section on film will draw these two elements together, as we consider issues such as the ways in which these elements translate on to the screen.

The module will be divided into two halves; the first half will look at debates within epistemology, philosophy of religion and the philosophy of mind. The purpose of these is twofold; first to expand students' theoretical knowledge across a broad range, and secondly to encourage them to discuss complex ideas in a structured and critical way. The second half will build upon the skills developed in the first half by exploring more contentious issues in moral and political philosophy.