Get degree ideas using our A level explorer tool

BA (Hons) English and Publishing

Entry requirements


A level

B,B,C

Access to HE Diploma

D:15,M:24,P:6

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

DMM

UCAS Tariff

112

About this course


Course option

3years

Full-time | 2024

Subjects

English studies

Publishing

This flexible and innovative degree will change the way that you think; you will encounter a wide range of literature from across the globe, develop your writing skills, and gain an understanding of how the publishing industry operates. Our graduates enjoy excellent career prospects in fields like teaching, publishing, marketing, librarianship and arts administration.

**KEY FEATURES OF THE COURSE**

1. Combining two subjects boosts your employability and gives you the opportunity to develop knowledge and expertise in two subject areas, making you a more versatile graduate

2. The course equips you with the skills and knowledge you need for excellent career prospects in fields which include (though are not limited to) teaching, journalism, publishing and arts administration

3. Benefit from the support of a dedicated and enthusiastic teaching team who are published experts in their field

4. The course’s distinctive core of engagement with literary, critical and cultural theory will enable you to develop a highly nuanced and sophisticated approach to the analysis of literature, language and culture

5. Learn the art, craft and processes of writing fiction and non-fiction; we'll cover writing for books, magazines, and digital content

6. Understand how today's publishing industry works and gain the skills you need to get your work — or the work of others — to market

**HOW YOU’LL LEARN:**

You'll learn through a mixture of:
- lectures, seminars and tutorials

- creative writing workshops

- project work

- technology-enhanced learning

- peer reviews and presentations.

We also arrange visits to literary festivals, local and national museums, cultural heritage sites and other areas of interest for 'location writing' exercises.

**YOUR CAREER:**

We will provide you with the skills to critically engage with the world in which you live, as well as developing your understanding of cultural difference and of the capacity of language to produce unintended effects and meanings. Such awareness is hugely valuable to employers.

The UK publishing industry is proportionately the largest and most successful in the world, so you'll have an extensive range of career opportunities open to you. You could work as an author, editor or publisher of books, magazines or digital content. You could also consider a career as a literary agent, bookseller, or events co-ordinator at a book festival.

Outside of the publishing world, employers across all sectors always need people who can write and communicate well. The key skills you'll develop on this course — including writing, editing, group work and presentations — are essential for many roles, most obviously copywriters, marketers, advertising executives, events managers and publicists.

Graduates from our previous BA in Writing and Publishing went on to jobs in copywriting, arts development, librarianship, archive and record keeping, computer games and website design, teaching, marketing and law.

You may also choose to continue your studies at postgraduate level, for example on our MA Creative Writing or MA Publishing courses.

**STUDY OPTIONS:**

On the Joint Honours programme, there are different pathways of study available. You can often study both subjects equally or choose to major in a subject. Please view the course page on our website for more information on pathways.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£14,900
per year
International
£14,900
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

University of Derby

Department:

Joint Honours

Read full university profile

What students say


We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

87%
English studies
95%
Publishing

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

English studies (non-specific)

Teaching and learning

79%
Staff make the subject interesting
87%
Staff are good at explaining things
87%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
92%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

85%
Library resources
87%
IT resources
91%
Course specific equipment and facilities
71%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

95%
UK students
5%
International students
19%
Male students
81%
Female students
72%
2:1 or above
29%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
B
A

Publishing

Teaching and learning

89%
Staff make the subject interesting
95%
Staff are good at explaining things
89%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
100%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

89%
Library resources
89%
IT resources
100%
Course specific equipment and facilities
95%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

93%
UK students
7%
International students
9%
Male students
91%
Female students
78%
2:1 or above
15%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
B
B

After graduation


The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

English studies (non-specific)

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£15,392
low
Average annual salary
95%
med
Employed or in further education

Top job areas of graduates

18%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
15%
Other administrative occupations
11%
Teaching and educational professionals

English is one of the most popular degree subjects and in 2015, more than 11,000 students graduated with English degrees - although this does represent a fall from recent years. As good communication is so important to modern business, you can find English graduates in all parts of the economy, although obviously, you can't expect to get a job in science or engineering (computing is a different matter - it's not common but good language skills can be useful in the computing industry). There's little difference in outcomes between English language and English literature degrees, so don't worry and choose the one that suits you best. More English grads took another postgraduate course when they finished their degree than grads from any other subject - this is an important option. Teacher training was a common choice of second degree, as was further study of English, and journalism courses. But many English graduates changed course and trained in law, marketing or other languages -or even subjects further afield such as computing, psychology and even nursing. This is a very flexible degree which gives you a lot of options

Publishing

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£17,500
med
Average annual salary
98%
high
Employed or in further education

Top job areas of graduates

26%
Artistic, literary and media occupations
20%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
16%
Media professionals

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

English studies (non-specific)

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£17k

£17k

£14k

£14k

£22k

£22k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

Publishing

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£18k

£18k

£20k

£20k

£22k

£22k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

Explore these similar courses...

Share this page

This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Course location and department:

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here